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The rules on cutting hedges and trees are set out within cross compliance standard GAEC7A: Boundaries.

Last week DEFRA announced its vision “to unleash the economic potential of food and farming, nature and the countryside, champion the environment and provide security against floods, animal and plant diseases and other hazards”.
The total DEFRA budget for 2015/16 is £2.0bn,this includes £1.5 billion resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) and £0.5 billion capital DEL.

The Environment Agency (EA) has announced proposed revised rules governing the spreading of waste on land. The EA undertook a consultation in 2015 with regard to the revised rules, a summary of the proposals are detailed below:

Annual Claims – From early March, Environmental Stewardship Annual Claim Forms should start to be sent out by Natural England. The Annual claim forms will need to be completed and returned by 16th May 2016. The Claim Form should be pre-populated, but due to outstanding RLE1 mapping work yet to be completed by the RPA the land details may not be up-to-date.

The RPA have announced a further 1,972 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments were made last week taking the total number of claims paid to farmers to 68,572 representing 78.7% of all eligible farmers in England and £1.043 billion, out of a fund of £1.43 billion having been paid.

Natural England has announced that the next round of Countryside Stewardship will open on 14 March 2016.

Countryside Stewardship is a competitive scheme, with £900 million of new funding going towards projects to restore habitats, improve water quality and woodland, reduce flood risk, protect landscapes, and provides year-round food and shelter for pollinators, birds and other wildlife.