TOMORROW is decision day for Malton livestock market as the application for new premises comes before the Ryedale District Council's extraordinary planning meeting scheduled to deal with this application, and other residential development applications submitted by Fitzwilliam Trust Corporation.

The livestock market has been looking for a new home for well over 10 years, with the original long

lease on the existing market ending in 2008. Fitzwilliam Malton Estate has offered various short-term leases since, then but with planning permission for an alternative use on that site they are keen to see it redeveloped.

The farmers of Ryedale should be grateful to the Fitzwilliam Trust Corporation and their developers who are now offering a site as part of a significant commercial development scheme on land adjacent to Eden Camp.

The 17-page report prepared by the planning officer for the planning committee shows strong support for the retention of a market in Ryedale and recommends to the committee that they grant consent subject to a Section 106 Planning Agreement.

The Planning Agreement is not yet drafted but indications have been that the developers must provide a site and finance towards the Market as a condition of building the remainder of the development. This is to be applauded as it recognises that substantial investment is required in new premises which cannot be funded just from the operation of the market and its ancillary activities.

It recognises the benefits to the farming community of an open and transparent method of trading livestock together with the social function as a meeting place for farmers who can otherwise spend long days working on their own. The livestock market can act as the catalyst for a rural business centre and with projections in the planning report for inward investment in excess of £20 million and the creation of 800 jobs it is sincerely hoped that the planning committee back their officers recommendation.

With a site and a planning consent it will then be up to the farming and business community to show they can raise the finance to make it a reality.

 

• DEFRA have now drip fed further details on their website relating to the Greening element of the Basic Payment Scheme next year.

There are still plenty of grey areas in the new 3 crop rule and the need for Ecologically Focussed Areas, and little recognition that drilling is already underway for crops which will be on the Basic Payment application form in May of 2015.

For those who drill part of their farm in the Spring, the need to get down to the finer details of planning is not quite so pressing, but for those farms which do all their drilling in the autumn decisions need to be made. If you are at all unsure I can only suggest you consult your advisor, but from my point of view, I am still reluctant to include hedges and buffer strips in to Ecologically Focussed Areas next year until the Rural Payments Agency can prove that they can map these areas in time to process the payment.

There are other exemptions and quirks in the system and more than one farmer in Ryedale is now sowing down a little more grass such that 75% of his farm is in permanent and temporary grass, and his arable area is under 30 hectares. This has resulted in no requirement for Ecologically Focussed Areas, and an ability to grow one arable crop. There are other quirks in the system available to those prepared to look in to the detail.

 

• There are plenty of Farm Business Tenancies in circulation which incorporate rent reviews in line with the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995. If you are faced with an Agreement which includes this wording it is worth taking the time to consider it’s implications as many agents cannot agree on its interpretation.

Leaving out rents under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 which have their own rent formula a market rent for a Farm Business Tenancy can be construed as comparable to the rent paid by the best bidder when land is put out for tender.

The alternative definition is that the market rent assumes a prudent tenant and a prudent landlord and therefore any tender rent should be discounted by any premium offered within that tender to secure the land. In other words a prudent tenant and a prudent landlord would expect the tenant to make a profit from farming the land.

The Tenant Farmers Association is currently encouraging agents to be realistic in forthcoming rent reviews, but it is not agents, but farmers, who set the market evidence for Farm Business Tenancies. It was Estate Agents who took the blame for significant house price rises 10 years ago, but if agents controlled the market then prices would not have taken such a significant dip after 2007.

Land Agents may be taking the blame from the Tenant Farmers Association for optimistic rent demands, but ultimately it is the market place that will decide.

For those being offered a Farm Business Tenancy with a rent review clause it is possible to explore other review formulas that may be linked to product prices and input costs. It would also be worthwhile understanding the expectations of the landowner as that is probably more important than any other factor.