The Rt Hon Tim Farron MP
The Cottage, Yard 2,
Stricklandgate,
Kendal,
Cumbria LA9 4ND 30th May 2007
Dear Mr Farron
You may be aware of the current furore surrounding RPA and Defra’s decision to allocate SFP on common land solely on the basis of rights registered in the commons’ registers. This decision is resulting in a large number of commoners with a legal right to graze common land granted by other means being excluded from SFP, which is causing considerable hardship and anxiety.
Under common land law any surplus grazing on a common belongs to the land owner who has a right to use it or let it. On some commons, such as Whelpside, where few rights were registered in 1965, land owners have leased surplus grazing to their tenants and other farmers. These tenancy agreements have been acceptable to Defra for Stewardship, ESA and HFA payments but have been deemed inadmissible for SFP.
We understand that the basis for allocation of forage areas on common land is covered by Article 8 of Commission Regulation 796/2004 which states that “where forage area is used in common the competent authorities shall notionally allocate it between the individual farmers in proportion to their use or right of use of it.” It does not state that this right must be enshrined in a commons register.
The Federation met RPA and Defra last month and raised this and other issues. It was agreed that a further meeting should be held specifically on this point. I understand that the meeting will be held soon and that Defra remain amenable to changing their interpretation of this article but that any decision would have to be ratified by Ministers. Consequently the Federation would be extremely grateful if you could contact Lord Rooker requesting that the basis on which entitlements on common land are allocated be changed.
Should you require any further information on the matter please do not hesitate to contact me. Likewise if you think that it would be beneficial to meet with representatives of the Federation I would be happy to arrange this.
Yours sincerely
Elizabeth Moore
Chairman