HC FARMS

[Denise Lloyd]

TWG got a feeling that the consultancy basis for Tony F has come to an end in fact it came to an end last week,  Do not which side terminated the arrangement.

 

How strange that FG's opinons were not good enough to base their decisions on when making the ultimate decision of selling the farms but are good enough to carry out the marketing of the Council farm estate.  Sunderlands and Brightwells are  both very accomplished land agents why did this contract not go to them?  How many bottles of wine did it take to woo the HC I wonder.

 

Answers are required please.

 

Food for thought to any Council employee  who is struggling with some of the decisions that have been made over the years - would you not rather have a clear conscience and say I spoke up because I know what is going on is wrong or would you rather a purse/wallet full of money because you accepted a nice little  payout. Money only lasts so long a clear conscience lasts for ever. Think on people and speak out.  

[Denise Lloyd]

Good article and good comment in the HT on the sale of the farms.  Well done HT

[megilleland]

FARM DISPERSAL SALE

 

On behalf of the Mr IT & ELR Salmon

 

AT CROSSBROOK FARM, MORETON EYE, LEOMINSTER, HEREFORDSHIRE HR6 0DP

 

ON SATURDAY 18th FEBRUARY 2017

 

This farm sale takes place due to Herefordshire Council’s decision to sell their portfolio of farms. The Salmon family have been at Crossbrook Farm for approximately 6 years

and during that time have acquired some very desirable Machinery and Livestock Equipment.

 

McCartneys would like to thank Ian for the instructions and can thoroughly recommend all of the items on sale.

 

M. Thomas

 

The break up starts.

[Denise Lloyd]

Farm dispersal sales can be very sad times and this one is especially so.  A young couple who have given it their all and to see it all being sold.  What a waste of a dedicated young farmer.  My sympathies to them.

 

Herefordshire Council hang your heads in shame.

[megilleland]

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 21st February 2017

 

Council Tenant Farm sell-off

 

Herefordshire County Council is selling off its entire stock of farms, despite a report it commissioned, which advised against doing so.

 

24 days to listen - starts at 07:45

[Denise Lloyd]

Listened and a very good report.  HC continue to lose their credibility.

 

I wonder if any of the Cabinet if they told the truth regret the decision they made - time will tell eh!!

[Denise Lloyd]

 

 

 

 

This taken from IOC's FB page with the blog from the full Council Meeting held today at Hereford  With apologies to IOC for copying this over.  However I am sure they will not mind!!

 

 Â· Reply Â· 6 hrs

 

Elizabeth Harvey Leader's Report. Cllr Lloyd-Hayes (IOC) asks where the sale of the council's smallholding estate fits into an economic vision for the county? The leader says the farms are being sold to reduce the council's borrowing in other areas and to invest in other projects [like the road to the west which has been given a route to go past two of the farms so the council can benefit frm this land being sold for housing development?]

 

Now just remind me why did they say in the first place why they wanted to sell the Council farms?

[Denise Lloyd]

1 Reply

 

Elizabeth Harvey Cllr Powers reminds Cabinet Member for smallholdings (Cllr Bramer) that the council's consultants (Fisher german) disagree with the council that their report of 2014-15 was not delivered complete. Cllr Powers asks 'Isn't it actually teh case that this council has spent £12,000 of public money commissioning an expert report, and then has gone to extreme lengths to hide its contents when they didn't like what it said. Hide its contents unlawfully from Scrutiny, from the confidential scrutiny task and finish grooup, from councillors, from the tenant farmers, and from the public?'. Cllr Bramer responds 'No'. [This matter has some distance still to run]

 

 

 

Another part of the blog from the Council Meeting held yesterday

[Maggie May]

 

 

 

 

 

This taken from IOC's FB page with the blog from the full Council Meeting held today at Hereford  With apologies to IOC for copying this over.  However I am sure they will not mind!!

