5,500 acre estate to be up for sale

Around 5,500 acres of farmland around Sutton Bridge is set to be put up for sale, leaving an uncertain future for those that farm it.

People associated with the Sutton Bridge estate have received leaflets outlining that land agent Savills will be putting the eight and a half square miles of land on the market later this month.
One of those who farms the land (pictured) is South Holland District councillor Michael Booth.
He said it was an ‘uncertain’ and ‘difficult’ time for the farmers, many of whom also live on the land.
“We’ve been told that it will be on sale at the end of the month,” said Mr Booth who runs Curlew Lodge. “We know the land is being valued individually, so they will take into account what each tenant owns, and the houses on each bit of land.
“It’s not very clear though if there’s an option for tenants to purchase their land as has been mentioned with regard to previous sales.”
Mr Booth said there had previously been as many as 80 tenants on the estate, but wasn’t sure of current numbers.
He had previously chaired the working group which saw the estate be one of the first of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s privatisation projects in the early 80s.
The land was originally owned by the Guy’s Hospital Estate, the entirety of which was the subject of a compulsory purchase by the government in 1921.
The Sutton Bridge land was taken on by the Ministry of Agriculture until The Land Improvement Group took it over in the 1980s while offering tenants the opportunity to buy the land they lived and worked on themselves.
The Henry Smith Charity bought the land in 1997.
The Voice contacted the charity and Savills but had not received a response at the time of going to press.