LAND FOR THE MANY; Labour's land policy

[Formatted]

https://landforthemany.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/land-for-the-many.pdf

Summary pages 5-9, some sensible ideas but also a lot of waffle and rubbish.

 

[Bogweevil]

'Councils should also be encouraged to create new County Farms. An end to austerity and the lifting of some borrowing constraints would give councils greater leeway to invest in new farms. This should be bolstered by an allocation of grant money from central government which would be available to councils only if they spent it on acquiring new land for County Farms.' pp66

 

[Still Farming]

Sold all Council Small Holdings off years ago around here.
Council strapped for money ? How they going to buy land?
Compulsory purchase ,rob is it?

 

[Formatted]

Sold all Council Small Holdings off years ago around here.
Council strapped for money ? How they going to buy land?
Compulsory purchase ,rob is it?

If you read the report it says they will establish a new fund that will only be available to councils who want to invest in land. Government borrowing money is ultra cheap, cheaper than a mortgage, so makes sense they can access the cash and it still be an economic return for the council.

 

[Still Farming]

If you read the report it says they will establish a new fund that will only be available to councils who want to invest in land. Government borrowing money is ultra cheap, cheaper than a mortgage, so makes sense they can access the cash and it still be an economic return for the council.

Find land to buy then won't they.

 

[Bogweevil]

'To ensure that farmland is reserved for farmers and to prevent it from being used for tax avoidance and speculation we propose that a new English Land Commission undertakes a review of tax exemptions given to landowners. This should aim to restrain these fiscal privileges without harming family farms. The removal of similar tax exemptions on woodlands and forestry should also be considered.'

 

[deleted user 837354]

'To ensure that farmland is reserved for farmers and to prevent it from being used for tax avoidance and speculation we propose that a new English Land Commission undertakes a review of tax exemptions given to landowners. This should aim to restrain these fiscal privileges without harming family farms. The removal of similar tax exemptions on woodlands and forestry should also be considered.'

Sounds good to me.

 

[toquark]

Well, as a dyed-in-the-wool free marketeer, there was more in there I agreed with than I thought there would be.

Widening access to farming is no bad thing. I agree with the stopping of county farm sell offs, they are a very effective way of new entrants to gain access to land. In fact, a lot of what they propose is already happening in Scotland such as public land being opened up for new farming entrants, right to roam, land commission, community right to buy etc.

The problem is that the ideology behind a lot of these proposals is very difficult to implement effectively. For example, I know of at least one case near me where the community were awarded a significant sum of money to purchase land then totally ignored their original (fairly loose) business plan, ran out of cash, and went back to the Scottish Land Fund for a bail out which they got. This was on a property which managed correctly, should easily work in surplus. Instead it has been bought - twice over - by the tax payer inside a decade.

 

[7610 super q]

I shall just change my name by deed poll to " Many ".

 

[Danllan]

This is a very well drafted document that transposes an awful lot of far left and anti-farming propaganda into a formal policy proposal. It has been padded with some generally inoffensive things, e.g. the county farms initiative, but If the greater part of this is implemented the effects are going to be painful for all famers and more especially so for those who own their own land.

Take note of who its authors are and what their previous history tells you about them, do not be under any illusion that they are doing anything other than making their normally terrifying policies appear acceptable.

Taking just two examples of particular relevance to farming:
​

p62 para.4 Will grass count as a crop and, if so, in precisely which circumstances? (Who expects the average non-ag person to recognise which is a cutting ground and which isn't?) The right to roam will mean the agricultural benefits of public footpaths becoming farm-wide.

s9 - Reversing the criminalisation of trespass and squatting, which were formerly civil offences... It took ages to gain us the protection of the Criminal Code against these offences and, surprise, surprise it's Mr mass trespass (i.e. bully the landowner) Monbiot himself wanting to see them ended. Don't imagine that all in the 'travelling' community are illiterate either.

Clearly it isn't all bad, but a very large amount is bad and, anyway, there would have to be a Corbyn government to see it enacted... (which is ever-increasingly unlikely )

 

[Formatted]

@Danllan good analysis

 

[chaffcutter]

Seems to involve the creation of lots of lovely quangos so beloved of Labour, all fighting each other for jurisdiction over stuff.
Jobs for the boys!?

 

[Brisel]

All funded by other people's money and assets.

 

[Bill the Bass]

I haven’t read the whole report but a big theme seems to be around reducing the value of land, yet they then want councils to borrow more money to buy a depreciating asset (if their policies work) and letting it out for a small rent. I’m no economist but that doesn’t sound sensible to me.

Rather than fanny around turning people into Tom and Barbara Good, I would much prefer my local council to use any extra funds to help the elderly, those with disabilities and those looking for their first home, rather than help a bunch sanctimonious hippies who feel everyone else has ‘done better than them’ because they have the audacity of to work hard and accumulate wealth.

 

[Brisel]

Labour policies will soon reduce the value of farmland! Scrapping tax reliefs, IHT etc.

 

[Bill the Bass]

Labour policies will soon reduce the value of farmland! Scrapping tax reliefs, IHT etc.

Indeed, so why lumber already struggling councils with a depreciating asset?

 

[Brisel]

https://landforthemany.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/land-for-the-many.pdf

Summary pages 5-9, some sensible ideas but also a lot of waffle and rubbish.

I've just read this. It's proper Old Labour, wanting something that isn't theirs, earned by someone else. They really do know how to kill an economy, don't they? What they'd really like is to nationalise the whole countryside for "the greater good"



For further information about The Greater Good, watch that great documentary on village life, Hot Fuzz

 

[Goweresque]

they will establish a new fund that will only be available to councils who want to invest in land. Government borrowing money is ultra cheap, cheaper than a mortgage, so makes sense they can access the cash and it still be an economic return for the council.

Given the whole rationale of Council owned farms is to provide land to rent at less than the existing market rents, and landowning makes little return even at those, how much return do you think the average council is going to make on the hefty capital investment it would take to buy farms, get the infrastructure up to spec and then manage them in house? Not much I suspect. In fact I suspect the portfolio would run at a loss most years and require the local council taxpayer to stick extra money in.

Given 100 acres + house + buildings around here would go for 7 figures at least, if the council desired a 2% return on its investment it would need a rent of £200/acre (split between house rent and land rent in some ratio). I suspect that councils might consider that they could spend that million in ways that might help more than just one family.

 

[Nearly]

Compulsory purchase ,rob is it?

A little slip of the texting thumb there, or not?

 

[Bald Rick]

Any council land/farms that come up here go to existing tenants or sons thereof.

Chuffing joke