The 2014 London Anarchist Bookfair will be on
Saturday 18th October
From 10am to 7pm.
Category Archives: Posted
Yorkley Court Open Day 11 October
Yorkley Court Community Farm Open Day
11th October
http://yorkleycourt.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/open-day-timetable/
Welfare for the Rich: how large landowners & corporations get lion’s-share of UK’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) annual windfall
Written in 2010, by James Armstrong, Dorchster
Contact: james36armstrong@hotmail.com
reC.A.P., – TO CAP IT OR SCRAP IT?
The Common Agricultural Policy costs U.K. taxpayers some £3.8bn per annum.
It does not benefit ‘small’ farmers nor agricultural workers
It is a serious threat to democracy and welfare. It should be scrapped . The least we can do is to cap the expenditure at a means tested amount equivalent to claimants receiving £12,344 per annum – the minimum wage.
For an every-day example by which to judge the purchasing power of £1billion we can use the cost of the 12 new detached houses with garages built by a team of self builders in St Minver Cornwall and completed in 2008. for a cost of some £80,000 each.
£1million would buy twelve and a half such houses and £1 billion some 12,500 so £3.8billion would fund the building of 47,500 new houses.
T his gives a measure of the annual cost of CAP. Payments to UK taxpayers in money expended and benefit forgone. .
The origin of CAP. (Ritson and Harvey)
The European Union was to be a means of political unification and a guarantee for peace following the resolution of the world war.
(during the in negotiations leading to the Treaty of Rome 1958) the attitude of the French government and the French farm lobby were of crucial significance in the establishment of the C.A,P. just as Germany played a leading role in directing the industrial policy.
The Treaty of Rome set the agenda for the C.A,.P..
The Treaty talks of,
“a fair standard of living for the agricultural community in particular increasing the earnings of persons engaged in agriculture.”
The background to UK agriculture
The C.A.P. effectively transferred money from industrial workers (mostly Germans ) via taxes to fund C.A,P. payments to farmers (mostly French) . When Britain joined in 1973 owing to the nature of landownership in UK , CAP payments in large tranches were received by the very small constituency which is the British Landowning group- some
One per cent of the population. The historical tendency in UK has been for farms to amalgamate by enclosure, by engrossment and by industiralisation of farming techniques.by emparkment etc.
The Underlying principle of CAP
It was established when CAP came into being that producers should receive a price determined by market forces but that these market forces should be controlled so that prices fluctuated only between pre-determined upper and lower limits. So that farmers were protected from excessively low and consumers from excessively high prices. The most basic CAP support scheme is for cereals . All others a re a variation of this.
The second major component of the cereals regime is the import controls since world prices are often lower than EU prices. I t would be worthwhile in the absence of controls to import, so imports are controlled by licence and import duty must be paid.
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS PRICES IN E.C. AS % OF WORLD PRICES (=100%)
E.C.,1994% highest%
Common wheat 155 155
Maize 140 211
Barley 214 218
Rice 209 209
White sugar 106 137
Milk 241 259
Beef / veal 208 208
Pig meat 130 134
Poultry 118 161
Sheep meat 156 243
Who receives CAP payments?
The client group is heterogeneous including landowners, food manufacturers, agribusinesses , pheasant breeders, racing stables , farmers, pony paddock owners, donkey sanctuaries, racehorse trainers’ gallops, wildlife trusts, fishing clubs ,etc
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECT OF C.A.P.
The Benefits and cost of CAP versus free trade (Ritson & Harvey p 165)
Billion ECU ( U.K. ) 1994
Interpretation ?
Producers gain 3.82 (CAP payments received by ‘farmers’
Users cost 4.31 (cheaper food prices foregone by consumers)
Taxpayers cost 2.51 ( UK contribution to EU to fund CAP payments )
Net Welfare cost 3.01 ( CAP on balance is a cost not a benefit)
Bridge Trade Effect -3.31 ( an allowance for the distortion of free trade)
Analysis
In the following analysis The figures are taken and processed from the information available on the web site
www.cap-payments.defra. gov.uk
.
