On the 6^th August 2020 the Government released its ‘Planning for the Future’ consultation, it proposes reforms to streamline and modernise the planning process.

At the same time in some areas, farmland sold for development has hit the multimillion-pound level per acre. The government had committed to building 300,000 new homes per year by the mid 2020’s but to the year ending December 2019 just 178,800 were completed.

Demand from large scale developers is principally for sites of 100 houses or more, but there is plenty of appetite for smaller sites too.

Given that a change is coming, and that infrastructure and housing will be important economic drivers post lockdown, now might just be the right time to sit down and review what opportunities your holding offers outside of agriculture.

If you have opportunities that you would like to discuss in the confidence please contact Jim Bryant on 01223 842675 or jim@bryantlandproperty.com

(Source www.gov.uk and Farmers Weekly July 2020).