 

 Â· Reply Â· 6 hrs

 

Elizabeth Harvey Leader's Report. Cllr Lloyd-Hayes (IOC) asks where the sale of the council's smallholding estate fits into an economic vision for the county? The leader says the farms are being sold to reduce the council's borrowing in other areas and to invest in other projects [like the road to the west which has been given a route to go past two of the farms so the council can benefit frm this land being sold for housing development?]

 

Now just remind me why did they say in the first place why they wanted to sell the Council farms?

 

Denise I thought the small holdings estate provided income to fund some of our local services such as social care, grass cutting, waste collection, etc. as well as providing a ay into farming for some of our young people? If they are selling the farms to pay off their debts how does this generate income for these much needed services?

A road to the west surely wont do anything to generate income for our county and from what I have heard will just increase the Council's borrowing. A road to the west certainly wont help those living anywhere outside the City. Don't the council realise that people like me who live in Hereford only account for 1/3rd of the population this Council is supposed to serve? The Councillors making these decisions all live outside of the City so I hope people remember what has happened the next time they vote - in Herefordshire you cant have bus services, grass cant be cut, drains cant be cleaned and existing roads cannot be resurfaced

[megilleland]

in Herefordshire you cant have bus services, grass cant be cut, drains cant be cleaned and existing roads cannot be resurfaced 

 

They can't do that now let alone in the future.

[Denise Lloyd]

Taken from Its our County's website - another excellent piece - when will the Cons sit up and listen to what people are saying?

 

 

Council Smallholdings 6 March 2017/0 Comments/in News /by John Harrington

Once again our Conservative Cabinet of seven Cllrs; Tony Johnson, Patricia Morgan, Philip Price, Jonathon Lester, Harry Bramer, Paul Rone and (to a lesser extent, David Harwood) make hugely important decisions with far reaching consequences without proper advice and consultation. Cllr Roger Phillips started the sell off process in the early 2000s, boasting of the revenue it would bring in and how that revenue would be invested wisely to swell the Council’s coffers. We are now over £200 million in debt and this Cabinet has approved the sale of the remaining farms, primarily we believe, to allow large scale housing development on the outskirts of Hereford City.

This cabinet deliberately withheld an estate report, commissioned by the Council and carried out by Fisher German, when the report recommended keeping the majority of the Council farms. It took the resources and determination of the NFU for the Information Commissioner’s Office to force the Cabinet to release the findings of the report last month.

http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/15119358.Recommendation_to_retain_some_of_smallholdings_estate_was_not_made_public_by_the_council/

Other authorities, like Devon and Staffordshire, have kept their council farms for new entrant farmers, made them more efficient and enjoyed their increase in land value, which has bolstered their credit ratings.

We, Herefordshire Council under these Conservatives (alleged businessmen, retired businessmen, farmer’s wives and failed farmers) are a laughing stock. And we would laugh too if it wasn’t so tragic. The treatment of our tenant farmers by millionaire Cllr Harry Bramer has been an absolute disgrace.

http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/letters/14323646.Treatment_of_Herefordshire_s_tenant_farmers_has_been_a__disgrace_/

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[megilleland]

THE COUNTY FARMS: PROTECTING BRITAIN'S SMALLHOLDINGS
 

Alistair McConnachie writes: This important article reveals that while the websites of some local authorities' are "overflowing with support for local foods" these same authorities are in the destructive process of selling off their estate of smallholdings, for building development. They are doing so under the erroneous claim that they are not profitable. However, as the example of locally orientated agriculture demonstrates, the correct local polices could easily make these smallholdings profitable.

In a country where land ownership is moving into fewer and fewer hands, Sovereignty advocates that no more local authority small holdings should be sold-off for development, and where possible, the "County Farms" programme should be extended to provide land to the many people from all walks of life, who want to farm on a small scale basis.

The fashion for selling off county farms and smallholdings is not new as this old article proves. It's just typical that Herefordshire has jumped on the bandwagon as a last resort to cover their debts.

