News, information and updates

It has just been announced that the Welsh Government and Rural Development Programme is to allocate £40m of funds is to a new Welsh farm grant scheme designed to help farmers reduce their carbon emissions and to improve their resilience and competitiveness within the industry, including through new diversification measures.   The scheme plans to distribute […]

The New Year is here and Spring is just around the corner (hopefully?!). Spring is often the best time to look at selling property whether it is bare land, a development opportunity or a residential property as it often looks its best due to the improving weather and the budding fauna and flora. So if […]

The Community Infrastructure Levy, otherwise known as CIL, was introduced by the Planning Act 2008 as a charge on development. The levy provides financial assistance to Local Planning Authorities in England and Wales when delivering infrastructure and development within their areas. The CIL subsequently came into force in 2010 through the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations […]

Land Agent’s, solicitors and accountants are all guilty of highlighting the importance of succession planning by regaling horror stories and anecdotes of what can happen if it all goes wrong. Less frequently do we outline the starting points for a successful succession plan and the documents that are useful and the key areas that need […]

Business rates as they are commonly referred to are actually called Non-Domestic Rates and can therefore apply to property classed as non-domestic whether it is used privately or as part of a business. Non-domestic rates are assessed on the properties annual rental value (rateable value) multiplied by the nationally set multiplier (unless the small business […]

How to get finance for a diversification project. The main issue with financing a farm diversification project is that it often falls outside what traditional lenders are comfortable with.   This is typically because it’s a new venture and the lender is worried about it not working out.  Statistically only half of business start-ups make it […]

Land Agent’s, solicitors and accountants are all guilty of highlighting the importance of succession planning by regaling horror stories and anecdotes of what can happen if it all goes wrong. Less frequently do we outline the starting points for a successful succession plan and the documents that are useful and the key areas that need […]

How to get the Local Planning Authority on Board. With planning policy and controls becoming increasingly stringent, many local business are put off by the idea of large scale development or even redevelopment of their sites. Whilst we are under no illusions that the time and costs of large scale planning can be considerable, it […]

The most common occurrence of when someone needs to access your land is in relation to the installation or the maintenance of a utility company’s equipment such as water pipelines. Within Worcestershire and Gloucestershire the main water company will be Severn Trent and for places like Hereford and Ross on Wye it will be Welsh […]

Cross compliance rules need to be followed all year round and with Inspectors able to arrive at farms unannounced farmers need to be prepared to ensure they are not risking their Basic Payment. When it comes to farm inspections one of the most important points is to never refuse access. Preventing an Inspector from carrying […]