Common land: annual eligibility checks for land management funding
See the latest data changes from land cover eligibility checks carried out on common land that may affect your Basic Payment Scheme payment or other scheme funding.
Applies to England
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) regularly checks and updates its digital maps. This includes checking common land.
How commons eligibility checks differ from other land eligibility checks
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) use enhanced satellite imagery and a limited number of site visits to check the eligibility of common land for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payment. The eligible area of a common will alter as physical changes take place on the common. On common land we:
- check the land cover and land use
- check internal boundaries for change within the same common, but will not check external land boundaries which are fixed and legally defined
- survey the eligible area of a common separately to the enclosed land farmed by the common land graziers who declared rights on the common for BPS
Graziers claim BPS for a common by declaring their grazing rights rather than applying directly for an area of land. This means there will be no penalties for over-declaring if we find the eligible common area has reduced.
When and where to check for changes
We need to make sure that all land data is up to date, which is why we regularly carry out eligibility checks.
We will write to you and tell you if an eligible common area changes for land you have declared in your BPS application. We and the Forestry Commission will also contact you if Countryside Stewardship (CS) or forestry schemes are affected.
See the data for eligibility checks from 2022 back to 2017. The newest data will be at the top of the list of attachments.
The changes might affect the value of your claims and payments for:
- BPS
- CS schemes
- Forestry schemes
This is because changes to the eligible area of a common affect the ‘notional area’ which is used to calculate your BPS payment.
Read more information about how the ‘notional area’ of the common is calculated in the ‘Common land and shared grazing’ section of the relevant Basic Payment Scheme rules. The example calculation shows how the value of the common land part of the BPS payment is calculated.
What to do if you disagree with the eligible area values
If you want to query the latest eligible area value, you need to discuss your query with the other commoners, and relevant Commons Association or equivalent organisation, to reach an agreed view.
You must not make any changes to land cover, like removing scrub, without discussing your action with other commoners. It might affect the scheme agreements they have in place.
If you have discussed your query with other commoners and still disagree with the data, call us on 03000 200 301. There is no deadline to call us but if you want to query or disagree with our findings, you should call us within 6 weeks of us writing to you. This will give us more time to consider mapping update requests before we start to make BPS payments.
Where relevant, we may send you a digital map (PDF) so you can see the land cover changes.
It’s important that you check your contact details are up to date in the Rural Payments Service. In particular, we need your up-to-date email address.
If we cannot email a digital map to you, we may send the map on a disc, by post. If you cannot view the PDF map, please tell us this when you call to discuss your query so that we can then send you a map in a format that you will be able to view.
When you receive the map(s) you need to check them carefully. If you agree with the updated eligible area(s) you do not need to take any further action.
What to do if you disagree with the updated eligible areas shown on the maps
You will need to discuss this with the other commoners, and relevant Commons Association or equivalent organisation to reach an agreed view.
If they disagree with the information on the maps, you will need to act as a group. Fill in and send an RLE1 form and sketch maps to us. You must only send one set of forms or maps for the common, so that we do not receive conflicting information.
You need to show all amendments on your sketch maps with as much detail as possible, including measurement or area size. Information on how to mark changes on sketch maps and how to fill in an RLE1 form is given in the RLE1 guidance.
Requests for changes to your maps and land parcel details could affect your future payments. Only tell us about changes if you are sure they need to be made.
If you need to send an RLE1 form and sketch map(s) to us, check the email or letter you received with your digital map (PDF). It will advise you when you should send your RLE1 form and sketch maps to us.
There is no deadline for sending the RLE1 form and sketch maps but depending on when you send them, our focus may be on making payments using the updated eligible areas we identified and published.
Common land eligible area values and total area values
The latest data is the top attachment on the common land eligibility data page.
Find the calculation data for all other commons in the ‘Common land grazing rights’ table. This table is published each year, on the relevant BPS page, usually around September, and includes the eligible area and number of rights claimed (in Livestock Units) for each common for that BPS scheme year. The data is taken from the Rural Payments Service.