Countryside Stewardship statement of priorities: Lundy (NCA159)
Updated 14 May 2021
Applies to England
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Choosing priorities
Countryside Stewardship is a competitive scheme and funding is limited. Not all eligible applicants will be offered a grant. This guide will help applicants choose the options that will increase their chance of success.
Countryside Stewardship applications are scored – both top priorities and other priorities score points. Applicants should select at least one top priority. Choosing other priorities will improve an application’s score.
Biodiversity: top priorities
Priority habitats
Applicants should choose land management options and capital works that maintain, restore and create priority habitats and support priority species that depend on these habitats.
Priority habitats to be maintained include:
- lowland heath
- maritime cliff and slope
- lowland acid grassland
Priority habitats (especially projects to enlarge existing sites or help join up habitat networks) to be restored include:
- lowland heath
- maritime cliff and slope
- lowland acid grassland
Priority habitat creation should be used to extend or link priority habitat to increase connectivity and reduce fragmentation.
Sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs)
Restore or maintain SSSIs that include features eligible for options – this includes options that will reduce diffuse water and air pollution effects.
Priority species
Managing priority habitats will create the habitat needs for many of the priority species associated with this area. In particular, by providing such essential elements as bare ground, areas of scrub and varied sward structures, which will help these species thrive.
This area also has a number of priority species that need tailored management and advice. Applicants should choose land management options and capital works that meet the specific needs of the following priority species:
- Lundy cabbage
- Lundy cabbage flea beetle
Historic environment: top priorities
Applicants should choose active management which ensures the long-term survival of historic environment features and protects them against damage and decay. In particular, some of the biggest land management threats in this area are from:
- plant growth (bracken)
- animal burrowing
- collapse
The following features are a high priority for active management in this area:
- designated features – archaeological features of national significance (scheduled monuments)
- designated and undesignated traditional farm buildings and non-domestic historic buildings on holdings
- undesignated historic and archaeological features of high significance which are part of the Selected Heritage Inventory for Natural England (SHINE)
Applicants should consider options and capital works to:
- remove scrub and bracken from archaeological or historic features
- maintain below-ground archaeology under permanent uncultivated vegetation or actively manage earthworks, standing stones and structures as visible above-ground features
- maintain and restore historic water management systems
- restore historical agricultural buildings that are assessed as a priority in the area
Landscape: top priorities
Each application is likely to include a range of landscape features whose restoration should form an important part of agreements.
Top priority in the area is the maintenance and restoration of features that will enhance the pattern and scale of the landscape and add to the area’s ‘sense of place’.
Top priorities in this area for landscape are:
- dry stone walls
- permanent grassland
Multiple environmental benefits
Applicants should look to provide for multiple priorities by selecting options that achieve multiple environmental benefits.
On Lundy, the greatest opportunity to achieve multiple objectives is by managing the heathland and grassland mosaic to benefit:
- carbon storage
- water quality
- biodiversity
- drinking water resources
- historic features
Other priorities
Applicants should select at least one of the top priorities. However, applicants can also select other priorities, as this will increase the score of the application.
Historic environment
The following historic environment features are lower priorities:
- maintain designated and undesignated traditional farm buildings
- undesignated SHINE features of medium and low significance
Climate change
By choosing land management options and capital works which support the management of the vulnerable features and habitats listed in this statement, including where vulnerabilities are increased by climate change, applicants will support the resilience of biodiversity, water and other scheme priorities to the impacts of climate change, which is a cross-cutting objective of the scheme.