Category: Rural

The Rural Enterprise Fund is a capital grant scheme that has been funded by the UK Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF). The aim is to support new and existing businesses to develop new products and facilities that will be of wider benefit to the local economy. This includes farm businesses looking to diversify outside of agriculture.

How much can you apply for

Capital grants are available for businesses, up to 50% of the total project costs.

•        Existing business trading 12 months or more:

o        Minimum grant £5,000 – project costs must be at least £10,000

o        Maximum grant £50,000 – project costs must be at least £100,000

Start-up business (trading less than 12 months):

o        Minimum grant £5,000 – project costs must be at least £10,000

o        Maximum grant £10,000 – project costs must be at least £20,000

Who can apply

•        Sole traders, micro and small businesses based in Herefordshire

o        Definition of micro or small business:

o        Employ no more than 50 employees

o        Turnover not more than £10.2 million

o        Balance sheet not more than £5.1 million

•        The trading activity and investment must take place within Herefordshire

•        Existing and start-up businesses

•        Businesses must be located an eligible rural areas

•        If planning permission is required this must already be in place

Once appearing not to be overly attractive, the recent announcement of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) should be seen as an opportunity to increase income and advance farming techniques, with or without making significant changes to current farming practices. The introduction of herbal leys that has been popular with some under the refined Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) is carried forward into the SFI realising £382 per ha and could be imperative to the livestock farmer going forward. All grassland farmers should be considering legumes into grass swards at £102 per ha, and or low input grassland at £151 per ha, which also relieves the heavy burden of no supplementary feeding that was present with the common GS2 option under CSS.

Arable farmers can benefit from adaptation, with focus towards cover crops delivering £129 per ha as well as helping improve soil health, companion cropping such as buckwheat with OSR, or under sowing grass with wheat can generate £55 per ha, and a no insecticide top up of £45 per ha could be applied to late drilled crops. Once establishing the profit element of the harvested crop per ha, by comparison, consideration may wish to be given to managing some legume fallows generating £593 per ha, or wild bird food yielding £732 per ha before establishment.

A maximum of £36 per 100m of hedgerow can be achieved after some careful consideration of management.

Most of you are no doubt conducting regular soil sampling, pest management programmes and nutrient management plans, which pay out £5.80 per ha, £989 per yr and £589 per yr respectively.

So, taking a step back, the three above assessment plans, some cover cropping, low input pasture and perhaps a corner of wild bird mix may already be actions delivered by English farmers already, therefore, with the addition of some herbal leys, grass margins, a companion crop with no insecticide may be a worthy proposition for one looking to relieve the weight of the removal of the direct payments. Afterall they say a change is as good as a rest……!

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The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has recently announced a consultation which could see major expansions to permitted development rights, particularly for residential conversions. If adopted, the proposed changes will be the biggest shake-up of the GPDO since 2015, and would introduce more opportunities for converting buildings to residential use as well as for farm diversification.

The consultation is the first stage of a long process to become legislation, and runs until 25th September 2023. McCartneys plans to make representations to the consultation, mostly in support of the proposed changes.

The consultation can be accessed online here.

We summarise changes below that could create the biggest opportunities for our clients below.

Enhanced opportunities under Class Q

Class Q allows for the conversion of redundant agricultural buildings to dwellings. In its current form, Class Q allows for the creation of up to 5 dwellings of a cumulative maximum of 865sqm, achieved through combining ‘smaller’ dwellings (100sqm and below) with ‘larger’ dwellings (over 100 sqm).

The consultation proposes to double the overall maximum number of dwellings to 10, with a maximum area of 1,000 square metres. The biggest potential shake up however is the separation of ‘larger’ and ‘smaller’ dwellings is proposed to be replaced with a single maximum of either 100 or 150sqm per home. Significantly reducing the maximum dwelling size currently permitted.

It is also proposed that the current requirement for a building to have last been solely in agricultural use will be removed, allowing buildings which have been used for other purposes, such as equestrian or storage, to be afforded Class Q rights. This would be a much welcomed change, as many landowners are currently able to neither use or convert redundant buildings because of the strict rules around their historic use.

A further surprising, proposed addition to the Class Q legislation is the potential introduction of extensions to the rear elevation of the barn. Currently, only the building itself can be converted, with no parts (including window cills etc) permitted to extend beyond the existing footprint of the building. Introducing a single storey rear extension of no more than 4m deep would be a fairly radical change from the current regulations. Note, the extension would only be possible on previously developed land, i.e. farmyard hardstanding.

In addition to these major changes, the government are also seeking to introduce a minimum dwelling size of 37sqm and allowing Class Q development on article 2(3) land (such as national parks, AONBs, conservation areas etc.). There is also a proposal to expand Class Q rights to buildings in other uses such as forestry and equestrian buildings.

Tweaks to agricultural permitted development rights

Tweaks are proposed to agricultural permitted development rights, with an increase in total floor area proposed, from 1,000sqm to 1,500sqm for new buildings under Class A (larger agricultural units) and to 1,250 for extensions to buildings under Class B (smaller units).

Expanded Class R rights

Class R currently allows agricultural buildings to change to flexible commercial use, (which is limited in its scope). It is proposed to add new uses to allow greater farm diversification. Consideration is also being given to encouraging more mixed uses, which is currently not possible under Class R. There will be an increase from 500 to 1,000 sqm for the total area which can change use, and views are being sought on whether to remove the need for prior approval (i.e. an application) for certain changes.

Our thoughts

The proposed changes to the Class Q legislation are generally promising, and could remove some of the unnecessary hurdles currently faced by many applicants.

An increase in the number of dwellings but a reduction in their size will help to deliver smaller, more affordable homes and discourage a proliferation in executive converted barns, but could affect some applicants wish to convert due to potential highways and other social impacts.

Introducing flexibility around agricultural use is the biggest gain, and the ability to convert stable blocks, barns which have temporarily been used as storage etc would open up many new opportunities for redundant buildings, which would be welcome.

The other proposed changes, whilst generally limited will generally be helpful to promote rural economy.

Contact us to discuss further – survey@mccartneys.co.uk 01544 230 316 (3) 01584 813 766

The Rural England Prosperity Fund is £110 million which has been allocated by the government to provide capital grant to support specific rural areas such as farms and rural businesses which are considering diversifying income streams. This is a top-up from the UK shared prosperity fund.

The fund is provided jointly by The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. It is the replace the former EU schemes and allows local authorities to have more of a say to how it is invested within the local area.

The funding will be assigned to the eligible local authorities for distribution between April 2023 and April 2025. The local authorities will determine the local investment priorities.

The Rural Fund provides capital grant funding to invest in projects which will create job opportunities and boost productivity within the rural area. This includes farm diversification, restoring local assets and provision for essential community services to enhance the local economy. Additionally, the capital grant will support the establishment of new footpaths and bikeways projects.

The allocated funding for the local area is:

• Shropshire = £2,589,503
• Herefordshire = £1,705,669
• Forest of Dean £614,444
• Malvern Hills £500,624
• North Warwickshire £495,639
• South Staffordshire £489,391
• Stratford-on-Avon £1,015,179
• Stafford £487,936
• Wychavon £819,286

We have specialist advisors which can help with all grant needs and discuss matters further. If you have any projects which you would like to discuss further, please contact your local McCartney’s office.