UK Parliament / Open data

Agriculture Bill

My Lords, I have added my name to Amendment 158 and am very pleased to support it. My noble friend Lord Whitty and others have made an important case for restricting the disposal of county farms and, instead, for making good use of the smallholdings to bring new entrants into the sector, using the assets as exemplars of good environmental practice and providing greater public access. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, that this is not about preserving the status quo; it is about providing a renaissance for the sector and the land that it covers. We would like to see these smaller farms have a direct link with their local communities, providing local fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as meat and dairy produce. This should be what “public money for public goods” is all about.

In the past, smaller farms of less than five hectares have been excluded from receiving direct payments, but I hope that the Minister will confirm that these

thresholds will now be scrapped and that what will matter is what the farmer does with the land, rather than the size of it. We also hope that local authorities will be persuaded, through the process of a review, to see the potential of their county farms in the longer term and the potential that they can bring to their communities, rather than being a source of short-term cash on disposal.

I also have a great deal of sympathy with the concerns expressed by my noble friend Lady Young of Old Scone about the applications of the community infrastructure levy. I agree that it is in danger of inhibiting innovation and the encouragement of a range of activities in the sector.

I listened to the noble Earl, Lord Dundee, talk about creating smallholdings and work spaces. I agree with a number of noble Lords who have been excited about that prospect. I can see the potential, but I also think that it would depend very much on where the land and activities were sited. I have a feeling that the noble Earl mentioned that it might happen on the green belt, and I would certainly have concerns if he did say that. However, with good planning and good organisation, I can see that that could be a real asset among the range of options in the farming community.

The noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, has a series of amendments about tenancy reform. We agree that such reform is long overdue. A number of noble Lords have, rightly, made the point that short-term tenancies inhibit long-term investment in farm quality and development, and this is one of the many reforms that needs to be addressed.

We welcome the first steps made in Schedule 3, but clearly they do not go far enough. Having listened to the noble Earl, Lord Devon, it may well be that the scale of the reform that is needed is not well served by being set out in a schedule to the Bill. This is a matter to which we need to pay full attention. For example, we believe that there needs to be a greater rebalancing of the power between the landlord and the tenant.

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As the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, rightly says, it is not right that the tenant should require the landlord’s consent when accessing public money for public goods, and that the dispute mechanisms in the Bill do not seem to apply appropriately as they are written. She also seeks to broaden the criteria for close relatives of a deceased tenant, which much better describes modern family arrangements, which are not based simply on the nuclear family, with tenancies passed down as they traditionally have been from father to son, but which should be available to a much wider range of family members.

The noble Earl, Lord Devon, the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, and other noble Lords are right to push for further reforms way beyond those covered in Schedule 3. I hope that the Minister takes this away and returns with proposals for a more radical set of reforms which take on board the TRIG proposals and can be scheduled at an appropriate point.

Finally, we also agree with the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, which picks up the issue of many training courses, particularly those

relating to agriculture and horticulture, being sandwich courses or part-time courses, and therefore a longer period of time needs to be allowed when assessing the right to tenancy. It is a small but important point, which I hope that the Minister takes on board.

We welcome the initial steps being taken in this Bill but would like to see a much more central role for reform of smallholding and tenant farmers in the future of UK farming. I hope that in his response, the Minister can persuade us that he has heard this message and that the Government have a much broader reform agenda in mind, and I hope that he can bring back those proposals in the near future. I look forward to his response.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
804 cc2132-4 
Session
2019-21
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
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