Tenant Farmers Association fight charity bid to evict farmer
The Tenant Farmers Association is supporting an ex soldier in his battle to remain on the farm he rents from a charity established for the benefit of ex-servicemen.
John Barron started his military career in the Territorial Army before joining the regular army in the 1980s and served in both Germany and Northern Ireland. He later joined the Royal Air Force and retired from duty in 1997. The land he farms forms part of the Buchanan Trust set up after the First World War by Robert Buchanan whose eldest son Alan died during the First World War. Robert Buchanan established the Trust to provide a place for soldiers returning from the war to earn a living from the land. The remit of the Trust has since been extended to treat all ex-servicemen as potential beneficiaries. The Trust is now managed by Herefordshire County Council.
Mr Barron has occupied Beaconhill Farm on the Buchanan Trust estate since 1997. However, his initial tenancy was brought to an end by Herefordshire County Council serving notice to quit in 2005. Attempts to agree a new farm tenancy agreement with the county council broke down in June 2006 when the county council withdrew from negotiations with Mr Barron. Since then Mr Barron has been fighting to stay in the farm into which he has invested everything thinking that the charity would look after him. Instead, Mr Barron has faced ongoing opposition from the charity’s trustees, the county council, including unfounded allegations of poor farming practice. He had no choice but to try to protect his livelihood by bringing proceedings against the county council in the High Court which sadly failed.
TFA Chief Executive George Dunn said "The judge in the High Court case found that despite the objectives of the Trust, the trustees had a wide discretion to use the assets of the charity, including its land, in any way they saw fit. As the trustees have seen fit not to extend specific benevolence to ex-servicemen, they were not acting in breach of trust. However, the judge did make a non binding plea to the trustees to reach agreement with Mr Barron on a new tenancy consistent with the charitable objectives of the Buchanan Trust. The trustees have rejected the judge’s plea and have written to me to confirm that they will be pursuing Mr Barron’s eviction. It seems to me to be completely perverse that a charity established for the benefit of ex-servicemen can act in a way completely opposite to its founding principles. I am joined in that view by Robert Buchanan’s grandson, Peter Buchanan who has been pressing the county council to ensure that his grandfather’s intentions with regard to the 750 acres with which he established the charity are properly carried out".
"Even at this late stage I would ask that the county council re-open negotiations with Mr Barron to ensure his future on the estate. If it does not then perhaps the management of the charity should be passed to trustees who actually care that it is pursuing the aims for which it has been established," said Mr Dunn.
