Rural Development Plan, England (RDPE) 2007 - 2013

RPA is the paying agency for the RDPE which means that it has overall responsibility for programme payments, accounting, and controls. In practice, RPA delegates the administration and payment authorisation functions of Rural Development Schemes to other delivery bodies with the exception of Hill Farm Allowance (HFA). For information on the HFA please click here.

Natural England

Natural England processes applications and claims for the following schemes:

Environmental Stewardship (ES)

Energy Crops Scheme (ECS2)

Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS)*

Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA)*

Organic Aid Scheme (OAS)*

Organic Farming Scheme (OFS)*

Energy Crops Scheme (ECS)*

Sheep and Wildlife Enhancement Scheme (SWES)*

Habitat (HAB)*

(* Now closed to new applicants)

Regional Development Agencies

The Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) process claims and applications for the following schemes;

Processing & Marketing Grant (PMG)*

Rural Enterprise Scheme (RES)*

Vocational Training Scheme (VTS)*

(* Now closed to new applicants)

Forrestry Commission

The Forestry Commission process the following claims and applications;

English Woodland Grant Scheme (EWGS)

Farm Woodland Premium Scheme/Farm Woodland Scheme (FWPS/FWS)*

(* Now closed to new applicants)

For information on all Rural Development schemes please click here. Please note that this link leads to the England Rural Development Plan pages on the Defra website.