We offer a service to manage the administration of agricultural land owned by local authorities. In doing so we provide a strategy to maximise the financial, social, and environmental returns from that property asset in both the short and the long term. Services offered include:
- Strategic planning, including succession plans for each farm, to advise the local authority about acquisitions and disposals of farm land
- Day-to-day operational estate management, including capital and revenue budget management
- Negotiation and settlement of landlord and tenant issues such as rent reviews
- Reporting and advice on the impact on the estate of changes in legislation
- Investigating the availability of central government and EU grant aid
- Procurement supply chain specialists for repairs, maintenance, and minor works
- Agency for farms available to let to new tenants, or for sale by the local authority
- Communication with tenants, including the production of periodic newsletters
- Advice for tenants on health & safety, conservation issues, farming legislation, diversification opportunities, and sources of external funding
- Maximising the community benefit of the estate, such as improving Rights of Way, enhancing biodiversity, and investigating opportunities for renewable energy
- Woodland management
As a multi-disciplinary consultancy, we can include a wide range of relevant expertise in long-term asset management programmes or individual commissions. This includes land surveying, planning consultancy, and valuations. Our rural management specialists are members of:
- The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
- The Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV)
- The Association of Chief Estates Surveyors (ACES).
Clients
We currently provide the following long-term services:
- Full farm estate management for Norfolk County Council, who have the third largest farm estate in England & Wales. They own more than 16,600 acres of mostly arable land, rented out as 107 equipped farms and a further 82 tenancies for land only.
Click here to visit the Norfolk County Farms website.
- Full farm estate management for Devon County Council, who own nearly 10,000 acres of land with 83 fully equipped residential dairy and mixed livestock holdings.
Click here to visit the County Farms pages on the Devon County Council website.
- Farm estate consultancy services for Cambridgeshire County Council, who own the largest farm estate in the country at 34,000 acres.
- Agricultural Planning advice to Dartmoor National Park
- Agricultural land management and occupation advice to West Devon Borough Council.