Sussex farmers are among those being let down by the Labour government which seems to be doing its best to destroy British agriculture, while Green Party-led Wealden District Council (kept In power by a coalition with Labour councillors) appears, on several fronts to be dysfunctional.
These are among the concerns raised by Cllr Michael Lunn who was interviewed on Ashdown Radio last week.
Chairman of Hadlow Down Parish Council and Conservative Wealden District Councillor for Hadlow Down and Rotherfield and a local farmer, Cllr Lunn began by explaining the torrid time food producers were having.
FARMING
The British farming industry is completely on its knees at the moment, no thanks to policies from the Labour government which has thrown agriculture in this county into chaos, not least agricultural property relief changes impacting so many of our family-run farms. This will have a devastating effect on the entire future of farming.
We are already seeing impacts in food pricing, with meat prices going up, food shortages through inflation and the situation surrounding food security is very worrying. We are trying to produce local, sustainable, ethical food for our local communities, and I supply thousands of people throughout the year, and we just cannot afford the huge increase in inheritance tax being imposed. It is impacting the majority of our farms, those over around 50 acres here in the south-east with where the value will be over the £3million threshold not helped by assets including livestock and machinery being included in the sum. The farm is the working business and selling the prime part, for housing, would then mean the farm is not viable.
Food production
Last year’s extremely wet weather made it very hard to let livestock out and sow crops. The weather has a huge impact. The government is encouraging farmers to diversify, to start bed and breakfast or use their land for camping, but that won’t help with food production and keeping food prices stable. We’ve also seen our subsidies removed as British agriculture is very much under attack by this Labour government.
Keep it local
Do come along on 24th May, the Bank Holiday weekend to the Heathfield and District Show and support local agriculture, bring the family and enjoy the activities. Also, we have Uckfield and Heathfield farmers’ markets as further ways to support local producers, as well as local farm shops and local butchers to back local sources. Grass-fed, Sussex beef you just cannot beat, the quality is superb; the best you are going to get.
WEALDEN PLANNING
There are real concerns about the Local Plan, where it is going and the timelines around it. The first part of consultation has been completed but we have new housing targets from Angela Rayner so there will have to be revisions and further consultation. The aim is to submit it to the Planning Inspectorate by September 2026, not that far away and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done before then. The housing needs assessment needs to be redone, the economic evidence-based and town centre evidence base needs to be redone. And we need revaluation of potential new development sites. So, a huge amount of work for council officers.
My concern is that the Plan is being rushed through, that we are not having proper debates to discuss the sites, evaluate the sites because a lot of this is sensitive. There are a lot of environmental issues to be resolved, matters in the current draft that need to be sorted before they are picked apart in the next, technical consultation stage by the lawyers. My concern is that we are going to run out of time and collide with devolution to a combined authority. I have been assured that this won’t happen but I still have concerns.
I would love to see better cooperation across the political divide at Wealden District Council, but it’s not easy. We now have an alliance running the council comprising everyone other than the Conservatives and Independents.
UCKFIELD SWIMMING POOL
At Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Monday we had it confirmed that the Lease on the Uckfield pool had NOT been signed, contrary to what Labour Cllr Ben Cox announced publicly in the media a while ago. We, Conservatives, are struggling to understand why it’s not been signed, there’s dithering and delays. It’s quite confusing why the council is not signing the document. We pressed for answers but they came not.
