LANDPLAN
autumn / winter 2011
the farmland market farmland remains a popular way to invest pg 4
estate management
LANDPLAN
farm security
managing an estate is hard, find out how we can help! pg 10
the recent increase in rural theft is explored pg 14
LANDPLAN bulletin 3
chestertonhumberts.com
Introduction David Hebditch
After a number of difficult seasons for many in the farming industry, I doubt I am alone in feeling UK agriculture has turned a corner in 2011.
Inside this Issue cont ... 6
CAP Review
8
Regional Round-up
15
Private Drainage
Contributors David Hebditch, FRICS FAAV Head of Rural Division Tel: 01823 331234 E: david.hebditch@chestertonhumberts.com Andrew Pearce MRICS Head of Rural Agency in Lincoln Tel: 01522 516830 E: andrew.pearce@chestertonhumberts.com William Worsley President of the CLA E: cla.org.uk David Pardoe, MRICS Director at Chesterton Humberts in Salisbury Tel: 01722 520117 E: david.pardoe@chestertonhumberts.com Harry Baines, MRICS Director at Chesterton Humberts in Stamford Tel: 01780 762849 E: harry.baines@chestertonhumberts.com Jonathan Paul, MRICS Land Agent at Chesterton Humberts in Petersfield Tel: 01730 245245 E: jonathan.paul@chestertonhumberts.com
It is encouraging that over the last twelve months many businesses have finally been able to generate profits following several years of financial pressure and poor returns. The industry is starting to see a true return for livestock and commodities and producers are starting to reap the effort that has been going into their businesses. The reality of improving profits has generated more optimism in the market place with more businesses now looking to invest in their future in a way they were unable to in previous years. The optimism has increased interest in farmland investment with progressive farmers showing confidence in the market and investing in land. Banks are continuing to have confidence in the sector, favouring investment in agriculture because it is a safer option than other businesses. This willingness to invest, coupled with the cost of finance being at an all-time low, is providing landowners and producers with more opportunities. But while it is encouraging to be able to look ahead with confidence rather than dwelling on the disappointments of the past, it is still worth stepping forward with caution. World food production is back on the political agenda, with each of the main political parties in England using their recent annual conferences to push the message that farmers need to produce more whilst using less inputs and reducing their impact on the environment. However, there is legislation in the pipeline which could impact upon the industry and how rural communities operate. There has been much said recently about changes to planning regulations and my concern is it will create a lot of false hopes. Farmers and landowners may be presuming that planning rules will change in favour of development in the countryside, but the
public reaction generated to the plans have indicated the issue is not straightforward. Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy is also likely to impact upon UK farmers – and possibly not for the better. Plans for how the CAP should look post 2013 were unveiled by the European Commission on 12 October and I am not sure whether this country’s farmers are getting a favourable review under them. There seems to be a bias towards newer member states, while the Commission’s intention to ‘green’ direct support payments by holding back a proportion of a farmer’s subsidy until they have complied with environmental measures is slightly concerning. However, while I think we are getting a rough end of the deal at the moment, there is still a long way to run in the negotiations. In terms of more immediate legislation, DEFRA has said its decision over whether to allow a pilot badger cull in an effort to tackle bovine tuberculosis is due to be made within weeks and farmers across England are watching carefully to see what happens. The government is also expected to make its long-awaited announcement on how it plans to cut agricultural bureaucracy after its independent Red Tape Taskforce submitted more than 200 recommendations earlier this year. And in a final cautionary note, it is also worth farmers making sure that they do not fall into the trap of committing to everything and spending too much. Yes, it’s good to be positive, but proceed with care. In the good times it is important to continue to plan and budget and not to take the increased cash flow for granted. The improved profitability of the industry provides huge potential for the future.
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LANDPLAN bulletin
autumn/winter 2011
Farmland Market Update Demand for commercial farmland has continued to drive the market forward during 2011, as ANDREW PEARCE, head of rural agency explains.
