The Crown Estate appoints David Fursdon as a new Board Member‏
The Crown Estate has announced the appointment of David Fursdon, immediate past President of the Country Land and Business Association, as a new non-executive Board Member. David will take up his position from January 1 2008, replacing Sir Donald Curry KB, CBE who will be retiring from The Crown Estate Board at the end of 2007 after 8 years.
David Fursdon, FRICS, FAAV is a qualified rural chartered surveyor and agricultural valuer. David owns and manages an 800 acre family estate in Devon. He was formerly President of the Country Land & Business Association (CLA) which has 37,000 members across England and Wales. As elected President he interacted with Government and chaired the main council of CLA members. He is currently the Chairman of Governors for Blundell's School, Parish Chairman, Deputy Lieutenant for Devon and a former member of the Government's Affordable Housing Commission and Heritage Protection Review. Before taking the chairmanship of the CLA board in 2003, David worked full time as an equity partner of Stags, the West Country Chartered Surveying firm.
The Crown Estate's Main Board comprises seven non-executive members and one full-time executive member.
Ian Grant, Chairman of The Crown Estate, said, "David has a first class hands-on understanding of rural land management issues not only through the running of his own farming estate in Devon but from his many years of experience within the Country Land and Business Association (CLA). He has held various roles within the CLA, rising through the ranks from Branch Chairman to Vice President, Deputy President and finally CLA President in 2005. In addition to this, he has chaired the Wessex branch of the Historic Houses Association and been a member of the Government's Affordable Rural Housing Commission and Heritage Protection Re view. It is therefore no surprise that with his valuable spread and depth of experience we have appointed David as our new non-executive Crown Estate Board Member."
On his new appointment, David Fursdon said, "I am delighted to be joining The Crown Estate, a company which is recognised to be playing a key role in the rural economy as well as being a progressive landlord. Without the tenancies provided by organisations such as The Crown Estate, an opportunity to introduce fresh blood into the farming communities would be lost. I look forward to being able to contribute to its continued future success across its amazingly diverse and interesting business."
The Crown Estate is one of the largest property organisations in the United Kingdom, last year valued at over £7 billion. Its profits are paid to the Exchequer for the benefit of the UK tax payer and in 2006/07 this amounted to £200 million. The rural estate, valued at over£700 million, is one of the largest in the UK with 120,000 hectares (300,000 acres) of agricultural land, forests, residential and commercial property in England, Scotland and Wales. There are also 34 active mineral leases producing limestone, sand, gravel, clay, slate and the Mines Royal (gold and silver). There are 780 agricultural tenancies and 740 direct let residential properties. The Forestry estates cover over 13,700 hectares (34,000 acres) the majority of which is managed by The Crown Estate, with around one third let. The portfolio is managed with a strong sense of corporate responsibility and contains over 400 sites of special scientific interest on both the rural and marine estates.
