1 The ‘Voluntary’ Principle.
13.01 A considerable corpus of nature conservation legislation now impacts upon agricultural land use. The policy pursued by domestic legislation has since the post-war period been based upon the so-called ‘voluntary principle’ ie to secure the voluntary participation of farmers and land owners in conservation measures.
This was certainly the policy imperative underlying the principal piece of domestic legislation in this area, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, whose provisions were primarily targeted to the use of management agreements under which damaging operations would be ‘bought out’ by public bodies such as the (former) Nature Conservancy Council. A marked change of emphasis took place in the Countryside and Rights of Ways Act 2000, however, which introduced greater controls over land use in protected areas such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (hereafter ‘SIs’), though without abrogating the need for a cooperative approach to environmental land management. The modern law is, therefore, more properly described as based on a ‘partnership’ principle under which public agencies seek to cooperate with farmers and landowners to deliver conservation management where this is necessary.13.02 The relevant legislative measures fall into several categories:
1.Nature conservation legislation provides for the designation and protection of environmentally important sites. Land considered of environmental importance by the UK Conservation Bodies1 can, for instance, be notified a site of special scientific interest under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The broad effect of notification is to restrict certain proscribed agricultural operations, and to encourage the conclusion of a management agreement with the owner or occupier. Management agreements can also be secured in relation to Nature Reserves under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, and in relation to environmentally sensitive areas under the Agriculture Act 1986.
The use of management agreements underpins the voluntary principle in its application to conservation and protection of the countryside.2.Planning law and development control is used in limited circumstances to impose restrictions on agricultural activity that might otherwise constitute ‘development’. The use of planning and development control is reserved primarily for the protection of areas of national significance eg in relation to land designated as National Parks under the 1949 Act. Environmental assessment of the effects of some agricultural operations has already been considered.2
3.The use of protected areas policy, environmental land management agreements and development control is supplemented by measures under Pillar 2 of the Common Agricultural Policy. The EU Rural Development Regulation3 provides for Rural Development Plans to include financial support for farmers under agri-environmental schemes, and this has been used extensively to introduce programmes such as the Environmentally Sensitive Areas programme and then Environmental Stewardship (in England), Tir Cynnal (in Wales), and (most recently) the Countryside Stewardship scheme (in England) and GlasTir (in Wales). Additionally, applications for capital grants are, by virtue of s 17 of the Agriculture Act 1986, subjected to assessment on environmental as well as agricultural grounds.