This year started off where 2010 ended with farmland values continuing to climb, particularly in the popular parts of the South West and East Midlands. According to the RICS Land Price survey, Grade 3 arable land has risen by an average of 6% during 2011. Demand has outstripped supply with purchasers viewing land as a relatively safe asset when compared with other investments both in the Eurozone and further afield during the current turbulent economic times. As ever there is a wide range of buyers. However, private individuals (particularly farmers) who are keen to expand, continue to make up the greatest proportion, accounting for about 60% of the market. It is anticipated that this demand will continue with farmers feeling bullish, having had a much better harvest than expected, and with commodity prices appearing to remain at high levels for some time to come. Pension funds are also re-emerging within the market. Whereas in the past they favoured investments that were protected by returns from Agricultural Holding Act tenancies, they are now willing to consider purchasing vacant possession farms with the view to letting them out on long term farm business tenancies. This strategy has been reinforced by the steep increase in rents being achieved on arable units (from £150 to £250 per acre) thus offering much improved yields to the investor. Other institutional buyers and individuals are also returning to the market tempted by the prospect of good dividends as well as capital growth. The market is also underpinned by international buyers. There has been clear evidence of both German and Indian purchasers active in the current market. However, supply is nowhere near matching this pent up demand, so most properties are going under offer relatively quickly, provided that price reflects quality.
Fewer farmers need to sell. The increase in commodity prices, both in the arable and livestock sectors, reduced pressure on businesses and thus reduced the supply of farms to the market. However, there are signs that as prices increase some vendors see an opportunity to retire or take some profit from their holdings. This has resulted in some smaller blocks coming to the markets and, in a few cases, substantial holdings of 500 acres or more.
“
There has been a marked increase in private deals which now account for about 25% of sales”
Values for decent arable land range from £5000/acre to twice that amount. Location has become one of the main drivers – investors may want good communication
LANDPLAN bulletin 5
chestertonhumberts.com
Chesterton Humberts Stamford and London Country Department are instructed to sell a 600 acre farm in Lincolnshire on a private
links, while anything with local farmer interest is almost guaranteed a premium.
“
Farms with a strong residential element have been affected by the general downturn in the housing market but remain in demand�
Over the next few months and into 2012, the view is that overall average farmland prices will continue to edge up, albeit more slowly than of late. Chesterton Humberts is seeing some resistance starting to creep into the popular Hampshire/Wiltshire/Dorset area – in one or two cases while sellers are still getting the price they want, there is not the depth of market there was.
There has also been a marked increase in private deals (where the farm is not brought to the open market) which now account for about 25% of sales, especially of larger properties.
However, unless interest rates rise significantly and/or we see a massive increase in supply, both of which appear very unlikely, I believe average prices will continue to rise at about 5% as we move in to 2012.
Farms with a strong residential element have been affected by the general downturn in the housing market but remain in demand, provided they are in the right location. Lifestyle buyers have not gone away but they have become more selective.
Chesterton Humberts is actively involved in both the sale and acquisition of farms and estates throughout the UK. As well as those farms that we have publicly available for sale we also have others which are privately available.
basis. The farm offers an opportunity to create a small country estate with planning consent to construct a large contemporary country house. Productive arable unit and grain storage for 2,000 tons. Contact: 01780 762849 or 020 7594 4746
For further information, please contact: Andrew Pearce, Head of Rural Agency andrew.pearce@chestertonhumberts.com t: 01522 516830
CAP review William Worsely, CLA President
It became clear in early 2010 with the appointment of the French-educated Romanian Dacian Ciolos as Commissioner for Agriculture that the CAP reform path might well depart from that established during the previous 15 years. Ciolos’s predecessors, Fischler and Fischer-Boel, saw the policy evolving from a purely agricultural commodity support policy to a more balanced two-pillar structure. They sought a more market-oriented, productive farming sector combined with a stronger policy to deal with environmental market failures and rural economic diversification. This involved a gradual shift of resources from the remains of commodity support in Pillar 1 to the broader rural – including agricultural – development measures of Pillar 2. The enlargement of the European Union to embrace 12 new member states seems to have stopped this evolution. The focus has switched to an understandable, but unseemly, scramble for redistribution of CAP resources towards the new member states. The Commissioner has then added three poorly conceived attempts to legitimise the CAP: by narrowing the eligibility to claim payments with a new definition of “active farmer”, by suggesting progressive reduction and capping of large payments, and by greening Pillar 1 payments.
