Council to do all it can to support the county's agricultural industry
Councillors have voted to write to the government to express concern about the impact of recent government announcements on family farms and businesses in Lincolnshire.
Further financial support to the Lincolnshire Rural Support Network and the Business Growth Hub, which supports small businesses, will also be provided from the council’s reserves.
Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, Cllr Martin Hill, said:
“We have a proud agricultural heritage and landscape in Lincolnshire and our farms contribute strongly to the nation’s food needs.
“With so many agricultural and food manufacturing businesses, we’re concerned about the impact of some of the recent government announcements.
“Today, we pledged to do all within our powers to protect our farming community, including urgently writing to the government to explain the impacts on removing Inheritance Tax Relief on farmland and restrictions on Business Asset relief.
“The removal of these, combined with employer National Insurance increases, will have a devastating impact on small farms and businesses which are the heartbeat of our county. On top of the other pressures facing the industry, including through new environmental legislation, many may not survive in the future.
“With this and plans for massive amounts of industrial infrastructure including pylons, huge solar farms and onshore wind turbines with no direct benefits to our residents on top of increased house building, it is no surprise that rural counties like Lincolnshire are feeling under threat.
“The future of our own finances is also uncertain with the recent announcement of the £9.4m Rural Services Delivery Grant removal by government. However, we have committed to increasing our financial support to the Lincolnshire Rural Services Network who help farmers with a whole range of issues, and to Business Lincolnshire to provide more specialist Growth Hub advice to small rural businesses.”
A motion at Lincolnshire County Council’s full council meeting today (Friday 13 December) was passed as follows:
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This Council does all within its powers to defend and mitigate Lincolnshire from the various challenges described.
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The Leader urgently writes to government explaining that the culminative impact of the recent changes will be devastating for many communities and businesses in Lincolnshire and requests a rethink before it is too late and in so doing invites the government to abandon the proposed changes to Inheritance Tax Relief and Business Asset Relief so that family farms and businesses in Lincolnshire may survive in the future.
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The council increases its financial support to the Lincolnshire Rural Support Network by £10k and the Business Growth Hub by £50k to ensure that the council provides additional support to those in need. This will be allocated from the general reserve contingency.