Nicholas Verney appears in CLA video
Rural businesses can be a powerhouse for the UK economy, if they are given the political support they need to diversify.
That’s the message from Nicholas Verney of the Claydon Estate, and Chair of the Environment Committee of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA).
Nicholas says rural businesses and Estates are uniquely placed to help with almost every challenge facing the nation, including growing food, setting aside land for homes and energy generation, providing public access to green space and offering places for nature to thrive.
But he warns without robust political leadership to overcome the brakes on diversification, the rural sector will be hampered in delivering for both their communities and the nation more widely.
“It feels like there isn’t a huge amount of support for what we’re doing,” he says in a video message recorded for the CLA.
In his address Nicholas sets out the services many rural Estates already provide in the countryside.
He says: “Whether it’s growing food, providing homes, providing access to green space to help people with health and well-being, helping with the environment crisis, looking after nature, enhancing biodiversity and a whole host of other things.
“But some robust leadership from the highest level of politics to help us as a sector deliver and address some of those challenges would be very welcome.
“Any business would look to diversify but when there are so many barriers to diversification, whether it’s difficulties in the private rented sector…threats to furnished holiday lets or difficulties with planning, it feels like there isn’t a huge amount of support for what we’re trying to do, when actually if rural businesses were able to operate in a world where we were supported, we could do so much for the countryside and the economy of the countryside.”
The Claydon Estate, which covers around 5,000 acres of Buckinghamshire countryside, including farmland, woodland, and residential and commercial properties, has been in the Verney family for more than 400 years.
During that time successive generations have invested in the Estate and the wider community. In recent years it has provided land for a school car park, land for a local church to extend its graveyard, and access to woodland for forest school for a local primary school. It commits to grounds maintenance at one of the local churches, as well as providing permissive footpaths across estate land. The Verneys, through a family charity, have recently given financial support to two local schools, and several Buckinghamshire charities.
Nicholas and his wife Alexandra took over as custodians of the Estate in 2014. During the past ten years they have restructured the Estate’s in-hand farming enterprises and implemented improvements to the Estate’s let homes and commercial premises.
They have also started a programme of restoration of, and investment in, Claydon Courtyard, now a thriving hub for visitors and independent businesses. The couple and the Estate staff have also established a growing calendar of events.
The Claydon Estate takes a long-term view of environmental stewardship. It has invested in a biomass boiler fuelled by sustainably sourced woodchip to provide heat and hot water. The Estate is also working with EDF Renewables to develop Rosefield Solar Farm. The aim is to generate enough clean energy to power the equivalent of more than 57,000 homes and save more than 125,000 tonnes of carbon every year.
Nicholas says: “As custodians of an Estate with a long history within the wider community we are acutely aware of our responsibilities, both locally, nationally and now – in relation to climate change – globally.
“We have commitments to care for the environment – including reducing our carbon footprint – and maintain an economically resilient business. Diversifying the use of land, as the challenges to traditional farming increase and demand for low-carbon energy grows, is, we believe, the right way to meet these commitments.
“In making these changes we are confident we can secure the estate’s financial ability and continue to provide all the benefits we have brought to our community over many years, including residential, commercial and recreational opportunities, access to green space and giving nature the best chance to thrive.”
Click on the link below to watch the full interview.
