Corruption and letting council farms in norfolk

[AJR75]

Why is it the responsibility of the local council to help new entrants into agriculture? If the industry needs fresh blood it's up to us as an industry to help them in.
Maybe when 50acres goes up for rent all the big players stand back and yet a young farmer rent it rather than all scramble to get even bigger.

I quite agree! I'm sure it was somewhere on here I read that the only time you see farmers working together is when they want to shaft another one, so on that basis.......

 

[X344chap]

Hi Nick, If you have genuine evidence this would be the perfect story for a local Journalist at the EDP or radio Norfolk. Make a difference and dont let it continue

Its a criminal offence under the Bribery Act 2010. 12 months and £5000 in a magistrates court and 10 years and unlimited fine in the crown court.

 

[ImLost]

Why is it the responsibility of the local council to help new entrants into agriculture? If the industry needs fresh blood it's up to us as an industry to help them in.
Maybe when 50acres goes up for rent all the big players stand back and yet a young farmer rent it rather than all scramble to get even bigger.

Next joke ?

 

[Flat 10]

From what hear it depends how thick the brown envelope is.its just appalling and it’s not a cheap job to apply for a council farm with all the costs and associated help required either.
Nick...

Corruption is wrong and there is no place for it. Lets hope the truth (whatever it is) become public and anything that needs dealing with is dealt with (though councils in general seem keen to brush things under the carpet as readers of PE's rotton boroughs will be aware). I have some knowledge of Norfolk CCC farms (though im quite a way from there) and I haven't heard anything particularly bad about it, certainly nothing more than 'sour grapes' type things, so lets hope this is more of an isolated incident. That said I would feel very aggrieved if i applied for a farm and put a lot of effort in to miss out to an inside job (as in @Formatted s example above i think it was) but really there should need to be no expenses incurred other than a trip to the open day and you shouldn't lose out financially over it. I certainly don't think its possible to say that all CC farms estates are corrupt as has been intimated by some and that they can provide fantastic opportunities.

 

[Barleymow]

I'm guessing they weren't the sitting tenant at the time of sale?

Certainly not he has far more money than that

 

[Bongodog]

I looked on their website at the 4 farms Norfolk had available for rent recently, all very small and none looked like they were worth the cost of a brown envelope let alone some folding stuff inside it !
Cambridgeshire is steadily increasing the size of their holdings, people are gradually losing bare land as their dad/grandad/uncle dies who have held the tenancy for life but haven't farmed for years. Its then rolled up into the existing farms to make them more viable. Haven't heard many grumbles over how new tenancies are allocated, and they publicise the details of the new entrants.

 

[ImLost]

Whenever I have contacted anyone about any of the farms that have come up in either Norfolk or Suffolk, they will talk you through the standard application procedure, then if you are lucky you might get sent some more info, but other than that it's like they couldnt give a ****, you would almost think they already had it all sorted and were just box ticking. Ive given up now.
Oh, while I think of it, if anyone has a farm to rent on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, please do get in touch ??

 

[glasshouse]

Why is it the responsibility of the local council to help new entrants into agriculture? If the industry needs fresh blood it's up to us as an industry to help them in.
Maybe when 50acres goes up for rent all the big players stand back and yet a young farmer rent it rather than all scramble to get even bigger.

Dream on

 

[glasshouse]

At least england has these council farms.
There are none in scotland

 

[ImLost]

Why is it the responsibility of the local council to help new entrants into agriculture? If the industry needs fresh blood it's up to us as an industry to help them in.
Maybe when 50acres goes up for rent all the big players stand back and yet a young farmer rent it rather than all scramble to get even bigger.

I don't exactly think it is the sole responsibility of the council to help new entrants, but you would think they would at least prioritise new entrants in the tendering process. Happy to go into more of my reasoning for it if you want.

 

[Fossil]

I asked a landagent once how he decided between two existing tenants when some land came up. He said it’s easy, you weigh their existing file divide it by the number of years they have been there, and let it to the person with the lowest number.

the moral is to make yourself easy to deal with,then people will be happy to trust you with more.

 

[glasshouse]

I asked a landagent once how he decided between two existing tenants when some land came up. He said it’s easy, you weigh their existing file divide it by the number of years they have been there, and let it to the person with the lowest number.

the moral is to make yourself easy to deal with,then people will be happy to trust you with more.

Cos they know you are a pushover

 

[Fossil]

Cos they know you are a pushover

Just out of interest, has anyone let you land more than once?

 

[glasshouse]

Just out of interest, has anyone let you land more than once?

All the time
I have annual agreements running for thirty years.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

There was an interesting piece in Private Eye a month or so ago about corrupt letting of a county council farm but I can't recall which eastern county. The farm had a huge old farmhouse and was "competitively" let to a senior council officer who then sub let all the land to a neighbour and just occupied the house!

 

[Flat 10]

There was an interesting piece in Private Eye a month or so ago about corrupt letting of a county council farm but I can't recall which eastern county. The farm had a huge old farmhouse and was "competitively" let to a senior council officer who then sub let all the land to a neighbour and just occupied the house!

missed that. I will have a rummage through past issues. Which section was it in please?

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

missed that. I will have a rummage through past issues. Which section was it in please?

The pages covering local government corruption (the same page which have detailed the incredible corruption in NCC over child protection issues).

 

[Flat 10]

The pages covering local government corruption (the same page which have detailed the incredible corruption in NCC over child protection issues).

Rotten boroughs

 

[Danllan]

Why is it the responsibility of the local council to help new entrants into agriculture? If the industry needs fresh blood it's up to us as an industry to help them in.
Maybe when 50acres goes up for rent all the big players stand back and yet a young farmer rent it rather than all scramble to get even bigger.

Once again, for farmers to work together like that it would require some sort of farming national union that worked altruistically for famers and not its own self-perpetuating interest. I guess it's worth a try.

Well said Rob,

I have my doubts about the Suffolk county farms process but can't prove anything.

A journalist can publish, with legal impunity, if he has sufficient evidence to give him reasonable belief in what he puts out to the public.

 

[Breakthru]

Once again, for farmers to work together like that it would require some sort of farming national union that worked altruistically for famers and not its own self-perpetuating interest. I guess it's worth a try.


A journalist can publish, with legal impunity, if he has sufficient evidence to give him reasonable belief in what he puts out to the public.

A statement like that will give the editor and paper owner heart palpitations in our US style sue your butt off for any reason we can.
Our politicians, councils and especially quangos are all corrupt to a greater or lesser degree. Ever tried to get an FOI on a quango? That's why they were created. Moved off the books to work in the dark. Only when they really balls up are they then taken back in hand at our vast expense with no heads rolling.
The wider internet and what we have here is their achilles heel.
You can run with the hares but you can't hide as easily in the past.
Also the ease with which to set up anon accounts on twitsh#t or whatever means they can be brought out of the dark into the glare of justice more easily. Make these accusations anon because then the journalist can then legitimately ask the question about where these claims come from without the bandits without masks in the legal profession having an expensive beanfeast!