Rural

A rapidly developing market on the land

Income diversity is the trend. Important changes are taking place which affect the way we look at - and manage - the countryside. Those living and working in rural settings are experiencing a mix of new challenge and fresh opportunity.

Many landowners, for example, are now systematically widening their range of earning initiatives:  the search for income diversity is taking them into such activities as livery yards, renewable energy, sporting rights, telecommunications ands tourism.

And legislation is a key driver. The dynamics of the agricultural market itself are increasingly being influenced by statute:

• The 2003 Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act, for example, provides new style 5-15 year limited duration tenancies and makes it easier for tenants to undertake new activities like bed-a-breakfast services. 
• The Land Reform (Scotland) Act, passed in the same year, establishes statutory rights of access to land and inland water for outdoor recreation. 
• And rural businesses are subject to growing legislative controls, like the revised grievance and disciplinary procedures in the latest employment regulations.

"Greater freedoms" for farmers.  The EU's 2005 reform of its Common Agricultural Policy, added another impetus by replacing 11 payment regimes with the Single Payment Scheme. Its stated aim is to give "farmers greater freedom to farm to the demands of the market" by de-coupling subsidies from production. It also aims to "acknowledge and reward environmentally friendly farming practices" better than in the past.

Our Rural Practice Group advises on these and other legal needs of people whose livelihood is rooted in the countryside.