54 WRAY HOUSE & RISE CARR FARM FEB / MAR 2023 • farmers-mart . co . uk
“ We know about the Sustainable Farming Incentive ( SFI ) and the more recently announced local nature recovery plans that are going to be like a kind of Countryside Stewardship Plus but there ’ s still a lot of information missing and what payment rate options are going to be available .
“ That all makes the ability to plan on countryside stewardship very limited . I ’ m trying to push DEFRA to make some announcements as soon as possible .
“ The problem has been there has been so much change within government , but it doesn ’ t wash with me that someone is ‘ still getting the handle on the job ’.
But it ’ s not just new countryside stewardship arrangements that Lucinda is concerned with .
“ The other key thing we have been working on has been the Levelling Up report . An all-parliamentary group report ( APG ) was released last year and made 27 recommendations to government about what they can do to kickstart the rural economy . We polled six constituency areas at the time and essentially the consensus was the Conservatives were losing the rural vote .
“ So , when these recommendations were made we went to all the Conservative party members and parliamentary aides and said if they really wanted to address the lack of support in rural areas they should take a look at these recommendations , take them aboard and adopt them .
“ Unfortunately , we ’ re now on our third Prime Minister since then and we haven ’ t had one who has had a crack at trying to really drive forward the rural economy .
“ When we talk about levelling up it ’ s not just about North vs South , it ’ s also about Cities vs Rural and the countryside should get its fair share .
“ Many of our members want to employ people yet there ’ s no affordable housing there for them and people can ’ t afford long commutes . Everything else goes with it . Schools , planning policies and generally supporting people to diversify .
“ There ’ s a lot that needs driving forward and it ’ s up to us at the CLA to hold the government and politicians to account . We have a lot of work to do in the next 18 months , particularly as we get closer to the next General Election .
Family-run since 1894
“ We are very pleased to supply the Douglas family with their agricultural equipment and thank them for their support ” www . wilfredscruton . co . uk