Our Priorities for 2008

In addition to our wide range of activity we will focus on the following objectives during our centenary year.

Defending private property rights in England and Wales and insisting on compensation when private property rights are diminished in any way
We will campaign to minimise the impact of statutory public access provisions and promote the benefits of an incentive-led voluntary approach whether this is access to coastal areas, rivers or woodland.

Championing the profitability of rural businesses
The CLA’s ‘Just Ask’ campaign tries to persuade consumers to pay attention to where their food comes from. We will continue to work with the food service sector to help provide this information. The CLA will also champion land-based renewable energy and will continue its fight to remove obstacles in the path of rural economic diversification: particularly planning restrictions and unhelpful tax policy.

Promoting the role of CLA members in delivering landscape, biodiversity and mitigating climate change
2008 will see the start of yet another fundamental review of the CAP. The CLA has been working on its vision for that policy to evolve to a policy for Food and Environmental Security which fully recognises the role of CLA members as guardians, defenders and promoters of the countryside in England and Wales. We will highlight the economic and social contribution our members have made through many generations whilst looking forward to the challenges ahead.

THREATS TO PRIVATE LANDOWNERS IN ENGLAND AND WALES
CLA understands the threats to private landowners better than anyone else and that these threats are not confined to the largest estates. Those who have newly acquired land whether for agricultural, business, recreational or residential use – as well as those who have years of experience – all need the very best advice available and, above all, an influential voice to represent their interests. The CLA is that voice. Nobody is doing more to manage the impact on the value of land, both in the short and long term. Our advisers have identified seven key threats to landowners in England and Wales:

1. Scottish Land Reform could trickle south of the border: Although Scotland has its own parliament and legal system that does not mean that initiatives such as community or tenant ‘right to buy’ will not migrate to England and Wales. The influential Carnegie Trust has already launched a campaign for Community Ownership. We wait to see if the Gordon Brown premiership results in these ideas moving south.
2. Current national planning policy stifles rural business and diversification: Rural areas need jobs and houses. The oneeyed focus on building only houses on brownfield sites has the effect that most new development in rural areas discriminates against employment opportunities.
3. British farming under pressure: With the rises during 2007 of grain, oilseed and milk prices, some sectors of farming saw a recovery in their profitability. However other sectors, notably livestock, suffering from Foot & Mouth Disease and Blue Tongue Virus, are hurt by the rise in feed costs. In addition all sectors are threatened by disproportionate and thus costly measures introduced under the nitrates directive.
4. Government further withdraws from flood protection in rural areas: Despite the dreadful floods in summer 2007, Government shows no sign that it has understood the threat posed by flooding to farmland and rural business. With limited funds available for flood management, rural areas and farmland may be abandoned and land sacrificed to realign the coasts and estuaries in order to protect valuable environmental sites or larger communities.
5. ‘Right to roam’ could extend in England and Wales to include coastal areas, rivers and riverbanks and woodlands with ancient and un-used rights of way being brought back to life through the Government ‘Discovering Lost Ways’ project.
6. Development Tax: With very active CLA lobbying, the proposed Planning Gain Supplement has been withdrawn. However, attention now focuses on the Standard Planning Charge concept to ensure this gives the special treatment necessary to exempt small rural enterprise.
7. Ban on game rearing and further restrictions on shooting: It took those who opposed hunting with dogs nearly a century to secure a ban and they are now focusing their considerable financial and campaigning resources on shooting. They are already campaigning against certain aspects of game rearing.