After an uncertain start, the uptake of the Environmental Land Management schemes (ELM) is increasing as farmers work out how the schemes can help their businesses. Farming business will welcome the government's confirmation that it also realises stability is important, so whilst the transition will continue, it won’t be changing the schemes radically.

More significant changes are on the table for planning to increase house-building rates and allow applications for larger renewable energy projects to be decided locally. Our analysis shows the current threshold has strongly influenced the size of solar farm applications.

FOOD & FARMING

Sustainable Farming Incentive 2024 agreements start
The first Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreements for 2024 are now live. The expanded SFI offer in England comprises 102 actions, including over 20 new options to support more sustainable food production. New capital items have also been added, including for tree guards, agroforestry and moorland mapping plans. This means 105 capital items and five plans are now available through the different grants.

Further scheme guidance has also been published. This includes updated wording for some of the actions to clarify what farmers and land managers need to do, and covers how to add more land by taking out a second agreement. The guidance for each action can be found using the ‘Find funding for land or farms’ tool. New voluntary advice for each SFI action has been added in the same place. It helps with aspects like choosing the seed mix and how to establish and maintain it.

Our Food and the Environment Spotlight, published in June, demonstrated how the SFI could support more sustainable farming practices and the 2024 scheme has much more to offer compared to the 2023 scheme. For more information about the SFI, see our Rural Research briefing note or contact Georgina Sweeting in our Food and Farming team.

Sustainable sheep farming
A new National Sheep Association (NSA) report aims to demonstrate the UK sheep sector’s positive role in sustainable agriculture. The report, produced in association with Harper Adams University School of Sustainable Food and Farming, emphasises sustainability is not just about carbon but instead consists of four key pillars:

• Environmental responsibility
• Economic viability
• Health of people, animals and ecosystems
• Social acceptability

These pillars must be considered together rather than in isolation to determine the true sustainability of the sheep farming sector. The report includes 17 examples of sheep farmers improving their environmental and economic sustainability across the UK. The NSA argues the industry has previously been criticised for refusing to reduce genetic diversity and use more bought-in feed, but now its diversity and focus on grass-based systems are viewed as assets.

It acknowledges the sector can do more to improve its credentials and progress further but argues a clear long-term vision and strategic direction for UK agriculture must be set and the government needs to improve its testing and impact evaluation of policies and support schemes. Overall, the report's conclusion makes 30 ‘asks’ across three areas: delivery, strategic and directional, and development and innovation. These include a call for farm schemes to cover carbon auditing and for one tool or standardised metrics to form the basis of those audits.

Farmer-led badger vaccination trial
A badger vaccination trial has seen positive tests for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) reduced to zero. The idea was suggested by a local farmer who approached the local wildlife trust about badger vaccinations. The small-scale study was then implemented by the Zoological Society of London, Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Imperial College across 12 farms in a four-year trial. Blood tests, which were conducted alongside the vaccinations, indicated positive tests for the disease fell from 16% at the beginning to 0% at the end. Counts from camera traps also suggested the scheme delivered the vaccine to three-quarters (74%) of the local badger population. Based on these results, the researchers say a larger-scale investigation of the impact of vaccines on disease rates in cattle is now needed.

POLICY

Labour confirms no (major) changes to ELM
The government has announced that no major changes will be made to the Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes. Farming minister Daniel Zeichner confirmed the government will focus on restoring stability and confidence for farmers. Labour is fully committed to the schemes and will not be ‘overturning the apple cart’. He emphasised the need to ensure small, grassland, upland and tenanted farms are catered for, acknowledging a weakness in the current ELM offering.

Farmers will welcome confirmation that there will be no major changes. The schemes will however, continue to evolve. For example, a recent change to the SFI legume fallow option addresses a frustration many farmers had with the 2024 scheme. The legume fallow option (CNUM3) was being used instead of a break crop to rest land for a year, fix nitrogen and assist with weed control. In SFI 2024, for newly established fallow, this option was made non-rotational, meaning it had to be in the same place for the three-year agreement, so it could no longer substitute for a one-year break crop. This has now been reversed so new legume fallows can be rotated annually again.

