The Archers - It's not about the money, money, money, think about Jill's honey, honey, honey, Justin wants to farm by satnav, forget about the prize tag.

[PseudoBadger]

Will The Dopeys have buggered off by the end of this thread?
Will Tom finally reach home, after weeks of trekking through the tundra?

Unless ... Who was it said NewPip sounded like a sultry thirty year old? Is this what she's for - branching out as Mata Hari?

Would the value of the farm also include the commercial aspects? So if Brookfield brings in more money than bridge farm (which I expect it does given the nature of the operations?) then the value might be higher?

Like I said on the other thread, our Council is under pressure from central Government to build more houses. Demara have probably got wind of the new Local Plan and are thinking new road + new housing estate = £££££.
Ambridge (including the Bull and the Stables) is on the north side of the Am. The south side of the Am (including Brookfield and the new road) is mostly agricultural and ideal for re-designating as development. That's worth paying a premium for.

The Parish Council would have had some inkling of what's in the Local Plan though, been asked to comment on consultation docs, identify suitable sites for affordable housing etc etc. I would expect there to be some extra housing in Ambridge but not large-scale enough to pique Damara's interest.

But Araminta is right, surely they would have gone in for a lower offer and negotiated up. They wouldn't want to pay more than they needed to, as they are supposed to be sharp business people.

Araminta's option sounds plausible. They'll gazunder, The Dopeys'll be committed and begging for the siblings to leave their money in, forcing Jill to take sides. It'll all fall through, with recriminations lasting for years. Ruth will flounce off to look after Heather, only to return when her mum sotmc, played by some RP actress - don't think there're any Troughton girls, though.

And assigning sites for building etc takes years and years and years. (But then, so does deciding to uproot your farm "up North" in normal circumstances ) Where we are, the landowners submit their sites for consideration, plans are drawn up, it goes out to consultation etc etc. And it's always land well and truly adjoining the village. Unless it's a new Garden Village, of course...

Maybe Damara is after building a new "Garden City"?
But actually I think something is going on with the water, and it will be linked to that. So is there any test drilling around there? Or any quarries?

'No one wants to live in this village,' said a local planning officer when being shown a site perfect for 3 of the 5 houses the local needs survey had identified as necessary!
Meanwhile local people move into the nearest town because they can't outbid the holiday home buyers.
So, I don't think Ambridge would have been identified as a place where a large housing development is necessary and Damara isn't interested in building affordable homes for people like Ed and Emma.

For plot purposes it has to be something that will affect everyone, be heinous enough to make all their property values plummet and affect the local beauty spot. It also has to be potentially stoppable.

Yes, I agree. Surely agriculture-related though. Any minerals etc would all have been known about by the locals. But these things take years to work through, so can't see how it realistically will stop the Dopeys moving in time. Unless the survey shows up those sink holes . What would sink holes stop?

Could it be that Justin's aim is to ruin Brian?
That coupled with the gazunda suggestion might make it worth his while to buy Brookfield from under Brian's nose and leave him contractless, forced to sell his BL holdings at a knockdown price. Thus putting the entire Home Farm enterprise into bankruptcy so he can then buy it up too and own the whole shebang.

I found it refreshing that at last someone was reacting to the Brookfield proposals in a normal manner. After weeks of the ludicrousness of first Deavid, then Jill, then the children, then the siblings all apparently thinking it's totally fine to uproot your entire family and sell to someone who'll potentially ruin the local area, all to provide care for one elderly lady and because of something that won't necessarily happen at all and certainly not for years - it's great finally to have someone putting the opposite view. Yes, I know in many ways it's totally hypocritical for Pat and Brine to object, but at least it's a normal reaction.

Well my previously mentioned theory is that Justin is the unrecognised love child of Phil and has come to wreak his revenge by destroying the ambridge that Phil loved

The one motive we haven't considered for Justin is petty revenge.

David had to apologise for the Justin guy on top of the bonfire. The picture appeared on the front page. Jill once made Charlie squirm. Justin brought important business contacts to a shoot that didn't go at all well.

