UK rural property: All change
Your weekly dose of news, views and insight from the world of farming, food and landownership
8 minutes to read
Viewpoint
Fourteen years of Tory rule came to a brutal end last Thursday evening as the General Election exit poll confirmed Rishi Sunak’s worst fears. But looking beyond the sheer scale of Labour’s victory a significant change was the inroads that the party has made into the countryside, traditionally a Conservative stronghold. With a cohort of new MPs with very little farming experience this could be cause for concern. But, if your glass is half full, it’s also an opportunity to shape a pretty blank canvas. Labour had barely 90 words to say about farming in its manifesto. From what we have heard the new Defra minister Steve Reed has been a pretty good listener and has been happy to engage with the likes of the NFU and CLA. It’s now up to landowners and farmers to engage as never before with their new local MPs to ensure they also understand the realities of food production and land stewardship before falling under the malign influence of single-issue culture-war crusaders with blinkered viewpoints.
In other news, after a brief break, the Rural Update has now returned and we will be resuming sending it out weekly. Do get in touch if you have any comments or suggestions for anything you’d like to see included.
In this week's update:
- Grain/oilseeds recovery
- Labour wins big, what now?
- Knight Frank rural wish list
- Where are they now?
- Batters heads to Lords
- Crofting consultation
- Lump sum exit deadline
- Dorset council rewilds
- Share your views and win wine
- Oxygen Conservation podcast
- Farmland values hold firm
- Glorious Borders estate
Commodity markets
Grains/oilseeds recovery
Illustrating how volatile the market is currently, feed wheat and oilseed rape markets have started to stage a bit of a comeback after a slide in June. Concerns about the condition of the French wheat crop and a drop in expected exports from Russia, pepped up values last week, while lower-than-expected yields lopped a million tonnes off the EU’s predicted rapeseed harvest. Trader Frontier suggests that the June sell-off may have been overdone showing just how vulnerable arable farmers are to see-sawing market sentiment.
Headlines
Labour wins big, what now?
A thumping majority for Kier Starmer was hardly a surprise, but the Conservatives defied the gloomiest of the polls to at least keep their place as His Majesty’s Government’s official opposition, although the Lib Dems did bag a record haul of seats. So what does the result mean for farmers and estate owners? Given that Sir Kier dedicated fewer than 100 words to agriculture in his manifesto there’s not much to go on, but we may find out more in the King’s speech on July 17th.
On the positive side we do know that the new Defra Minister Steve Reed has said the government has no plans to tamper with agricultural property relief or introduce right to roam across the country. It would also be surprising if he decides to rip up the SFI environmental programme and a wider party focus on better infrastructure, planning reform, renewable energy (an effective Tory moratorium on new onshore wind has already been scrapped by Chancellor Rachel Reeves) and delivering more housing could be beneficial for some landowners.
However, field sports may come under more intense pressure and farmers could feel the impact of beefed-up environmental legislation, particularly around water pollution. Section 21 no-fault evictions could also be back on the cards and compulsory purchase calculations may exclude hope value. Some commentators worry that new Energy & Climate minister Ed Miliband will be more zealous than pragmatic regarding Labour’s hugely ambitious plans to decarbonise the national grid by 2030.
The more general fear though is that Labour will be more hostile to wealth creators (many of whom own rural businesses) and those it perceives as being able to handle a larger tax burden, its plans to add VAT on school fees being a case in point. At a more basic level the government will not be overloaded with rural experience. Mr Reed, for example, is MP for a constituency in south London. The CLA is already preparing a rural education programme for new MPs, the big question is how inclined will they be to listen?
Read the Knight Frank Research team’s views on what the new government means for the housing market and renewable energy.
Knight Frank rural wish list
Given the aforementioned lack of detail when it comes to Labour’s plans for farming we asked members of our rural property teams what their words of advice would be to Sir Kier if they were riding a lift together for a few minutes. Here is a short selection of their thoughts:
Tom Barrow, Valuations – Confirm that APR will be available on farmland used for approved environmental schemes
John Williams, Rural Consultancy – Don’t underestimate the economic benefits of country sports
Ross Houlden, Rural Consultancy – Focus on ‘resilient’ woodland creation, not just broadleaves
Anna Collins, Rural Consultancy – Reform planning to allow rural communities to be more sustainable
James Shepherd, Rural Consultancy – Keep mandatory BNG to retain investor confidence
Katharine Beswick, Rural Consultancy – Ensure support for farmers focuses on food production as well as the environment
Mark Topliff, Agri-consultancy – Don’t mess around with SFI, but enhance some of the options
Henry Clemons, Agri-consultancy – Provide more grants and loans to aid the set up and establishment of new businesses
Charlie Dugdale, Residential development – Remove the 50% affordable threshold for greenbelt release and replace with a viability test
Stuart Baillie, Planning – Develop a coherent rural and urban strategy for housing based on national and regional delivery targets
Where are they now?