Reducing the annual CAP payouts
For comparison ,the statutory minimum wage at £5.93per hour yields £12,334 p a for a 40 hour 52 week year
Using this as a guide between ‘low’ and ‘high’ C.A.P-income receivers the following analysis emerges for the year 2009 .
At present (2009) 197,346 claimants receive a total of £3,426,076,230 costs push this up to £3.8bn)
The high claimants
65,991 receive greater than £12,334, – in total £2,993,905,590 average £45,468
If they were ineligible ( cut off point at £12,334, ) the savings would be £2,993,905,590
If they received the minimum wage equivalent, they would receive £813,932,994, saving £2,179,972,596 (some £2.2bn)
The low claimants
At present (2009) 131,427 receive less than £12,334, in total £434,158,342 , average £3,303
CAP reserved for those now claiming £12,334 or less
If all now receiving less CAP than the minimum wage were upgraded to the min wage
And those claiming above this sum were ineligible the cost would be £1,621,020,618
And the savings £1,805,055,612
CAP as a fixed payment to all qualifying claimants . large and small.
If the statutory payment was the minimum wage equivalent
For 197,346 receiving £12,334 the cost would be £2,434,065,564,saving £992,010,666
THE MACRO ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF C.A.P. ON LAND VALUES
Ritson and Harvey write,
“The Producers’ gain is a measure of the economic rent earned by factors engaged in agriculture over and above that which could be earned in the absence of the policy intervention.
In the case where all the factors and inputs except land are available to agriculture in perfect elasticity of supply (that is the prices and returns of these factors and inputs do not change whatever the agricultural output and use levels) theory suggests that all of the policy benefits will accumulate to rents and agricultural values of land .
So the figure is a measure of the annual gain to landowners .
In practice the assumption of perfect elasticity of supply is extreme. Some fraction of the gain would be expected to accrue to owners of other factors specifically associated with the industry including those upstream of the farm gate”
R and H seem to mean that CAP payments cause land values to rise.
A marked increase in the price of agricultural land has been noticeable since the introduction of CAP, resulting from feeding in £billion CAP grants each year over thirty three years. .
WHO RECEIVES C.A.P.PAYMENTS ?
.
annual payments go to –
Lord Carrington £149,000
Lord Linlithgow £ 144,000
Lord Rothermere £29,000
to- M.P.s , Richard Drax ,M.P., £417,846
To dukes….to earls…. To Prince Charles £581,000
To their trade association , NFU, £70,000
HM Queen received £1,183,508 over the last two years for privately owning the Sandrigham estate.
Two thousand get more than the Prime Minister’s annual salary,
The regime is not designed to benefit struggling ‘small’ farmers since the majority of funds go to large agricultural holdings. Large plc corporations receive £multimillion payments
It has nothing to do with food security – Owners of one million pony paddock acres qualify for some £30million. Preserving the countryside and the wildlife is the business of Defra and the RSPB-not CAP – (yet that Charity with a £15million membership fund gets an additional £1million from CAP annually).
Thousands of claimants are already landowning millionaires
.
WHO PAYS – HOW MUCH- WHO GETS WHAT- WHY?
CAP is not funded by EU but out of UK taxes and costs the British taxpayer £3.8 to £4billion in 2009.
This is an increase of 23 per cent over 2008 and in 2010 will increase again, and in 2011
Some 80% of UK citizens live in urban settings. Some 99% of UK citizens own no bulk land and do not qualify for CAP payments.
From their taxes, moistly income tax, these non qualifiers fund CAP.
and this is largely unknown to them.
CAP is not rational.
CAP does not fulfil the rationale of the Treaty of Rome, In UK the number employed in agriculture has fallen by 1million and agricultural workers are amongst the lowest paid in the land. Those farmers on the lowest incomes receive the least benefit from CAP and the increase in incomes of large corporate farms threatens their existence from buy outs.
The increase in land values proves a barrier to new entrants to farming.
In the past CAP has caused overproduction and waste of food.
