Big J on radio 4..

[Big J]

Just now, difflock said:

As a younger man, I too failed to have the wisdom to accept that what I could not change, which is what I perceive  you are doing during the course of this discussion.

btw, My comment was entirely facetious, but you are rather banging on about a subject you are very unlikely to change, unless as someone said the "Project Fear" campaign is correct and the UK economy collapses post Brexit.

See there might be a silver lining in there for you "J"

Just because I suspect that Brexit might increase the roadside value of timber doesn't mean that I think it's a good idea. It's still terrible, even if it might benefit me. 

 

Planning reform is taking place, and an increasing acceptance of self build is emerging. It's just taking time. 

[briscoe]

If you won £30m on the  Lottery Jon would you mind paying £1m for a property with some land and barns on? Also would you give the remaining £29m away to people who cant afford property? Im guessing you wouldnt do this and would likely invest in land/property/shares and wouldn't particularly begrudge paying Devon prices.

[monkeybusiness]

2 hours ago, Big J said:

 I'm nearly 40ft long with the big van and trailer, where do I park that? What if I bring the tractor and trailer home? Similar issue. Where do I store a forwarder weighing 16t, let alone work on it? 

On an industrial estate I’d have thought?

[AHPP]

Why will everybody starve?

I was being sarcastic. It clearly didn’t scribe well. My apologies. My point was that businesses of any size are at the mercy of market forces. People won’t starve. They’ll find someone to sell them food that they want at a price they can afford. God bless capitalism and all who sail in her. More generally, you said in another post that big business can be a problem like big government. I agree to an extent but participation is voluntary in one and not the other. An absolutely critical difference.

 

 

[AHPP]

 
Is there anything along the lines of a Croft provided for in rural planning down here? I realise that in the narrow terms specified, I wouldn't meet the criteria of being an agricultural business, but we are a rural business and I don't regard the distinction between land management by farming or by forestry as being materially significant.
 

How about getting some cows?

[tree-fancier123]

1 hour ago, monkeybusiness said:

On an industrial estate I’d have thought?

yes - or as above rent from a farmer - the biggest tree firm near me rents a big yard at a farm, tractors , biomass chippers, timber trailers, piles of wood everywhere, I haven't read them moaning about 17k a year rent denting the profits. The subject reminds me of Mick on here out in France - looks like he's got a nice barn store and field for a yard, maybe he should spend his time moaning about how he could never go back to a dear part of the UK and buy similar premises

[Big J]

5 hours ago, monkeybusiness said:

On an industrial estate I’d have thought?

Very few of them around here, and I'd be tied to renting at £4-5 per square foot per year. Money down the toilet.

 

6 hours ago, briscoe said:

If you won £30m on the  Lottery Jon would you mind paying £1m for a property with some land and barns on? Also would you give the remaining £29m away to people who cant afford property? Im guessing you wouldnt do this and would likely invest in land/property/shares and wouldn't particularly begrudge paying Devon prices.

If I won that amount on the lottery (I'd have to play it to start with!) then I would probably stop doing forestry and start the aforementioned sustainable, affordable housing company. I enjoy forestry, but it would be a better use of my wife's skills to build proper houses, and we'd make more of a difference long term. The issue is starting capital for a venture like that, which isn't something we have, and won't have for some time.

 

Or buy an island with no one living on it so I didn't have to speak to anyone.

 

I haven't decided yet!

 

4 hours ago, AHPP said:

 

How about getting some cows?

 

 

I fecking hate livestock. I can't imagine anything worse than being bound to your farm by a bunch of smelly, demanding, farty cows that cost you money and need daily attention. Trees are much easier

[John Shutler]

6 hours ago, tree-fancier123 said:

yes - or as above rent from a farmer - the biggest tree firm near me rents a big yard at a farm, tractors , biomass chippers, timber trailers, piles of wood everywhere, I haven't read them moaning about 17k a year rent denting the profits. The subject reminds me of Mick on here out in France - looks like he's got a nice barn store and field for a yard, maybe he should spend his time moaning about how he could never go back to a dear part of the UK and buy similar premises

my yard is about 45000 square feet. 

plenty of space for 4 tractors, mog, diggers, chippers, 7 ag trailers, 100 tonne of timber and about the same in chip, dry storage for logs and kit in a barn

 

£500 a month

 

think it works out at 0.011p per square foot

 

id say that’s fairly affordable 

 

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

No disputin some parts of the house building / market are inequitable - but that is what it is - a system which has evolved over time.  The sale of LA houses was probably the largest single government imposed wobble to natural forces. 

 

Aside from another central government systemic change - such as bulk release of Crown / ‘public’ land for co-op or self build, the only other sensible solution is for those that have achieved considerable monetary gain from property to release it to their spawn. 

 

That, and the unlikely type of behavioural change which sees folk move from a house (privately owned or rented) which has become bigger than required, to one which more suitably matches their volume. Again, unlikely since sale taxes are punitive. 

 

Yome fooked J, maybe time to realign expectations and realities?

Edited August 31, 2019 by kevinjohnsonmbe

[monkeybusiness]

2 hours ago, Big J said:

Very few of them around here, and I'd be tied to renting at £4-5 per square foot per year. Money down the toilet.

 

That’s simply a business issue though. If those are the market rates and they aren’t affordable then you need to look at your business model as it may not be sustainable.

 

You have machinery that can in reality be parked anywhere when not being used on site. That is where your argument falls down unfortunately. 

 

An extension of your reasoning would mean that any firms could throw up new factories/warehouses etc wherever they fancy (there are loads of relatively cheap, empty (aside from the inconsequential crap farmers are growing in them...) fields alongside the M6 for example - stick a few industrial units along there for decent motorway access) because it’s a lot cheaper than buying/renting on an actual industrial estate. 

 

Why should your business benefit from relaxed planning rules when everyone else’s (other than the anomaly that is farming, but let’s not keep poking that particular nest) is bound by them? It’s a tightening of the rules around farming that is probably more called for, not an across-the-board relaxation elsewhere imo.