CLA seeks more detail as Basic Payments Scheme transition timetable revealed

THE Welsh Government’s Environment and Rural Affairs Secretary has set out her timetable for the Basic Payments Scheme in Wales, confirming a “gradual, but multi-year transition from existing to new schemes” will take place after 2020.

Lesley Griffiths said the implementation will be completed by 2025 and restated the core principles driving her Environment and Rural Affairs land-use strategy.

CLA Cymru director Rebecca Williams said: “It’s reassuring to see reinforcement of the concept of supporting land managers for delivery of public good, consistent with our Land Management Contracts proposal. We welcome the certainty of support in the immediate future. However we must avoid becoming distracted by short-term extensions in a transition-period and maintain our focus on the long-term outcome.

“At the same time, the Wales-Westminster agreement in April may reduce constitutional complexities, but it’s been divisive between political parties in the Senedd and unanswered questions remain about the future for farmers. It’s important to reach the next level of detail.

“It’s still difficult to navigate the way ahead without a greater understanding of the journey’s destination – what market forces will drive us, what government support will exist and how it will be invested. The Welsh Government has said ‘not a penny less as a result of leaving the EU’, but it offers limited comfort until the full picture comes into focus.

“We share governments’ ambition for a new policy based on payment for public good and ongoing support to enable farmers to produce highquality food. A recent CLA event demonstrated that greater guidance will be needed to move over to the land management contracts.

“The new reality will need to be both well understood and rigorously tested. The transition needs to be carefully planned, allowing time for adaption. It’s likely to be, after all, the most dramatic change the sector’s seen for several generations – and it will set the scene for generations to come.”

Ms Williams concluded: “On this depends how they will plan their business development. The shape of a UK framework – and how Wales fits into this – needs to be clear. This is not only about inter-governmental relationships, but about how we shape a specifically Welsh strategy to gain the best result for the whole community in Wales. We must begin to define what mechanisms will deliver what resources, to whom – and in what time.”

CLA rural advisor Rhianne Jones said: “Farmers and land managers need to know their interests on the ground will be served in the future.”