26/11/2014
Headlines
26 November 2014
Cameron “allowed rural destruction” Sir Simon Jenkins, the departing president of the National Trust, has claimed that the Conservatives have broken election pledges and put the countryside at risk. He called for a listing system to protect rural areas, with national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty treated like grade I and II listed buildings.
UK election 2015: Osborne plans extra regional powers for ‘northern powerhouse’ A new mayor for Greater Manchester will have powers over (strategic) planning, transport, policing, housing, science, skills, schools, business growth and regional spending and help to join up health and social care budgets, as the Conservatives compete with Labour to devolve more powers away from Westminster, following the Scottish independence referendum. As well as political expediency, a reason for the change is to try to boost economic growth in the north (3.9% average over 18 years (nominal) compared with 4.4% across the whole of the UK). The Leeds and Sheffield city regions are to be given new powers over house building. This builds on the announcement of plans for a HS3 project between Manchester and Leeds. Labour has also pledged to devolve powers and spending.
Europe: European Commission agenda for 2015 The new Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker wants to focus on the key policy areas that contribute to jobs, growth and investment and scrap initiatives that do not conform with his ‘strategic goals’. For farming and rural policy, this means that the focus will be on simplifying rules governing direct payments, rural development, the existing decision-making process on GMOs, food hygiene, evaluation of the Birds and Habitats directives, air and waste.
UK election 2015: Reaction to Labour’s Lyons housing review The Review focusses on three key policies: • • •
Local communities have the power to build the homes needed in the places people want to live in Councils produce a plan for homebuilding in their area and allocate sufficient land for development to meet the needs of people in the area, with 200,000 new homes built a year by 2020 First time buyers from the area can get priority access rights when these new homes go on sale
KPMG said the review is the first political review that actually looks at comprehensive policies rather than piecemeal sound bites; it likes the emphasis on better connecting infrastructure and housing and taking a regional approach to delivery.
Farming Supermarkets told to reveal supplier deals Shareholders and investor groups are demanding to be given more information about the way supermarkets are dealing with suppliers. Hidden payments may provide up to a third of supermarket profits.
GMOs: MEPs on collision course with European Ministers MEPs want wider grounds to ban GM crops, including environmental protection, which means they have the opposite view to European Ministers who say that the European Food Safety Agency should decide on environmental and health matters, purely based on scientific evidence.
Wales: Welsh Assembly can set wage levels for agricultural workers The Supreme Court has held that the setting of agricultural wages in Wales is a devolved matter and the Welsh Assembly is likely to want to set minimum levels for farm workers – so it will be a different system than in England where the Agricultural Wages Board is abolished.
UK National Pollinator Strategy UK farmers are being called upon to limit pesticide use, improve habitats (hedges, field margins and meadows) for pollinators and make more use of sustainable pest control techniques, such as Integrated Pest Management, in the new draft strategy.
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26/11/2014
Property Issues Flooding: NAO says flood defence spending ‘insufficient’, but praises Environment Agency The National Audit Office’s 2014 report on flood defence spending in England highlights a fall in underlying spend, efficiency improvements by the Environment Agency and rising flood risk for some less-populated areas. The NAO says that the Agency will have to make difficult decisions on whether to maintain existing flood defences, or to let some of them lapse. SG comment: the Agency is already having to change its management of defences in some catchments to the detriment of farmland.
Buildings: Strategic Stone Study This free database identifies the most significant building stones in each county and, where possible, the original source (including quarries) of stone for a particular building or settlement to aid conservation.
Flood Re: insurers call for extra funding to make insurance scheme sustainable Insurers have written to the Government saying it needs to invest at least another £500m on flood defences if the Flood Re scheme is to be sustainable. The independent Committee on Climate Change estimates that a further 250,000 homes will be exposed to ‘significant risk’ from flooding by 2035 unless the funding gap is filled.
England Coast Path proposals Natural England has published proposals for three more stretches of coastal pathway in Kent and East Sussex, Norfolk and in Cumbria.
