THE Countryside Stewardship Scheme - the Government's principal environmental grant scheme for farmers and a cornerstone of its policy to conserve and improve the countryside - is celebrating its tenth anniversary.

Under the scheme, farmers are paid to follow more traditional farming methods, with the aim of enhancing the landscape, encouraging wildlife, and protecting historical features. Since its inception, as a pilot scheme in 1991, Countryside Stewardship has attracted around 12,500 agreement holders, with up to 3,000 applications currently in the pipeline.

The scheme is operated by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and is one of the ten schemes that make up the England Rural Development Programme.

"The vision many of us have of classic English rural landscapes is a result of traditional farming practices over the last few hundred years," said DEFRA Minister Elliot Morley. "Modern farming methods have changed that landscape and reduced the diversity of wildlife. By encouraging a return to traditional agricultural principles, we are slowly reversing those changes."

Areas already under stewardship have seen a marked increase in previously declining bird species, including the stone curlew, bittern, lapwing, reed bunting, greenfinch, pipit, twite, and wagtail.

Over 700 miles of dry stone walls and over 6,000 miles of hedgerow have been restored, and around 8,000 miles of grass margins have been established in intensive arable farming areas.

Over the next six years, DEFRA will make a further £500m available under Countryside Stewardship, with another half a million hectares coming into the scheme.

Updated: 09:32 Thursday, October 11, 2001