renewablejohn

Lovely place, I would rate it as one of the best cities in the world. Shame you have to work.

We are over the 5 hectares threshold so are classed as a "proper" farm (agriculture not forestry) the problem arose because the planners insisted that permitted development did not apply to our green belt site. They also wanted to site the barn next to the house but because it is grade 2 listed the listed building inspector said it could not be built within the curtilage of the listed building. So conflict within council departments. Finally I only have 2 neighbours but they were very effective at generating misinformation so much so that there was 14 objectors turned up to the council meeting. Fortunately the inspector saw straight through the council and not only gave us permission but awarded use costs as well. Only reservation is agreement of materials as the green tin sides and roof building we proposed which is the same as all the others in the area is now not good enough. It has to be timber sides and cement fibre roof. Just the same as what was refused on the first appeal as being material "not being in keeping with an agricultural building".

I am not convinced how a lease would work. I have looked at a 150 year lease for a 350 acre wood for a cost of £1000 per acre which seems good value. So there must be a catch.?? Am I being to cautious. ?? Equivalent freehold value would be approx £5000 per acre around here

I really do wish that was the case. It has taken 8 years to get our 15mtr x 25mtr "permitted development" barn approved and then only on appeal at the second attempt. So planners do say no even when there not supposed to.

You could ask whether they have registered it with the Environment Agency as a landfill site for deliveries in excess of 10 tonnes per day and could you see the certificate as you dont want to be prosecuted for illegal tipping.

I think your all being a bit harsh. My daughter is a student in Bristol and I have found it not that bad.

What part of the country are you. If Lancashire I would be interested.

Esse stove for cooking and hot water, Dunsley Yorkshire for central heating, Dunsley stove for cosy snug.

Totally Agree Normal Tabloid hype and then all the sheep follow.

Whats wrong with the Forestry Commission. It already has full control on whether I cut my woodland down or not. It handles all the grants available for management and replanting. If it disposes of all its commercial woodland it then has no conflict of interest in managing the UK woodland and could derive its income by a small levy on every tonne of timber produced. I am not being political but if I was in the boardroom of the forestry commission and was told you have a potential liability for disease in your woodlands of x billion or you could realise your assets now while they still have value I know which option I would have been recommending. I however would have done it by stealth similar to the FC Scotland sales with the aim to offload the 200k hectares within 20 years.

Have a look on the forestry commissions site under diseases and it has an excellent overview of the current diseases foresters should be on the look out for. The newest concern is with Phytophthora Ramorum and again the forestry commission website is excellent in detailing the licence arrangements in place to try and control this outbreak. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/forestry.nsf/byunique/wcas-4z5jll

From all the hype of the press you would think that the private woodlands are a small part of the english countryside and the Forestry commission is the major player. This is certainly not the case from the Forestry commissions own figures the commission owns 199k hectares whereas private woodland is 931k hectares.

Could be a smart move by the government selling off woodland while it still has value. If foresters fail to halt the spread of disease in the south then the forests could suddenly become a very large liability.

I can just picture the scene of your boss in court and the environment agency prosecuting. Sorry your honour I did not bother finding out how to dispose of our building waste. We always do it this way and have been doing it for x number of years but its alright because it is just bordering on the illegal.

Be far more simple just to buy a two or 4 wheel dolly made from an old artic unit. Quite often go at farm sales for less than £100. The added bonus would be retaining the original artics air tanks. In the past built a tipping trailer from a 6 wheel lorry. Would not be legal now as we bent both chassis members to make the towing point.

I dont know what all the hype is about. Forestry Commission in Scotland has been selling off land for years. Just looked at their website and they currently have 5764 hectares for sale most of which is under offer so the buyers are out there. I know they have different right to roam laws in Scotland but the land is still being transferred into private ownership.

I will be in the queue if any comes up locally at a reasonable price but I think it will go in very big blocks for the boardmakers and power generators to fight over.

Totally illegal to sell it for domestic firewood and can only legally be burnt in a Waste Incineration Directive approved plant. Also illegal to burn it where it is as it is contaminated timber. If it was me I would have taken it to the local community bonfire night celebrations when the environment agency turn a blind eye.

I did look at a similar machine but rejected when I saw the quality of the briquettes it produced. That said, now knowing the variability of briquette production it could have been operator error. Ask to see it running there should be a pressure gauge from the piston ram for a decent briquette you will need between 80-100 bar pressure any less and it will be poor quality. Also check the die for wear as a new die is not cheap.

Wrap a cloth sack around the trunk as it is so easy to peel the bark off with the digger arm.

Nearly lost my daughters horse this year thanks to a stable yard buying cheap hay full of ragwort then charging full livery cost. Thankfully now back on our ragwort free farm and recovering nicely but the permanent damage has been done to the horses liver and we now have to feed liver supplements to compensate.

In the past have removed rotting main stem to allow new shoots from the base. Then after 3 years cut back to a single shoot.

Problem is you do not have the strength in the top bar to support the plastic. First high wind and they would collapse. Really only made as a ground cover cloche. I would even be careful with scaffold poles as I have quite easily bent the alloy poles in the past. Galvanised steel is far better and stronger.

You can pick up a gasifier for £1500 which is no different to a good quality log burner

You could always use it to heat your house and generate electric