Richard Lochhead moves to reassure landowners over tenancies

By ANDREW ARBUCKLE
Published on Wednesday 15 February 2012 00:00

SCOTTISH landowners were assured yesterday by the Richard Lochhead that he had no plans to introduce a “right to buy” clause for farm tenants.

The issue arose because Rob Gibson, the chair of the Scottish Parliament’s rural affairs committee, had indicated that the Cabinet secretary for rural affairs and environment, was still thinking along those lines. But Lochhead told the annual meeting of National Farmers’ Union of Scotland in St Andrews that such a possibility was not on his personal agenda.

However, he indicated in strong terms that he was disappointed with a number of landowners who – in his eyes – were failing in their “moral duty” to let land to new entrants so that new blood could come into the farming industry.

“Some landowners are constantly finding excuses for not letting land, “Lochhead said. “They asked me to rule out the right to buy and I did that. They then told me a new government might come along and change things.

“So, whatever we do to boost the confidence of landowners, it sometimes seems it is never enough. The bar just keeps being set higher and higher.”

He acknowledged that some of those letting land were playing their part in creating new tenancies, but said more needed to be done. Lochhead conceded that the future of the tenanted sector remained difficult and complex, but said he was going to urgently tackle some of the problems now affecting it.

“I will be writing to the Tenants Farming Forum asking how we can best take forward a focused set of priorities and set a strict timetable for action.”

Referring to last week’s decision by the Court of Session to ask the Land Court to revisit the rent of a Fife farm, Lochhead said: “It is absolutely ludicrous that we have found ourselves in a situation where QCs are hired at thousands of pounds per day to settle rent disputes.”

In his drive to get more young farmers into the industry he said that later this year he would be setting up an advisory panel for new entrants. Its remit would be to advise on how best to use the new common agricultural policy rules to support new entrants.

Scotland’s own CAP guru, Brian Pack had earlier raised his concern that other than at the adoption of the new CAP, there did not seem to be a mechanism that would allow entry to newcomers after that. Scottish Land & Estates chairman Luke Borwick described Lochhead’s use of the term “moral duty” as not being helpful. He said the vast majority of landowners enjoyed a close and productive working relationship with farm tenants and leased their land wherever it was possible and practical.

“The way forward, for those who want to see a vibrant and healthy tenanted sector, is to continue to work in partnership, he said.”

He believed that could be achieved through the Tenants Farming Forum, working with a tight remit and clear aims, outlined by the Scottish Government.

Logged in as:

Comment here. Start typing your comment here:

Post comment

Please adhere to our Community guidelines

Your view

Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.