December is turning out to be an exciting month and I was pleased that the first message I received at 6am on 1st December was from an ecstatic claimant to tell me their BPS has landed. Whilst it’s commonly known that claims of less than £30,000 have reduced by 5% in value this year compared to last year, we have noticed on behalf of some clients that there have been some discrepancies in payment amounts which we’ve had to look in to so it’s worth taking some time to double check your payment amounts. To note, payments are expected to reduce by 20% in 2022 and it will be important more than ever to look at alternative opportunities and income streams.
In terms of replacing the lost BPS monies, Defra have recently released the long awaited Farm Equipment and Technology Fund which is open for applications until midday 7th January 2022. Top of the list seems to be the 10 metre dribble bar and heat recovery units but there is everything from grants towards automatic scrapers, cattle crushes and many more.
In terms of the property market, we’ve had the recent successful tender deadlines for Holme Farm at Carlisle, the 230 acres of land at Windermere and land at Yealand all attracting strong interest and showing good levels of demand for agricultural and amenity property. Coming around next week we have the deadline for the former Linbeck Mill at Ravenglass at 12 noon on Wednesday 22nd December. This week I’ve been working on the sales particulars for a small holding near Kirkby Lonsdale with land, stables and a detached office, along with another one for the equine enthusiasts with an equipped set of stables and 5.5 acres of productive meadow near Dalton in Furness.
In terms of changing legislation and requirements we have recently assisted with a number of SCAIL assessments to assist agricultural planning applications. SCAIL stands for Simple Calculation of Atmospheric Impact Limits and our latest success being a slurry store close to a Natural England SSSI where we were able to justify the need and environmental benefits for the store as well as the farms current mitigation measures to reduce air pollution including automatic scrapers.
Thank you for contacting us, a member of our team will be with you shortly.