News
Maintaining public support as farmers diversify
As the nation marks Back British Farming Day this month (Wednesday Sept 11) all would seem to be well in the world of agriculture. Happy customers, after all, mean happy businesses.
Yet anyone who farms will tell you that is not the case. All is not well. Farm incomes are down, farm confidence has crashed and while the new Labour government has outlined broad support for farming, external factors - from Brexit to extreme weather - are impacting on the sector as almost never before.
Estate Matters Episode 15: Molly Biddell | Engaging land managers with nature-based solutions.
Farmers must be valued for managing the landscape and protecting and enhancing nature as well as for producing food, if wildlife-depleted Britain is to improve its environment and continue to feed its population.
That’s the message from Molly Biddell, Head of Natural Capital at the Knepp Estate in Sussex, a trailblazing 3,500-acre rewilding project which abandoned traditional farming 20 years ago and has become one of the UK’s most biodiverse nature reserves.
There’s more to housebuilders than just building and selling homes: why developers need to be talking about the whole housebuilding operation
Specialist PR and communications for housebuilders might not seem, at first sight, to be a top priority
Yet strategic communications, delivered consistently throughout the whole housebuilding operation are key to educating, engaging and enticing target audiences, as well as meeting business objectives.
Insight: Labour lays out the groundwork for building – now councils must deliver
The Conservatives’ decision to effectively scrap housing targets has been reversed and councils must now produce detailed plans with proposals about how they will deliver the extra homes – or face government intervention.
Estate Matters Episode 14: Victoria Vyvyan | The CLA President's views on land management under a Labour Government
CLA President and Cornish rural estate owner Victoria Vyvyan believes the new Labour Government and its Defra team are listening to voices from the countryside in essential areas of policy, including planning, farming and energy.
Communicating the benefits of renewable energy
Landowners have, over centuries, played their part in powering Britain, from providing the sites for coal mines to growing timber and operating windmills and water wheels.
In more recent years, however, the centralisation of energy generation and its distribution across the country has distanced much of rural Britain from the business of producing the power we all need…
Estate Matters turns one year old!
KOR Communications’ podcast, Estate Matters, is celebrating its first anniversary after a remarkable twelve months with guests providing insights across the rural and development sectors, from farming to journalism, politics to housing.
Labour Manifesto – Let’s get building
It’s no accident that, just hours after the Labour Party unveiled its election manifesto, with big plans to fast-track planning applications and build 1.5 million new homes over five years, it also issued a pledge to preserve the countryside.
Estate Matters Episode 13: Minette Batters | Food and Farming: the future of land management
Minette Batters led the National Farmers’ Union during the most tumultuous times in decades for British agriculture, as the nation faced Brexit, the Covid pandemic and the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Election 2024: What’s on the rural agenda?
What are the big issues that rural voters, including landowners, farmers and rural estate owners, will want to hear about from politicians, as the General Election date draws closer?
Estate Matters Episode 12: Jayne Clemens | Crisis talks: Why estates should prepare a crisis communications plan
Businesses and individuals with a reputation to protect need to put robust plans in place to deal with threats that can damage their name or brand.
Pressure mounts on farmers to meet supermarkets’ latest demands
The latest challenge for the men and women who make their living producing food and caring for the landscape looks like it is coming from supermarkets concerned about the environment and the ability of the soil to keep on producing food.
Estate Matters Episode 11: Lord Charlie Courtenay | The 19th Earl of Devon on the modern management of Powderham Castle Estate
Charlie Courtenay, barrister, parliamentarian and proprietor of the 3,500-acre Powderham Castle Estate in Devon, says he sees the business as an 800-year-old start up social enterprise with the potential for long-term sustainable growth.
KOR Careers - Account Executive | £24k - £27k
We are looking for an enthusiastic Account Executive with a passion for social media and PR, to join our experienced and friendly Exeter-based team.
NIMBY’s holding back rural communities, survey finds
A survey of more than 1,000 people living in rural England and Wales has found that a lack of affordable homes in the countryside is the most pressing issue facing their communities.
Estate Matters Ep10: David Cope, Founder of 600 Strategy - Landed Estates: Heroes in the battle against climate change
Rural Estates can be ‘heroes’ in helping to reduce the impact of climate change – but they need to talk about what they are doing and engage with their communities.
Budget Analysis - What does it mean for rural business? - Philip Bowern
The scrapping of tax relief worth an estimated £300m a year to holiday homeowners who let their properties and the extension of Agricultural Property Relief (APR) to cover environmental projects are two announcements in the Spring Budget that will impact on rural businesses.
Do we really need more rights to roam in the countryside?
A planned mass trespass on a Dartmoor Tor by Right to Roam protesters was called off last month (February) because of bad weather. Campaign group leaders took the sensible decision to cancel because of the risk of damaging the land in boggy conditions – and the potential threat to protesters scaling a Dartmoor Tor in a storm.
Digging in on the housing crisis
Unveiling a new policy that they promise will “turbocharge” building homes on brownfield sites, the Government has announced a major shake-up of planning rules to, they insist, “boost housebuilding while protecting the Green Belt.”
Estate Matters Episode 9: George Eustice - Insights from a former Environment Minister on politics and land management
The MP for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle, who spent nine years as a Minister at Defra, rising to become Secretary of State in 2020, makes the prediction in a remarkably frank conversation with KOR Communications’ podcast host Anna Byles in the latest episode of Estate Matters.