Planning: increased funding for neighbourhood planning The Government has increased its funding to encourage more than the current 1,200 communities in England to get involved in neighbourhood planning: • Grants of up to £7,000 for community groups (so an additional £1m (in addition to the £4.25m awarded since 2013); see http://mycommunityrights.org.uk/ • Provide community groups with expert advice, grant funding and technical assistance for neighbourhood plans and orders (so an additional £11m or 50% over 2015 to 2018 above the existing support) • Up to £100,000 a year for local planning authorities to help their communities start a neighbourhood plan, with an additional £25,000 for each plan or order that passes an examination (so up to £12m total funding pot). • £100,000 to enable 40-60 groups to organise workshops on neighbourhood planning.
The Historic Environment Scotland Bill: passed through the Scottish Parliament. The Bill creates Historic Environment Scotland and dissolves the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.
Residential Markets • • • •
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The next five years could see the gulf between the north and south of England grow wider, as house prices are predicted to rise faster in the south than in the north (Rightmove and Oxford Economics) House prices have dropped in London for the first time in five years, in September’s survey by the RICS Nationally, new buyer demand fell for the third month (and particularly in London) and the supply of houses for sale remains tight – so demand and supply are becoming more balanced (RICS) Scottish house prices are at record levels, with Q3 prices 5.2% higher than in the same period in 2013 The total volume of sales was 9.1% higher than a year before, which is the highest volume since 2008Q1. Average property prices are now above pre-economic downturn levels. Although mortgage approvals (and lending) fell in September, gross mortgage lending reached its highest October total since 2008. This points to a gentle easing in housing market conditions and that lending is happening despite stricter borrowing criteria. Barratt has reported slowing but ‘robust’ sales activity after last year’s frenetic pace, which was boosted by one of the biggest housing stimulus of recent years. Barratt’s prices charged and margins continue to rise.
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26/11/2014
Broadband: 20% of UK adults would pay more for a home with good broadband A similar number (18%) say it’s already been a consideration when moving home in the past, and, almost a quarter (23%) would now be likely to negotiate a lower rent or sale price when taking on a property with a poor broadband connection.
Retirement home shortage ‘chronic’ Britain is suffering from a chronic lack of purpose-built retirement housing, according to Knight Frank. Housing suitable for the elderly makes up only 2.8% of all new homes currently under construction in the UK. This is despite the fact that the over 65s will make up nearly 23% of the national population in the next 20 years.
Scotland: private rents increased below inflation rate over past four years 16 out of the 18 rental market areas across Scotland have seen below-inflation changes in average rents for two-bedroom properties, the most common size of property in the private rented sector. Rental markets have seen mixed growth since 2010, with some areas recording falls and some, including Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, above inflation rises.
Forestry Free support to forestry businesses for making applications to the new RDPE Forestry Commission England is offering the support to maximise the number of forestry businesses with ‘ovenready’ applications, once the application process opens in 2015. The support covers business planning, financial forecasting, legal agreements, identifying the right technical solutions etc.
Environment Climate Change: UN Inter-governmental Panel says inaction will add unquantifiable costs Runway climate change can be controlled without denting economic growth, according to the most comprehensive report ever published on the subject, by the UN IPCC. Without the controls, the costs to economies and from damage from weather changes ‘cannot even be quantified’. The language of some of the report’s co-authors is interesting: Professor Richard Tol of the University of Sussex: ‘It has long been known that smart policy [a carbon tax] can reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a small cost, even for deep cuts…all evidence to date is that governments compete on who can think of the daftest climate policies [such as subsidies and tax breaks].’ It says that Governments have little time to waste – even delaying to 2030 will add to the challenges and costs. The report says that emissions must be reduced by 40-70% by 2050 and to zero or negative (through tree planting and carbon capture) by 2100. An interesting way of thinking about emissions is that 2,900bn t of CO2 can be emitted without the risk of severe climate change – and mankind has already emitted 1,900bn!
And finally… Gum shoe Police officers from the Dyfed Powys force have been banned from chewing gum on duty after complaints that they looked like American cops. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this briefing, its information may not be comprehensive and recipients should not act upon it without seeking full professional advice. If you have queries regarding any of the articles, please contact jason.beedell@smithsgore.co.uk (01733 866562) or andrew.teanby@smithsgore.co.uk (01522 507310)
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