A report to be submitted to Tory Chiefs at North Yorkshire County Council on the
The report by Bruton Knowles was commissioned to review the Council’s policy on the sale of tenant farms implemented 10 years ago in 1998.
The failures may be summarised under two headings: Repairs & Maintenance and Diversification
Repairs & Maintenance
In section 4 of the report it claims that:
“There seems to have been some shortfall in attention to both repairs and maintenance and improvements driven by budgetary constraints.” Later the consultants highlight the fact that tenants have had to serve formal notices to get repairs done, normally a device of “last resort”.In some instances buildings previously suitable for conversion to residential use are so dilapidated that they are no longer thought capable of getting planning permission.
The consultants recommend that at least £330,000 a year be invested in the estate for the foreseeable future, far more than the present budget.
Diversification
In section 6.6 the lack of diversified enterprises on the North Yorkshire Estate compared to other county farm portfolios is highlighted, with the comment that:-
“The Council wishes to encourage the rural economy which is increasingly predicated on diversification or pluri-activity on farms but it may be concerned that an unduly successful diversification may add to compensation costs at termination. Elsewhere some landlords have adopted a more creative approach…”
Sale policy
The report concludes (section 5.3.11) that the policy of progressive disposal of the estate would be difficult to reverse as:- “The fragmentation of the Estate through the sales programme has exacerbated the difficulties of management and the limitations on productive amalgamations so that rationalising the policy to a long term, sustainable state is no longer a realistic opportunity.”
Cllr Bill Hoult, Leader of the Liberal Democrats at County Hall, who supported an outright sale in 1998, comments:
“We now have a fragmented, badly managed estate so lacking in investment that the consultants are recommending a considerable hike in spending.It is a disgrace that tenants have to serve a formal notice to get repairs done. We owe it to them to be a good landlord, we are failing and this must change. As to the policy on progressive disposal we are clearly too far down the road to go into reverse.”
Cllr Hoult adds:
“Much is made on the income that the current sale policy has produced (£30m), but we must remember that the £18m value of the estate ten years ago was never tested and was likely to be much more on the open market. Also if sold outright for say £20m, that money invested at 5% in 1998 would have earned a further £11m in interest by now. To that we need to add all the management costs of the estate which have not been clearly identified.”
