With some cash-strapped local authorities increasingly eyeing-up the value of their county farms, and the pressure on at rent review for similar reasons, there was a timely announcement of a renewed NFU focus on the tenanted sector this morning.
Speaking during a breakfast session, Deputy President Meurig Raymond revealed measures to strengthen links between the organisation’s council and its regional tenant representatives. The sector will also get a dedicated hotline to the call centre and a repeat of the successful tenant-specific conference is planned for November, this time with a larger capacity.
And, following a series of meetings with farmers and institutional landlords up and down the country, the NFU will shortly publish a new blueprint for the future, the Strategy Around Tenants.
Topping the list of items there will be the future of county farms, particularly in a climate of cuts to the public sector. This will be a ‘huge issue’, said Mr Raymond.
NFU rural surveyor Louise Staples added: “We’ve been involved in Somerset, then back in November Gloucestershire announced that they had carried out a review and were looking to raise £25 million and then just last week it was Flintshire and Lincolnshire.”
Mr Raymond said: “Maybe if county councils are struggling for cash they should sell off the whole lot to a larger landlord rather than doing it piecemeal.”
The NFU had also been working hard to represent the sector in discussions with the banks, particularly over the ‘huge financial losses’ recently suffered by sugar beet producers.
The importance of the NFU’s Legal Assistance Scheme to the tenants was much also stressed – and echoed from the floor, with personal accounts of successful interventions.
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