B2: Schemes and Skills

Schemes and Skills (on all twelve commons) will give commoners the knowledge and confidence to develop Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS) ready for when the new agricultural funding programmes open to applications in 2024. It is vital that commoners understand the requirements and ambitions of the new schemes, which will pay for the delivery of “public benefits” such as promoting biodiversity and mitigating the effects of climate change.

We will be trialling a Farmer-Led Habitat Assessment scheme (on one common) to see how the recent Payments by Results schemes on individual fields can be extended to common land. Supported by a specialist team from the Yorkshire Dales National Park, this will include training farmers in biodiversity (flora and fauna) ID, survey and reporting skills.

Complementary to both of these, the project will target young and/or aspiring commoners (on three commons) with a combined programme of hands-on and classroom learning, including commoning law, business planning, appreciation of biodiversity and access management, and animal husbandry.