That seems to be the case everywhere, local councils do what they want regardless of the law for example.
The subsidies are up for review in 2013, if they are stopped 96% of British farmers will go bust (farmers weekly figures not mine). Two thirds of the current EU budget goes on farming, many farmers have been making a fortune, smaller farmers have still been making good money particularly in the med region. It is possible they will cut the subsidies, they are also in talks to bring about free trade with South America, how many farmers, beef or otherwise could compete with them? The agricultural subsidies are to be replaced by subsidies for rural businesses that create employment, if an area will not even allow people to build houses how much money will it receive from the EU, zilch I expect. By the way Organic farms and farms that produce local specialities, rare breads etc receive very much higher funding, as do those that have rare plants growing.