These ideas were all clearly signalled in the Commission’s communication in autumn 2010. No interest groups were enthused by the Commission’s ideas. Unfortunately, there was no credible or clear alternative spelled out. The debates in the European Council and in the European Parliament, which now has a stronger formal role in CAP reform negotiations, created no new ideas. This left the Commission clear to plough on with its approach. The CLA has lobbied strongly against the narrowing of the definition of active farmer and, of course, payment capping. We saw some possibility of sensibly greening Pillar 1, if it could be done, for example, by shifting the principles of our Entry Level Stewardship into that pillar. However, we have made no headway with this idea; the Commission’s proposals for mandatory greening are the worst kind of one-size-fits-all approach. We fear they will incense farmers, and still fail to deliver any extra environmental services. It is, therefore, hard right now to see this reform as strengthening the case for the CAP as a well-constructed policy to bring about Food and Environmental Security by assisting farm productivity growth and better protection of climate, soils, water, biodiversity and cultural landscapes. This was and remains our vision for the CAP.
As the details have emerged over this summer we saw an ad hoc series of complex policy changes in the Pillar 1 Direct Payments scheme which will please no one and fly in the face of simplification: • The redistribution takes us only one-
stewardship schemes and the Campaign for the Farmed Environment. This could halt and reverse the gains in environmental management of the past decade. • The idea for Less Favoured Areas offers gratuitous change but no purposeful
third of the way to a fairer share-out of
development of policy to help these areas
resources, and it is far from clear that the
develop their potential.
abysmally low UK share of Pillar 2 funds will be rectified. • The greening elements offer little prospect of additional environmental delivery despite getting considerable extra resources. • The greening will interfere significantly in farming operations for many farms without obvious environmental gain. • The restrictive definition of active farmer and the proposed schedule of payment reduction and capping are highly discriminatory. They will hit farms of equal size and payment to a sharply different extent. They will reverse needed structural change, and discourage improvements in labour productivity. • These proposals will create massive bureaucracy for the affected farms and the Payments Agency, serving no real purpose. • Mandatory greening of Pillar 1 could hugely disrupt English environmental
The changes in the Rural Development Regulation may offer greater flexibility in how Pillar 2 funds are used. Much will depend on the resources the UK secures for Pillar 2, and the outcome of the debate on greening. Overall, this is a disappointing set of proposals. Considerable work is now required over the next 15 months as the proposals are negotiated in the Council and Parliament. The intention is to agree the new legislation by early 2013 and implement the new policy from 1 January 2014. The CLA believes it might be better to take more time over this, and delay the reform to 2015, than to rush these poorly conceived ideas into legislation. William Worsley FRICS is President of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and runs his family estate at Hovingham, North Yorkshire.
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LANDPLAN bulletin
autumn/winter 2011
Regional Round-up There’s nothing like a bit of local knowledge when it comes to understanding today’s land market. Landplan takes a tour of the key regions to find out how the market is shaping up, and why.
In general, they are looking for vacant
possession land with a view to letting out on an FBT. Unlike most farmer buyers
they are happy to buy a house as well,
provided it is to an acceptable standard and in the right location.
How much further prices will rise is uncertain. I suspect there is some
headroom, but once values reach £9,000
-10,000/acre farmers will struggle to
generate enough income to justify that
SOUTH WEST Caroline Lawrence
Associate Director – Truro
amount, even with wheat at £180/t.
