Welcome to the First Stafford Office Newsletter

It is with great pleasure that I introduce our first Stafford Office Newsletter. 

Click on the links below to read on about topical issues affecting rural land ownership and our invitation to come and meet us at the Staffordshire County Show on 27 and 28 May.

Fisher German LLP operates nationally but delivers locally, and we are as best placed as we have ever been to provide a comprehensive service to our Clients, be this offering property for sale, estate management, through to compensation, planning advice and assistance via our Farms Department with Basic Payment Scheme and Environmental Stewardship applications.

Our Stafford Office is no exception to this. Our Agency Team is going from strength to strength offering a wide range of aspirational properties to the market, from luxury apartments, country houses, equestrian properties, small holdings and farms to country estates.

We have recently been joined by Mark Herbert, Regional Planner working across our three North West Offices. Mark has a wealth of experience having spent circa 25 years working as both a town planner and within private practice. Mark is integral to the office, assisting our Rural Team and Clients with planning matters. We are able to offer a more efficient and effective planning service to our Clients by having Mark’s services.

The Utilities Team continue to deliver projects for Severn Trent Water and other utilities clients, working closely with landowners and property owners alike to minimise disruption during works.

The Rural Sector across our network of offices is continuing to expand and our Stafford office is no exception. We can now boast a full complement of rural surveyors at Stafford; namely Rob Browne, Liz Farrall, Laura Airton and James Wadland as well as myself.

The Rural Team can offer a full range of surveying and planning services, including but not limited to assistance with compensation matters, estate management, valuations and development advice.

If you have a matter that you wish to discuss with us then please do ring our Stafford Office on 01785 220044. Our individual contact details are provided on the Meet the Team sheet and Mark’s article on planning matters included within this Newsletter.

Alternatively come and see us at our Stand at the County Show. This year Mark and our Rural Team will be in attendance for those who wish to have an informal chat about a particular issue. As previously our Property Team will also be there, showcasing the fabulous range of properties we are currently offering to the market. They will gladly provide details of the service we can offer, and provide help and advice on how our service can be tailored to your individual needs.

Charles Meynell, Partner

Come and meet us at the Staffordshire County Show on 27 & 28 May 2015 for an informal chat at our drop in facility.  Click here for more information.

The Chancellor recently launched the Government’s Northern Transport Strategy which, amongst other plans, including the HS3 East West link, will bring HS2 to Crewe sooner than previously proposed. It is anticipated that safeguarding directions will be issued shortly with the route confirmed after this.

Once safeguarding is in place and subject to satisfying the blight criteria, those whose property falls within the safeguarded area will be able to ask the Secretary of State for Transport to purchase their property under the statutory blight provisions. Where a blight notice is accepted then you will be paid for the value of the land/property which you sell to the Government plus any costs due to being displaced from the property as well as stamp duty. Additionally you will receive an appropriate loss payment together with legal costs and a contribution towards agents’ fees.

We are of the opinion that opening up channels of communication at an early stage is very helpful when dealing with such as HS2 or road schemes for example. This informs HS2 Ltd that you are open to dialogue with them and later may aid agreement when negotiating such as access arrangements or temporary fencing which can ensure the smooth operation of the business whilst helping to minimise losses. We have also been successful in making representations to the Government Select Committee on behalf of various Phase 1 clients and will no doubt be able to do this for those affected by Phase 2.

At the moment, for those affected by Phase 2 both inside and out of the proposed safeguarded area there is the Government’s discretionary Exceptional Hardship Scheme. In general terms applicants must evidence they are suffering from exceptional hardship as a result of being unable to sell their property other than at a discounted price due to the proposed HS2 scheme. Successful applicants will receive the unblighted open market value of their property as though HS2 was never proposed. An agricultural holding must include a dwelling under this scheme.

We are acting for a large number of landowners and homeowners affected by HS2 Phase One, and have achieved excellent results for our Clients. We have also made representations on behalf of Clients affected by HS2 Phase One to the HS2 Select Committee. Fisher German LLP is nationally recognised as one of the leading firms of property consultants, and chartered surveyors in the UK. We have the resources available to ensure your claim is given the fullest attention possible.