NPPF consultation launched
The government has launched a consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) as part of its plan to "get Britain building again". The NPPF sets out the government’s planning policies for England and how local planning authorities should apply these. The key changes include reinstating mandatory housing targets and the five-year housing supply test, revising the method used to calculate housing need, adjusting green belt review requirements, and introducing and defining the "grey belt" concept.

It also seeks views on improving the availability of affordable housing in rural areas, a topic of significance considering a recent report from Defra shows house prices were 12 times higher than earnings in one in five rural areas. See this blog for more information on the proposed NPPF reforms.

Minister for Housing confirms government stance on rent controls
Matthew Pennycook, the Minister of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, was questioned by Shadow Secretary of State Kemi Badenoch about Labour’s plans for restrictions on rent increases and other rent controls in England’s domestic private rented sector. Mr Pennycook responded saying the government did not support the introduction of rent controls. He referenced the proposed Renters’ Rights Bill and reiterated how the Bill's purpose is to protect tenants against unreasonable within-tenancy rent increases. His response could be interpreted as being unclear; our interpretation is that the government does not support capping rent increases but will enhance tenants’ rights to challenge rent increases, which they consider unfair. Further information on the Renters Rights Bill can be found in our Kings’ Speech briefing note.

Minimum wage recommendations to consider the cost of living
The government has revised the Low Pay Commission's (LPC) mandate to consider the cost of living when making its annual recommendations for minimum wage rates. The LPC has also been asked to recommend a wage rate for 18-20-year-olds and evaluate under-18 and apprentice rates.

ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL CAPITAL

Environmental Improvement Plan to be reviewed
The Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) 2023 will be reviewed before the end of the year. The EIP outlines how the country will achieve its 25-year Environment Plan targets and Environment Act (2021) commitments. The latest annual EIP progress report revealed concerning findings, such as 16% of species in Great Britain being at risk of extinction. While significant progress has been made in environmental improvement since the launch of the 25-year Environment Plan in 2018, challenges remain.

EIP23 was published in 2023 and was not set to be reviewed for another five years. The recent Labour manifesto contained a clear commitment to uphold the Environment Act (2021) through various initiatives, including expanding habitats and implementing large-scale tree planting. This indicates a potential increase in government support for biodiversity-boosting initiatives and could lead to additional policies to promote sustainable land use.

Scotland: World Heritage status for the Flow Country
The Flow Country is the most recent location in Scotland to gain World Heritage status from UNESCO. As the largest blanket bog in Europe, it is home to various rare insects, fish, mammals, birds, and vast quantities of peat, which is believed to sequester more than twice as much carbon as all of Britain’s woodlands combined. This designation is not only a major win for the preservation of natural habitats in Scotland but is particularly remarkable considering that large areas of peatlands in the Flow Country were destroyed for drainage and conifer plantations in the 1980s. The area suffered significant habitat loss, but extensive restoration work has led to substantial recovery, creating high-quality habitats and large-scale carbon sinks.

Drone sensing for carbon
Treeconomy, a nature restoration business, has developed a unique method to monitor carbon in rewilding projects. Traditional carbon monitoring and reporting techniques are difficult to apply to such projects due to their natural and sometimes dense features, making it challenging to obtain comprehensive measurements or apply standardised tree growth rate assumptions. Instead, Treeconomy utilises drones to fly over the area, creating 3D models. By repeating this process over the years, it can calculate the habitat growth rate, enabling carbon storage measurement and providing assurance to buyers that they are increasing their carbon stocks.

Treeconomy has partnered with Naturalis Biodiversity Centre from the Netherlands, which wants to purchase carbon removal credits to offset its emissions from necessary staff travel. The credits will be sourced from nature restoration company Nattergal and generated from its Boothby Wildland project, which is rewilding the 617-hectare Boothby Lodge Farm in Lincolnshire. The credits are priced at £85 per tonne, so they carry a premium over current Woodland Carbon Code and the Peatland Carbon Code credit pricing. Although drone sensing for carbon is not a new practice and has been used by other companies, its application for rewilded land is a novel concept.

