Jason Beedell
Director, Research
Welcome to our update on key land management, farming, planning and energy issues.
Click here to download the whole update as a PDF
Planning
Positive changes for converting farm buildings to other uses
The Government is bringing forward changes to permitted development rights that allow the conversion of agricultural and storage buildings to residential dwellings. The changes come into effect on 6th April 2018. Dominic Rabb, Minister of State for Housing, stated that the measures would give rural communities “more options to convert agricultural buildings into family homes to better meet local housing needs”. The size of new agricultural buildings allowed under permitted development rights has been increased from 465m2 to a maximum of 1,000m2. Please click here to read our briefing note and call John McLarty if you would like to discuss.
Land management
Scottish Land Commission publishes Land: For the Many Not the Few?
The discussion paper, written by former Labour minister Peter Peacock, suggests limiting the amount of land an individual or business can own, as well as extending land and buildings transactions tax and introducing a new land value tax. It gives examples of community ownership of land as ways of reversing declining populations and empowering local people.
Farming
Agreement on transition period to December 2020 gives more certainty but lots still to agree
The NFU has welcomed the joint withdrawal deal between the UK and EU, which was published on 19 March, as it avoids a cliff edge for the sector. However, it says that there are still many major issues to resolve including a trade agreement (although the UK can now start to discuss agreements with other countries), the Irish border, a system for overseas workers and clarity on farm and environment support post-2020.
Scotland: farm incomes increase for first time in six years
Average incomes on commercial farms have increased by around £12,800 to £26,400, reversing the decline in 2016 and back to 2014 levels.
Environment
Welsh rivers polluted by farm slurry
Six river trusts in Wales have made a formal complaint to the European Commission about agricultural pollution levels in Welsh rivers; the trusts claim it is from farms pouring slurry into the rivers and they have complained to the EC as they do not think that action by the Welsh Government will be sufficient to stop the problem.
UK likely to need new environmental laws post-Brexit, says Gove
He said that a ‘legislative underpinning’ was likely to be needed if the country is to meet its environmental ambitions – his clearest statement yet that new laws will be needed. He was speaking at a Prosperity UK event.
UN World Water Day on March 22 and increasing focus on farming’s use of water
44% of water use in Europe is by agriculture and so its efficient use is important. The EC is investing in research on water efficiency, often linked to precision farming, and has set up a taskforce on water; it is looking at better investment in water infrastructure and better information on how to improve the sustainable use of water in agriculture. An EU-wide platform for on-farm nutrient management which includes satellite data and soil sampling is also planned.
Bird populations in France have fallen by a third – some by two-thirds – over last 15 years
The reasons are thought to include a decline in the insects they depend on, with one study estimating that the number of flying insects has fallen by 80%. Other reasons cited are less woodland, less fallow and more mono-cropping. Unsurprisingly, conservation organisations have said that it is evidence that the CAP is failing the environment and that the EU is in a ‘state of denial’ over the decline.
Telecoms
Businesses and people to get vouchers to contribute to the cost of connecting to fibre broadband
The vouchers, worth up to £3,000 for a business and £500 to individuals, can only be applied for through a local community group scheme, which will pool the value of the vouchers. They are being paid for by Government through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (worth £67m), which is part of the £200m Local Full Fibre Networks programme. The scheme will run until 2021 or until the money has been allocated.
Rural economy
Scotland: Remote Scottish populations to fall a third in 30 years
Research by the James Hutton Institute revealed the working age population in Scotland’s rural areas will plummet by a third by 2046, which could have serious implications for the economy of those areas and their culture. Western Isles, Argyll and Bute and Southern Uplands are among the worst hit.
Government failing rural communities and the environment, says scathing Lords Committee report
The Lords Select Committee document says there should be radical change in how the countryside is looked after, as Defra focusses too much on farming and not enough on the ‘rural affairs’ element of its brief, which the Committee says should be transferred to the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government. The report also says that Natural England is now ineffective following being ‘hollowed out’ by cuts and that the requirement for public bodies to ‘have regard’ to biodiversity when carrying out their functions is ineffective.
Forestry
No cause for alarm on isolated Phytophthora ramorum findings on Sitka spruce
There have been a number of reports in the press about the threat to Sitka spruce from Phytophthora, due to some infected trees being recorded by tree health aerial reconnaissance in 2017. The message from Confor is that the impact is very likely to be localised and minimal, due to Sitka's natural resistance. If you would like to discuss the risk, please call Fenning Welstead.