DEFRA and red tape

It seems hard to credit that farmers were until recently banned from carrying out simple maintenance of ditches without applying to the Environment Agency for consent.

This is an example of the ridiculous red tape that can be imposed without understanding the consequences and I welcome the news that DEFRA secretary Liz Truss has seen the error of this crazy policy.

As a result farmers across England can now undertake low-level work on their own land without needing to seek EA consent. DEFRA recognised the paperwork was an unnecessary burden on farmers and this would allow the EA to focus their efforts on wider strategic flood-risk management.

The exemption only applies to man-made ditches, land drains, agricultural drains and previously straightened watercourses but it does not apply to natural rivers.  This will be particularly welcome on the Somerset Levels where the maintenance of ditches is vital to the farming systems.

The new flood risk activity permits allow farmers to dredge and maintain ditches up to 1.5km long without needing to fill out extensive forms.

Liz Truss said the government wanted to ensure farmers had the right conditions to thrive, which would include providing them with the means to protect their land from flooding.

“That is why we are cutting red tape for our hard-working farmers,” she said, “reducing flood risk and allowing them to do low-level maintenance work without unnecessary paperwork.”

DEFRA are keen to emphasise that this empowers local people with the best knowledge of local risks of flooding to clear waterways themselves.

However, strong safeguards will still be put in place to limit the impact of some activities – for example protecting Sites of Special Scientific Interest and spawning fish.

The move to relax the rules follows successful pilot schemes run over the last couple of years which showed that farmers and landowners can carry out this work in an environmentally sensitive way.

So we have a sensible relaxation of unnecessary red tape destined to achieve very little for anyone and no doubt the EA do not have the staff to enforce such rules.


James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk

Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership

Bureaucrats do enjoy creating clunky names and here is a fine example. But keep reading as this one has money to give away.

The Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (HotSWLEP), which covers Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay is one of 39 LEPs created across the country following the Coalition Government’s Local Growth White Paper of October 2010.   

They replaced the role of the Regional Development Agencies which were disbanded simultaneously but the LEPs have taken too long to develop anything like an effective role.
This is largely because the Government gave little or no guidance, leadership or financial support to help the LEPs develop. 

The HotSWLEP (a snappy little acronym) is a partnership managed by a voluntary board consisting of business leaders, alongside representatives from local government and educational institutions. They work together to lead and influence the economy of Devon, Somerset, Plymouth and Torbay by improving economic growth and job creation.

The HotSWLEP’s key achievement has been the award of the highest allocation of funding in the country in the second round of the Growth Deal - £65.2 million - and the LEP aims to use this to deliver transformational growth in the South West.

However, the big question for most businesses is how can we access any of this money?
In recognition of this difficulty the HotSWLEP is about to launch a new Growth Hub which will be available for all businesses, whatever size or sector, to include farmers and other rural businesses, in the Heart of the South West area.  

The Growth Hub will be a single point of contact, free at the point of access, for all businesses seeking advice and support on any issues relating to the operations and aspirations of their business and signposting to international, national or local resources. 

Enquiries can be about anything that business owners may wish to ask - whether they are looking for information on new funding opportunities from grants or loans, where to go for tax advice or help with their expansion plans, innovation or export. 

A core value of the Heart of the South West Growth Hub is to simplify the often confusing range of local and national, public and private sector business support services that are on offer in the UK, so that businesses can make an informed choice about what type of support is best for them. 

The signposting service is offered free as part of the HotSW LEP’s Growth Deal funding, and the expert business support advisors will be on hand to deal with questions themselves or refer to experts in specialist areas.

Providing a top-quality, seamless business support service is a major part of the HotSWLEP’s strategy to generate transformational economic growth through a range of initiatives that will help businesses grow, including infrastructure improvement, skills development and inward investment.

