Shaking off the rural blues

A new government promises a raft of changes for agricultural landowners. The Labour landslide has not reached some productive agricultural areas. Setting aside Liz Truss in South West Norfolk, Conservative MPs still represent large areas of Norfolk, Essex, Suffolk, Lincolnshire, Shropshire, rural Cheshire, Devon, Rutland and Cambridgeshire. What is in store for the farmers and other rural land managers? New Defra secretary of state Steve Reed was quick to release a 70-second video on Twitter on 8 July to highlight the new priorities for his department. The five core priorities are: Clean rivers, lakes and seas; Zero-waste economy – a road map to it; Supporting farmers to boost food security; Nature recovery; and Protecting communities from the dangers of flooding. Reed’s ministerial team was completed on 10 July with Daniel Zeichner as minister of state, Emma Hardy as parliamentary undersecretary and Baroness Hayman of Ullock in the House of Lords. What else can we glean about the likely future direction of rural policy? Routine business at Defra has continued pretty much as normal, with announcements on agricultural statistics, diseases, food packaging regulations and support schemes. It has also been National Bees’ Needs Week 2024 (8 to 14 July): a decisive factor no doubt in Rishi Sunak’s decision to call the general election the week before. A decision which may now seem to have a sting in its tail. Planning Early announcements from Rachel Reeves at the Treasury on planning will have far-reaching implications, rural and urban. Onshore wind is now back in favour. We will have a new National Planning Policy Framework. Central government is likely to intervene more in local planning decisions where they are being held up. There is a target to build 1.5m houses during this parliament. Larger onshore wind farms will be subject to development consent order procedures, reducing the scope for local obstruction and interference. These measures reflect the Labour manifesto commitment to double onshore wind, triple solar power and quadruple offshore wind. Land will be needed for all of these plans; there will be new towns; green belts will not be sacrosanct. But all new development will be subject to “golden rules” about the benefits to communities and nature. The manifesto also promised revision of the compulsory purchase system to ensure “fair” compensation, rather than relying on inflated prices based on the prospect of planning permission, for specific types of development scheme. This approach had already been initiated by the previous government where certain schemes could be designated by ministers for compensation to be based on existing use values. The King’s Speech has confirmed we can expect early action on these points. Other manifesto promises A commitment to “rebuild our country”. A promise to reduce food prices by removing barriers to trading. A new National Wealth Fund with the objective of raising £3 of private capital for every £1 of public investment. This money will be used to invest in ports and the supply chain (vital to the food industry); automotive factories; the steel industry; carbon capture (relevant to farming and land use); and the production of green hydrogen. There will also be a 10-year Infrastructure Strategy. A new Regulatory Innovation Office will make sure that regulations and regulators act in a more coordinated way and keep up with developments in artificial intelligence, for example. This should help the farming industry. The cooperative sector will be encouraged. For the keener-sighted there should be rural opportunities here in farming itself, and perhaps even more so in developing extensive environmental projects where several landowners and occupiers can work together. A pledge to replace business rates. The details will be important here. Rural rating is a mess, and there remains uncertainty about the rating effect where land leaves farming for other uses. A commitment to retain corporation tax at 25% for the entire parliament – a further incentive for rural businesses (many of which are sole traders or partnerships) to look again at incorporation. An aspiration to make the UK the green finance capital of the world – more money for rural environmental investments via this route, perhaps? Particularly if we cooperate to offer initiatives on the scale investors will require. A carbon border adjustment mechanism. This sounds complicated but is aimed at the problem that arises when we reduce emissions in the UK by importing higher-emission goods from other countries with lower standards than our own. This could be good for farmers and their fears about cheap food imports. Food security is national security The manifesto also said simply and clearly that “food security is national security”, and commits the public sector to source half of all its food from local producers or those certified to be producing to higher standards. We are also to have a national land use framework. Let us hope that this takes farming seriously by setting targets and standards for agricultural production – not just the lame protection of “best and most versatile land”, but an integrated national food and farming policy which sets targets for the nutritional values and standards we should be achieving from home production as part of our overall work on national food security. This question has been dodged by previous governments in favour of obfuscations about supply chains and their variety. There are to be nine new National River Walks (one per English region) and three new national forests. These are the sort of hard targets we need for farming and food production. There are also commitments to eradicate bovine TB by measures other than culling badgers and a promised ban on trail hunting. A ban will upset many and suggests Labour has not learnt despite Tony Blair’s later regrets about the Hunting Act 2004. There is much to welcome and a little to worry about. Rural interests must make sure they engage and mobilise if they are to shake off their post-election blues. Charles Cowap is a rural practice chartered surveyor and chartered environmentalist Image © Rob Gray/Shutterstock