Guidance

Update land parcel records before applying: Countryside Stewardship

How to update the records the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) holds about your land parcels, before submitting an application for Countryside Stewardship.

This guidance was withdrawn on

Please see the RLE1 form and guidance page for up to date information.

Applies to England

When to submit an RLE1 form

All of the land parcels you include in a Countryside Stewardship (CS) application need to be linked to you on the the RPA’s Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS).

You may need to submit a Rural Land and Entitlements form (RLE1) to the RPA to support a CS application if you need to:

  • register land parcels with the RPA for the first time – this may include land that is not eligible for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) such as farmyards
  • alter permanent land boundaries
  • transfer ownership of land parcels

Complete and submit an RLE1 form to the RPA before you submit your CS application. Try and do this at least a month before the CS application window closes, to allow time for the land changes to be recorded.

Completing the RLE1 form

Place a cross in the box in Part A titled “If you are claiming (or intend to claim) under a Rural Development Programme scheme put an ‘X’ in this box”. In the blank space under this box, write “RLE1 required to support Countryside Stewardship application”.

If registering buildings that form part of a previously unregistered farm yard, register the whole farm yard as a new land parcel on the RLE1 form.

Keep a copy of all completed forms and maps.

BPS land use codes

Use the BPS land use codes:

  • that are relevant to the year of the application - those identified as part of the BPS claim in the May before the CS agreement starts on 1 January the next year

  • for the parcels that you include on the RLE1 form when submitting supporting information to Natural England with your Countryside Stewardship application

Transfer of land

When registering land parcels for the first time, list the start date as when the parcel came into your ownership or control, not when your CS agreement starts. The effective start date for transfers must be when the land was legally transferred and must be before the CS agreement start date.

If land is being transferred to you, submit information with your CS application identifying the Single Business Identifier (SBI) of the transferor (the person transferring the land to you). The transferor is responsible for completing an RLE1 form to transfer the land parcels to you

If someone else has included land parcels on their BPS application earlier in the year that have since been transferred to you, it may be necessary for them to transfer those land parcels to you using an RLE1 form, to ensure the land is linked to you on the LPIS. The “effective date of transfer” (B3b on the form) should be the date the land was legally transferred and must be before the CS agreement start date.

Dual use

See section 3.3.2 in the Mid Tier manual or Higher Tier manual if you are applying for CS and a different SBI will be claiming the BPS on the same parcel. It is your responsibility to liaise with the BPS claimant on dual use land to ensure that issues do not arise which may cause delays for processing any RLE1 forms.

Updates to this page

Published 6 September 2016

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