About a year ago, we tried to have a permanently wet part of the farm transformed into a pond area. It would have been an extensive and expensive project, and would have greatly improved the biodiversity of our area. We were dedicating nearly 10 acres to the project and up to half a million pounds in costs. The town council decided to get involved and started to make a fuss, an expensive planning fuss. So my wife and I killed the project, we had already a full plate. The reason I raise the issue is that I was approached by some of the members of the council, and was asked when we were going to resubmit the project. The three that asked the question were some of the most reactionary from the council, any change is bad. So I simply answered the project was dead. The three who had blocked the project, and had even threatened to bring Heritage UK involved to "stop the development" were shocked. The whole conversation got a lot uglier, angry letters were received at the farm, and lawyer's letters were sent, far more polite, but no less cutting, especially when our lawyer used their own words.
The point of this is to go back to one of the main reason, we expanded our transformation operations far away from the farm. First, obviously, we were buying businesses so they were where they were! But more importantly, there is a very small but vocal and powerful lobby in the British countryside that insists everything has to remain as it is. Secondly, proximity brings no benefits.
I am no fan of Jeremy Clarkson, but he has done more in the past five years to show the pettiness of local council than almost anyone in the past 50 years. In replacing the old crumbling farm building on both the old and the new farm, we greatly beautified the countryside, our biodigesters required no special planning approval because we were replacing slurry pits with enclosed dual chamber biodigesters to reduce water pollution. The only processing on the farm is the cheese and the butter. Everything else is done away from the farm.
Today our farmland appears far more bucolic than it did when we purchased the land, and yet we operate with over 150 employees. Our farm buildings are all made of steel, and despite their large size they simply vanish in the farmland because of their color scheme. The only building that still stands out is the old cow shed, which will be gone in a year at most, the advent of automatic feeding requires a more modern approach (although the shed is now used by the goats).
Still, we have no issues with the council because we try to never interact with them. It is evident that Mr. Clarkson does it on purpose. We purposfully do not have our own brand for our transformation businesses, but then we have no media peronality running the show. In his case, the contunual fights with the local council provide for entertaining television. I watched the first episode of the third series and felt the pain he did of 2022...
Anyway, all our transformation businesses are conducted on industrial estates, 99.99% of our production is sold via the internet on dedicated and specific websites, no where is our farm brand even mentioned.
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