News - Townsend Chartered Surveyors

For over 38 years, Hugh Townsend has been the country's "go-to" commentator on farm quotas and intangible assets sold off-farm. Having become the country's leading and most innovative quota agent he was broadcast to 3.8 million listeners on Radio 4's PM programme, interviewed by Eddie Mayer on the 1st April 2015 – the “Dawning of Europe without Milk Quotas”, click here.In 2016, BBC1 interviewed Hugh Townsend on the future of farming following the Referendum, click here. In 2021 he published the first book of its type “the UK Environmental Credits User Guide” , and more recently in 2024 ITV filmed at one of our BNG Habitat Banks which was broadcast on Monday 3rd June (click here) To view the uncut footage of the interview click here

Hugh Townsend developed the most creative arrangements to promote an efficient market in farm quotas, in the early eighties, including leasing milk quota without land, before the Milk Marketing Board introduced leasing for a part of the milk year. He has represented clients in leading court and arbitration cases successfully defending transfers of milk quota, and developed the new system of second TQ1 forms protecting the transfer of quotas with land.

In 1991, Farmers Weekly published the first sale price index from Hugh Townsend, countrywide, and started to publish farm quota sales and leasing graphs, which can be seen on our Milk Quota & Entitlements pages. Prices for intangible assets are still published weekly from this UK leading Brokerage House.

On BBC television, he has defended dairy farmers who have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous individuals in the farm quota market, and was again on television to comment on the "footballers buy milk quota" rumpus.

In 1990, the firm held the first auction of sheep and beef quota making the market in these new intangible assets and is still the leading BPS entitlement broker in the UK regions following England abolishing their scheme in 2023.

The firm also now sells Biodiversity Net Gain and Nutrient Neutrality units, Woodland and Peatland Carbon, in addition to Water Abstraction Licenses, and holds National Sales by tender every six weeks.

19.03.19 – Farmers Weekly – Entitlement trade picks up as BPS applications get under way

The opening of the BPS application window in England has mobilised farmers and agents to think about buying and selling entitlements, with traders reporting an upsurge in interest over the past week. Read more…

14.3.19 – UK BPS CLAIMS & ENTITLEMENT TRADING UPDATE

2019 BPS ONLINE CLAIMS ARE NOW LIVE! 2019 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) Guidance Booklet for England has now been released (see here) and online claim forms were available from yesterday. This now joins Northern Ireland whose claims went live on the 1st March, and Wales on the 4th March, with Scotland going live from…

12.3.19 – English 2019 BPS Entitlement Transfers – Glitches & Stop On Transfers

We as a firm have been submitting transfer applications since the end of January 2019 when the transfer application facility went live on the RPA online, and we were surprised to see that several glitches that had caused problems in 2018 remained “unfixed” and were occurring again. Each of the first transfers submitted were confirmed…

28.2.19 – BPS PAYMENTS – WHO IS ELIGIBLE? – SCOTLAND

In order to claim payment under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in Scotland, a farmer or crofter must satisfy several criteria and carry out certain tasks by specific dates each year. Below, this article explains how the process broadly works, and how to ensure your eligibility. A farmer must have at least three hectares of…

20.02.19 – Western Morning News – Making a 2019 Basic Payment Scheme claim – “Hot tips”

With the 2019 BPS online application window opening on the 13th March, many agents and farmers will now be considering their applications for this year and the amendments that they need to make, or the entitlements they need to sell or purchase. Although the scheme itself in principle is relatively straightforward and has now been…

28.01.19 – Farmers Weekly – Market Comment

Brokers are split over the potential for BPS entitlement prices to rise, with buyers and sellers in no hurry to enter the market, leaving trade limited for the moment. Read the full article here.

24.1.19 – AGRICULTURE BILL AMENDMENTS – UK ENTITLEMENT TRADING UPDATE – COUNTRYSIDE STEWARDSHIP

AGRICULTURE BILL – NOTICES OF AMENDMENTS On 23.1.2019 Parliament issued some Notices of Amendments to the Agriculture Bill which is still progressing through the consultation period prior to the 3rd reading, and notable highlights are: 1. A clause that would prevent the Government from entering into trade agreements that allow food imports that do not…

Western Morning News – 23.1.19 – Countryside Stewardship may alleviate Brexit fears

As we enter 2019 many agents will be looking to 2020 and beyond, with the imminent opening of the application window for Countryside Stewardship (CSS) agreements beginning on the 1st January 2020, expected sometime this Spring. These more than ever with the confused uncertainty of Brexit are worth having a look at. There are four…

23.1.19 – BPS PAYMENTS – HOW THEY WORK – SCOTLAND

The Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) was introduced in 2015 to replace the previous Single Payment Scheme as part an EU-wide update following the 2013 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This latest set of CAP rules are set to last until the next reforms in 2020 (at which point the UK should have left…

Western Morning News – 24.10.18 – Environmental Land Management Schemes

Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS) Background The new Agriculture Bill passed its second reading in Parliament on the 10th October 2018 and is now going before a Public Bill Committee on 23.10.18 before moving on to the Report Stage and a final reading in the Commons, before it then goes before the House of Lords…