Planning shake-up will give lift to rural economy, says report
Planning shake-up will give lift to rural economy, says report
By Isabel Davies
A RADICAL shake-up of planning rules in order to encourage economic development in rural areas would help farmers and the countryside, a government report has claimed.
The report, Rural Economies, has been prepared for the Cabinet Office and will form the basis of next years Rural White Paper. It recommended restrictions preventing building on agricultural land should be removed.
And it argued the time when it was necessary to maximise food production and protect the best and most versatile (BMV) land as a resource for future generations had past.
In order to assist farm diversification projects, the report suggested easing restrictions on converting redundant farm buildings to commercial use.
Farmers wanting to develop land are prevented from doing so even if the change would produce economic, social and environmental benefits, it said.
The report claimed much of rural policy had its roots in post-war Britain and needed modernising.
"The values, beliefs and behaviours on which post-war policy was based have not proved permanent.
"Social and economic trends have combined to produce a fundamental change in views of what the countryside is for and in values and priorities for public policy."
And in a revealing glimpse of the governments plans for farming and the future of the countryside, the report laid out a vision for farming in 2010. "England will enjoy an agricultural industry that can compete and survive and thrive in the 21st century, with farmers becoming rural entrepreneurs who can diversify their businesses to reflect market demand and their sources of commercial advantage," it claimed.
Farmers must rely less on production subsidies, contribute more to the environment and focus on new and emerging markets. There must also be an improved relationship between farmers and their customers so farmers provide more of what the public want in the way the public wants it, it concluded.
Addressing the future of support for hill farmers, the report recommended that the government should make additional Less Favoured Area support entirely conditional on a farmer participating in an agri-environmental scheme.
Brian McLaughlin, head of the NFUs environment and land use department, said anything that helped to encourage diversification and refocus enterprise was welcomed. But how central government policy was interpreted at a local level would be an important issue.
Julian Sawyers, a spokesman for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said the proposal to remove the special protection for agricultural land made little sense at a time when the government was trying to encourage development on brownfield sites.
"Prime quality soils are a non-renewable source and vital to the development of a more sustainable and organic agriculture," he said. *