Thoresby in pole position to own Laxton Estate where farming practices warrant 'world heritage site protection'
THORESBY is the favoured purchaser for an estate that operates a farming practice which has existed without interruption since medieval times, and is the last remaining example in all of Europe, the Advertiser can reveal.
If discussions progress well, a sale of Laxton Estate, and its open field system, could be confirmed later this year.
The farming practices at Laxton, argues one leading academic at Nottingham Trent University, as so special that they warrant the same level of UNESCO protection as world heritage sites such as Stonehenge.
They are viewed as having vast untapped potential for both education and tourism and in developing UK agricultural policy post-Brexit given their durability and sustainability.
So much so that Nottinghamshire County Council jointly bid to buy the estate along with Nottingham Trent University, which has its Department of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences ten miles away at Brackenhurst, but this bid fell by the wayside without ever being shortlisted.
In early 2018, The Crown Estate, which is charged with maximising a return on its assets for the Treasury, began a process to identify an appropriate purchaser for the estate.
It recognised that as a commercial real estate business, it may not be best placed to manage Laxton moving forward, given the specialist management and ongoing investment required to preserve its unique model and heritage.
It sought and received expressions of interest and formal bids from a range of parties, all of whom were required to demonstrate:
- Their intention to perpetually maintain the open field system, in accordance with the parliamentary undertaking given in 1981.
- A positive relationship with present and future tenants at Laxton and other local stakeholders.
- The capacity in both organisational and financial respects to positively manage the estate in the long term
- A track record of having successfully delivered sensitive management of the historic landscape and farmed environment at a comparable scale and complexity.
After meeting with the shortlisted bidders, The Crown Estate selected a preferred purchaser, the Trustees of the Thoresby Settlement.
Thoresby is a former owner of Laxton, and still own and operate strips within the estate.
Thoresby is a traditional estate and owned the majority of Laxton for about 300 years until 1953 when it was sold to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries.
The Crown Estate said this week it had demonstrated a strong understanding of the estate’s operating model and its history, as well as a track record of managing heritage assets.
The Crown Estate will now progress discussions with Thoresby as well as with local tenants and interested stakeholders, ahead of a potential sale.
It said said that subject to satisfactory completion of these discussions, new ownership could be confirmed later this year.
A spokesman from The Crown Estate said: "As planning for the future of the estate progresses, we will continue to work closely with local tenants and interested stakeholders, including those who live and work at Laxton, to ensure they are kept updated at the appropriate points throughout the process.
“Since beginning work to explore the future of the Laxton Estate in early 2018, we have been pleased to see strong interest from a range of parties in the ongoing management of this unique heritage asset.
"We are delighted to have taken another step forward in our work to find a suitable purchaser for Laxton, committed to preserving the traditions and heritage of the Estate, and look forward to progressing discussions. In doing so, will continue to work closely with key stakeholders, including those who live and work at Laxton, to ensure they are kept updated at the appropriate points throughout the process.”
The Laxton estate is 1,900 acres of agricultural land, ten residential properties, 17 farms, a public house, visitor centre and museum buildings.
Agricultural land and associated farm houses and smallholdings are leased to tenant farmers.
The boundaries of the strips farmed, roadways and the common land in the fields are maintained and governed through the ancient manorial court, known as the Court Leet.
Infringements can see the strip operator fined for their transgression, which these days is a nominal sum.