Countryside Stewardship Scheme

The Countryside Stewardship Scheme is a Government scheme for funding the conservation and management of the farmed countryside. Farmers are paid grants to implement management methods that enhance the landscape, encourage wildlife and protect historical features rather and farm for commercial gain. Lees Court is at the forefront of conservation methods and is a major participant through its three separate Countryside Stewardship Schemes on the Estate. The principal Scheme was entered into as part of the Lees Court Estate Project to enhance the farmland ecosystem and biodiversity of the Estate and provide valuable habitat for wildlife and gamebirds.

Higher Level Stewardship

When these current CSS schemes expire, the Estate will enter into Higher Level Stewardship, which aims to deliver significant environmental benefits in high priority situations and areas. It will involve more complex environmental management.

As part of the Lees Court Estate Project, Lees Court commissioned an independent study to demonstrate that Government grant assistance, through the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, rarely covers the profits foregone or investment by farmers in capital programmes to enhance the countryside. The issue was raised in The House of Lords and its findings accepted.