Citation, extent and commencement

1. This scheme, which may be cited as the Plum Material and Clearance Grants Scheme 1979, shall apply in England and in Wales and shall come into operation on 1st August 1979.

Interpretation

2. In this scheme, unless the context otherwise requires:-

"the appropriate Minister" means, in relation to England, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and, in relation to Wales, the Secretary of State;

"approved" means approved by the appropriate Minister in writing, and "approve" and "approval" shall be construed accordingly;

"certified" means certified in writing by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as apparently free from virus diseases including sharka disease and apparently true to varietal type;

"mother tree" means a tree of a selected scion variety grown and cultivated to provide quantities of scion wood suitable for budding or grafting to rootstocks;

"plum material business" means a business which consists in, or such part of a business as consists in, the growing in England or Wales of plum material for sale;

"plum material" means stoolbeds, mother trees and rootstock hedges of a type which have a normal productive life of at least five years;

"rootstock hedge" means a row of plants cultivated to provide unrooted hard-wood cutting;

"rootstock stoolbed" means a row or bed of plants cultivated to provide rooted plants.

Eligible expenditure and amount of grant

3.-(1) Subject to the provisions of this scheme, the appropriate Minister may make to an eligible person a grant towards expenditure incurred or to be incurred by him for the purposes of, or in connection with, the carrying on or establishment of a plum material business, being expenditure in respect of (either or both)-

(a)the purchase of certified plum material,

(b)the carrying out of any work specified in the Schedule hereto in connection with the planting of certified plum material,

which is approved for the purposes of a grant under the scheme.

(2) In this paragraph "eligible person" means any person carrying on or intending to carry on a plum material business.

(3) The appropriate Minister may refuse to approve the expenditure in respect of which the grant is claimed or may approve it in whole or in part. An approval (whether it relates to the whole or part of the expenditure) may be given subject to such conditions (if any) as the appropriate Minister thinks fit for the purposes of the scheme.

(4) Where a grant is paid under this scheme it shall not exceed 25% of the total of the expenditure approved under the scheme.

Restrictions on payments of grant

4.-(1) No grant shall be payable under this scheme:-

(a)where the total expenditure to be incurred in relation to the proposals is less than £100,

(b)where the total area to be occupied by plum material is less than 0·05 hectares or more than 1·5 hectares,

(c)where the total area to be occupied by plum material and lined-out rootstocks exceeds 31·5 hectares.

(2) The appropriate Minister may reduce or withhold grant payable under this scheme where grant-aid in respect of the expenditure towards which grant is claimed has been given otherwise than under this scheme.

Application for grant

5.-(1) Application for approval of expenditure in respect of which grant is claimed shall be made in such form as the appropriate Minister may from time to time require and shall be delivered to him at such address as he may specify for the purpose.

(2) A person making an application under sub-paragraph (1) above shall within such reasonable time as may be specified in writing by the appropriate Minister supply such further information as may be required by him for the purposes of the scheme.

Conditions of payment of grant

6.-(1) It shall be a condition of the making of payment of a grant to any person under this scheme that:-

(a)the appropriate Minister has approved the proposals in respect of the carrying out of which expenditure has been or is to be incurred, whether or not subject to conditions,

(b)the appropriate Minister is satisfied that no modification of the approved proposals has been carried out except with the approval of the appropriate Minister and in compliance with such conditions as may have been specified by him in relation to such modifications,

(c)the appropriate Minister is satisfied that the approved proposals have been carried out in a proper manner, and completed without unreasonable delay and in compliance with any conditions subject to which the approval was given,

(d)for a period of 24 months immediately following the completion of the work in respect of which the payment was made the recipient of that payment is carrying on an agricultural business which, in the opinion of the appropriate Minister, is capable of yielding a sufficient livelihood to any person carrying it on with reasonable efficiency and for the purposes of which there is occupied not less than 0·05 hectares of land devoted entirely to the growing of plum material for sale.

(2) For the purpose of sub-paragraph (d) of the above paragraph "agricultural business" means a business of which the plum material business in respect of which grant under this scheme is paid forms the whole or a part.

Duration of Scheme

7. Expenditure shall not qualify for consideration for a grant under this scheme unless application for its approval for the purpose of such a grant is made before 31st July 1986.

Paragraph 3(1)(b)

SCHEDULEWORK FOR WHICH GRANT MAY BE PAID

Item 1. Preparation of ground for planting propagating material including the grubbing and disposal of trees and plant material.

2. Grubbing of material susceptible to plum pox for the purpose of securing adequate isolation for a propagation unit.

3. Clearance of land intended for lined-out rootstocks planted in association with approved expenditure.

4. Disposal of waste material arising from approved expenditure.

5. Planting plum material.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Scheme, which applies in England and Wales, authorises the payment of grant towards capital expenditure for the purposes of, or in connection with, a plum material business as defined in the Scheme. Grant payable under the Scheme is limited to 25% of the total expenditure approved by the appropriate Minister.

Provision is made for the approval of proposals by the appropriate Minister, who may impose conditions on the approval.

The Scheme lays down restrictions on the payment of grant. No grant is payable where the total expenditure to be incurred is less than £100 or where the total area occupied by plum material or by plum material and lined-out root-stocks does not fall within the minimum and maximum areas specified. It is also provided that grant may be reduced or withheld where grant-aid in respect of the expenditure has been given otherwise than under the Scheme.

Conditions on the payment of grant are set out in paragraph 6. Proposals must be carried out in a proper manner and in compliance with any conditions imposed by the appropriate Minister at the time of approval or, in relation to any modification made to the proposals, at the time of modification. In addition, for a period of 24 months following the completion of the work the recipient must carry on an agricultural business capable of passing a sufficient livelihood test and in addition occupying not less than 0·05 hectares of land devoted entirely to the growing of plum material for sale.

The Scheme comes into operation on 1st August 1979 and the latest date for application is 31st July 1986.