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.

Western Morning News – 27.08.14 – Farm Business Tenancies

With Michaelmas fast approaching, negotiations between landlords and tenants are likely to be well underway in respect to new rents to apply from autumn this year. The default provisions for both the old style Agricultural Holdings Act tenancies and Farm Business Tenancies is for rent reviews to take place on a three year cycle subject…

Farmers Guardian – 22.08.14 – Waste materials confusion

An increasingly common problem in the final stages of selling farms is confusion surrounding pollution and waste materials on the property. These problems not only delay sales but can in some cases incur disproportionate costs at the last moment to rectify, and sometimes the loss of the sale. As with the good management of any…

Western Morning News – 13.08.14 – Cut in budget and changes in rules moves goalposts on farm grant schemes

Defra’s budget for the New Environmental Land Management Scheme (NELMS) for the next six years will be less than a third of the agri-environment scheme budget for the current period and payment rates under the new scheme, which is set to be launched in 2015, are likely to be significantly lower than those under the…

Western Morning News – 30.07.14 – Take special care on farm with health and safety

There will by now be few farmers unaware of their duties in respect to the health and safety of their farm workers. There have been all too many cases in recent years of farm workers being killed or seriously injured and their employer subsequently being prosecuted for health and safety breaches. Only last week a…

Western Morning News – 16.07.14 – Tougher cattle movement restrictions could hit SOAs

TB has continued to be at the top of the agricultural agenda for some time and various proposals to eradicate it have come and gone with varying levels of success and public support. Included in some of the latest DEFRA consultations are proposals to stop the free movement of cattle from Sole Occupancy Authority (SOA) holdings…

Western Morning News – 09.07.14 – Hedgerows count under new cross compliance rules

We are now seeing, as promised, more information filtering through about the 2015 Cross Compliance regulations and the RPA have been running briefing groups throughout the country to try and put the message across and answer many of the queries agents and farmers have about the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS). So what does it all…

News Release – 01.07.14 – BPS briefing – the latest

Western Morning News – 18.06.14 – Defra decision to reject ‘no plough’ rule may have come too late for some farmers in West

There has been much talk over the past year regarding the new Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and the increased bureaucratic ‘burden’ in relation to permanent pasture. Under European Legislation, and incorporated into the ‘roots’ of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), there is a requirement in England to maintain a set area of permanent pasture. The…

TCS – 12.06.14 – Ashley Taylor appointed Partner at Townsend Chartered Surveyors

Ashley Taylor BSc (Hons). MRICS. FAAV. ACIArb has been appointed Partner of Townsend Chartered Surveyors. He is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a Fellow of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Since joining the company in 2010, he has had great success…

Western Morning News – 04.06.14 – Entitlement trading for 2015 makes a strong start

Entitlement trade for the 2015 Scheme Year has already begun, with interest in Non-SDA emerging at a very early stage this season. The ink on the 2014 RLE1s is barely dry and we are already dipping our wicks to prepare them now for 2015. The first transfers have been agreed at £140 per unit plus…