Farming in the Uplands - ARCHIVE: Defra

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12 Farming in the Uplands 23. His concerns may be well-founded. Defra described in written evidence how a simulation of the impact of the Commission’s proposals on England revealed that the new criteria would exclude areas of the South West and parts of the Welsh borders as it failed to take account of the UK’s “maritime climate” (such as rainfall patterns). 47 Defra continues to discuss how the new approach can take the UK’s circumstances into account. 48 The CLA characterised the process as “a fairly fruitless statistical exercise”, which now involved “an unrewarding to-ing and fro-ing between Defra and the Commission on how to tweak their nine biophysical criteria so that it reproduces the current LFA borders”. 49 24. We are concerned that, in their current form, the European Commission’s proposals for new criteria to assess Less Favoured Area (LFA) status would exclude significant areas of England from the additional support they currently enjoy and will continue to require. In particular we would not wish the criteria used for any new classification to exclude areas currently designated LFAs, such as parts of the South West of England whether on the basis of altitude, climatic conditions or any other factor. We therefore urge the Government to put up a robust defence of the English uplands in its discussions with the European Commission. A new national strategy for the uplands 25. The CRC’s first recommendation in High ground, high potential is that there should be “a new national strategy for the uplands”; which would: .... provide a coherent framework so that upland people, businesses and communities can better understand what they need to do to play their part in protecting and enhancing the value of these important local assets. 50 The CRC refer to this strategy several times in their report, but there is little detail about of what exactly it would consist. The report states that the strategy should be developed by the Government and should “be informed by local knowledge and experience and should be sufficiently flexible to accommodate the rich diversity of these areas”. 51 Peter Barfoot, Head EMBARGOED ADVANCE COPY: Not to be published in full, or part, in any form before 00.01am GMT Wednesday 16 February 2011 of Conservation, North York Moors National Park, said that the uplands face the same challenges and issues as other rural areas, but they “also face specific challenges of their own”. 52 He added that a strategy would need to be specific to the uplands but take account of the variation between upland areas, saying that “There are national issues relating to uplands, but there also needs to be flexibility in accepting in detail that these areas differ”. 53 26. The NFU’s written evidence expressed doubts that the Government had the resources available to develop and implement a strategy, which may also fall foul of “interdepartmental conflicts”. Rather than a strategy the NFU supported “short term actions 47 Ev 83 48 Ev 83 49 Ev 61 50 High ground, high potential, p 11 51 High ground, high potential, p 108 52 Q 140 53 Q 140
EMBARGOED ADVANCE COPY: Not to be published in full, or part, in any form before 00.01am GMT Wednesday 16 February 2011 Farming in the Uplands 13 required to address immediate challenges faced in the uplands”. 54 In oral evidence Dr Clark was more forthright: Our view is that we really do not need another strategy. We have stacks of strategies already out there. We look forward to the work that Defra are doing, but we hope that it will be a confidence-building coherent policy statement—period. Let’s get on with some action after that. The last thing we need is another consultation period, a pseudo-White Paper, steering groups and that sort of thing. We need confidence building so we feel there is genuine commitment to look at upland areas in a coherent way and see food production as part of the recipe for those upland areas. 55 Dr Stone, Chief Executive, Exmoor National Park, shared the NFU’s doubts about an uplands strategy: He added: We have all seen lots of strategies, but we want a very clear statement from Government that the uplands are on the radar and that ministers are interested in seeing how uplands and upland communities are thriving. [...] I would add something along the lines of ensuring that you monitor the state of the uplands from all three aspects—economy, environment and community—and that when policy is developed it does so against the particular barriers to engagement in the uplands. 56 There may be challenges in particular areas because of the nature of their rurality. I do not think we can say there should just be some upland policies separate from rural ones; there is a whole spectrum of issues and challenges. 57 27. The TFA supported the CRC’s recommendation for a comprehensive and integrated strategy for England’s uplands. Its written evidence states that: There are many agencies, public bodies and other organisations with an interest in the uplands each of which emphasise particular aspects of the uplands without seeing the whole picture. A more integrated approach could deal more effectively with competing demands and create a more sustainable basis for the way ahead. 58 Similarly, the CLA’s evidence stated that “a cross government upland strategy must be developed”. 59 William Worsley, President of the CLA, told us that Defra should “agree a strategy and then get on with implementing it. [...] Effectively, the work has been done by the CRC and we want to get on with it.” 60 28. The Minister of State confirmed that Defra would be producing a “statement of intent” on the uplands in Spring 2011. He seemed to share the NFU’s doubts about the word 54 Ev 63 55 Q 113 56 Q 138 57 Q 139 58 Ev 53 59 Ev 58 60 Q 113
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Farming in the Uplands - ARCHIVE: Defra

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