BASC members, who claim farming subsidies through the Single Farm Payments scheme, are being urged to act promptly when they receive new land maps from the Rural Payments Agency (RPA).
The RPA has been sending out maps since early summer and is expected to have sent out in the region of 120,000 maps by the end of October.
BASC’s rural land development manager, Paul Williamson, said: “In order to ensure 2010 claim forms are filled in advance by the RPA which will ultimately lead to quicker payments of subsidies they must be returned to the RPA within 28 days. These maps will also be used by Natural England for Entry Level Stewardship agreements.”
Special care is required when reviewing the maps where there is no physical boundary between neighbouring land. The RPA is advising claimants to use marker posts on the ground to define changes in occupation and clearly annotate the maps. The process also requires permanent Single Payment Scheme ineligible features to be marked on maps. A RLR Mapping Update (September 2009) booklet can be downloaded from the RPA website: http://www.rpa.gov.uk/rpa/index.nsf/home.
ENDS