PROPERTY & DEVELOPMENT

Larger renewable energy projects to be allowed locally
The proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) include allowing planning consent for larger solar and onshore wind projects to be granted locally. Currently, solar and onshore wind projects in England and Wales that would generate more than 50 megawatts (MW) of power are classed as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) and therefore require planning approval from the Secretary of State. The proposal, which has already been consulted on, would see the NSIP thresholds increased to 100MW for onshore wind projects and 150MW for solar projects. This would reduce the number of projects seeking development consent orders and mean more going through the local planning process.

Our research shows that the threshold has influenced the size of solar farm proposals. Planning applications for ground-mounted solar photovoltaics fall into two classes of projects: those below 50MW and those running into hundreds of megawatts. Between 2010 and 2024, 1,844 ground-mounted solar photovoltaic projects have successfully applied for planning permission or are awaiting a decision. Only 12 exceed 50MW, and their average capacity is 392MW, with the smallest being 138MW. As for wind, our analysis indicates only 12% of planning applications made in the same period were for projects in England and Wales. This implies other obstacles were more significant for developers than the NSIP restriction, such as the effective ban on onshore wind brought about by footnotes in the NPPF. These have now been removed by the government.

Starmer: Pylons mean lower bills
Rural constituencies will have to accept electricity pylons running through their areas, irrespective of the colour of the rosette worn by the local MP. That was the declaration made by Kier Starmer when questioned about opposition to pylon construction. Kier Starmer had criticised Adrian Ramsay, co-leader of the Green party, for opposing pylon construction in his Waveney Valley constituency, saying it was extraordinary a Green party politician is opposing clean energy infrastructure. The Prime Minister suggested he would not underground cables to avoid local complaints and would instead press on and not run away from tough decisions.

BUSINESS & economy

Record-breaking budget for energy auction
A record-breaking public support budget has been announced for the next renewable energy auction, known as Contracts for Difference (CfD). In March, the government committed a record £1 billion to the sixth round of auctions, nearly quadrupling the previous auction's budget. The new government has now announced a further £530 million, taking the total budget to £1.56 billion. The increase means the budget is seven times higher than the previous round.

Nearly 26GW of renewable energy capacity has been brought forward through the Contracts for Difference mechanism, and 17GW of that is offshore wind power. It was a shock then when the last round of auctions saw no investment in offshore wind. This, combined with Labour’s manifesto pledge to quadruple offshore wind, has seen most of the extra funding (£300 million) allocated to Pot 3, which is dedicated to offshore wind.

Pot 2, for emerging technologies, also saw a large uplift in the allocated budget. It has increased by £165 million to £270 million per year between 2027 and 2029. A minimum of £10 million is ringfenced for tidal stream projects. Pot 1, for solar, onshore wind and remote island wind, saw a £65 million uplift, meaning £185 million will be provided annually between 2026 and 2028.

Abolishing furnished holiday lettings tax relief
The government has published draft legislation that would abolish the furnished holiday lettings (FHL) tax regime from April 2025. The tax regime currently offers tax reductions in relation to properties which are available for holiday letting for a minimum of 210 days a year and are let for at least 105 days. By scrapping the relief, the Treasury is expected to save around £245 million a year by 2028-29. Former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced he would abolish the tax concessions in the Spring Budget. The new government has since permitted the Treasury to issue a policy paper confirming the original timescale. Rural organisations have criticised the move, saying it will hurt farmers who have diversified into the holiday lettings market and the broader rural economy, which benefits from tourism in the area.

OTHER RURAL NEWS

And finally… Terraforming Mars could be easy
You might imagine warming up Mars to make it more conducive to life would take decades, centuries even. Not so. New research suggests injecting tiny particles into Mars’ atmosphere could warm the planet by more than 10°C in a matter of months. All previous approaches to terraforming, deliberately modifying a planetary body to make it habitable for human life, have been expensive or far-fetched. This approach proposes using the abundant Martian dust to create 9-micrometre-long rods and fire them into the atmosphere, artificially creating the greenhouse effect on Mars. The approach would demand two million tonnes of particles. While that is equivalent to 0.1% of the industrial metals mined on Earth yearly, it’s also 5,000 times less material than other greenhouse gas schemes. With that issue solved, all that remains to do is solve the problem of low atmospheric pressure, low oxygen concentrations, low water resources and high ultraviolet radiation. Maybe it’s not quite as easy as we thought.

If you have queries about any of the articles, please get in touch with us.