Minister Zeichner responds to our Concerns on ELM

We wrote to Daniel Zeichner Farming Minister at Defra and yesterday were pleased to hear back from him. Below is his response and our note.

Common Land offers so much to society. 21% of all our SSSI land is common land. Commoners and land owners are keen to deliver more as shown by Our Upland Commons. At the moment their ambition is curtailed as commons cannot access the online Rural Payments Service and many are stuck in poorly paying HLS schemes.

Our asks are:
🗞️ An offline application process for Common Land for SFI and CSHT
💰 Increased payment rates for HLS/UELS to match the new CSHT
🌸 Ability to amend options in existing schemes
🌳 Reopening Capital Grants to do more for nature friendly farming

The Foundation for Common Land as the national voice for enhancing the natural and cultural heritage from common land remains concerned that the slow roll out of ELM is holding back commoners and landowners delivering more for nature, landscape, climate and water management. This is holding back nature recovery and causing significant financial hardship for farming families.

31/01/2025

Letter from Minister Zeichner - p1 Jan 2025

Letter from Minister Zeichner - p2 Jan 2025

Note sent to Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner from FCL-Nov 2024