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.

1.5.24 – Western Morning News – BNG: Authorities have a lot of catching up to do

As all LPAs in England must now try and sort out how they are going to comply with their obligations under the National BNG Framework, launched on the 12th February, we continue to try and engage with them to create Habitat Banks for our clients. So far there has been a mixed response from those LPAs…

24.4.2024 – Western Morning News – Delinked payments update as interest from buyers increases

Buying interest is so far being driven by smaller claimants wanting to top up the value of what they receive over the next four years most calls are from farmers interested in buying enough reference data to get them up to the £30,000 band, which is where the higher reductions to payments start to apply….

17.4.2024 – BPS ENTITLEMENTS 2024 – SCOTTISH, WELSH, NI & ENGLISH DELINKAGE – BNG – NUTRIENT NEUTRALITY – CARBON CREDITS – WATER ABSTRACTION LICENCES

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…

2.4.2024 – Farmers Weekly – Advice on the delinked payment transfer market for farmers in England

Farmers in England who want to transfer or sell any of their delinked payment reference data have only a short window in which to do so. The window for transfers opened on 15 February and closes on 10 May 2024. Anyone buying reference data must to be someone who has made a 2023 claim. Alasdair…

11.3.2024 – 24Housing – The Biodiversity Net Gain market gets underway

Since mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) legislation was introduced on 12 February 2024, trading in BNG units began as developers were compelled to meet the new planning obligations. And while the market appears to be starting slowly, demand is expected to pick up later in the year as more planning permissions are granted and developers…

6.2.2024 – Farmers Weekly – Biodiversity units market may be a volatile one

The supply of and demand for units to meet biodiversity net gain (BNG) obligations is likely to be erratic, driven both by the seasonality of ecological survey constraints and the grant of planning permissions. Read more here

5.2.2024 – BNG – MARKET COMMENT – FIRST NATIONAL SALE BY TENDER 2.2.24 – NEXT TENDER 8.3.24

There was an overwhelming amount of interest in the first national sale of BNG last Friday with 107 tender packs requested before the deadline at 1pm and sales now being processed. We are now talking to many hundreds of developers and their advisers, and more units are wanted for the next tender on the 8th…

1.2.2024 – BNG – THE LEADING REGULATED BNG BROKER

As a firm regulated by the RICS we are bound to trade BNG units observing the highest professional standards with our clients and also those buying from them. We are the leading broker of a handful of Chartered Surveyor brokers buying and selling BNG. If you are a developer or landowner why not use a…

1.2.2024 – Farmers Weekly – First tender set to test market for biodiversity units

A tender for 74 lots of biodiversity units closes tomorrow (2 February) in the first sale of its kind. These are on land stretching from Northumberland to Cornwall and include sites in Kent, Cheshire and Suffolk. The units are being offered by landowners to help developers meet biodiversity net gain (BNG) obligations, which come into…

29.1.2024 – BNG – WHY BUY UNITS FROM THIS SALE? – RARE HABITATS – LOCAL PLANNING AUTHORITIES

You are buying from farmers who are the freehold owners of the offset sites, not tenants. You are not buying units from Townsend Chartered Surveyors, we are only brokers for our farmers, with no other interest in the units themselves. You are buying as directly as you can from farmers, so more of the sale…