Common Land Farmers in the North eligible for significant payouts under rule change

A U-turn by Defra has put North-East farmers who graze common land in line for a potentially large payout.

Charles Raine, of rural property specialists YoungsRPS, said that this follows changes to the way CAP payments are calculated for common lands, which could see these farmers eligible for significant backdated payments.

This rule-change by Defra comes following a successful legal challenge by farmers with common land rights in Minchinhampton and Rodborough in Gloucestershire.

It sets a precedent and rule change from which graziers of common land throughout the region may benefit. Those potentially eligible for such payouts include graziers occupying common land amounting to some 9,500 ha in Northumberland alone.

Under the Single Payment Scheme (SPS), Defra had calculated that the proportion of the total eligible area of a common a farmer could claim on to be the basis for allocation of the total number of rights recorded in the register for each common. However, with some commons rights holders not making claims, this resulted in a number of “naked hectares” of unclaimed land with some commons graziers hence complaining that their payments were too low.

“While it is difficult to assess the sums of money likely to be involved at this stage, if claims follow the national trend, more than 21 per cent of subsidy may have remained unclaimed.

Following this line, payouts for common land in Northumberland could amount to as much as £60,000,” said Charles, who is a member of the lobbying group which backed the farmers who took this ground breaking case to court. “Although unlikely to reach this level in practice, the benefit of taking the time to register a claim is unquestionable,” he said.