News
Labour Manifesto – Let’s get building
It’s no accident that, just hours after the Labour Party unveiled its election manifesto, with big plans to fast-track planning applications and build 1.5 million new homes over five years, it also issued a pledge to preserve the countryside.
Estate Matters Episode 13: Minette Batters | Food and Farming: the future of land management
Minette Batters led the National Farmers’ Union during the most tumultuous times in decades for British agriculture, as the nation faced Brexit, the Covid pandemic and the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Election 2024: What’s on the rural agenda?
What are the big issues that rural voters, including landowners, farmers and rural estate owners, will want to hear about from politicians, as the General Election date draws closer?
Estate Matters Episode 12: Jayne Clemens | Crisis talks: Why estates should prepare a crisis communications plan
Businesses and individuals with a reputation to protect need to put robust plans in place to deal with threats that can damage their name or brand.
Pressure mounts on farmers to meet supermarkets’ latest demands
The latest challenge for the men and women who make their living producing food and caring for the landscape looks like it is coming from supermarkets concerned about the environment and the ability of the soil to keep on producing food.
Estate Matters Episode 11: Lord Charlie Courtenay | The 19th Earl of Devon on the modern management of Powderham Castle Estate
Charlie Courtenay, barrister, parliamentarian and proprietor of the 3,500-acre Powderham Castle Estate in Devon, says he sees the business as an 800-year-old start up social enterprise with the potential for long-term sustainable growth.
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We are looking for an enthusiastic Account Executive with a passion for social media and PR, to join our experienced and friendly Exeter-based team.
NIMBY’s holding back rural communities, survey finds
A survey of more than 1,000 people living in rural England and Wales has found that a lack of affordable homes in the countryside is the most pressing issue facing their communities.
Estate Matters Ep10: David Cope, Founder of 600 Strategy - Landed Estates: Heroes in the battle against climate change
Rural Estates can be ‘heroes’ in helping to reduce the impact of climate change – but they need to talk about what they are doing and engage with their communities.
Budget Analysis - What does it mean for rural business? - Philip Bowern
The scrapping of tax relief worth an estimated £300m a year to holiday homeowners who let their properties and the extension of Agricultural Property Relief (APR) to cover environmental projects are two announcements in the Spring Budget that will impact on rural businesses.
Do we really need more rights to roam in the countryside?
A planned mass trespass on a Dartmoor Tor by Right to Roam protesters was called off last month (February) because of bad weather. Campaign group leaders took the sensible decision to cancel because of the risk of damaging the land in boggy conditions – and the potential threat to protesters scaling a Dartmoor Tor in a storm.
Digging in on the housing crisis
Unveiling a new policy that they promise will “turbocharge” building homes on brownfield sites, the Government has announced a major shake-up of planning rules to, they insist, “boost housebuilding while protecting the Green Belt.”
Estate Matters Episode 9: George Eustice - Insights from a former Environment Minister on politics and land management
The MP for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle, who spent nine years as a Minister at Defra, rising to become Secretary of State in 2020, makes the prediction in a remarkably frank conversation with KOR Communications’ podcast host Anna Byles in the latest episode of Estate Matters.
Turning a crisis into a drama - Post Office drama shows power of story telling.
Telling stories is one of the oldest forms of human communication. From earliest times, when tales were told around the fire blazing at the entrance to the cave, to today’s Hollywood blockbusters and social media reels, stories that grab the imagination and touch us, emotionally, can have the most powerful and profound impact.
Estate Matters Episode 8: Athwenna Irons, Western Morning News | The benefits of achieving coverage in traditional print media
Regional newspaper farming editor Athwenna Irons describes the challenges for agriculture as the countryside undergoes major change, in the latest episode of Estate Matters.
What will 2024 have in store for the rural economy and landed estates?
The rural economy beats to a different drum. Political squabbling, generated in the Westminster bubble and hotly debated inside the M25, doesn’t mean a lot in the countryside, where farmers and land managers operate in tune with the weather and the seasons.
Report calls for new approach to managing protected sites on Dartmoor.
When farmers and commoners gathered for a meeting on Dartmoor in September, to discuss new restrictions on livestock levels, the overriding emotions in the room were anger and bewilderment.
Estate Matters Episode 7: Steve Strang, Exeter College - The crucial role of communication in urban education masterplanning
The challenge of meeting the development needs of a college of further education is the subject of our new Estate Matters podcast, featuring the Executive Director of Estates and Sustainability at Exeter College, Steve Strang.
Philip Bowern Column: Who cares about the countryside?
Rural affairs, including looking after the environment, mitigating climate change and producing the food we all rely on, is central to the health of the nation. In this opinion piece, first published in the Western Morning News, writer Philip Bowern is concerned that countryside issues do not get the priority treatment from Government that they deserve.
The countryside is a great place to do business – Let’s keep it that way!
The importance of communicating the value of rural business was a key theme of this year’s CLA Business Conference, at a time of unprecedented change in the countryside.