Justin has made a preposterous offer which will cause David and his sibs to make plans and possibly spend money they haven't yet got. There is the added pleasure of watching Brian twist in the wind.

Then he withdraws his offer at the very last minute.

Interesting scenario unitarian But do you think that they'd be so machiavellian? (sp?).

I reckon fracking or some such, may be the reason

Could they be extracting the water to sell as premium mineral water?

Uum.. I was wondering about the possibilities of either fracking/oil/ etc when Jill and David had their nostalgia journey up Lakey Hill months ago when the 'rumblings' started... Why haven't they properly investigated the cause of that? Wouldn't David/Oliver/Ed be more concerned about water/land collapse etc. Maybe JE wants to build a nuclear power plant /airport or something equally as unenvironmental...or a wind farm??
Great, at long last a story line to feature the Green Party..... Fracking therefore the most 'hot' land subject...

Ps here in not so rural Hampshire, in a naice quaint English town, agricultural land is disappearing at a rate I've never seen before, making way for developments unbelievably quickly. Roads are jammed and schools are full, so no infrastructure to accommodate growth. Massive houses on the old avenue are being sold, bulldozed and replaced by characterless, functional flats and apartments, mostly buy to let's. Locals priced out. It is scandalous but land sales are at an all time high here and vast amounts of money being made, so TA is keeping up with the greedy zeitgeist

Yes guineapiglet It is really with the flooding etc. and global warming etc. No one seems interested in the real future at all, god help us, is all can say.

oooh ooh

I wonder if the people at the shoot were significant. any whiff of what industries they were in? wonder if they have links to oil/fracking/mineral extraction?

just had a quick skim read. I think ironstone=dolerite= very bad for fracking under as there is seapage along the dolerite layers into aquefers. (google karoo if you are really interested/have time/are totally overinfested)

so we could be leading into a "there's shale gas in them thar hills plot" followed by no you can't dig it up because there is ironstone (hence bringing back carol as she will remember this) Lynda will do some sleuthing and realise you can't frack under dolerite and the dastardly plan will be scuppered. sadly the Dopeys will already have moved and Brine will get Brookfield. JE will be ruined.

You can however, use dolerite in pottery glazes. so no doubt Fallon will take that up too, in between shifts, cake baking, going to antiques shows and upcycling.

and so on.

oh please let that be the plot. it will let all this ludicrous set up that has gone on be for something rather than just general irritation. still does not explain the invasion of the Troughtons though

and if it isn't the plot SWs can you make it the plot instead of whatever other silly plot you had in mind.

and is it just me or has David's acting re the siblings and Brine been a bit weird? his delivery has gone odd.

Fracking would def fit in with topicality too

Just heard Joe on PM! Extolling the virtues of his cider apples to Carol. (Something about import / export of English apples. I missed the beginning.)

I'm scared of fracking.

I might have to switch off if they do that.

Before bed last night (I am NOT overinfested!) I checked 5* hotels in Prague and it seems I was wrong, and JD still has some options. Phew! I know nothing of Hogwarts-type places, and assumed as they got older they'd not come home more than once in term-time, if that. but most of my knowledge of boarding school comes from various British public figures and many of them talk of it quite negatively.

Maybe you are all onto something with the fracking and the shoot being significant. The Martin bastard who bullied Kathy - what is he apart from a bully at the golf club? I'd like to think the SW, being so good at keeping ends tied up, will have brought him back for a reason ....

And I was thinking - has Tiger really been written out? Will Tiger be at the ARSE dinner? He might be a bully and a wide boy, but I am sure Matt would have something to say about current events. We want Tiger, we want Tiger, we want .....

I've thought David's delivery has been very flat ever since he accepted Ruth's ridiculous idea plan to move north. Either this is good acting of someone facing up to change they don't personally like but think they have to go through with for other people's sake or it's because the SWs really are going to go through with the relocation, thus Tim is more or less working out his notice (D&R would just come back for the occasional visit) and isn't happy about it and can't hide it.

Yes, I think David has sometimes sounded like he's reading a script in recent weeks. I can't decide which is the reason though.