Written question asked by Anthony Steen (Conservative) on Tuesday, 24 July 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 26 July 2007. It was answered by Joan Ruddock (Labour) on Monday, 3 September 2007 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Common Land: Devon

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations he has made to the European Commissioner responsible for environmentally sensitive schemes on the EU’s financial obligations to commoners in Dartmoor National Park.

Answer: None. The financial arrangements for the Rural Development Programme for the period 2007-13 were announced on 29 March 2007. This provides for £2.9 billion for agri-environment schemes, over double the expenditure spent in the last programme. This will enable all existing agri-environment agreements, including those for Dartmoor Commoners, to be maintained, and in addition allows for new agreements under Environmental Stewardship to be set up when the existing agreements expire.

Secondary information