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How to apply for an Implementation Plan or Feasibility Study capital grant

Published 3 January 2024

Applies to England

Introduction

This guidance explains how to fill in your application form for a capital grant for either a PA1: Implementation Plan or PA2: Feasibility Study.

The guidance will also help you complete your maps to support your application.

You must discuss your application with a Natural England adviser before you complete it. Please contact the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) helpline on 03000 200 301 to arrange this.

About this guide

We have removed the name Countryside Stewardship (CS) from all capital grant offers because we want to make it clearer that these grants are available to a wide range of farmers and land managers, particularly those who have (or are considering applying for) a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement. 

These grants are still being offered under the Countryside Stewardship scheme. 

When to apply

You can apply for a PA1 or PA2 capital grant throughout the year.

Before you start your application

It’s important that you do the following in the order listed:

1. Register or sign in to the Rural Payments service

To receive payments you must be registered in the Rural Payments service. To find out how to do this, read Rural Payments service: registering and updating your details on GOV.UK.

2. Check and change

Check that your personal details, business details, and digital maps are up to date, and update them if needed.

You must register all of the land on your application in the Rural Payments service.

To find out how to do this read the Make changes to your rural land maps guidance.

3. Check your permissions

To submit an application, you must have the Countryside Stewardship (Applications) ‘Submit’ permission level. You can find more information on the permission levels screen in the Rural Payments service. This sets out what is permitted at each level.

You can authorise an agent to fill in and submit your application for you. For an agent to act for you, you must give them the appropriate permission levels in the Rural Payments service. This applies even if you have previously authorised the agent using the paper agent authorisation form.

Read Give someone else permission to act on your behalf for more information on the different levels of permission.

4. Read the scheme guidance

• For agreements that include PA1 and PA2 requirements, read the Mid Tier or Higher Tier guidance
• For information about the capital item descriptions for PA1 or PA2, read Grant finder

If you need a paper copy of the Mid Tier or Higher Tier guidance call the RPA helpline on 03000 200 301.

It’s your responsibility to make sure that:

• you meet the scheme rules
• all the eligible land included in your application is correct, to the best of your knowledge.

Complete and submit your application form and map(s)

The notes below describe what you need to tell us and give details of any supporting documents that you must email with your application. If you want to apply for a grant for both PA1: Implementation Plan and PA2: Feasibility Study, you must fill in a separate form for each capital grant application.

If you are applying for PA1, fill in sections 1, 2, and 4 of the application form.

If you are applying for PA2, fill in sections 1 and 2 to ask for support from Natural England. If your request is approved, they will work with you to fill in section 3. If you then want to carry on with your application, fill in section 4 and send your final application form to us.

Follow the steps below to fill in the form.

1. Applicant details (section 1)

Fill in the details of the applicant for the proposed agreement. We’ll take most of your contact details from the Rural Payments service, so make sure these are up to date.

On question 4, if you do not have management control for the full length of the proposed agreement, you may still be able to apply if you can supply a completed Land Ownership and Control form. This will allow your landlord to counter-sign your application.

2. Proposed agreement details (section 2)

State the agreement you are applying for.

On question 10, if you tick ‘Yes’ for information on ‘Other funding’ please see section 3.4 ‘Land receiving other funding’ of the Mid Tier or Higher Tier guides.

On question 11, describe in simple terms how your application aligns to one or more of the expected funding categories:

• parkland restoration
• building restoration
• historic feature protection
• habitat restoration (define type of habitat)
• habitat creation (define type of habitat)
• grip blocking
• section 38 approvals on commons
• water resources plan – including non-Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) linked flood management projects
• water management plans for RP7-RP12 – including CSF-commissioned water management plans (to address water pollution and runoff issues) and water holding feature management plans (constructed wetlands and sustainable rural drainage features)
• scrub management
• tree works
• other

3. PA2: Feasibility Study costings (section 3)

Your adviser will fill in the ‘For Adviser Use only’ tables in this section and will include what contribution rate we are able to make to your proposal based on an assessment of your application in section 2.

