What's happened to buildings in big cities will happen to our countryside?

[kinkytoes]

Many buildings in London and other cities have been bought by foreign investors and are not actually in use, or accessible by anyone who actually lives in the area.

Is this what will happen to the countryside too, when farmers have to sell their land?

I'm sad about the buildings, but I'm actually quite scared about the prospects for the countryside. Will we all lose access to it? Aside from the obvious concerns about losing food security etc.

No because farming land for sale is sold as faming land and in many areas of the country it is damn impossible to change land use rights. Foreign investors are not interested in the countryside. They need access to the city as this is where property prices are more likely to climb steeply and it is where rentals are the most profitable.

Well yeah, that's the whole point.

Oh I'm sure enough palms can be greased to ensure planning laws are 'adjusted'.

https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/data/datasets/affordable-housing-database/hm1-1-housing-stock-and-construction.pdf Britain has one of the lowest rates of vacant homes among all developed countries; it really isn't full of unoccupied buildings.

Farmers are not going sell their land. Few people will be affected by the IHT changes.

You need to stop reading alarmist media stuff.

Do you have personal experience of that? Please point me to the palm to be greased because we've been trying to find an acre of land with a planning permission for a dwelling for the best part of 5 years.

Britain has spent beyond its means for decades and it has financed this by selling things off to foreigners. Nationalised industries, successful private sector companies, housing - it should be no surprise for farmland to be next, IHT changes or not.

You're not wrong Op

What do you mean?

Either that or disappear under housing

In France, quite a lot of vineyards have been bought by ‘foreign investors’, not always to the maintenance of their previous quality. Although only a tiny percentage of British land is owned by non British citizens, that proportion has doubled in the last ten years.

As food production becomes more important, farming land will be more attractive. Ask Bill Gates.

Indeed. We'll be able to house the world, but they won't have anything to eat 😕

Farming land below 400m is not generally accessible except along rights of way which are enshrined in law. Farming land above 400m is generally accessible through right to roam legislation and that will be true whoever owns it.

Large amounts of land are already owned by wealthy investors. That's one of the reasons for reducing the tax free allowance for farmland.

I've seen it argued that the removal of IHT on farmland caused prices to rocket as investors became interested in it as a IHT free vehicle, and this has made it impossible for farmers to afford land if they haven't already inherited it. The suggestion is the reduction of the IHT-free allowance will make land less attractive to investors, and make it more affordable for genuine farmers to purchase land.

I think OP is more concerned about farming land being turned into housing, not farming land acquired for farming by the "forriners".

I didn't read it like that, I read it that it would be bought as an investment vehicle (much like it is now by the likes of Clarkson and Dyson).
I 100% agree that something should be done about ghost blocks reducing availability of housing. I would put punitive taxes on them. Farmland is a bit different, in that they are businesses and the land is business assets. Food security is a factor to be taken into consideration here though.

They won't be doing it for ordinary people.

Selling off the country. Everything else gets sold off, why not farmland? It'll be the countryside next. Successive governments have got into bed quite happily with the Russians, Chinese and Saudis.

Honestly, it's both. Feels like opportunities here are becoming fewer and fewer.