By unlocking the export potential China offers the pig industry, not to mention the red meat sector as a whole, we could gain entry into a marketplace which comprises a fifth of the world’s population.Compensation for farmers on high speed rail link
FARMERS disrupted by the new high speed rail link due to run between London and Birmingham will be eligible for compensation, the Government has announced.
Phil Hammond, the Transport Secretary, said the Government’s Exceptional Hardship Scheme (EHS), originally meant for homeowners ‘will be widened to include owner occupiers of agricultural units’.
The NFU, which lobbied the Government to change the rules, celebrated yesterday’s (Monday) move.
“Farmers, more than any other group, will be affected by the proposed route of High Speed Two,” said Ivan Moss, NFU planning advisor.
“That’s why we are delighted with the announcement by the Secretary of State that farmers will be covered by the provisions of the EHS,” he added.
The EHS scheme, which will be formally launched on August 20, will apply to properties ‘on or in the vicinity’ of the proposed high speed rail route.
It will allow farmers, who ‘urgently’ need to sell their properties before any final decision on a high speed rail line is taken, to sell their property to the Government.
Applicants will have to demonstrate that they had already made ‘reasonable efforts’ to sell their property; that it had been on the market for at least 3 months and that no offer had been received of 85 per cent or more of its existing open market property price.
Applicants would also need to demonstrate that their ability to sell their property had been seriously affected by High Speed Two’s recommended route.
Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary under the previous Government, announced the proposals to construct the 335-mile rail link from London to Birmingham and further to Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds in March.
Under the plans, trains will run at speeds of up to 250 miles per hour, cutting journey times from London to The North by up to 75 minutes.
The first section of the route, from London to Birmingham, will cut across the Chilterns and head north towards Birmingham skirting around the NFU headquarters in Stoneleigh along the way.
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Readers' comments (1)
Chris R | 22 December 2010 7:06 am
Interesting reading and I do hope those affected fair better than we have in Yorkshire? Several years ago plans for a new bypass were announced, it was to cut through farmland for most of its route. On our land alone it unnessesarily destroyed mature trees in which bats roosted, and it would be a barrier to many mamals and invertebrates accessing their breeding grounds, no one was interested ,it did not matter? Progress you know! Personally it has has been a hell on earth for our business and family life. I was forced to cease my beef reaing and agricultural repair business which me and my family had spent 40 years building up, and also give up the majority of the garden of our home. Waiting for, and then watching as your's and your families lifes work is destroyed by buldozers and being helpless to do anything about it forced me personaly to a nervous breakdown and contemplated suiide. Only family and close friends cared enough to help. Local MP's Councilors and Council officials, government departments and even the PM were not interested at all. Even though vast sums of public money were and have been wasted on the scheme. The public, landowners and a government inspector were misled to say the least by the Council concerned. The history goes back 7 years , and I would dearly love to tell the whole story, unfortunatly there are far too many details to go into for your readers here. However what I wanted to get across to them is:- the road has now been open to traffic for 6 months or so, it is over 2 years since our land was appropriated and our busuines's closed down ,and we still do not know if,when or how much compensation we are to be paid? However I have been told I will not receive any compensation for the closure of our farming busines's as compensation rules do not permit payment for what you could earn in the future,?Even my sps payments which were stopped last year because of insufficent land left can not be compensated for? So all of you who will be affected by the HSRL CPO. be warned,.Believe no one, trust no one, who is in any way involved with this project in an official capacity. You can be sure someone who will not be affected at all by this scheme will make far more money out of it than you will. We can not stand in the way of progress i know, but this surely is not a third world country and everyone should be paid to compensate for any losses before their property is taken and business closed down?
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