ENGLAND'S Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been forced to issue a statement clarifying that it will not be scrapping its Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs).

The announcement follows coverage in the national press and on the BBC which speculated that Defra was now looking to change or delay implementing the flagship environmental plan. ELMs was devised under previous environmental secretary Michael Gove, and was described as the biggest shake up in rural payments in England for 40 years.

As designed, ELMs is intended to move the focus of support away from producing food and towards rewarding biodiversity, creating spaces for rare species, and absorbing carbon to help England reach its net zero target. But The Observer newspaper stated that ‘Defra sources confirmed that ELMs measures are under review and area-based payment is on the table'.

However any U-turn by the Truss Government was flatly refuted by Defra: “Claims we intend to go back on our commitment to the environment are simply not right. We want every corner of our country to prosper too. Bureaucratic processes in the planning system do not necessarily protect the environment so, by making sure we have the right regulations for our nation, we can make this happen.”

English NFU president Minette Batters said that the union had wanted a delay to the schemes' introduction: "We called for a delay not because we wanted to hang on to the status quo but because we believe that the Sustainable Farming Incentive needed to have more detail and it needs to be profitable. We have always been calling for a better policy, one that does deliver for food production and for the environment."

The English Union also went onto argue that larger-scale rewilding projects should be paid for with private money, not public funds. She said: "We have got literally billions and billions of pounds in green finance that is looking to invest in wild environments. We should be making the private sector work effectively."

Ms Batters said: "My absolute priority is ensuring that farmers can continue to produce the nation’s food – so I do support maintaining direct payments in order to build a scheme that really will deliver for food production and the environment.”

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Whilst reiterating that it will not scrap ELMs, Defra did admit that ‘in light of the pressures farmers are facing as a result of the current global economic situation, including spikes in input costs, it’s only right that we look at how best to deliver the schemes to see where and how improvements can be made'.

Environmental groups such as the RSPB, Wildlife Trusts, National Trust, Green Alliance and Wildlife and Countryside Link have expressed concerns that announcements in the Government’s growth plan to reform bureaucratic processes in the planning system, create investment zones and unlock economic growth may impact on existing protections for the environment.

Former Defra Ministers Michael Gove MP and Theresa Villers MP both signed an open letter rejecting any delay in ELMs ,saying the historic direct payments from the EU did not help food security, stifled innovation, blocked out new entrants and wasted taxpayers' money.