13 January 2025
The leader of West Sussex County Council is calling on the government to reconsider changes to Inheritance Tax which he claims will have a ‘devastating impact on many family farms’.
Councillor Paul Marshall has written to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Rt Hon Steve Reed MP, to help to preserve family farms, farmland, and the environment.
The letter highlights ‘the essential role farmers play in managing our natural landscapes, contributing to biodiversity, protecting our wildlife, flood prevention and supporting sustainable local food systems within West Sussex’.
It follows a notice of motion debate at a meeting of the Full Council on 13 December 2024 where councillors highlighted their concerns about the impact of the changes in West Sussex on family farms and on the environment.
The letter is copied below:
Dear Secretary of State,
Family Farm Tax
I am writing to you following a notice of motion debate at West Sussex County Council’s full council meeting on 13 December 2024 where the Council passed the following motion.
This Council recognises and values the essential role that farmers play in managing our natural landscapes, contributing to biodiversity, protecting our wildlife, flood prevention and supporting sustainable local food systems within West Sussex.
This Council notes that the recent 2024 Autumn Budget change to Inheritance Tax Relief announced by the Labour Government will introduce a Family Farm Tax which will:
- have a devastating impact on many family farms and on the farmers’ ability to pass on their farms to the next generation of farmers.
- force farmers to sell land to developers for housing in order to pay their tax bills and therefore threaten the continuing viability of family run farms.
- threaten up to 70,000 farmers according to the Country Landowners Association.
- threaten tenant farmers livelihoods and homes.
- have little or no impact on those investing in land purely to avoid tax and will lead to the creation of more corporate owned mega-farms with no interest in protecting the environment and animal welfare.
- threaten the protection of our countryside, by hindering environmental projects and conservation efforts that rely on stable, family-owned farming operations.
- threaten the UK’s food security at a time when we already import 46% of our food at a cost to the natural environment around the world such as the Amazon rainforest.
- have a detrimental effect on the rural economies of our country.
This Council further notes that:
- The emerging West Sussex Local Nature Recovery Strategy requires strong collaboration with local agricultural stakeholders, who together with many environmental partners will drive numerous Initiatives to protect and enhance biodiversity across the county. Farms that stay within family ownership are better positioned to continue practices that support wildlife corridors, habitat preservation, and sustainable land stewardship.
- That the conservation and protection of the South Downs National Park, 75% of which is farmland, the farmland that forms an integral part of the Chichester Harbour National Landscape, and the High Weald National Landscape, as well as the numerous sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) and nature reserves, are dependent on the co-operation of land owners and it is the family run farms, handed down through the generations, that better support these aims.
It is for these reasons that we call upon Government to reconsider this change to Inheritance Tax Relief and help preserve family farms and protect both farmland and the environment for future generations.
I look forward to receiving your response.
Yours sincerely,
Cllr Paul Marshall
Leader
West Sussex County Council