However, residential farms are very much more exposed to the wider
housing market and how well they
sell very much depends on location
SOUTH EAST David Pardoe
Director – Salisbury
and quality. Strong farmer interest is maintaining the momentum of the land market and the South West is no exception. Farmers account for an overwhelming proportion of purchases in the region. Many are keen to expand and are receiving the support from the AMC and other lending institutions who see farming as a relatively secure sector. There is good demand across the board (dairy, livestock and arable), though farmer buyers are focussing mainly on bare land to add to existing enterprises. Consequently prices vary widely depending on location rather than quality. Specific issues can fuel the market further - in West Somerset, several farmers are losing land to the new Hinkley Point power station, creating very strong demand in that area. A very recent example to reflect this was the sale of Park Farm, Over Stowey near Bridgwater. Auctioned by our Taunton office, the house and 17 acres sold for £670,000 with a further 96 acres of bare agricultural land sold in 6 lots averaging approximately £11,300/acre. Other auction evidence within the region also suggests that land values are still edging upwards. In my patch in Cornwall a 52-acre block of bare arable land recently achieved around £8,000/acre.
CENTRAL SOUTH Charles Lucas
Director – Marlborough
Strong demand for all types of land has been illustrated by several recent sales in the region. Chesterton Humberts sold a 90-acre block of pasture south of Devizes, divided into several lots, for £9,000/acre in June. On the strength of two recent sales in mid-Wiltshire – one of 700 acres and the other 450 acres, good arable land appears to be priced anywhere between £8,500 and £10,000/acre. A further 400 acres of mixed downland pasture and arable plus house, cottages and buildings north of Marlborough exchanged recently for a bare land price equivalent of £7,500 to £8,000. Much of this is being driven by strong farmer interest, who probably account for about half of current purchases. However investors are increasingly active, viewing land as a relatively secure asset and no doubt attracted by the potential for Inheritance Tax planning.
There have been few commercial farms available for sale in the South East. Although some land has changed hands it has mostly been in small units and has often been sold to neighbours. Because smaller parcels mean smaller headline prices, more people are able to take an interest. This is driving competition and the prices paid per acre are sometimes eye-watering, but do not properly reflect the true commercial land value. Some larger, more commercial, sales have gone through, though. Wet, “sixmonth” pasture has been trading at £6,500/acre, while good grade 3 arable land has been trading at £8,500/acre or more. There appears to be little interest in residential units. There are a few being offered, but the lifestyle buyer has become less of a force in the market in this area, while neighbouring farmers do not want to be saddled with a house and such units are often too small to make starter farms. We are not likely to see a significant increase in supply of commercial units in the near future. Most that we were expecting, have come to the market, so demand for bigger units is now getting very frustrating.
EAST MIDLANDS Harry Baines
Director – Stamford
Demand continues to outstrip supply by a big margin, pushing prices upwards. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to talk about averages, with values becoming more and more dependent on quality and location – and how land-hungry farming neighbours are. At one end of the scale we have acquired 80 acres of very moderate grassland in Rutland for £5,600/acre. At the other end we have been unsuccessful with a bid of £10,000/acre for 269 acres of 4t/acre grade 3 wheat land in south Lincolnshire, while a 64-acre block of heavy grade 3 sold for £6,500/acre. While farmers remain the key driving force, investors (both private and institutional) are also coming back into the market and I can see them playing a much more significant part. They see land as a relatively safe
haven given the current economic uncertainty, and many will be tempted by strong FBT rents which have spiralled on the back of buoyant commodity prices. Good wheat land is now making in excess of £200/acre at tender – indeed I heard of one bid for £220/acre for a local 600-acre block that was unsuccessful. Any residential element seems to be a hindrance. One decent-sized farm was split with the house and buildings being sold first to secure a premium, leaving the land and turning what used to happen on its head. I see no signs of a slowdown in bare land values.
COTSWOLDS Christopher Jerram
Director – Chippenham
Residential farm sales in the Cotswolds have been bucking the national trend, not unduly surprising given the area’s location, fashionable appeal and the attractiveness of houses, villages and the surrounding countryside.