Businesses can email info@heartofswgrowthhub.co.uk or phone 03456 047 047 to register their interest. Alternatively visit the interim website and complete our business support enquiry form: http://www.heartofswgrowthhub.co.uk/register-your-interest/


James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk

The question of BREXIT - British Farming

BREXIT – this is a debate with a very simple question but an extremely difficult answer as the same evidence can be interpreted by both sides to come to a seemingly credible and yet totally opposite conclusion.

This is because no one has ever taken such a leap in the dark, and with all such leaps you cannot tell whether there is a feather bed or a heap of jagged rocks awaiting our landing.

For agriculture you would have thought the debate is relatively simple. UK farmers receive more than £3bn of support payments a year from the EU, more than 60 per cent of our agricultural exports go to EU countries and increasingly farmers rely on foreign workers to staff their farms.  So you would have thought that of any cohort of the UK population, farmers would want to stay in the EU.

I am surprised that farmers are not more positive about staying, despite these significant benefits.  At a farmers’ meeting I chaired at the Bath and West Showground I asked how many of them had made up their minds one way or another and less than a third put up their hands.

The main reason I think farmers are undecided is that although they benefit from support payments and open access to the largest single market in the world, they also perceive that their costs are hugely increased by the regulation and red tape they must comply with to receive these benefits.

There is absolutely no doubt that the EU does create a huge amount of pointless red tape – I appreciate this only too well having to deal with the Rural Payments Agency on a daily basis.

However I caution those who think all such red tape will miraculously disappear if we leave the EU.  First there will be a prolonged period of adjustment of our own laws as we extricate ourselves from all the EU regulations which have become embedded in UK law and we may discover our bureaucrats are equally good at creating red tape as their European equivalents.

For example, it is not the EU that has protected badgers, which in the eyes of many farmers has contributed to the devastating rise in TB in cattle in our country. This is an entirely home grown law.

So although I am sure the UK would survive the leap in the dark, we would break a few bones on the way.  The big question is how long we would have to convalesce before we can walk again, or if all goes well, break into a gentle jog.

James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk

Elizabeth Truss blinded by last year's stats

Last week I read a news item released from a recent government report entitled “Making the food and farming industry more competitive while protecting the environment”

The headline was that, “The UK agricultural industry is going from strength to strength in its contribution to economic growth, with new statistics revealing that increased production and prices boosted farming income to £5.6 billion last year”.

It was stated that total income from farming rose by 15%, between 2012 and 2013 as the industry stepped up its output of top-quality food.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said, “These figures underline that food and farming really is a powerhouse of the UK economy. From potatoes to poultry, our farming industry is showing that it is leading the way in producing top-quality food that is desired across the world. Our farming sector employs over 400,000 people and their success is helping us deliver the government’s long term economic plan.

We know British consumers value British food but we want UK farming to be a world-leader, exporting quality products far and wide as well as thriving on the home front. Our push for better food labelling across Europe is just one of a host of ways we are working to help this crucial sector to grow and drive growth.”

However, I do hope that Elizabeth Truss understands that this rosy picture represents a “snapshot” from the past, before the world commodity markets took a nose dive plunging many farmers in to a very different situation today from that which existed only a year ago.

It is true that in 2013 commodity prices were reasonably high and the weather in the UK was certainly better than was experienced in the very wet summer of 2012. So in general farm incomes did rise in 2013, but 2014 has proved to be a very different scenario.

First the beef sector plummeted during last spring and summer which was followed by dramatic falls in cereal prices. Both these markets have made modest recoveries in recent months but the dairy sector is in freefall, with many farmers now being paid 8-10p/litre less for their milk than they were being paid in the spring.

So I trust Elizabeth Truss is not being blinded by last year’s statistics and that she has real grasp of the difficult situation which is affecting many farmers in the UK at present. There may be little that she can do about world market prices but there are things government should do to ensure the retail giants are prevented from passing cost savings down the food supply chain in an unfair manner so as to bolster their dwindling profits at the cost of primary producers.  

James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk