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SCOTTISH ENTITLEMENTS – 2024 MARKET COMMENT |
The trading deadline was the 2nd April.
Region 1: There was little demand for Region 1 entitlements in the 2023-24 season and the first sales were agreed late in March at £145 plus VAT. The Region 1 did attract however a broad range of prices, with sales as low as £120 and up to £150. Most of the demand was for small lots, and due to this, the price per unit was too high for many purchasers. The average price for the season was down on 2023 to £145.
Region 2: Demand for Region 2 was high towards the end of the trading window with the first sales completed late in March and continuing through to the deadline date, with prices going as high as £38 per unit. During the last week various vendors had issues with commitment from purchasers due to the broad range of prices available. This year the average lot price was lower than in 2023 at £35/unit compared to £40.92/unit.
Region 3: Region 3 entitlements were initially in great demand, with trading active from late February to mid March. Demand tapered off towards the end of the trading window with vendors mainly selling large lots, and purchasers looking for smaller lots. The average lot size sold in 2024 was 200.61, with an average price of £12.67/unit, lower than the previous two years, where R3 entitlements were trading at £15/unit.
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WELSH ENTITLEMENTS – DEADLINE 15TH MAY 2024 |
The Basic Payment Scheme budget for 2024 was announced in December 2022, since then there have been few updates, with a proposed Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) coming in from 2025. This will replace both BPS and Glastir, the latter having an interim ‘Habitat Wales Scheme’ between 2023 and 2025. As with Scotland, the SFS will have universal and optional actions. Controversially it contains a 10% tree cover of a holding, although this includes existing woodland and now only applies to ‘plantable’ areas. Potentially, tenant farmers, peatlands, priority areas and of course permanent features, such as tracks/yards/ponds etc., will be excluded from this requirement.
Other than confirming BPS will apply in 2024 there is a notable lack of available information, with any statement still ‘subject to budget’. It is expected that phasing out will occur in the period 2025-2029, presumably in reducing payments as with England’s delinkage system although this is not confirmed. It is unknown whether annual BPS applications will be required or if entitlements may be traded between farmers gaining and losing land. Importantly all current claimants ought to qualify for these payments regardless of whether a farmer enters the SFS.
It will be interesting if, in a similar fashion to the English SFI a restriction on certain actions to a maximum of 25% of the holding will be applied, protecting food production.
Units are currently being traded at £45 per hectare, with supply being far greater than demand.
Wanted: 5, 47, 23, 37, 8. 45, 43
Available: 26.07, 41.62, 150, 12.31, 50, 90, 240, 66.15, 198.74, 400, 25, 20, 3, 108
Contact Henry Chamberlain at entitlements@townsendcharteredsurveyors.co.uk
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NORTHERN IRELAND ENTITLEMENTS – DEADLINE 3RD MAY 2024 |
BPS will continue as it is in 2024, before being replaced in 2025 by the Farm Sustainability Transition Payment, which will then be fully implemented as the Farm Sustainability Payment (FSP) in 2026. This seems on the face of it to be a simple renaming exercise as it will be an area-based payment, use current entitlements and will be aimed at all land-based agriculture and horticulture businesses with 5 ha of eligible land and 5 entitlements, subject to eligibility conditions.
Crucially the FSP will use existing entitlements with current arrangements continuing for allowing entitlements to be leased, transferred or sold. However, this still appears to be a stopgap as DAERA also state that funding allocated to FSP will be reduced over time to support other Farm Support and Development Schemes. There is no time frame for how long this will continue, how long reductions will last and at what rate.
There is clearly a consensus on how support will be provided going forwards, being a ‘public money for public goods’ approach, to borrow the terminology used in England. This shift from agricultural production to environmental gain may have various consequences for the sector and the country as a whole, but for now the path is set.
This year there have been changes in the payment value with a reduction of 9% applied to the historic value. The money will be redirected to a Beef Carbon Reduction Scheme and a Suckler Cow Scheme from January 2025, with a further, similar reduction expected next year.
Units are currently being traded at face value with a multiplier of 0.9-1.1, (based on last year’s value after the reduction of 9% has been applied).
Wanted: 40, 8.5, 29, 17
Available: 35 (lease), 38.2, 27, 15
Contact Henry Chamberlain at entitlements@townsendcharteredsurveyors.co.uk
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ENGLISH DELINKAGE REFERENCE DATA – DEADLINE FOR TRADING 10TH MAY 2024 |
We have purchasers seeking lot sizes of up to £90,000 total data (so a farm which had an average annual BPS claim of £30,000). With a price of 27p to £1 of total data this would represent a payment of £24,300 to the vendor. The purchaser’s returns are not straightforward so if you are considering buying or selling do call/email Alasdair Squires on 01392 823935 to discuss. Current prices are 20p-40p per £1 of Delinkage reference amount. It is also worth considering how the loss of value of entitlements may potentially be used to reduce capital gains tax (CGT) as a negligible value claim. Although do note it is important to seek advice from a specialist agricultural accountant.
