3 Environmentally Sensitive Areas (‘ESAs’)
13.76 By virtue of s 18 of the Agriculture Act 1986, the Minister172 has power to designate an area of land an ‘Environmentally Sensitive Area’. Designation is by statutory instrument, subject to the negative resolution procedure of either House of Parliament.173 The Minister’s power of designation is exercisable if s/he considers that the adoption of a particular agricultural method is likely to facilitate the conservation and enhancement of the natural beauty of an area, or conservation of the flora, fauna, geological/physiological features of an area, or the protection of buildings or other objects of archaeological, architectural or historical interest in an area, and (in all cases) that conservation of those features is particularly desirable.
The ESA programme was originally introduced in 1986, but was subsequently brought into the England Rural Development Plan and funded within the EC Rural Development Regulation. It was the principal agri-environment scheme in England and Wales until the introduction of the Environmental Stewardship scheme in England in 2005. The Environmental Stewardship scheme, by contrast, applies to all agricultural producers and is not targeted at designated areas in the manner of its forerunner, the ESA programme. The availability and terms of management agreements in both ESAs, Environmental Stewardship, and now Countryside Stewardship, are considered in further detail below.17413.77 The designation of an area as an ESA did not alter the property rights of landowners. Its chief impact was to make available management agreements within the ESA under which farmers could adopt prescribed management practices in return for payment. This form of designation was very different to the notification of land as an SI or SAC, where the notification varies the property rights of landowners by imposing a consultation requirement for certain land use operations.175 Most environmental land management agreements entered into under the ESA programme will now be spent. The legislation remains in place, however, and available for future use if needed.