Make most of projects now, landowners told

"IF YOU are going to do it, do it now," was the advice given to farmers by Peter Hall of rural consultants Laurence Gould, this week.

Speaking in Perth, he urged farmers and landowners to "make the most of huge opportunities now available through the Scottish Rural Development Programme" (SRDP).

This option, coupled with the current incredibly low interest rates, could help to establish projects which will benefit businesses for the next 15 to 20 years. Another reason for moving forward with new projects now was the very real prospect of reduced income from any reform of the CAP. Hall reckoned Scottish farmers could be looking at 20 to 30 per cent reductions in support in a reformed CAP.

For farmers and landowners having difficulty in identifying opportunities, he recommended a whole farm review to help benchmark, set targets and chart a positive course for the business's future, while making full utilisation of SRDP opportunities.

Small-scale renewable energy projects, in particular the harnessing of wind and/or water, will become even more financially attractive from this April, with the introduction of feed-in tariffs which will be paid for all electricity generated, whether used by the owner or the excess fed into the grid.

Another speaker at the same meeting, Jon Robertson of legal firm Turcan Connell, explained that the potential generation of hydro power, which is less intrusive than wind and consequently easier to achieve planning permission for, has recently been re-assessed by the Scottish Government.

This has resulted in a previous figure of less than 2,000 potential schemes in Scotland now increasing to more than 7,000.

In addition, he said the Scottish Environment Protection Agency is to facilitate small hydro schemes.

Again on the topic of renewable energy, Kenneth Munn, of the land agents Savills, underlined the present enthusiasm of would-be wind farm developers: "There are currently planning applications in for 84 additional wind farms in Scotland, which would result in the estimated generation of 2,865 mW, twice the current capacity of the grid!"

However, a note of steadying caution from a tax point of view for those considering using land and/or buildings for non-agricultural purposes was given by Robertson's colleague, Ian Clark of Turcan Connell, who explained that land occupied by a number of wind generators, while increasing in capital value, would no longer qualify for agricultural property relief with regard to Inheritance tax.