This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(June 2015) |
Formation | 1907 |
---|---|
Legal status | Membership organisation |
Purpose | Represent the interests of landowners and rural business owners |
Headquarters | 16 Belgrave Square, London, SW1X 8PQ |
Location |
|
Membership | 33,000 members |
Director General | Isabella Murfin |
Main organ | CLA Council |
Publication | Land and Business |
Website | CLA |
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) is a membership organisation representing landowners, property owners and businesses owners in England and Wales. [1]
Untill 2000, the organisation was known as the Country Landowners Association.
The CLA publishes the monthly Land and Business magazine
CLA members own or manage 10 million acres, over 50% of the rural land in England and Wales. Its 28,000-strong membership includes landowners, farmers and rural businesses. [2] [ third-party source needed ]
The CLA states that it "is the only organisation dedicated to defending your interests as a landowner and is your only truly independent and authoritative source of advice." It offers members a support and advice network through a free in-house policy, legal, and tax advisory service, as well as offering networking opportunities for landowners and rural businesses.
The CLA lobbies to protect its members' interests in relation to rural issues at local, national and EU levels. [3] [ third-party source needed ]
The Policy team, based in the London office, offers advice on tax and legal, environment and conservation, agriculture and land management, as well as planning, housing and heritage. This includes issues such as the right to roam, reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy, heritage, rural housing, renewable energy and taxation.
Six regional offices include teams of rural surveyors and advisers for local branch members.
The Country Landowners’ Association was founded in 1907 in Lincolnshire. [4] As of 1910, the CLA had a membership of 1,000, including 100 Members of Parliament. [4] By 1918, the CLA had 8,000 members. [5]
In 2000, the Country Landowners association chose changed it's name to the Country Land and Business Association starting in 2001. [6] This was done in part to distance the CLA from the perception of representing privileged landed gentry. [6]
The organisation celebrated its centenary in 2007. Journalist Charles Clover wrote The History of the CLA to celebrate the anniversary. [7]
In 2023, OpenDemocracy reported that the CLA had successfully lobbied the government against abolishing the deadline of right to roam claims. [8] [9]
The CLA is governed by the CLA Council.
There is a small board of directors that is responsible for the running of the CLA.
There is a main corporate office based in London and also six regional offices:
The CLA no longer runs the CLA Game Fair. It announced in September 2015 that it "could no longer ask CLA members to allow their membership subscriptions to underwrite the losses the event makes." [10] [ third-party source needed ]
Agrarianism is a social and political philosophy that advocates for a return to subsistence agriculture, family farming, widespread property ownership, and political decentralization. Those who adhere to agrarianism tend to value traditional forms of local community over urban modernity. Agrarian political parties sometimes aim to support the rights and sustainability of small farmers and poor peasants against the wealthy in society.
A farm is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used for specialized units such as arable farms, vegetable farms, fruit farms, dairy, pig and poultry farms, and land used for the production of natural fiber, biofuel, and other commodities. It includes ranches, feedlots, orchards, plantations and estates, smallholdings, and hobby farms, and includes the farmhouse and agricultural buildings as well as the land. In modern times, the term has been extended so as to include such industrial operations as wind farms and fish farms, both of which can operate on land or at sea.
The Wildlife Trusts, the trading name of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, is an organisation made up of 46 local Wildlife Trusts in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and Alderney. The Wildlife Trusts, between them, look after more than 2,300 nature reserves, covering around 98,500 hectares. As of 2020, the Trusts have a combined membership of over 870,000 members.
A tenant farmer is a person who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, while tenant farmers contribute their labor along with at times varying amounts of capital and management. Depending on the contract, tenants can make payments to the owner either of a fixed portion of the product, in cash or in a combination. The rights the tenant has over the land, the form, and measures of payment vary across systems. In some systems, the tenant could be evicted at whim ; in others, the landowner and tenant sign a contract for a fixed number of years. In most developed countries today, at least some restrictions are placed on the rights of landlords to evict tenants under normal circumstances.