Private lifestyle buyers remain active and small farms with a decent house remain in demand. While good grade 3 bare arable land appears to have plateaued at around £6,500-7,000/acre, include a good house and £10,000/acre is relatively easy to achieve. The land market has had a relatively quiet year. Demand from farmers, buoyed by low interest rates and decent commodity prices, is nowhere near being satisfied. The current turmoil in the equity markets means people are wary of releasing cash if they are downsizing, while the aforementioned good commodity prices coupled with the chance that land values still have some headroom is tempting people to keep farming. That said, we are seeing an increase in market activity after the summer holidays, and it seems likely that some new properties will come forward in the coming weeks. Depending on the residential element, this will create a lot of interest among farmers who are looking for a possible once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spread their fixed costs, as well as plenty of city folk who still want to achieve the dream of owning a slice of the Cotswold countryside.
bulletin
Estate
Management Estate Management David Pardoe, MRICS
What approach should estate managers take in these turbulent economic times? Should they “batten down the hatches� or look for opportunities? Or is it possible to do both? I think it is.
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LANDPLAN bulletin
autumn/winter 2011
We hear much about the necessity for banks to think ever more carefully about risk management. Clearly this must be true for all businesses including estates. Whilst this might sound more like the “battening down of hatches” route, it may be surprising where a risk management based approach to estate business might take you. In the first instance, considering risk management may well lead to those boring but very important “protective” issues such as compliance – Health & Safety, Tree Surveys, Insurance and the like - as well as to ensuring efficient and effective day-to-day property management. Getting these fundamentals of estate management right is the essential foundation of the rest of the estate business. Not only do they provide the platform for any other estate activities, but they allow focus to be directed to more challenging areas. Beyond these entirely managerial functions, looking at the risks to an estate may mean considering the wider factors affecting the security of the business, both now and further into the future.
In response to the short term economic outlook, this could lead you to examine the reliability of the estate’s rental income streams. In difficult times it is no surprise that tenants may struggle to pay their rent on time (or at all), but sometimes it is “better the devil you know”. In such instances, a risk based decision making process may lead you into investments in tenant’s businesses, perhaps through tenancy term negotiations, or through some sort of joint venture arrangement with direct involvement in the tenant’s enterprise. This is where a risk based approach forces one to consider opportunities. With careful analysis and structuring such an arrangement could secure short term cashflow, whilst offering a reasonable chance of some future “upside” and allowing efficient longer term planning of the taxation
position, perhaps as part of the estate’s succession planning strategy. This is a particularly important approach where a relatively small number of large tenants form a significant proportion of the rental income stream or, equally, where the income stream is not particularly diverse. Short term success in economically difficult times - and longer term stability - relies on both the depth and breadth of the pool of income streams. A risk based approach to considering this issue may lead one to further exploration of new income streams, either on or off the estate. In these circumstances it is vital that the estate manager is fully aware of the markets to which the estate is currently exposed, and their trends, and considers carefully whether these markets, or others, may offer future advantage. For example, if commercial rents are static, but agricultural and residential rents are rising, then it is not difficult to work out
where to invest in order to enhance income. But if there is no further room for growth on the estate, perhaps one might consider relieving local developers of their land banked sites: they will be relieved to get rid of them at any price; you will be managing land for a long term gain – clearly playing to a traditional strength of an estate When credit is tight in the economy, cash is king. Many estates have access to cash or collateral in a way that most businesses do not. This puts estates at an advantage in markets that may offer security, diversity, or simply the longer term opportunity, of cash or capital or favourable taxation treatment. For example energy projects backed by the Feed in Tarrif offer Government backed returns for up to 25 years, can be based on the estate, thus creating another income stream and can be structured (through tenancies or joint-ventures) in such a way as to balance the estate’s appetite for risk and potentially
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“ Looking at the risks to an
estate may mean considering the wider factors affecting the security of business ” to access Business Property Relief. In seeking to examine longer term risks to estates one’s eye is drawn to a number of items currently in the political arena: Localism, Planning Law and the Common Agricultural Policy. These will present different risks (or opportunities) on different estates. If your estate owns a significant proportion of the community infrastructure and is a major employer in your area, then localism must represent a considerable factor in the estate’s development. There are clear risks to be managed (consider the current proposals for “Community Assets” which may see village halls offered to the community to purchase upon inter-generational transfer) as well as opportunities to step into some of the roles currently played by Local Authorities – and to be rewarded for doing so. If your estate is located close to an expanding town or city (or, to a lesser extent, even if it does not) the proposed changes to the
planning laws will almost certainly prove nothing less than a momentous opportunity if the right preparations are made. If your estate is predominantly agricultural, whether let or in hand – then the cap proposals relating to the capping of payments and the issues surrounding separation of businesses will have a dramatic effect on the security of income in due course. These external issues will all affect estate businesses one way or the other, though not for some time. They are on the horizon and identifiable though, and so estate managers should be doing what any business leader would do in such circumstances: getting informed. This places the estate manager in a position to manage the risks, both externally and internally. The estate manager would do this by trying to influence the outcomes of the political process towards the best (or least worst)
outcome for their business, and by putting in place internal measures to ensure that the estate business is well placed to mitigate any difficulties that may be presented – or to take advantage of any opportunities.
