What can your CLA South East advisers do for you?

The new year feels like as good time as any to introduce our advice service to our new members by explaining what it includes and how it can help to save you money... and if it reminds existing members to get in touch too, then even better.

Firstly, let's talk planning - as well as helping you navigate the planning portal to find the right forms and fees, both Lucy and I here in the South East office can also review your proposals in line with local plans, give feedback on your design and access statements, and help you find specific professionals to assist with surveys (ecology, drainage, noise etc).

We can give you information on certificates of lawfulness, enforcement matters and agricultural ties and how to lift them. In addition to this, where an application will help the rural economy, and provided that no other CLA member has objected to your application, we may also be able to submit supporting comments on the application to your local planning authority.

If your planning enquiry is a little more niche, then we can refer you to our London planning expert for assistance on topics such as whether it may be worth considering an appeal or if there might be grounds to seek a Judicial Review as well as wider discussions around, for example, how reasonable a S.106 requirement suggested by the council is.

Next up, legal matters. As well as being able to give general advice on how to avoid boundary disputes, what riparian obligations you might have if you own land adjacent to a waterway and other such matters like trespass and nuisance, we can assist with new licence/lease agreements.

If you need a simple grazing/mowing licence then we update our template agreement each year (around spring time) and can provide you with this, as well as some guidance on licences etc to use as you see fit.

We can also talk you through and advise on other types of agricultural agreements, from share and contract farming arrangements to AHAs and FBTs. We can also provide some initial information and guidance on agricultural tenancy queries/disputes like 'what notice can I serve to get some land back for a non-agricultural use?' or 'do I need to do anything if my tenant dies?' and so on.

Moving away from purely agricultural matters, we can help with more commercial leases and licences, residential matters and employment matters too. Our legal experts in the London head office are here and waiting to help year-round, just call your regional office and we can give some initial feedback/advice while referring you on to the experts where appropriate.

Thirdly, diversification opportunities, grants and funding opportunities plus business plans. We regularly speak with members who want to diversify but aren't sure where to start, or they have an idea but don't know what to do next in order to make the idea a reality.

We help you get these ideas and plans in order by guiding you through the preparation of a business plan and/or highlighting things you might not have previously considered e.g business rates, or the need for a licence from the council and so on.

Moreover, we may be able to highlight any local or national grants which you might be able to access and assist with your application for this, or at least review it and provide some feedback before its submission.

Next up rural crime. My colleague Lucy is the CLA's rural crime lead and so any crime questions, or indeed observations, should be directed her way so that she can help to effect real change for members during her regular catch-ups with the police and wider bodies.

Utility issues from billing to infrastructure are another area we can provide advice and assistance with. In the past we have been able to apply pressure on water companies to re-look at some errant estimated bills when the meter was unreadable due to a high water table (leading to a £200 refund on one occasion!), or where even the water company is confused as to what meters might serve which fields and thus which farming business.

We have also helped many members understand their rights when utility companies have been in touch to say a new pipe or cable is needed and the preferred route is over the member's land. And we have helped to chase such companies for the compensation payments that, though agreed, are being strangely slow to arrive.

Recommending the right professionals for your needs is another way we can assist. We have a large number of business and professional members across not just the region but nationally. So if you need a solicitor who specialises in national infrastructure projects or business administration or tax matters, then let us know and we can recommend someone. The same goes for planning consultants, land agents, accountants and a plethora of other professions/services.

And finally, tax - not something I or Lucy would advise on in any great detail (unless it's a business rates or council tax query, in which case, definitely give us a call) but we can set up a case for you with the tax team and obtain some pertinent information from you to enable a swifter and fuller response.

Our tax team can give you bespoke succession planning/IHT advice and while yes, it might be that your accountant/solicitor has work to do stemming from this afterwards, having this initial information and advice from the tax team could save you a lot of money.

That's probably enough for now, but hopefully it has given you an insight into the many topics we cover and the ways we could assist and potentially save you some professional costs, or indeed, save you from spending hours trawling questionable Google sources for a trustworthy and reliable answer to your question..!

We look forward to hearing from you. Please call 01264 358195 if you need us.