Countryside Stewardship Scheme and Environmental Stewardship Scheme: Coronavirus

(asked on 9th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons it was necessary to offer Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship claimants bridging loans for the 2019 claim year.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 17th June 2020

On 28 April the Government announced that, in England, in recognition of the disruption to cash flow for rural businesses caused by coronavirus, eligible farmers and land managers would be offered bridging payments (interest-free loans) for 75% of the current estimated value for unpaid 2019 revenue claims on their stewardship agreements.

More than 3,800 bridging payments, worth around £43 million, were made to farmers and land managers by the end of May.

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