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Rural Development Programme delay
06/12/2007
The Scottish Government has been advised that the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) would not be presented to the December Rural Development Committee in Brussels.
Submission of the UK's rural development programmes - there are four, one for each country - was delayed in the first half of this year by the European Parliament's opposition to the voluntary modulation regulation.
Once this issue was resolved Scotland's programme was submitted in full on June 25. However, due to technicalities, it will not now be considered until January.
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead said:
"This development is a huge disappointment and is extremely frustrating, even if we are talking about a four week delay to a seven year programme. Despite our best endeavours, technical difficulties in Brussels mean that the Scotland Rural Development Programme will not be considered until January.
"This means a formal approval in February - over a year after the SRDP should have started. I have written to Commissioner Fischer-Boel in the strongest terms, to express my concern about this latest delay and to seek her support to push the Scotland programme forward as a matter of urgency.
"I understand that this delay may cause considerable anxiety in the farming community around Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme (LFASS) payments, and for those awaiting support for planting woodland and short rotation coppice this winter.
"We have been assured that the European Commission will do all that they can to progress the LFASS issue in advance of programme approval and officials on both sides will be taking that forward over the coming days."
Voluntary Modulation is the transfer of resources from the Single Farm Payment to farmers to the Rural Development Fund.