Food prices within the EU are higher than world prices. CAP related EU Tariffs are a barrier to exports from third world countries.
EU exports of foodstuffs at subsidised prices threaten the livelihoods of third world producers.
CAP IS ANTI DEMOCRATIC
Access to the orginators of CAP policy is severely restricted and they are not democratically accountable.
CAP budget is set by the Directorate General for the EU Budget
Agriculture policy by the Agricultural D.G.
The Council for Europe is the major legislative body of the EU.
CAP IS ANTI- WELFARE
The CAP is a regressive tax paid mostly out of income tax to reward the wealthy and privileged . CAP has increased the price of food.
CAP HAS INCREASED LAND COSTS FOR NEW HOUSES
ABOLISHING / SEVERELY REDUCING THE COST AND EFFECTS OF CAP
Britain is a valued member of the EU. The workings of CAP as shown above are not rational, not democratic and have a negative welfare effect. It is necessary as a minimum measure , to severely reduce the burden and the effects of C.A.P. for UK citizens .
This can be achieved by the co-operation of the E.U. or unilaterally by UK if necessary by reducing pro rata the UK contribution to EU or reconsideration of our role within EU.
References :
The Common Agricultural Policy, 2nd Ed . Edited by Ritson and Harvey
www.cap-payments.defra.gov.uk
James Armstrong August 2010 .
asury in a written correspondence; puzzling however how the figure quoted of £10.3 billion was ommitted from the Annual Abstract of Statistics by the ONS). After explaining the origins of CAP and how the new system of Single-Farm Payments (reformed from the previous system of production-subsidies) still rewards the largest landowners, this time quite unashamedly in accordance of land-area, he went onto a discussion around the subject of comparing this situation with the original objective of what CAP actually stands for – which was to “reward agricultural-workers”
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Diggers350/conversations/topics/2860
Yorkley Court Open Day Saturday 30th August 12 – 5pm
Open Day
http://yorkleycourt.wordpress.com/2014/08/23/open-day/
You are invited to an open day at
Yorkley Court
Community Farm
On Saturday 30th August 12 – 5pm
Featuring ..
*farm tour *meet the animals
*gardening *tea and cake
Plus a chance to find out about our planning
application for the farm
project and to ask questions.
Hope to see you there!
Yorkley Court Dodgy Eviction Attempt
There are emails on our Yahoo group about a dodgy eviction attempt at Yorkley Court
Latest News from Yorkley Court defending land against illegal eviction Sent: Wednesday, 25 June, 2014 11:21
There has been a 48 hour stand off between private security contractors and residents & supporters of Yorkley Court Community Farm.
Legal updates
- The legal injunction against the security firm could not go through this morning because there was not a judge with sufficient qualification/power/experience to make a decision
- It is likely the injunction will go through just after 10am tomorrow
Policing & Security
- There was a larger police presence today
- Roadblocks on both ends of the road managed by the police to reduce traffic passing the side
- New shift of cops at 8pm & shift change 8am
The site is well defended with barricades & other tools. There are growing numbers of people but more are needed.
What you can do in solidarity
Background:
In the early hours of Monday morning, police and private security thugs decended, without prior Notice (a legal requirement), upon the peaceful peasants living on the land, and growing food at Yorkley Court. This outragous, competely unlawful act of aggression came without warning, whilst Yorkley Court Farm are fully engaged with the District Council in their planning process, and were looking likely to be granted the initial stages of planning permission during the coming weeks. We’re not sure what exactly the Council, no doubt in colusion with certain private business interests think they’re doing, more information as we get it. Please come and help us stop this illegal eviction attempt
How to get there: Head to Yorkley, near Lydney in Gloucestershire. See a map below.Site mobile: 07784887895
_______________________________________________
Uk mailing list
Uk@lists.reclaimthefields.org
http://lists.reclaimthefields.org/mailman/listinfo/uk
Pembrokeshire roundhouse fails retrospective planning application permission?
