You must prepare the site by destroying any existing sward and creating a stale seedbed by cultivation followed by herbicide application. The site must be sown with a low productivity grass and herb mix consisting of no more than 85% non-aggressive fine-leaved grasses and at least 15% mixed native flowers. A seed rate of 20 kg per hectare will be appropriate for most circumstances. Following sowing, the seedbed will be rolled. No lime, fertiliser, slurry or farmyard manure may be applied to the site. When choosing a seed mixture, only include plant species that occur naturally in unimproved grassland in the local region (and are available commercially);
You must obtain seed of local provenance wherever possible and, otherwise, it must be of at least UK stock.