Land management in the Borders has a new face

Steven Wilson has joined Butler land Management at a time when the rural economy faces many challenges.

“At this time of year,” David Butler said this week, “we usually breathe a sigh of relief as IACS Forms and AECS Schemes have usually been submitted. This has clearly been the case in England. In Scotland our Government have yet again at the last minute decided on a further extension of the deadline.

“There are grave concerns about the effect on the industry of yet again slowing down the processing of the Single Farm Payment.

“This, in turn, must produce the need for a lot of clerical effort from SGRPID to process this information which, to be fair, had probably been clearly identified previously within the field enclosures.”

Sounding cautiously optimistic, he continued: “This system is slowly improving but we have found it essential to put a lot of time into the management of the process and to auditing the status of the business, and also the field boundaries and modifications timeously.

“We have now looked to expand our Farm Business Management Department and have been joined by Steven Wilson as an associate director who will be overseeing our expansion into the Borders as well as assisting with our existing Client base.

Both David and Steven believe in the importance of providing a professional and personal service to our clients and with the assistance of Samantha Howatson and Sarah Bell, along with the investment in Mapping Technology, we are confident we can continue to expand the services we provide our clients, and the geographical spread of the business.

Steven was previously managing director of John Swan Ltd, and also a director of H & H. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and also a member of the Institute of Auctioneers & Appraisers for Scotland. He recently completed a term as their vice president.

Meanwhile, on June 1, Community Land Scotland will hold two free events in the Borders to help communities find out more about the benefits of landownership and how buyouts can be funded. The events are at the Buccleuch Arms in St Boswells in the afternoon and in the evening at the MacArts Centre, Galashiels.Book at online www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/community-landownership-briefing-session-tickets-24835738362.