The National Farmers' Union (NFU) is an employer association representing farming and growing businesses within England and Wales.
The National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs (NFYFC) is a rural youth organisation and in the United Kingdom. The Federation covers various Young Farmers' Clubs (YFCs) throughout England and Wales, helping support young people in agriculture and the countryside. It does not include YFCs from Scotland or Ireland.
The United Kingdom is home to a widespread and diverse co-operative movement, with over 7,000 registered co-operatives owned by 17 million individual members and which contribute £34bn a year to the British economy. Modern co-operation started with the Rochdale Pioneers' shop in the northern English town of Rochdale in 1844, though the history of co-operation in Britain can be traced back to before 1800. The British co-operative movement is most commonly associated with The Co-operative brand which has been adopted by several large consumers' co-operative societies; however, there are many thousands of registered co-operative businesses operating in the UK. Alongside these consumers' co-operatives, there exist many prominent agricultural co-operatives (621), co-operative housing providers (619), health and social care cooperatives (111), cooperative schools (834), retail co-operatives, co-operatively run community energy projects, football supporters' trusts, credit unions, and worker-owned businesses.
The British Horse Society (BHS) is a membership-based equine charity, with a stated vision of "a Society which provides a strong voice for horses and people and which spreads awareness through support, training and education". It currently has more than 110,000 members, with a further 34,000 members affiliated through a British Riding Club, making it the largest equine membership organisation in the United Kingdom. It is one of the 19 organisations which form part of the British Equestrian Federation.
The National Farmers' Union of Scotland is an employer association organisation that represents the interests of the Scotland's farming industry. It was formed in 1913, and has approximately 10,000 members who are farmers, crofters and others involved in Scottish agriculture.
The National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers (NUAAW) was a trades union representing farmworkers in the United Kingdom. The Union was founded in 1906 by trade union activist George Edwards. It was dissolved in 1982 when it merged into the Agricultural Section of the Transport and General Workers' Union.
The National Federation of Builders (NFB) is a United Kingdom trade association representing the interests of regional contractors and small and medium sized house builders (up to 250 homes per annum) in England and Wales.
The Agricultural League or National Rural League was a German agrarian association during the Weimar Republic which was led by landowners with property east of the Elbe. It was allied with the German National People's Party and later the National Socialist German Workers' Party.
Leicestershire and Rutland Young Farmers are part of the National organisation - National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs (NFYFC) - aimed at young people in the rural community between the age of ten and twenty six.
Agriculture in the United Kingdom uses 70% of the country's land area, employs 1% of its workforce and contributes 0.5% of its gross value added. The UK currently produces about 54% of its domestic food consumption.
The Confederation of Forest Industries, shortened to ConFor, is the trade association for the forestry industry in the United Kingdom.
The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) is a membership organisation representing the interests of local councils in England. NALC works in partnership with county associations and the Society of Local Council Clerks to support, promote and improve local councils. One Voice Wales is the equivalent body covering community and town councils in Wales.
The Tenant Farmers Association is an organisation which represents the interests of tenant farmers in England and Wales, it provides advice to its members and lobbies government. The TFA was formed in 1981 and has its head office in Reading, Berkshire. The association has a team of employed staff in addition to elected regional chairmen, the current national chairman is James Gray.
The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW), known as the Undeb Amaethwyr Cymru (UAC) in Welsh, is a member organisation that was formed in 1955 to represent farmers in Wales.
Agriculture in Wales has in the past been a major part of the economy of Wales, a largely rural country which is part of the United Kingdom. Wales is mountainous and has a mild, wet climate. This results in only a small proportion of the land area being suitable for arable cropping, but grass for the grazing of livestock is present in abundance. As a proportion of the national economy, agriculture is now much less important; a high proportion of the population now live in the towns and cities in the south of the country and tourism has become an important form of income in the countryside and on the coast. Arable cropping is limited to the flatter parts and elsewhere dairying and livestock farming predominate.
The Amalgamated Labour League, was a trade union representing agricultural labourers in Eastern England.