4. Declaration and undertakings (section 4)

• Fill in section 4 to confirm that you have read and understood the requirements of the grant scheme and the undertakings that you are making in submitting your application.
• Read the declaration, undertakings and warning.
• If you are submitting your application by post, sign section 4 and enter your name in block letters, your capacity (for example sole trader, company director, agent and so on) and the date of your signature.
• If you are submitting your application online, you do not need to sign the declaration.

5. Complete your application map(s)

Complete your map(s) to record the extent of your work and the location of any relevant features or works.

You must provide a map with your application to show details of your proposed plan or study on the ground. If your application is successful and we offer you an agreement, the map you supply will become your ‘Agreement Map’. It therefore needs to be legible and meet certain standards.

You can source the map from a variety of places, for example Rural Payments Land Viewer or the MAGIC website. If you use MAGIC, please use the ‘export map tool’ - this adds the required licence information.

Whatever source you use, make sure that it has the copyright licence for this use.

The map must meet the following requirements:

• A3 or A4 in size (either is acceptable)
• 1:2,500 or 1:10,000 scale. If you use the Rural Payments Land Viewer to produce a map, it will automatically scale the map to fit A4 which is acceptable
• it must show all the land parcel(s) which the plan or study will cover
• if the plan or study covers a part parcel or feature within a parcel, you must include the whole land parcel in the map

The map must include the following on a key:

• map number – including the unique map number and total number of maps, for example 1 of 3
• scale of the map
• single business identifier (SBI) – consisting of 9 digits, application year, and agreement title (as detailed on the application form)
• name of business or applicant – this should be the name (beneficiary) that is registered with the RPA for the SBI
• if there are no numbered OS grid lines, a 6 figure OS grid reference for the centre of the map, (format AB 123 456)

Circle the land parcel reference number for all parcels that are to be included in the application. For example, SK 1234 5678.

Use black ink for all annotations on the map. If you make a mistake do not use correction fluid – put a line through the mistake.

6. Check your application form

Use the checklist below to make sure that you have completed your application in full and attached any required supporting documents and evidence including maps, photographs, briefs, specifications or consents before sending it.

Make sure that:

• you have completed all relevant parts of the application form, including signing and dating section 4 (if you’re applying for a PA1 grant or are submitting the final application for a PA2 grant). If you are submitting your application online, you do not need to sign the declaration
• all your land and business details are up to date and correct in the Rural Payments service
• you have arranged for ‘Submit’ permissions in the Rural Payments service, if you’re acting as an agent
• you have completed map(s) showing the land parcels in this application
• you have included a copy of the plan brief or specification (for all PA1 applications and PA2 final applications only)
• you have attached any applicable supporting documents or evidence
• you have attached any continuation sheets you’ve used in your application

See details of the record keeping and site visit requirements for these grants.

7. Submit your application

By email

Send all parts of the completed form, together with maps and other supporting documents to ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk. A signature is not needed by email.

If you’re applying for PA1, put ‘Countryside Stewardship, PA1 Implementation Plan grant application, 2024, [SBI]’ as the title.

If you’re applying for PA2, put ‘Countryside Stewardship, PA2 Feasibility Study grant application, 2024, [SBI]’ as the title.

You must also put your SBI in your email and check it’s on everything you send.

You’ll receive an automated email to confirm we have received your application. Check your spam mailbox if you don’t receive this.

By post

You can send your application by post to:

Rural Payments Agency
PO Box 324
Worksop
S95 1DF

Put your SBI on everything you send. You must sign your application and any supporting forms.

It is recommended that you get proof of postage, and keep a copy of your completed application form and maps.

What happens next

Once we have received your application, we will check that:

• you meet the eligibility requirements
• you have entered all the necessary details on your application form
• you have sent all the necessary evidence including maps, photographs and consents

If your application fails any of the above checks, we will contact you to explain what is wrong.

If you are applying for an Implementation Plan, we will assess your application and make a decision on funding.

If you are applying for a Feasibility Study, we will assess your initial application and confirm if we will support you to develop your application.

If we agree to support you to develop your Feasibility Study application, we will assess the final application and you will be told if your application has been successful.

You should not undertake works or incur costs until you have accepted an agreement offer.

If your application is successful, you will be offered an agreement.

If your application is not successful

If you want it to be considered again, you can write, including as much detail as possible, explaining why you think the decision should be reviewed.