Charlie Hague and Megan William’s roundhouse in North Pembrokeshire fails retrospective planning application permission? Council officers are recommending that retrospective application be refused after it was built without planning permission (June 17 2014)
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/hobbit-house-pembrokeshire-set-knocked-7281663
Sat12Jul – Who Owns Britain? Bristol Teach-In with Kevin Cahill
On Saturday 12th July 2014 The Land Is Ours in conjunction with Bristol Housing Action Movement presents………
Former Sunday Times ‘Rich List’ journalist Kevin Cahill is the author of ‘Who Owns Britain’. Beginning at 1pm he will discuss & explain the inequalities of land ownership in the British Isles and former empire. After a break at 2pm Kevin will answer your questions. Venue opens for refreshments at 12 noon… social until 5-6pm.
VENUE: The New Church, Cranbrook Road, Bristol, BS6 7BU (see map below)
BUS: buses 20 stops outside New Church on Cranbrook Road. Or 70, 73, 75, 76, 309, 310 get off at Montpelier Arches 5 minute walk.
TRAIN: nearest station Montpelier is a 10 minute walk.
FREE ACCOMMODATION: There will be washing facilities and plenty of communal sleeping space at the venue on the Friday (11th) and Saturday nights but do please bring sleeping bag and rollmat.
SUNDAY 12th – midday – nature trail and guided tour of Bristol’s infamous ‘Quarry squat’
Oppression through hard-wired inequalities in land ownership is at the heart of social injustice in Britain http://www.facebook.com/events/410739822397887/
Call BHAM housing action line on – 07833 100399
Email – housingaction@yahoo.co.uk
Infrastructure Bill: Act now, sound the alarm, spread the word… any public land could be taken from us and given to developers
ACTION NEEDED NOW TO HALT PROPOSED LEGISLATION WHICH WILL ALLOW ALL PUBLIC LAND IN ENGLAND AND WALES TO BE PRIVATISED
DEBATE (SECOND READING) IN HOUSE OF LORDS THIS WEDNESDAY (JUNE 18)
For all those sent this who don’t know me… I am secretary of Hands Off Our Forest, a pressure group dedicated to keeping the Forest of Dean and other public woodlands in public ownership. At our meeting this week, we decided we must press for an exemption for the Public Forest Estate (that is, all those woodlands in England that are owned by all of us, and managed by the Forestry Commission) within the Infrastructure Bill…
You may recall that we kicked up quite a fuss in 2010/11 over plans for the forest sell-off, and the law which would have made it possible, the Public Bodies Bill. Our campaign, in association with others around the country and national efforts has transcended politics, class and many, many interests because our public woodlands mean so much to so many people (40 million visit them in England every year)
Once a statement has been agreed by us all on the HOOF Steering Group, I will be sending it out… our remit is our own Forest and its surrounding, or contiguous woodlands, so the statement will focus on our group’s interest (see www.handsoffourforest.org)
However, I feel compelled to give everyone a heads up and try to raise the alarm because this Bill is like a massive juggernaut that is coming up a hill and could hit us before we’ve had a chance to take evasive action. It affects ANY public land and all private land except that owned by the Queen and Royal family.
I hope you can pass this message on to all your contacts. I hope the media will take notice and journalists and columnists will investigate the issue, and it will be reported.
The Queen’s Speech announcing the Infrastructure Bill was on June 2, it was introduced to the House of Lords three days later, and gets its second reading (and first debate) this coming Wednesday, June 18. Last time I looked, only a handful of peers are due to take part in the debate. I believe if more were aware of the contents of the Bill, and its massive enabling powers, many more Peers would be taking part – as they did in the Public Bodies Bill debates in late 2010/ early 2011.
The Bill is designed to fulfil a number of functions, so many in fact it’s easy to only concentrate on that hot potato, fracking, and possibly also the HS2 railway line – personally I am opposed to both, but the Bill enables far more than that.
There is also the issue of the need to build more houses. However, is it right that all these developments should take place on the precious little public land there is? Isn’t it our land, the people’s, and shouldn’t we have a say in what happens to it? As about three-quarters of the acreage of Britain belongs to 0.6% of the population (see Kevin Cahill’s Who Owns Britain?), can’t they spare any of their land to be built on?
