RPA ruling to protect ‘ghost’ building ruins transition plan

A West Country farmer who wanted to help improve the environment and encourage a local entrant into agriculture has been stymied by a Rural Payments Agency (RPA) ruling.

Andrew Goodridge farms about 100ha at South Duryard Farm, Cowley, in south Devon.

He applied to convert conventional arable land into pasture under Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme grassland option GS4 (Legume and herb-rich swards).

Mr Goodridge is 75 and wanted to hand over the running of the land to help the young farmer get a foothold in agriculture.

Meanwhile, he planned to continue managing a woodland area on the farm, which he has owned for 30 years.

But the RPA has thrown out a crucial part of the application because it has found old records of historic cob buildings on the land.

See also: 2023 Countryside Stewardship opens with changes to expand the scheme

Those buildings were demolished and removed as long ago as 1905. 

“There is nothing left of the old buildings at all – the land has been under the plough for the past 60 years and no material is ever brought up,” said Mr Goodridge.

Local council historians have also backed the application because there is nothing left of the buildings to protect. 

Yet the RPA is insisting that a 518sq m part of the field be fenced off around the empty area where the historic building used to be.

“If I don’t fence off the area, I won’t comply with the stipulations for the stewardship agreement,” Mr Goodridge explained.

“Effectively, the decision means the land we wanted to put into grassland would have to be divided into two smaller fields,” he said.

Hopes dashed

Without the CS payments on the planned grassland, Mr Goodridge said he had been left with no option but to continue to plough up the area under an arable rotation.

The decision means an end to Mr Goodridge’s plan to step back from the day-to-day running of the land.

“It has also dashed the hopes of a young, new entrant farmer who wanted to use the land for stock grazing.

“At the same time, the agency is preventing the whole area being farmed under a stewardship agreement, designed to benefit the environment.”

Following dozens of emails, Mr Goodridge voiced his frustration at a situation that he felt could be solved with a face-to-face discussion and common sense.

“It doesn’t help the environment and it doesn’t help one farmer who is willing to hand over the reins to help young people get a start,” he said.

RPA response

A spokesman for the RPA said the agency did not comment on individual CS applications, but insisted that “since their introduction more than three decades ago, agri-environment schemes have helped to repair and conserve our rural heritage sites”.

“The agency works closely with landowners to ensure the protection of valuable historic sites, and has an established process for dealing with dissatisfaction on decisions they have made – including on CS agreement eligibility,” said the spokesman.

While option GS4 is not permitted on sites with historic or archaeological features because the management involves ground disturbance and potential damage to the features, the RPA points out there are other grassland management options available.