[megilleland]

The selling off of county farmland followed the stupid idea of selling off our forests which the conservative government were forced to do a U-turn on in 2012. Coming across this piece on the then environment minister:
 

Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference last month (Jan 2011), environment minister Caroline Spelman said she had no plans to intervene and stop local authorities selling-off all their farmland. 'If you are serious about localism then you have to allow a local government to decide how best to use its assets and resources. That is the essence of big society,' she said.

 

How big is society when only 7 cabinet councillors decide the future for farmers on the counties smallholdings.

[Denise Lloyd]

 Jim kenyon liked

Nick Lloyd†@LloydNj  2h2 hours ago

More

Just 1 month after moving to the National Trust's farm at Brilley lambing is well underway

 

 

Well done Nick let's hope NT treat you better than your previous landlords!

 

Good luck and good fortune.  The sheep look well

[Denise Lloyd]

https://t.co/iCnL6xvGDt

 

You’ll need to join us by becoming a member to gain more access.
 

Herefordshire Council farm sale causes tenants’ anguish

[Denise Lloyd]

Good report on page 94 of the HT by Rebecca Cain. Well done Rebecca keep up the good work and nice to see that HT are seeing the bigger picture!

[Denise Lloyd]

http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/15160565.Council_s_decision_to_hide_farm_sales_recommendation__appalling_/?ref=mrb&lp=1

 

I am unable to copy this across in it's entirety

[Maggie May]

I see that the issue of the sale of the Council small holdings has been raised in evidence by the South Herefordshire Green Party for a select committee looking at the effectiveness of Local Government Overview & Scrutiny committees. The submission by the local Green Party can be seen here http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/communities-and-local-government-committee/overview-and-scrutiny-in-local-government/written/49015.html

 

It seems Herefordshire Council also made a written submission http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/communities-and-local-government-committee/overview-and-scrutiny-in-local-government/written/48737.html . It looks to me as if  the communications team have been working overtime. I wonder how many elected councils would agree that this is actually how the Overview & scrutiny committee actually operates in practise.

[megilleland]

Taken from written evidence submitted by Herefordshire Council [OSG 101] - This response represents the views of officers of the council.

 

8.  What use is made of specialist external advisors

The role of specialist advisers is an important element of local scrutiny.  We make use of specialist external advisors in a number of ways.  They are invited to provide expert advice in pre-scrutiny work, for example, at seminars, site visits or through task and finish groups. They provide expert advice and knowledge on areas that are potentially new and unfamiliar to local councillors. The knowledge they offer helps to inform and underpin lines of enquiry committee member may wish to pursue during formal scrutiny meetings.

Specialists advice is no substitute, however, for inquisitive and curios scrutiny members keen to have a full picture of the issue at hand.  It is important that they have the means to triangulate advice, evidence and data from a range of sources.  And a sense of how well the evidence helps to prioritise issues in relation to their work programmes and methods of scrutiny to apply.

 

It looks as if officers are at odds with councillors here following the disregard of Fisher German report when coming to a reasoned decision. And it does not look very good that Fisher German is acting as agent handling the sales of the council's farms. Maybe a payoff for going along with council's decision to sell off majority of farms.

[Denise Lloyd]

Please now somebody translate What use etc etc.  Does it mean we employ experts to produce reports we glance through them but we do not take any notice of them because we know best.

 

 How many Herefordshire Councillors would actually understand the term "triangulate advice?" 

[Denise Lloyd]

This from Elissa Swinglehurst's April report  -

 

"SMALLHOLDINGS SALE
You may have read some stories in the press about the sale of the Council’s smallholdings. Here is an update from the Leader of the Council, Cllr. Tony Johnson
Preparations for the disposal of smallholdings are now all but complete. In fact we have already had enquiries and offers from some existing tenants to buy all or part of their holding.
The total value of the asset will be determined by the market but is likely to be in the 10s of millions. Those receipts will be available to invest in income producing projects or to reduce debt etc. The main point is that this valuable taxpayer owned asset will be used for the benefit of all and will continue to be farmed. At present that asset is a drain on the taxpayer since the rental income is considerably less than the cost of maintenance.
We get complaints that the holdings were to give new entrants into farming an opportunity to learn the business. This obviously assumes that the tenants will, at some point, vacate the holding for a farm of their own or as a manager of a bigger unit. From approx. 35 holdings we have had 3 changes of tenant in the last 10 years. So much for starter units! 
Any holding with development potential will be retained for such development and associated increase in value."

