FARMERS and land managers on Dartmoor are being invited by Natural England to book onto its clinic at Meldon Village Hall today (Thursday) to help them fill in the paperwork to access Uplands Entry Level Stewardship funding.

Uplands ELS is a voluntary scheme that started in July this year. It encourages hill farmers to take up simple yet effective land management options that benefit both the farm business and natural environment.

The scheme replaces the previous Hill Farm Allowance funding stream. Uplands ELS supports hill farmers with payments of up to £62 per hectare and agreements run for five years with payments every six months.

Natural England, the government independent advisor on the natural environment, also held a similar clinic yesterday at Moretonhampstead.

Chris Bramall, a Natural England land management adviser in the South West said: 'Feedback from farmers who have entered Upland ELS indicates the main stumbling block to accessing the new funds has been filling in the application forms, so we are here to help with clinics such as the one at Meldon.'