A recent Facebook post highlighting relatively unprepossessing farmland for sale in Treochy, in the Rhondda Valley, saw a surge of interest in the Land for Sustainable Development in Wales group. The post was shared from the group around 30 times, and dozens of new people joined in a matter of hours.
There wasn’t anything of particular merit or interest about the listing that set it apart, but for some reason it caught people’s imagination. The post included the information that the land comprises 44 acres of grazing with seven acres of woodland, and has its own natural water supply. But it’s “a bit overgrown with ferns”. It was priced at £109,500.
Pros and cons
Despite some group members commenting on the steepness of the land, its poor quality, the relatively high price for the average person, and the clawback clause included in the sale particulars, the interest in this sale stood out in what had otherwise been a relatively quiet week of Facebook group administration.
According to Farmers Weekly the average price per acre in 2021 for average-quality pastoral farmland in Wales was £5,500. For poorer quality land it was around £3,850. And land prices are thought to have gone up considerably since lockdown. So I can understand why those looking for poor quality grazing land might be interested.
As a group admin, I find it reassuring to see so many people interested in securing land on which they can live sustainably in Cymru. That in itself is a good thing. But as someone who lives and works in Cymru, and in the Rhondda specifically, there are also some concerning implications.
A ‘free’ market
First, not everyone who lives and farms in this area has the money to invest in land on the open market. And securing finance, especially for low-quality pastoral farmland, isn’t straightforward and can take time to arrange. If a significant number of people taking an interest in this sale are not from the area, then there’s a risk that members of the existing farming community – and others living locally who might be interested in starting out in farming – may find themselves priced out of the market.
Sales of farmland on the open market tend to favour those from more affluent areas of the UK, who statistically have more disposable income to invest. Those looking to buy land to explore their individual or family dreams of sustainability. Such sales also favour large corporations looking for opportunities for commercial carbon offsets, or national and international investors wanting to expand their property portfolios.
This isn’t a criticism per se – it’s simply how the ’free market’ works. A market in which land has become a tradable international commodity of rapidly inflating financial value, rather than an asset of inherent value to the local economy, community, and nature.
Second, as with this sale, sellers increasingly include a clawback clause. Such clauses can sometimes be included for good reasons. Where land is under development pressures they can help to put off potential developers, retaining land for the farming it was traditionally used for.
But clawback clauses can also be a means by which a seller of land can earn additional income, long after the sale, from any development that increases its value. This can include substantial developments such as housing, but also something as simple as putting in a stable block.
Barriers to land
Taken together, sale of land on what is an international market and the inclusion of clawback clauses can act as significant barriers. Local people may not be able to raise the capital needed to purchase land that might benefit the local economy, community, and nature.
In Scotland, a series of Land Reform Acts since 2003 have given communities the right to buy land at a fair valuation. Later adjustments to this legislation mean communities in Scotland not only get the right of first refusal with any land that comes to the market, but can now compel landowners to sell underused land for the purposes of community-led sustainable development.
No such legislation exists here in Cymru. Yet without a strong policy framework to ensure communities have a strong, clear voice on land within their areas, ownership of that land is the only way to guarantee their voice is in the vanguard of decision-making.
Just down the valley from where this sale of land is taking place, the community of Pontypridd is setting out on its own long-term journey to secure land around the town for environmental and community benefit. Our group Tir Pontypridd is painfully conscious that we’re doing so in the context of a ‘free market’ for land. We’ll therefore start by looking for landowners who are happy to work with their local community.
Tir Pontypridd is also working with others across Cymru to develop and campaign for a Land Reform Act for Cymru. Such reform would help to shift the balance of power away from the ’free’ market, corporations, and international investors. And back into the hands of the local communities of Cymru.