 

I could add a number of comments to this but I think I will leave it for others to do!!

[ragwert]

 

Cabinet at @HfdsCouncil has just voted unanimously to sell off 4,800 acres of farmland currently occupied by 45 tenant farmers.

 

In case you people have not heard.  I thought I had posted this earlier but obviously had a slight of hand!

 

 

7:12 a.m. - 3 Dec 2015

 

Bit confused here.How many exactly were sold off?

Herefordshire Council web site says they own 50 with a retension of 7.

The 43 left were managed by 36 tenant farmers so some rent more than one.

Of these 20 tenants won't be affected as they are lifetime/retired so were 16 sold off?

[Pete Boggs]

This from Elissa Swinglehurst's April report  -

 

 At present that asset is a drain on the taxpayer since the rental income is considerably less than the cost of maintenance.

Only because Herefordshire Council are too thick and useless to manage it properly. Other authorities are perfectly able to secure a decent income stream from their farm estates.

 

What happens when the money from flogging the family silver is gone? What are they going to sell off then? Plough Lane perhaps?

[Denise Lloyd]

Why are there long term tenants - duh because the Council have not managed the tenancies efficiently 

[Denise Lloyd]

Whilst I congratulate the tenants who have submitted offers on their farms - well done and good fortune - these farms will not be sold at full market value will they? So is that really achieving the best value for the tax payer?

 

Could this be the reason for the sale of Council Farms and reported in the Farmers Guardian today

 

 "for the next 3 financial years local authorities will be able to use any money from the sale of assets to pay for cost saving projects.  Previous rules prevented councils from spending money on anything but new assets" 

 

Does  new road building count as a cost saving project? 
 

[Denise Lloyd]

"In two weeks' time, Herefordshire Council is to sell the 43 farms it owns, leaving 32 families with an uncertain future. 

In all, the council will auction 59 farms and smallholdings as it attempts to balance its budget.

Twelve tenants will have to leave their homes and businesses, with the others staying on until retirement."

 

From BBC Hereford and Worcester today

 

Ragwert looks like you will have to get your counting frame out yet again!. 

[ragwert]

 

"In two weeks' time, Herefordshire Council is to sell the 43 farms it owns, leaving 32 families with an uncertain future. 

In all, the council will auction 59 farms and smallholdings as it attempts to balance its budget.

Twelve tenants will have to leave their homes and businesses, with the others staying on until retirement."

 

From BBC Hereford and Worcester today

 

Ragwert looks like you will have to get your counting frame out yet again!. 

 

As of 31 October 2016 there are 36 tenant farmers on these smallholdings which are affected by the sale. These consist of 10 lifetime tenants, 10 retirement tenants, 15 farm business tenants and 1 residential tenant. Tenants with ‘lifetime’ and ‘retirement’ tenancies are unaffected by this decision.

So 36 -10 = 16

[Maggie May]

Will an auction really achieve the best price for local taxpayers? I thought properties and estates like this were only auctioned when the owners were desperate and would take pretty much any price. Alot to put on in one go as well if they are selling all the small holdings even those with sitting tenants. I thought with all the nice plans/videos at the latest Council consultation on Hereford that the Council must have loads of money to throw around.

[megilleland]

Hereford Times - 10th April 2017

 

Date announced for sale of Herefordshire Council's smallholdings estate

Herefordshire Council has confirmed it will put its smallholdings estate on the market later this month.

A total of 59 lots will be marketed in total from Monday, April 24, and the council continues to follow the recommendations provided by Fisher German, its appointed agent.

The recommendations include offering the smallholdings estate to the market: • by way of informal tender to ensure the market is comprehensively canvassed for the best buyers to generate the highest selling prices(s) within a fixed timeframe; and • as a whole, as sub-estates, as individual farms, and as smaller parcels of land and groups of buildings, to widen market coverage and ensure best value is obtained.