There are also the perennial issues of succession and tax planning, with which in mind, the structuring of any managerial responses to external threats must be made. So in summary, in managing an estate through these difficult times, the approach of assessing the risks to your estate encourages good business practice all round. It requires that the fundamental elements of the job are securely dealt with, whilst making you get informed – to understand the markets and external factors affecting your business; to get involved – whether with tenants or with politics; and to make plans to mitigate threats or create opportunities.
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LANDPLAN bulletin
autumn/winter 2011
After a recent marked increase in rural theft a review of farm Given that many cases go unreported, the total is likely to be far higher. A combination of the economic downturn, rising unemployment and the increasing value of machinery, livestock, scrap metal and diesel means more people are scouring rural properties in the hope of making some easy cash. Protecting your property need not cost a small fortune. Start by making the property as secure as possible. Keep gates, locks and security bars in good condition and maintain nearby hedges, fences and ditches to make unauthorised access more difficult. CCTV cameras activated by beam alarms are a good deterrent. Make sure these can pick up images at night – use infra-red technology or install lighting linked to the same beam alarms. Images can be relayed back to hard drives and hand-held mobile devices wirelessly. All this, plus an audible alarm system to act as an extra deterrent, can be fitted for a few hundred pounds. However, there is little point in installing lots of electrical equipment if the supply can be easily cut off, so use armoured cable in exposed areas. Consider joining a Farm Watch scheme. These groups offer crime prevention advice, text alerts, and websites to advise on latest crime trends. They may also offer a security-marking scheme for tools and machinery. Not being able to identify stolen equipment is one of the police’s biggest frustrations – it is all too easy to change a machine’s identity and issue
a fake receipt, and if unmarked machines are recovered, tracing their real owner can be very difficult.
security could pay dividends, writes HARRY BAINES, MRICS. According to insurer NFU Mutual over half a million crimes were committed in Britain’s countryside in the first half of 2011, a rise of over 150% on the previous six months.
Covert security marking, using smart water or DNA kits, will help keep even professional operators at bay. They start at around £100 or can be paid for monthly. The kits contain a solution that has a forensic fingerprint unique to each purchaser. Once applied to tools and machinery the solution is almost impossible to remove, allowing stolen machinery to be identified with a simple scan. Warning signs informing any would-be intruder that property has been protected in this fashion will also act as a powerful deterrent. GPS trackers can be also fitted to machines and can be very successful. However, they start at around £2,000, and are not foolproof. GPS signals will not transmit from under a railway arch for example, so if the machine was not being monitored when it was stolen thieves can park it at such a location and change the wiring loom at their leisure, bypassing the tracker. Protecting livestock in the field is difficult. Many stolen animals end up in the food chain so skin- and ear-based identification is ineffective, and little can be done to stop a determined rustler entering a field, though general security and a Farm Watch scheme will help.
Check stock regularly the quicker and more accurately an incident can be reported, the better the chance of solving it. Lastly, check your insurance cover. Many machinery policies simply offer cover for the market price, and so check sums insured are correct. Fertiliser, fuel and grain prices have also risen sharply – has your policy taken this into account?
LANDPLAN bulletin 15
chestertonhumberts.com
Small Sewage Schemes TIME TO REGISTER?
