Livestock Grazing on Dartmoor National Park

Baroness Coffey Excerpts

Thursday 18th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

My Lords, I set up the Fursdon review for Dartmoor and, in terms of the recommendations, it would be helpful for the Government to update the House on what commitments they continue to have. It was set up because of a clash and a lack of trust, so it is important that trust is re-established as quickly as possible. That would be helped if the Rural Payments Agency had not said to commons landholders across the country, “Computer says no”, when they were trying to apply for SFI and ELMS grants this year. Will the Government get a grip of the Rural Payments Agency, but more importantly, Natural England?

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is right to identify the issue at stake in terms of access for common graziers groups to SFI and other payments. The Rural Payments Agency has been tasked to work on a solution to this issue and to assess how commons land applications can be made in the schemes. Once this is complete, the agency will communicate its planned approach. We are on the case, with the RPA, and hope to develop a solution as soon as possible.