The smallholdings estate will be subject to open market competition and all tenants who have expressed an interest will have the opportunity to bid for their own farm.

Farm Business Tenants have been granted a lease extension until September 2017, and end of tenancy compensation settlements for these tenants have been finalised.

Councillor Harry Bramer, Cabinet Member for Contracts and Assets, said: “The council is committed to its duty of care to the local community and to tenants. As we find alternative ways to fund the statutory services we have to provide, we need to prioritise which activities the council can support. The smallholdings disposal plan will help us ensure best value for money for taxpayers.â€

Herefordshire Council say they and Fisher German will support existing tenants during the sales process, which is expected to last until September of this year.

 

If they are so callous and mercenary, I am surprised in order to bump up the value of the land, that they haven't given themselves planning permission to sell the lot for development. If they had followed their agent's advice the Council wouldn't be selling the farms.

[megilleland]

Herefordshire Council
 

Decision maker: Cabinet member: contract and assets
Decision date: 7th April  2017
Title of report: Smallholdings disposal additional legal spend
Report by: Estates management officer rural land
 
Classification  
Open

Key decision  
This is a non-key decision.  

Wards affected
Countywide  

Purpose
To approve the additional legal expenditure of £100k to facilitate the disposal of the council’s smallholdings.

Recommendation
THAT:  (a) the additional legal expenditure of £100k be approved to facilitate the disposal of the council’s smallholdings.
 
Alternative options
1 Do nothing; this is not recommended as the extra expenditure is essential for the disposal of the smallholdings.

Reasons for recommendations
2 The council had previously undertaken a procurement exercise to secure legal specialist support to ensure that sales are able to be completed in a timely manner. This recommendation supports this.

Key considerations
3 The council had previously undertaken a procurement exercise to secure legal specialist support to undertake the investigation of titles, preparation of sale packs and exchange and completion of sales to ensure that sales are able to be completed in a timely manner. The sale packs, searches and contracts will be available on an online data room at the launch of the sale to prevent delays in completion.
 
4 The work had been split into three stages: stage 1 was a rapid review of title information to identify any major issues; stage 2 was the development of the information packs to support the sales; and stage 3 was legal support for the transactions.  
 
5 Given the range of options available for the sales structure, it was difficult to precisely specify the amount of legal support that will be required at stage 2 and 3. The work was, therefore, tendered in the following way and the cost was estimated at no more than £50k.
 
6 Stage 1 work has been completed at a cost of £5k and it highlighted the need for some additional work to be undertaken to rectify the titles. This was costed at an additional £4.5k and this work is complete.

7 Following advice from the council’s selling agents, the number of lots have now been confirmed to be far higher than originally tendered for.  The majority of the legal support does fall within stage 2 and the appointed legal firm has requested that they revise their price in line with the contract provisions before the work is commissioned. The price has been revised in line with their previous tender submission on a price per lot basis but the volume is now greatly increased.  This additional work has been priced at £59k.
 
8 In addition to the work above, a package of searches has been put together following advice from the council’s agents.  Each lot will broadly have its own independent set of searches to be made available to a prospective purchaser. This is preferable to producing aggregate searches for multiple lots leaving prospective buyers to work out the extent to which the search results apply to that particular lot.
 
9 The intention is to provide a basic package of searches to include a local authority search, drainage and water search, land registry search, chancel search, a highway search and a desktop environmental search.  (Chancel repair liability is a legal obligation on some property owners in England and Wales to pay for certain repairs to a church which may or may not be the local parish church.)
 
10 A number of searches will be undertaken by the councils in house land searches team at a cost of £11k with the other searches being commissioned to an outside agent through the appointed legal support.
 
11 The total cost of the external searches is £30k and the purchasers be will required to pay the costs of all the searches in addition to the purchase price.
 