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…If you or your client did not claim BPS in 2023 the business will not be eligible to receive the delinkage payment itself, however you are still able to sell the data. See full comment in Farmers Weekly on 2nd April here |
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BNG – NATIONAL SALE BY TENDER 19TH APRIL |
After the first national sale of BNG by Tender on 2nd February 2024 we hold sales of intangible assets every 6 weeks.
Developers: purchase BNG units to meet your Biodiversity Net Gain requirements and remove the responsibility for this gain by passing it to the vendor of the units. All units are sold following a s.106 approval, providing confidence that all units paid for will be delivered. We provide a range of habitat types to match your needs, units from our banks are all the result of carefully curated habitat plans appropriate to the vendor’s LPA’s Biodiversity Strategy. Contact us with an email address to receive a tender pack to purchase units.
Landowners: register your entry for our further tender on the 31st May.
Creation of BNG units: Certain LPAs have produced draft s.106s containing unreasonable restrictions on the sale of units. Landowners make sure you receive professional advice and representation with your LPA. Our bespoke s.106s contain provisions allowing for England-wide sales, a s.106 “exit parachute” and phased habitat creation which only starts 12 months after the first sale of units.
There is talk also of a possible new mandatory market place for biodiversity units to meet requirements of future legislation requiring companies and businesses to offset anything they do harming biodiversity with units produced using the BNG methodology.
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NUTRIENT NEUTRALITY – NATIONAL SALE BY TENDER 19TH APRIL |
Our National tenders also list Nutrient Neutrality (NN) units, sold alongside other intangible assets, such as Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), Carbon Credits (CC) and Water Abstraction Licences. The sale of NN units works well with BNG, as work on either asset is likely to be additional and complimentary to the other and so allow for ‘stacking’ of natural capital on the same land.
The NN market includes, Nitrates and Phosphates. On a per acre basis far more nitrate ‘credits’ are produced than phosphates, however average prices reflect this with the former fetching around £2,300-£4,000/credit and the latter often fetching £55,000 -£75,000/credit. Currently his market operates in 74 LPAs in England based on water catchment areas.
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CARBON CREDITS – NATIONAL SALE BY TENDER 19TH APRIL |
Carbon Credits (CC) are also sold in these tenders, and we have both Pending Issuance Units (PIUs) and Woodland Carbon Units (WCU). A WCU is a verified carbon unit and holds a greater value than a PIU (a promissory unit). Achievable prices are £37/WCU and £25/PIU respectively.
There has been a push by Government for net zero carbon emissions by 2050, this will mean that there may be an increasing demand as companies look to offset their carbon footprint.
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WATER ABSTRACTION LICENCES – NATIONAL SALE BY TENDER 19TH APRIL |
Abstraction licence trading allows water users to buy or sell their water rights. This is beneficial because, with the exception of high-flow river water, no new licences are available throughout most of England and Wales. If you have a licence you no longer need or are looking to top up your requirements by sourcing another licence, contact us for access to our tenders.
Whilst advertised nationally, actual selling/buying is within a local market as: Trades must occur within the same water body and/or aquifer; Surface water licence trades can generally only be made downstream; Most trades are subject to a ‘sustainability reduction’ which removes any spare or previously unused water from the system; and Changes in consumptive losses must be accounted for.
Availability
| Volume (m3) | Catchment | |
| 159,000 | Essex, Combined Chelmer | |
| 4,546 | Humber River Trent, River Sow, River Dove | |
| 1,364 | Severn Trent | |
| 19,000 | Anglian, Old Bedford and Middle Level Old Bedford | |
| 23,230 | Middle Dee – Dee | |
| 14,642.9 | Worcestershire Worfe River | |
| 6,819 | Staffordshire Trent – Sow to Tame Rivers & Lakes Bourne-Bilson Brook | |
| 30,000 | Stour – Dorset | |
| 23,230 | Middle Dee – Dee / 43 | |
| 91,000 | Colne – Thames / 9 | |
| 17,048 | Thames, Lee Upper, Rib (upper stretches, above confluence with the Quin) | |
| 21,000 | Cam & Ely Ouse | |
The value of an abstraction licence can be broken down into its ‘asset value’ (the uplift in land or property value attributable to a licence) and its ‘use value’ (the amount a buyer will pay to use the water). It is difficult to get a ‘fix’ on market values due to the informal nature of most trades and the variations in local catchment water demand and scarcity. ‘Asset value’ also varies according to the terms of the abstraction licence (including its expiry date and any constraining conditions) but as a rule of thumb, the increase in property value attributed to a licence can range from £3- £15/m3.
Contact Alasdair Squires at water@townsendcharteredsurveyors.co.uk