News

The CAAV office will be closed for Christmas from lunchtime on Tuesday 22nd December until Monday 4th January 2021

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 10th December 2020 As the CAP becomes part of the UK’s past, whatever the outcome of the current impasse with EU, so we have to look at the work to come. In England, the Transition Plan sets the direction but there is much work in its implementation with new tenancy regulations, consultations on the lump sum payment option for 2022 and then de-linking in 2024, the ELM Pilots starting in 2021, the development of the...

The Agricultural Transition Plan - the biggest shake-up in farming policy for over 50 years Jeremy Moody reviews the government’s new Agricultural Transition Plan which lays out the roadmap for phasing out direct payments (Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)) and phasing in the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme and productivity schemes. Also available on Apple, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Catch-up on previous episodes here....

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 26th November 2020 What drives asset values? The basic answer is supply and demand, encapsulating human behaviour. Demand is often the key driver and supply the key constraint, with value where people want something rather than because someone has it to sell. Markets, summarising people’s thoughts, hopes and fears, express the balance between them and ever-changing prices influence actions. That restless movement guides...

The CAAV has been reviewing the arrangements for the November examinations in light of the developing situation with the Covid-19 virus and has prepared the following documents to assist candidates: - Arrangements for taking the Examinations under Coronavirus restrictions Examination Conditions for Remote Examinations – Supplementary Guidelines...

This blog by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 5th November 2020 England today joins Wales and Northern Ireland with new country-wide restrictions on social and economic life while Scotland’s Tiers were introduced on Tuesday, all responding to a rising Covid-19 incidence. Each country has struck its own difficult balance between disease control and continuity of activity and business. Ireland, France, Belgium and others have taken severe measures. This English lockdown...

A meeting tomorrow is to review the developing situation with the pandemic, including the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday evening of England-wide restrictions. We will circulate briefing after that on the approach being taken. With plans laid for the examinations to be held remotely, all candidates were e-mailed last week to ask them to: arrange a venue where they could take the papers in examination conditions test their link to the portal being used for this confirm to the...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 29th October 2020 With barely 60 days to the end of the EU transition period, we need to look at the dynamics for business change as domestic policies take effect. All new schemes – productivity, resilience, land management, environment, animal welfare and so on – would be funded from the one pot of money, level until 2024, putting Basic Payment rates under pressure. The potential rewards from productivity...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 22nd October 2020 The coronavirus pandemic and the measures to manage it perplex the more as it goes on. All, including government, are trying to understand it as it evolves while, over time, the challenge in balancing business and health seems to become more difficult. It now looks more complex than the simple hit and then recovery, with a V-shaped model for the economy, assumed at first. “Herd immunity” seems...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 15th October 2020 This has been a year of challenge, resilience and adaptation in keeping business going in the face of Covid-19. Business change has accelerated sharply, managing remote working and adopting new technologies. The longer the restrictions last the more some changes might remain afterwards, as we find a balance between old and new ways. The businesses that adapt successfully will be there for the future. The...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 8th October 2020 Over 4 years after the Referendum, we seem finally to be on the brink of new policies being introduced after the EU transition period ends with New Year’s Eve, with increasing effects on clients and for professional work for them. The Agriculture Bill, providing policy powers for DEFRA, Wales and Northern Ireland, is in its final stages before Royal Assent, perhaps completed in the next few days....

An independent review will consider ways to improve transport connections by road, rail, air and sea across the whole of the UK. Sir Peter Hendy's review, which is due to report in summer 2021, will look at the potential feasibility and economic case of options for: Reviewing air links within the UK Exploring the cost, practicality and demand for a new fixed link between Great Britain and Northern Ireland Boosting road and rail links to Scotland Cutting journey times to North Wales by...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 1st October 2020 Last Monday (28th September) saw two press reports illuminating possible futures. The widely publicised one was the Prime Minister’s “30 by 30” pledge to increase the area of the UK devoted “to nature” to 30 per cent by 2030. The one tucked away in the financial pages was the government’s support for insect farming companies, producing black soldier fly larvae in sheds as poultry and fish feed....

Having an arbitrator is about to be made more practical, as the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV) launches its service Facilitating Dispute Resolution. The Agriculture Bill is to give the CAAV the power to appoint arbitrators in England and Wales, meaning it can now appoint official arbitrators in farm tenancy disputes. With that proposed standing, the CAAV is also developing a broader service – launched at the CAAV’s Annual Conference - for all forms of dispute resolution...

The Welsh Government has made £7.4 million available for improving access to the countryside, investing in green infrastructure and improving sustainability. The funds will be awarded to National Parks, AONBs and Local Authorities. Further details can be found on the Welsh Government website.

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 10th September 2020 We are now 16 weeks to the end of the EU transition period. If a deal is to be in place for 1st January, it needs substantial agreement by mid-October. This week has highlighted the possibility that the negotiating mandates preclude a deal acceptable to both the UK and the EU. Aside from fisheries, the major problems are understood to lie around the relationship between future UK rules and evolving EU...

