Environment and roads

The work of the rural estate unit

The day to day work of the unit is incredibly diverse but all activities one way or another help to contribute towards the Estate’s key objectives. The unit is made up of thirteen staff including three professional land agents, one building surveyor and two support staff. There are seven direct works staff in the Forestry and Estate Maintenance Teams.

The work of the land agents often ranges from complex legal negotiations, rent reviews, and upholding the County Council’s land ownership rights, through to meetings with local community groups, organising hedge laying, meetings with tenants to discuss agricultural matters or diversification ideas, to examining options to raise finance through careful disposal of property interests.

The support staff play an invaluable role in the smooth running of the office and particularly maintaining inventory records, preparing tenancy plans and collecting rent and payment of bills from contractors and suppliers.

The Estate Maintenance Team under the direction of the Building Surveyor deal with a wide range of often specialist repairs and improvements to a diverse range of rural buildings which can include work on a staddle stone granary, replacing green oak beams on a timber framed barn, to reconstructing a weir and everything in between. Most larger scale repairs or new works projects are carried out by contractors under the Building Surveyor’s direction.

The Forestry Team deal directly with all woodland and silvicultural issues across the Estate including, tree planting, thinning, felling, and also sales of timber stakes, Christmas trees and firewood.

The Rural Estates Unit is part of a group within the Environment Department which deals with mostly countryside issues. These include the Rights of Way Unit, Countryside Management Service, Aldenham Country Park, Archaeology Group and the Biological Records Centre. Rural Estate staff frequently work closely with staff within these units.

Political context

Since 1 January 1996 the Rural Estate has been the responsibility of the Director of Environment, in whose department the Rural Estates Unit is located. Member involvement with the Estate in recent years has been by means of Member Panels and Reference Groups, depending on the circumstances. Between 1994 and 1998 the Estate underwent a major Member-led review, which culminated in the approval of the 1998 Rural Estate Master Plan 1998-2050. This document contained the managerial principles, policies and objectives for the Estate, which were reviewed again in 2004 with cabinet approval of the new Rural Estate Improvement Plan.

Since 2005 the Estate has been the responsibility of the Rural Affairs Panel.