Scottish Government

Management and Creation Measures

1.1 Features and habitats included in the application for payments on management and capital options are entirely at the discretion of the applicant. There is no requirement to include for Management payments any particular type of habitat or feature or a specific proportion of a particular type of habitat.

1.2 It is not normally appropriate to make two RSS management payments on the same area of land eg if an archaeological site occurs within an area of wetland and both sites are to receive management payments the area of wetland to receive payment would be reduced by the area of the archaeological site. The exceptions to this occur when, (i) payments for moorland management are made on the same area which is also receiving muirburn or stock disposal payments, (ii) payments for habitat management are made on the same area which is also receiving flood plain management payments.

1.3 An applicant will not be eligible to enter an area of land for management under the RSS if he has already undertaken to manage the same area of land in the same way as part of an SSSI management agreement or other similar agreement, as this would constitute double funding. Applicants with such agreements would be eligible to enter options or other areas of land for which they are not already in receipt of management payments. An applicant with an SNH management agreement should not terminate it in favour of an RSS agreement. Farmers with land which could be the subject of an SNH management agreement should first apply to join the RSS where the RSS management regime fully meets the requirements of the site. Where the RSS application is unsuccessful, SNH will negotiate a management agreement. SNH may be able to fund management of an area included in an RSS agreement if the management required goes beyond what is required under the RSS.

1.4 Once an area is entered into RSS management the same area has to be managed each year until the end of the agreement. Areas may be extended in later years but it is not permissible to make management payments for one or more years and then reduce the area being managed.

1.5 The exceptions to this rule are areas covered by the Extensive Management of Mown Grassland for Birds, Management of Open Grazed Grassland for Birds, Extensive Management of Mown Grassland for Corncrakes, Management of Early and Late Cover for Corncrakes, Grass margins/beetlebanks, Conservation headlands, Cropped machair, Unharvested crops, Spring Cropping and Extensive Cropping options where the area being managed can move with crop rotations and change with field size. SEERAD need to be given details at application stage of the conservation headlands to be 'rotated' in this way, i.e. Field Identifiers and area measurements. If, during the lifetime of the plan, a different rotation is agreed, the area upon which the annual management payment is calculated will be restricted to either that originally approved or the revised figure, whichever is less.

1.6 Management of habitats, whether existing or created, should start at the appropriate time for the relevant option during the 12 month period following entry into the scheme. The Scheme obligations last for a minimum of 5 years and payments are made annually in arrears for 5 years from the date of entry into the Scheme. The management therefore, must commence in year 1 to be eligible for the Scheme payments.

1.7 Applicants, when putting together their proposals must ensure that they have the resources to fulfil the requirements of their chosen options as all the management and creation options must be undertaken at the relevant time during the first year of participation in the Scheme.

1.8 If a participant wishes to undertake further options within the RSS, this would require a new application which would be considered in competition with others received in that year.

1.9 When habitat creation payments have been made under an application the payments can continue during a subsequent 5-year continuation of the agreement even although the site will have already been created. This is because a financial loss will continue at the initial level.