Many people living in rural locations across England without mains drainage should consider registering their septic tank or sewage treatment plant with the Environment Agency by the end of this year, writes Jonathan Paul, MRICS. Although government has put on hold plans under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 that require all small sewage discharges to be registered as exempt from the need of an environmental permit, it is by no means clear that it has dropped those plans completely. Indeed, the registration of small sewage discharges in England remains under review, and while the government says it has no plans to charge if the scheme is resurrected, there is no guarantee that will remain the case. For peace of mind, and for those perhaps considering selling their house in the next few months, it would be prudent to act now. The fact that the government has left the registration process open suggests it probably intends to proceed at some stage. According to the Environment Agency, a small sewage discharge can be one of two things. The first is defined as a discharge of less than 2m3 per day (the equivalent of nine
people living in a single property) going straight to ground via a septic tank and soakaway. However, care is needed as an exemption is not automatic. If, for example, you are in what is termed a source protection zone one – broadly speaking, near the centre of a groundwater catchment – or within 50m of a well or borehole you will need a permit, and the Environment Agency will charge. The second definition is a discharge of 5m3 per day or less (equivalent to 31 people living in one property) to a river, stream or estuary via a package sewage treatment plant, for example a Klargester. In both cases, sewage must only be of domestic origin. The Environment Agency also requires that any system must be installed and operated in accordance with manufacturer’s specification. There must also be a maintenance plan; records, including tank emptying and servicing, must be kept
for five years and passed on to any new owner. Waste must be disposed of by an authorised person. Lastly, any discharge must not cause pollution of surface water or groundwater. It might sound onerous, but all this is good practice anyway and registration itself is simple. It was originally considered to be the lightest touch approach for the Environment Agency to meet its legal obligations and may well be considered. Again, our advice is to register before the original 1 January 2012 deadline. It is worth noting that homeowners with cesspits, which do not discharge, do not have to register, and those who have previously applied for an exemption should have it transferred to the new system automatically. Finally, those living in Wales will have to register for an exemption by 31 December 2011 as the Welsh government has decided to push on with 2010 regulations as they stand.
Further details and advice can be found at: www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/132387.aspx or call 08708 506506
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LANDPLAN bulletin
autumn/winter 2011
Our rural offices London Country Department 60 Sloane Avenue, Chelsea London SW3 3DD
Ludlow 15 High Street, Ludlow SY8 1BS
Salisbury 37 Castle Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 1TT
T: 020 7594 4746 F: 020 7584 7216 E: andrew.pearce@chestertonhumberts.com
T: 01584 877778 F: 01584 877239 E: ludlow@chestertonhumberts.com
T: 01722 342393 F: 01722 413229 E: david.pardoe@chestertonhumberts.com
Blandford 1 Market Place, Blandford Forum DT11 7AH
Marlborough 106 High Street, Marlborough SN8 1LT
Stamford 5 Ironmonger Street, Stamford PE9 1PL
T: 01258 452 343 F: 01258 455 251 E: edward.dyke@chestertonhumberts.com
T: 01672 519111 F: 01672 517940 E: craig.horton@chestertonhumberts.com
T: 01780 762849 F: 01780 480400 E: stuart.paton@chestertonhumberts.com
Chippenham King’s Head House, 35 Market Place Chippenham SN15 3HT
Norwich 13 Upper King Street Norwich NR3 1RB
Taunton Mansfield House Silver Street, Taunton TA1 3DN
T: 01249 444555 F: 01249 444556 E: christopher.jerram@chestertonhumberts.com
T: 01603 661199 F: 01603 661188 E: norwich@chestertonhumberts.com
T: 01823 331234 F: 01823 332034 E: david.hebditch@chestertonhumberts.com
Lincoln 4 Eastgate, Lincoln LN2 1QA
Petersfield 24 Lavant Street, Petersfield GU32 3EW
York 11 Micklegate, York YO1 6JH
T: 01522 516830 F: 01522 510570 E: andrew.pearce@chestertonhumberts.com
T: 01730 862111 F: 01730 233903 E: michael.burne@chestertonhumberts.com
T: 01904 611828 F: 01904 611524 E: york@chestertonhumberts.com
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