Client: National Parks and Wildlife Service

BEC Consultants has staff members that are NPWS Farm planners. The NPWS Farm Plan Scheme is administered by the Agri-Ecology Unit of the NPWS. The target areas for the NPWS Farm Plan Scheme include High Nature Value (HNV) farmland, Natura 2000 sites, Natural Heritage Areas and sites with species and habitats listed under the Annexes of the EU Birds Directive and Habitats Directive.

The objectives of the scheme are to provide a mechanism that allows NPWS to assist landowners with the enhancement and protection of key species and habitats, to support farmland biodiversity more generally and to provide a platform for the trial and development of new conservation approaches.

Farm planners are the principal interface between the participant and the NPWS. Through their work on the NPWS Farm Plan Scheme, BEC Consultant staff have collaborated with an independent Farm Advisor and Agronomist. Following an initial farm visit with a habitat survey, the Farm planners produce an NPWS Farm Plan document. This document contains information including historic management of the farm, the conservation objectives identified on the farm, and a map of management units for results-based payment and/or locations where capital works will be implemented. The plan also outlines best practice guidance on how to achieve high farm scores (e.g. guidance on conservation grazing, managing traditional hay meadows, hedgerow management for wildlife). The Farm planners visit the site on an annual basis to conduct plot scoring to determine annual payments and to touch base with the participants to discuss any issues they are having.