Rural Business Category
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Business lending £417b below 2008 peak
The UK's consumer credit and residential mortgage lending markets are showing real signs of recovery, according to Ernst & Young's (E&Y) ITEM Club, with both expected to grow at a healthy rate of over 3% in 2014. But business lending remains 27.5% (£417 billion) below its 2008 peak and in the last quarter of 2013 hit a five-year low! However, the respected economic forecaster expects lending to firms to rise significantly over the next three years, with ...
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More support for community energy projects
The Government says it will be broadening the support available for community energy projects whereby people come together to reduce energy use or purchase and generate their own. Plans include: £10 million Urban Community Energy Fund to kick-start community energy generation projects in England. £1 million Big Energy Saving Network funding to support the work of volunteers helping vulnerable consumers to reduce their energy use. A community energy saving competition offering £100,000 to communities to develop innovative approaches to ...
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Cuts to red tape for business
Business Minister, Michael Fallon, has set out new measures aimed at abolishing or improving outdated and over-complicated regulations which waste businesses’ time and money. Cuts to red tape announced today (27th January 2014) include: Reducing 100 "overlapping and confusing standards" applied by councils to new homes to less than 10. Any necessary remaining standards will be consolidated as far as possible into Building Regulations to avoid duplication and confusion. Making it easier and cheaper for businesses to meet ...
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Intellectual Property Bill makes progress
The Intellectual Property (IP) Bill has been given its second reading in the House of Commons, having completed its Lords stages last year. The Bill should help UK businesses succeed by making the IP landscape easier to navigate and by helping them to protect their IP rights. The key policies include: new powers for the UK to implement the Unitary Patent Court Agreement. This is a central part of introducing a single patent across almost all
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Developments in plant biosecurity
The Government has published a risk register that highlights 700 possible threats to Britain’s trees and plants and will be of interest to a range of groups including nurseries and woodland managers. At the same time, Defra says it is making tree and plant health one of its top priorities and is continuing to tackle tree pests and diseases, including Chalara, by: introducing tighter controls on the import of oak, ash, plane and sweet chestnut trees allocating £8m ...
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UK business confidence hits 20 year high
A new report from Lloyds claims that business confidence in the UK has reached its strongest level since January 1994 on the back of rising expectations for orders, sales and profits in the next six months. Companies are now more optimistic about the economy than they have been at any point since January 2007 and are signalling that they intend to boost staff numbers, suggesting that employment could rise in 2014. Investment intentions have climbed to their ...
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Planning update – Rights of Way
Our Planning Consultant, Richard Ling, has prepared an update on rights of way as follows: There have been two recent developments affecting rights of way that are of great relevance to rural landowners and land users. The first is that new regulations came into force on 1st October 2013 where authorities are allowed to make Orders to stop up or divert footpaths, bridleways or restricted byways, if the authority considers it necessary in order for development that has been granted ...
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Christmas / New Year Planning Update
Our Planning Consultant, Richard Ling, has prepared an update in the light of the Chancellor's Autumn Statement. As usual, the devil is in the detail so Richard's thorough coverage is well worth a read. As the New Year beckons, what will 2014 have in store on the planning front? The Chancellor in his Autumn Statement set out a number of matters summarised as follows:- • Measures to help the High Street both in terms of financial help ...
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ScottishPower drops Argyll windfarm plans
ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) has confirmed that it will not be taking forward plans to develop the Argyll Array Offshore Windfarm in the near future. The company has been working on the project since 2009 but ground conditions at the site, particularly the presence of hard rock, and challenging wave conditions that could impact construction have proved too worrying. Added to this this, there is a significant presence of basking sharks, which environmental groups continue to study to ...
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Waste management programme for English firms
Businesses are being urged to design products that last longer and to use resources more sparingly, in a drive to save money, boost the economy and protect the environment. The Government has launched its new Waste Prevention Programme for England, setting out how to make savings by cutting waste, managing resources better and passing on items no longer used. By way of encouragement, an £800,000 Community Partnership Fund is being put in place to help local authorities, ...
