Hadrian’s Wall ‘at risk’ from funding delay for farmers
DELAYS to a new heritage payments scheme for farmers risk “erasing and damaging history”, with monuments including Hadrian’s Wall under threat, the National Trust has warned.
Payments to reward farmers for looking after the environment on their land are also supposed to compensate them for preserving historic monuments and archaeology, but have been delayed.
The Heritage at Risk register, compiled by Historic England, shows that several parts of Hadrian’s Wall are in an unsatisfactory condition and threatened by arable ploughing. Other sites in jeopardy include ancient graves, Roman villas and ruined medieval forts.
The first phase of the Sustainable Farming Incentive launched in November as part of plans to phase out EU-era agricultural subsidies after Brexit, with the Government set to reward farmers for keeping soil covered in winter and reducing runoff to cut water pollution.
But plans to include dry stone walls, traditional farm buildings and burial sites have been pushed back.
Countryside and heritage groups said these aspects had been due in the second phase, set to launch after the initial rollout at the start of this year, but are now scheduled for 2025.
The trust also raised concerns over the focus on encouraging farmers not to damage historic monuments, rather than providing opportunities to improve them as current schemes do.
It said the Government was “downplaying the importance of heritage and the need to help farmers care for the historic features on their land”.
Ingrid Samuel, the trust’s director of historic environment, said: “To push back the early introduction of the planned ‘heritage standard’ to 2025 shows Defra hasn’t grasped how natural and cultural heritage is so intertwined in the farmed landscape.
“This announcement … risks erasing or damaging history.”