The Welsh Government has published a document on The Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations 2021: tenanted land - frequently asked questions.
The investiture of the CAAV Presidential Team for 2022/2023 took place at the AGM. The team comprises:Simon Alden (National President) Malcolm Gale (Senior Vice-President) Martin Hall (Junior Vice-President) Biographies of the Presidential Team can be found on our website.
The Progress Report of the Climate Change Committee, published on 28th June (see our website note), highlighted the work still needing to be done to increase woodland planting rates and restore peatland. One challenge is to identify suitable land for these activities. DEFRA, the Forestry Commission and Natural England have today published a Decision Support Framework for Peatland Protection, the Establishment of New Woodland and Re-Establishment of Existing Woodland on Peatland in England to...
Update 30th June: Following further investigation, DEFRA has confirmed that Foot and Mouth and Swine Vesicular Disease have been ruled out, and the restriction zone has been lifted. DEFRA has announced that they are investigating an as yet unconfirmed case of Foot and Mouth in the Norfolk area. As a precautionary measure, an exclusion zone has been put in place. More detail - and updates - can be found on the government’s website. The CAAV will continue to update members....
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 24th June 2022 Somewhere, perhaps seven years ago, the wheel turned and Government thinking on private landlords flipped from respecting valued providers of flexibility in the economy to seeing them more as a problem. Increases in transactions taxes and the removal of Income Tax reliefs particularly affected buy-to-let, until then seen as a valid self-reliant alternative to pressured pension provision but now a mis-direction...
The Scottish Government has opened a consultation on a proposed Biodiversity Strategy. The strategy, which aims to have 'substantially restored and regenerated' biodiversity in Scotland by 2045, targets several outcomes on rural land, including the restoration of peatland, planting more trees and improving water quality. The CAAV will be reviewing the the strategy in more detail....
SUPREME COURT GIVES DECISIONS IN CODE APPEALS The Supreme Court heard appeals in three cases under the Electronic Communications Code in early February: Compton Beauchamp - Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd (Appellant) v Compton Beauchamp Estates Ltd (Respondent) Ashloch - Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd (Appellant) v Ashloch Ltd and AP Wireless II (UK) Ltd (Respondents) “Queens Oak”/ On Tower - On Tower UK Ltd (formerly known as Arqiva Services Ltd)...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 16th June 2022 The Government’s Food Strategy White Paper is better seen as it describes itself: “the beginning of this conversation”, largely focused on the production of food as a business. It may not cover all the social policy strands of last year’s Dimbleby Report and, while affirming the Government’s environmental targets, it was not the place for a full blown environmental presentation. Climate change and...
Edwin Poots has announced the re-opening of two forestry grant schemes for Northern Ireland:The Small Woodland Grant Scheme: support for new native woodlands of 0.2 hectares and larger.The Forest Expansion Scheme: support for native woodland, mixed woodland or commercial conifer woodland 'that can best meet land owners business needs whilst contributing to a living, working, active landscape.' Applications to the Forest Expansion Scheme must be submitted to Forest Service by 31 August 2022. All...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 9th June 2022 The principle of equivalence has long lain at the heart of compulsory purchase compensation. Its inbuilt downward pressure encouraging resistance and so delay and extra cost for projects, George Osborne, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, put it to the Royal Economics Society only seven years ago that “We should change our outdated compulsory purchase regime. Both the LSE Growth Commission and Chambers of...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 1st June 2022 The argument that climate change will bring investment opportunities was sketched in this presentation, Why Investors Need Not Worry about Climate Risk, by Stuart Kirk, HSBC’s Global Head of Responsible Investment to an FT Summit – Turning Talk into Action to Hit ESG Targets – on 19th May. With that billed provocative title, he provoked and was then suspended from his job. Analysis shows banks, under...
Following an announcement in 2021 that part of the Yorkshire Wolds is being considered for designation as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (see our website note of 25th June 2021), Natural England has now established a dedicated website for the proposal. The announcement comes after the Government's response to the Glover Report into protected landscapes (see our website note of 17th January 2022 for more background). As part of a process of consultation, members of the public will be...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 26th May 2022 “Food security” may have differing meanings but one theme at its heart it is to ensure that we have an efficient, competitive farming sector, resilient in the face of the many challenges coming. Improving productivity, achieving profit, is not an alternative to environmental improvement; each complements the other. Improved soil health and farming efficiency in using nutrients answers both economics and...
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has called for evidence to support its annual tariff review of the Green Gas Support Scheme. For more details of the Scheme, see our website note of 23 December 2021. The call seeks evidence on biomethane anaerobic digestion (AD) plant and views on the biomethane market outlook from owners or developers of AD plant and others. Online submissions are due by 10 June 2022....
We have been advised that the Rural Payments system is to be unavailable from 5pm on Tuesday 24th May to 9am on Wednesday 25th May. Users should not access Rural Payments during this time in which the RPA is making critical IT changes for SFI 2022. This is in addition to the regular system downtime which will be from 6pm to 9pm on Wednesday 25th May 2022.
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 19th May 2022 Alongside food and energy, housing is part of “the cost of living crisis”. It poses a particular potent threat to the Government which, now with limited time to the next election, looks to answers for England in the Levelling Up and Renters Reform Bills. It may be disappointed as, having abandoned its recasting of the planning system, these seem to focus on symptoms, not causes. Pressures of prices, rents...
The Compulsory Purchase Association is seeking views from all those who undertake CPO work to assess the health and wellbeing of affected parties. The survey can be completed via this link. The survey closes on 20th May 2022.
At the Balmoral Show, Edwin Poots announced that the application period for a support package for pig producers in Northern Ireland is to open this week (w/c 16th May). The scheme, worth up to £2 million, will make payments to those producers who incurred price penalties on overweight pigs that were outside contract specifications from September 2021 to February 2022 due to the backlog situation on farms. Eligible producers will be contacted by DAERA, and will be invited to apply via Online...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 12th May 2022 England’s Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill was published yesterday, the day after the Queen’s Speech. Already 338 pages, it covers subjects from English devolution to “Combined County Authorities” to the power to review RICS governance and pavement licences. With a mixture of complex provisions and enabling powers requiring later regulations to give them shape, most aspects will require careful...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 5th May 2022 “Government has set an ambitious new target to raise at least £500 million in private finance to support nature’s recovery every year by 2027 in England, rising to more than £1 billion by 2030.” (Nature Recovery Green Paper, March 2022) Those are large and round figures. Where might this money come from and why? How might any of this be defined and monitored? The three major current topics each have...