The State Opening of Parliament took place earlier today and the Queen's Speech set out the government's agenda for the next session of Parliament. It outlined 29 Bills, including the reintroduction of the Agriculture Bill and the Environment Bill. Further information is available in the Queen's Speech December 2019 background briefing notes....
Three estate agents in Berkshire have been fined a total of more than £600,000 for establishing a cartel to set minimum commission rates for residential property sales. A fourth agent involved in the cartel avoided a fine by reporting the activity to the Competition and Markets Authority. The CMA has a Stop Cartels campaign, details of which can be found at https://stopcartels.campaign.gov.uk/
The RPA has made BPS 2019 payments to over 92.4% of claimants (approximately 79,000) during the first two weeks since the payment window opened on 2nd December 2019. Further details are available on the GOV.UK website.
The Prince's Countryside Fund and Forest Holidays have joined together to offer a £5,000 start-up grant to a rural entrepreneur for a new rural business venture. The closing date for applications is 6th March 2020 and further details are available on the Prince's Countryside Fund website.
DEFRA has confirmed that Low Pathogenic Avian Flu (H5 strain) has been found on a chicken farm near Athelington in Mid Suffolk. A 1km restriction zone has been placed around the affected farm. Further information is available on the GOV.UK website.
The RPA has started making BPS 2019 payments to farmers in England from today (2nd December). A press release is available on the GOV.UK website.
The RPA has begun making BPS 2019 payments to farmers in England from today (2nd December). A press release is available on the GOV.UK website.
CAAV Members can benefit from a discounted ticket price to attend the inaugural Cultivate Conference which takes place on Wednesday, 29th January 2020, at Heaton House Farm, near Macclesfield. Why attend? Change is a constant factor, never more-so than in the rural and agricultural sector. Cultivate is an inaugural business growth conference focused on helping rural businesses and individuals with a growth mindset to innovate further, to collaborate and to thrive. It’s your opportunity to...
Take a look at the video of Jeremy Moody's presentation on 'Preparing for Change' at the Innovation & Diversification Wales event. View Video
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Anyone wanting to claim agricultural property relief from Inheritance Tax on a farmhouse or business property relief as a farmer must be actively farming in the last years of life, a recent Tribunal has confirmed. According to the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV), the First Tier Tribunal decision in Charnley v HMRC demonstrates the need for clear evidence to show that the farmer is actively farming in their final years to benefit from such tax relief. In this case, HMRC...
Telecoms operators, trying to slash rents on mast sites, may have been using the wrong legal procedure in pressing for the renewal of leases, according to a recent Upper Tribunal decision. In the case of CTIL v Ashloch and AP Wireless, a rooftop mast site was let on a business lease to Vodafone which was then transferred to CTIL. The original lease pre-dated the new Electronic Communications Code and therefore fell under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, explains Jeremy Moody, secretary and...
Wales' Rural Affairs Minister, Lesley Griffiths, has confirmed that the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in Wales will continue in 2021 (subject to available UK government funding), meaning the transition to the proposed new Land Management Programme would not start until 2022. A news release is available on the Welsh Government website.
The Government has announced that it will offer grants of up to £5,000 to help make homes and business premises more resilient to future flooding. The funds will be available through local authorities from the end of November. Further details are available in the Government press release.
The Government has announced that householders and businesses "which have been intensely affected by the flooding" will be eligible for 100% relief from business rates and council tax for the next 3 months. Further detail is available on the GOV.UK website.
Wales' Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government, Hannah Blythyn, has announced an additional £4m funding for 2019/20 to assist National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) in Wales with delivering key improvements. Further details are available on the Welsh Government website.
The Government has announced that the Farming Recovery Fund will be extended to offer funding to farmers affected by the recent flooding in Yorkshire and the Midlands. This Fund was opened again earlier this year following the flooding over the summer in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire and it will allow farmers to apply for between £500 and £25,000 to cover non-insurable items such as removing debris from agricultural land and reinstating field boundaries. Details of this extended fund are being...
The government has issued an update on the current flooding situation in England and the work being done by the Environment Agency, emergency responders and local authorities in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. Please see the GOV.UK website for further details.
The Government has announced a moratorium on fracking in England after the Oil and Gas Authority concluded that it was not currently possible to accurately predict the probability or magnitude of tremors associated with hydraulic fracturing. Fracking operations at Cuadrilla's Preston site were suspended in August when an earthquake measuring 2.9 was recorded nearby. Further information is available on the GOV.UK website....