If you are affected by the proposed High Speed Rail Phase 2 and would like to discuss this matter or any other compensation issue with Liz Farrall in our Rural Team, then please call her on either 01785 275392 or 07918 677575; alternatively email her at liz.farrall@fishergerman.co.uk

Click here for more information about HS2 on our website.

Following the announcement by the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in 2014 that the solar park subsidy, the Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCS), were to be removed for sites larger than 5MW from 1st April, the market is now focused on 5MW solar park schemes.

Typically, a 5MW scheme would require a site of between 25-30 acres. In broad terms, the key requirements for a successful site are:

• Grid connection: close proximity to a grid connection is of primary importance. Typically, a 5MW system would require a 33kV power line, although the 11kV network can sometimes accommodate 5MW. Currently there is great demand for grid connections due to the changes in DECC funding, meaning that potential sites need to be put forward as soon as possible! In recent months there have been a great deal of enquiries in and around Uttoxeter, and also further afield.

• Land quality: it is generally accepted in planning terms that any land put forward for such a scheme should be of Grade 3b or lower, as per the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) 1988 Agricultural Land Classification (England) guidance. This land is described as being:
  
  ‘Land capable of producing moderate yields of a narrow range of crops, principally cereals and grass or lower yields of a wider range of crops or high yields of grass which can be grazed or harvested over most of the year.'

• Distance from residential dwellings and public rights of way: as with any planning application, the main hurdles relate to visibility. The most viable sites would need to be sufficiently out of view, or far away from public view, to mitigate any objections to a scheme.

If you think you have a site that matches the above points, you could expect to receive index linked rents of between &800-&1,000 per acre per annum for up to 25 years!

In addition to the above, there could also be opportunities to form a joint venture with a developer to share the risks and rewards. Developers tend to take sites through the planning process to then sell on as ‘shovel ready’ sites, (so with a secure grid connection and planning permission) to achieve far greater returns.

With the next ROCs subsidy degression set for 1 April 2016, many developers are trying to secure sites quickly. With this in mind, you should give careful consideration to the choice of developer. It is important to consider their track record as few operational sites in the UK are more than 4 years old. You should also consider the long term implications of the site e.g. what will happen to the land at the end of the 25 year term? Who will pay for dismantling the site and reinstating the land?
We can also assist with self-funded smaller scale developments such as roof mounted or ground arrays.

For more information on the opportunities described above, please do not hesitate to contact Robert Browne at the Stafford office on 01785 273984 to discuss your potential site in more detail.

Click here for more information about solar energy on our website.

We are delighted to announce that Fisher German has secured the services of a highly experienced town planner to operate out of our Stafford office. Mark Herbert, who has a successful track-record with other leading firms and within the public sector over almost thirty years, joined the firm late last year and has already developed a good working relationship with several large estates, farmers, and individual landowners assessing and progressing development opportunities for their land and buildings.

Any proposals to secure planning permission for all types of development within the open countryside, or to optimise potential value by converting agricultural buildings, are likely to benefit from Mark’s knowledge of the complex and ever-changing planning system. If you have land or built assets that you think could be put to more useful or valuable use, Mark would be very pleased to hear from you.

Mark has already established a good working knowledge of local planning authorities across his patch, which covers Cheshire and Staffordshire, and can advise on the very mixed Local Plan landscape across the region. He also has a particular interest in the built heritage, and is already assisting clients with two re-development schemes involving listed buildings.

Mark is also delighted to be able to work on projects in close collaboration with his colleague Alex Broad, a building surveyor with expertise in computer aided design (CAD). “It makes the planning process so much easier”, explains Mark. “Appearance and layout is fundamental to providing high quality schemes, whether for simple barn conversions or sensitive listed buildings, and illustrative material is essential in my role, in engaging with local authority planners or for public consultation.”

For an initial free consultation on any planning matter, or to learn more about our in-house CAD services, please contact Mark Herbert on 07468 860082 or at mark.herbert@fishergerman.co.uk.

For more information on the planning services we offer click here.

Find out who's who and what they do.
Click here to read Meet the Stafford Team.