What the Bill proposes is that the Secretary of State can hand over any amount of public land to the arms-length, non-departmental Government body, the Homes & Communities Agency. The HCA can then dispose of it to developers. There will be no need to go through local authority planning processes – the Sec of State can give the green light without any local politicians or planners’ involvement, just by consulting a panel of two people.
As for public rights of way, the proposed law allows any of them to be extinguished. There is no need for permission for easements (ie roads, powerlines, railways. drilling, tunnels, etc). And any existing laws that protects land and prevents it being built on, appear to be overriden by one simple enabling clause (quoted from the Bill, see http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2014-2015/0002/lbill_2014-20150002_en_7.htm#sch3):
“SCHEDULE 3 Transfer schemes…
2 (1) The property, rights and liabilities that may be transferred by a scheme
include—
(a) property, rights and liabilities that would not otherwise be capable
of being transferred or assigned;”
So, while the Public Bodies Bill came to the attention of forest campaigners because it specifically mentioned the Forestry Commission and forests and proposed changes to the Forestry Act 1967, for the Infrastructure Bill there is no need to list this act or others (such as Rights of Way and other protections for other pieces of land), because in one fell swoop, it enables every statute to be ignored and overriden!
The Government briefing (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/infrastructure-bill) on this aspect of the Bill states:
Public sector land assets
The bill would permit land to be transferred directly from arms-length bodies to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). This would reduce bureaucracy, manage land more effectively, and get more homes built.
The bill would make sure that future purchasers of land owned by HCA and the Greater London Authority (GLA) will be able to develop and use land without being affected by easements and other rights and restrictions suspended by the agency. Sometimes land owned by HCA and GLA has easements or rights and restrictions from its previous use. At the moment HCA and the GLA can suspend these, but not pass that suspension on. The bill would make sure that purchasers of this land would also benefit from the suspension.
Land Registry
The bill would also allow Land Registry to take on statutory responsibility for the Local Land Charges register and an extension of powers would also allow Land Registry to play a wider role in the property market. Consultation on these measures took place between January and March 2014…
You may be aware there is already a campaign against the privatisation of the Land Registry. Not only will it be privatised, the newly-private entity will have extra powers over who owns what land!
So in summary… WE ALL NEED TO GET ENGAGED WITH THIS AND WITHOUT DELAY!
I am sorry I cannot be more eloquent and have not had much time to research this. I am also not a legal expert. I hope legal minds (those not involved with this Bill) will offer their opinions and tell me I’m overreacting. But from my several years in scrutinising Government legislation in a bid to save our forests from privatisation, I have acrued a fair bit of legalese…
I haven’t had time to launch a petition, to consult my colleagues in HOOF and other campaigns, and apologies if anyone thinks I’m jumping the gun. If it wasn’t urgent, I would bide my time…
The more of us who do whatever is in our capacity to do, write to Lords (I recommend Bishops and Crossbenchers), MPs, media contacts, public interest groups, legal experts… make banners, make petitions, whatever it takes… but please help me sound the alarm… today, if you can.
I think it relevant to end this email with a quote from Nietzsche:
“The state is the coldest of all cold monsters. Coldly it lies, too; and this lie creeps from its mouth: `I, the state, am the people.’… Everything about it is false; it bites with stolen teeth.”
Best regards
Owen Adams
ecological land co-operative
ELC exists to provide affordable opportunities for land based activities in the UK. At our first site in Devon, we have created 3 smallholdings with temporary planning permission for agricultural farm businesses. We plan to raise community share capital and establish more sites over the next few years. We hope to create changes in the planning system and a network of people managing and owning land ecologically. We have work days on site and we can offer occasional advice. More on our website: www.ecologicalland.coop
growyourownhome.org
Grow Your Own Home are establishing a series of combined social and skill sharing events intending to create a critical mass of empowered groups ready to start new Low Impact, Cooperative, affordable housing clusters.