The Prince's Countryside Fund has opened registration for the Prince's Farm Resilience Programme 2020. The Programme enables family farm businesses to access free business skills and environmental training to help improve business viability. More detail can be found on the PCF website where there is a link to register interest in taking part....

England's Housing Minister Robert Jenrick has announced £11.5 billion of new funding for affordable homes in England which is intended to deliver 180,000 homes in the period to 2026. The homes will be a mix of tenures, including a new Shared Ownership model and affordable rented property. Further information can be found on the GOV.UK website.

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 3rd September 2020Most of farming faces the same economic problems as it faced before the pandemic. The poor harvest emphasises the concerns about poor cash flow as farming goes into 2021, facing whatever may come as the EU transition period ends.That draws attention to the long run issues of poor profitability and productivity growth that might now be tackled more effectively. Recent DEFRA data show that barely...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 27th August 2020 With the long, fraught arguments over telecommunications masts, the last fortnight has doubled the number of Tribunal decisions on valuation, developing a picture of what Tribunals consider to be the main arguments. CTIL v Fothringham (in the Lands Tribunal for Scotland) follows EE v Islington in considering the rent for a new Code agreement. Vodafone v Hanover considers the rent on the renewal of a lease...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 13th August 2020. The proposals in the two planning consultation papers issued last week for England appear to be a genuinely radical shock for the system. They go much further than the zoning proposals of the headlines, shaking the 70 year old foundations of planning and what local planning authorities do. Focussed on housing, rather than other development, the force of the proposals lies in their approach to housing...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 6th August 2020 A month ago, I wrote here:“The interruption to public life and the economy created by the pandemic is now both a prompt and political cover for change in the planning system that would be more controversial in other circumstances.”Today’s White Paper on the English planning system follows the recent extensions to permitted development rights. We need to look clearly at what has been put on the table.It...

The Government has published its planning White Paper: Planning for the Future. A public consultation runs until 29th October 2020.

The Government has released details of hundreds of projects which will be supported by the £900 million Getting Building Fund in England, including housing development, regeneration schemes, education and healthcare projects. The projects will be delivered through LEPs and details can be found on the GOV.UK website....

Part One of the National Food Strategy has been published and can be found at https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/.

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 23rd July 2020 George Eustice, DEFRA Secretary of State, has consistently argued that the opportunity of Brexit is to “do policy better”. As developing post-Brexit policies and the emerging post-Covid policies blend, he has now set this argument out for environmental policy. Those concerned with the management of rural land should see the scale of the ambition for such issues as biodiversity, water quality and air...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 16th July 2020 We have this year seen parts of the modern economy unravel, enormous injections of public money to support continuity, the acceleration of business change and the possibility of working with virus restrictions for some time to come. The response to that has been to focus on re-growing the economy and unlocking productivity improvement in the wider economy. With a probably smaller economy next year, there may...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 9th July 2020 Much of members’ work is about advising and negotiating for parties to achieve an agreement. Sometimes it needs a third party to help them or to decide the matter. That is dispute resolution. That help may come from early neutral evaluation or from a mediator; the answer may come from an expert or an arbitrator. With the Agriculture Bill’s proposal for the President of the CAAV to have statutory status...

It is being widely reported in the press that tomorrow (8th July) Chancellor Rishi Sunak will announce a Green Homes Grant, which will offer grants to homeowners to improve insulation in their property. We will provide further briefing to members when full details are known.

The Prime Minister has made a speech setting out an ambitious programme to drive the economy forward in the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. In it he pledged to tackle investment in schools and hospitals, build flood defences and plant 30,000 ha of trees per year and to invest in transport infrastructure, including a study of transport links to the four countries of the United Kingdom. The Government press release can be found on the GOV.UK website....

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 25th June 2020 UK agriculture typically earns some £22 billion from food production and draws some £3 billion in subsidies with an ex-subsidy surplus of £1 to £2 billion. Looking more closely, of that £22 billion of farming’s commercial activity, in descending order: almost 20 per cent comes from dairying with BPS equal to 6% of sales almost 20 per cent from grazing livestock with BPS equal to 34% of sales...

Advice and guidance on how the Tribunals across the UK are dealing with cases during the Covid-19 restrictions is available online. This includes information for applicants on how to submit applications during the restrictions and what level of service is currently being supported. In most cases there are likely to be delays in acknowledging and handling applications while most staff are still not working in their usual offices. The use of email is encouraged rather than post. For England and...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 18th June 2020 The Agriculture Bill, moving to its Committee stage in the House of Lords, means that the CAAV is working to be ready for the President’s role as a statutory appointer of arbitrators under the 1986 and 1995 Acts. That work is also looking more broadly at all forms of dispute resolution, with a wider application than tenancies and across the United Kingdom. The aim is a service to the rural economy that...