3 Eligibility and mandatory criteria

You must read and meet the requirements detailed in this section as these are mandatory for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund scheme.

3.1 Who can apply

If you are an individual or organisation from the farming, forestry or other land management sector or service provider, with environmental land management experience and suitable facilitation skills, you can apply to become a CS Facilitator.

You must have land management experience and suitable facilitation skills, with expertise in at least one of the following:

  • agriculture
  • forestry
  • water management
  • ecology

3.2 Eligibility criteria

Your application must meet the following criteria in order to be considered for the scheme:

  • The area of land that will be managed can deliver the CS priorities from the Statements of priorities.
  • The land must be at least 2,000 hectares (size of the holdings, not the area of management activity), unless you can show that your proposal fits a smaller clear environmental boundary. Examples of this would include clusters of woods, meadows, marshes and/or sub-catchments, or a beaver cluster which provides the opportunity to improve the connection and interaction between them.
  • The area of land is spread over a minimum of four separate land holdings all managed by different people. (A common is treated as one holding for the purpose of this scheme and can join with non-common land to create the land area of the group).
  • The holdings should be adjoining, or the majority should be adjoining. Holdings can be dispersed if applicants can show that cooperation across more dispersed holdings is necessary to deliver the CS priorities. This could apply to groups who are managing beaver activity on sites where beavers are already present.
  • You must have the backing of the farmers, foresters and/or other land managers of the holdings

3.3 Mandatory selection criteria you need to provide:

3.3.1 Facilitators experience

As a Facilitator you must:

  • give details of any experience or qualifications that you have of bringing people together to act cooperatively
  • give details of your qualifications/experience in agriculture, forestry, water management and/or ecology. Supply any evidence you feel is relevant to your application and may help support it
  • give details of your experience of the objectives covered by Countryside Stewardship
  • provide two independent references to support your application and can confirm your knowledge and the results you’ve achieved. This could be someone you’ve worked with before for example, who is aware of your experience and what you can offer to a group.

3.3.2 Your group

  • You will need to give details of when your group was established and how many members are in your group. There is no limit to the number of members you can have but the £500 uplift fund is capped at 80 members.
  • Each group member will be required to fill out a Group member form and send this to you. Keep the signed original form as evidence. A copy of each Group member form should be submitted along with your application.
  • You will need to give details of how you and the group intend to take ownership and work together to develop the cooperation required to achieve the groups objectives. You’ll need to tell us what the role of each member will be.
  • You will need to have a group agreement in place setting out how the group will operate and deal with disputes. You must retain the original group agreement and members should retain a copy for their records.
  • You cannot charge a membership fee to members for any activity in relation to the Facilitation Fund.
  • Group members need to confirm they have management control of the land for the lifetime of the group or provide their landowner(s) consent.
  • All supporting evidence must be kept for the duration of your agreement and for seven years after the end date of your agreement.

3.3.3 Application content

  • Provide details of the Countryside Stewardship priorities you will be delivering within your National Character Area(s).
  • Provide details of the activities your group members will be doing as a result of working together. We want to know how your group will deliver more benefits together and what the long-term goals of the group are.
  • Provide details of the possible or expected results, wider benefits and added value that your group will aim to achieve by 2025 as a result of working together.
  • If you are applying to facilitate a group because there are beavers present on or near land associated with the group, you should explain this in your application. It may be that your proposed group has less than four members or less than 2,000ha of land under management control. If this is the case, we can consider your application as long as there is enough detail in the application explaining this.

3.3.4 Your planned service

  • The purpose of the fund is to transfer and share knowledge and expertise on a one-to-many basis. You must provide a plan telling us about the training and advice you will give and how you intend to carry it out. Tell us why it is required and how it links in with the group’s delivery of CS priorities. We are not able to pay for 1-2-1 advice under the Domestic round.
  • If you’re using a subcontractor for training or similar activities, make sure that any goods and services you buy meet the purchase (procurement) requirements and will deliver the best value for money. You will be asked to show evidence of this at the claim stage.
  • Let us know if you plan to deliver the knowledge yourself or if you’ll be relying on a sub-contractor.
  • You should give details of meetings and conversations you have with other initiatives/schemes such as Catchment Sensitive Farming etc. and groups in your local area that are delivering CS priorities to make sure there is consistency with them.
  • You must tell us if the group is receiving any other funds, or if you are planning to secure funds that will support the delivery of your group’s plans.