As mentioned earlier, last Thursday’s general election cull meant a sharp drop in the number of MPs with significant rural experience. That got us thinking, what has happened to the 10 MPs who served as Defra minister during the Conservative’s 14 years in power? The answer: only one, the final Tory incumbent Steve Barclay, remains. While some might argue mischievously that this hardly constitutes a rural brain drain, it does highlight a general trend that rural lobbyists will have to deal with.
In brief
Batters heads to Lords
Minette Batters who recently stepped down as President of the NFU after leading the farm lobby group for six years will continue to fly the flag for farmers after receiving a peerage in the dissolution honours list. She will sit in the House of Lords as a crossbencher. Margarett Beckett, the first Defra minister after the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was merged with the energy brief in 2002, has also been elevated to the Lords as a Labour peer after stepping down as an MP prior to the general election.
Crofting consultation
The Scottish government is undertaking its first reform of crofting legislation since 2010 in a bid to make the sector more sustainable and easier to enter. It says too many crofts are in the hands of people unwilling or unable to work their land. Anybody with an interest in the reforms can have their say as part of a public consultation that closes on September 2nd. Some of the proposed reforms include allowing crofting tenancies to be held between two parties and making it easier for crofters to undertake peatland restoration and other environmental projects on the country’s 1.2 million acres of common grazing land
Exit scheme deadline
Farmers looking to take advantage of Defra’s lump sum exit scheme may still be able to join even if they have missed the deadline for submitting final evidence to the Rural Payments Agency, reports Farmers Weekly. The scheme gave farmers looking to retire or exit the industry the opportunity to receive their remaining Basic Payment Scheme entitlements in a lump sum, but apparently a quarter of the 2,000 or so who registered failed to provide the required information to support their claims by the May 31st cut-off date.
Dorset council rewilds
Local councils are better known for selling off their farming portfolios, but Dorset Council is reported to have just brought an ‘intensive’ dairy farm with the intention of rewilding it. Middle Farm at Higher Kingcombe adjoins a Dorset Wildlife Trust reserve and the council hopes the purchase will reduce nutrient runoff and help nature recovery in the headwaters of the River Hooke. A £4.6 million government grant is believed to have helped fund the purchase. Celebrity farmer Jeremy Clarkson has criticised the move.
Share your views and win wine
The latest instalment of Knight Frank’s annual Rural Sentiment Survey is now live and, as usual, everybody who takes part has the chance to win a case of award-winning English wine. This year it’s an amazing dry rose from the Folc winery. Just click on this link to take the survey – it should only take five minutes.
Knowledge exchange
Oxygen Conservation podcast
Our former Head of Rural Research Andrew Shirley has moved on to pastures new, but while he was still with us he was a guest on the Oxygen Conservation Shoot room Sessions podcast where he talks about life at Knight Frank and our approach to research and rural issues. You can watch it here.
Knight Frank research
Farmland prices hold firm
The farmland market in England and Wales shrugged off the potential impact of the recent general election to register another quarterly price increase, according to the latest results from the Knight Frank Farmland Index. Average values nudged up by almost 1% in the second quarter of the year to hit £9,335/acre. For more insight and data please download the full report.
On the market
Glorious Borders estate
It’s off to the Scottish Borders this week with the launch of the 8,070-acre Bowland Estate near Galashiels. Centred around a striking 16-bedroom Tudor Gothic Mansion, the picturesque estate offers numerous farming, sporting and renewable energy opportunities, plus the option to acquire the Barony of Bowland title. There are six standalone farms of various sizes plus 4,408-acre Caddonhead Moor, which features 16 grouse butts. The estate is guided at £35 million for the whole or is available in eight lots. For more information please contact Will Matthews, Head of Knight Frank’s Farms & Estates’ team.