12 In addition, the delegated officer decision dated the 8 February 2017 authorises the surrender of eight tenancies and four additional capital receipts. This was not covered in the original specification and therefore the cost of this work is £23k
 
13 The total cost for stages 1 and 2 is therefore £132.5k, which exceeds the amount agreed within the decision dated 13 October 2016 by £82.5k  
 
14 Until the property is marketed and offers have been received, it is difficult to estimate the anticipated work for stage 3. However it is not expected that stage 3 costs will exceed £58.5k (taking into account the reimbursement of the search costs). The overall cost for all stages, taking into account the reimbursement of the search fee costs by the purchaser will therefore be a maximum of £150k.

Community impact
15 The report and its recommendations support the following priorities as identified in the council’s corporate plan:
 
* support the growth of our economy, and
* secure better services, quality of life and value for money
 
16 More specifically, the actions supported include:
* supporting economic growth and connectivity (including broadband, local infrastructure and economic development).
* making the best use of existing land and identifying new opportunities to enable existing businesses to stay and expand and for new businesses to locate to the area.
* securing the highest possible levels of efficiency savings and value for money to maximise investment in front line services and minimise council tax increases.
* reviewing the management of our assets in order to generate ongoing revenue savings, focusing on reducing the cost of ownership of our operational property by rationalising the estate and by improving the quality of the buildings that are retained.

Equality duty
17 The proposed sale of the estate is not expected to generate any negative impacts as identified under the council’s public sector equality duty.  Financial implications

18 The cost incurred so far equates to £9.5k and the proposed costs for stage 2 and additional work amounts to £82k, giving a total of £91.5k. This leaves up to £58.5k for stage 3 work and the cost of searches.
 
19 The council’s medium term financial strategy (MTFS) was approved in January 2017.  Whilst the MTFS essentially sets out the future revenue plans for the council, it is also predicated upon the revenue implications of reducing historic debt and generating sufficient capital receipts to support the council’s future capital investment priorities. Disposal of the smallholdings estate is anticipated to make a significant financial contribution.
 
20 The capital value of the estate would provide revenue savings through reduced debt payments. These savings are built into the approved savings plan for the MTFS period.
 
21 The legal fees and other associated fees will be deducted from the gross value received, up to a maximum of 4%.  There is no evidence to suggest that this threshold will be exceeded.

Legal implications
22 When the procurement exercise was undertaken the precise sales structure had yet to be determined. It was therefore not possible to quantify with any level of accuracy the extent of legal work required to support this disposal.  

23 Given the way the estate will now be marketed (not previously known) far more time will need to be spent in executing the work required under stage 2. Consequently the costs associated with that work are likely to exceed the ceiling originally authorised – see para 9 above.  

24 The risk of not making this decision is that of delay while the council re-tender. It should be noted that the current service provider presented one of the most competitive bids - this being part of but not the entire reason why their bid was successful. Accordingly there is every reason to believe that, upon any retender, the final costs figure paid would likely exceed that set out in the recommendation in any event.

Risk management  
25 Risk: if the legal support is not in place, this will hinder the robust plan and timetable for delivery of the sales as identified in the MTFS. Response: the legal spend be approved.
 
26 Risk: If the recommendations are not implemented in a visible and transparent manner and communications are not handled sensitively, then there is a risk of significant reputational loss to the council. Response: communications, any further consultation, and stakeholder management will be a key part of the project and will need to be appropriately resourced. This aspect of the project will be managed by the council’s corporate communications team.  
 
Consultees  
27 None
 
Appendices  
28 None
 
Background papers  
29  None identified.

 

Council on form here. What with the unforeseen overspend at what will be the council's new customer services hub (51 comments so far) reported in The Hereford Times. Blueschool House in Blueschool Street in Hereford is currently being renovated and will be the home of Herefordshire Council's customer services team and the Job Centre Plus.

Cllr Harry Bramer told Herefordshire Council's cabinet meeting last week that there had been an overspend of £935,000.

Once the additional costs have been confirmed, a report will be prepared for Cllr Bramer to determine, which will identify how the costs will be funded.