Agricultural land owned by University
Dear Royal College of Art,
SOS-UK is developing a programme to support universities and colleges to manage the agricultural land that they own to achieve their Net Zero targets and to support the recovery of nature and biodiversity in the UK.
We are writing to all universities and colleges across the UK to find out if they (or any wholly owned subsidiary) own agricultural land, so that we can plan our new programme to best fit the needs of the sector.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, we would appreciate it if you could please provide us with responses to the questions below, to help us with this important work.
We define a "wholly owned subsidiary" to be a company or other formally recognised organisation that is under full ownership or control of the university.
We define an "agricultural land" as per the Agricultural Act 1947:
“agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming and livestock breeding and keeping, the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and the use of land for woodlands where that use is ancillary to the farming of land for other agricultural purposes (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo...>)
Our request below therefore excludes any woodland that is managed for commercial production.
Please could you tell us:
1. Does your university, and/or any wholly owned subsidiary, own any agricultural land in the UK?
2. What is the approximate total area, in hectares, of the agricultural land holdings owned by your university, and/or wholly owned subsidiary, in the UK?
3. If the agricultural land that your university, and/or any wholly owned subsidiary, owns is split over multiple holdings under separate management, please could you tell us the number of separately managed agricultural holdings?
4. How many hectares of the agricultural land owned by your university, and/or any wholly owned subsidiary, are managed by staff employed directly by your university and/or the subsidiary?
5. How many hectares of the agricultural land owned by your university, and/or any wholly owned subsidiary, are leased to one or more tenant farmers?
6. Please tell us the type of leases in place on that tenanted land: (a) farm business tenancy (subject to the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995), (b) annual grazing/cropping license, (c) full agricultural tenancy (subject to the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1986), (d) other (please specify)
If you are interested to find out more about this work on farming, climate and nature please get in touch at [email address].
Yours faithfully,
SOS-UK
Thank you for your enquiry under the Freedom of Information Act. We
acknowledge receipt of your email and will respond within 20 working days
with your response. Or alternatively, will be in touch to seek further
clarification from you about the information you require.
You can find out more information about the Royal College of Arts in our
[1]Guide to published information.
Yours sincerely,
Data Protection, Records and Information Officer
E: foi[2]@rca.ac.uk
[3]www.rca.ac.uk
[4]twitter.com/rca
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Mailing address: Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2EU
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Data Protection, Records and Information Officer
E: [7][Royal College of Art request email]
[8]www.rca.ac.uk
[9]twitter.com/rca
[10]facebook.com/rca.london
Mailing address: Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2EU
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References
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Dear Kate,
On 21 June 2023 you submitted the following request for information to the
Royal College of Art, please find our response below.
1. Does your university, and/or any wholly owned subsidiary, own any
agricultural land in the UK?
2. What is the approximate total area, in hectares, of the agricultural
land holdings owned by your university, and/or wholly owned subsidiary, in
the UK?
3. If the agricultural land that your university, and/or any wholly owned
subsidiary, owns is split over multiple holdings under separate
management, please could you tell us the number of separately managed
agricultural holdings?
4. How many hectares of the agricultural land owned by your university,
and/or any wholly owned subsidiary, are managed by staff employed directly
by your university and/or the subsidiary?
5. How many hectares of the agricultural land owned by your university,
and/or any wholly owned subsidiary, are leased to one or more tenant
farmers?
6. Please tell us the type of leases in place on that tenanted land: (a)
farm business tenancy (subject to the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995),
(b) annual grazing/cropping license, (c) full agricultural tenancy
(subject to the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1986), (d) other (please
specify)
Our response:
1. No
2.N/A
3.N/A
4.N/A
5.N/A
6.N/A
If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may
make a complaint by writing to [1][Royal College of Art request email]. Your complaint will be
considered by an adjudicator who was not involved in the original
consideration of your request.
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may then
contact the Information Commissioner’s Office: Information Commissioner,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Kind regards,
The FOI Team
Data Protection, Records and Information Officer
E: [2][Royal College of Art request email]
[3]www.rca.ac.uk
[4]twitter.com/rca
[5]facebook.com/rca.london
Mailing address: Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2EU
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References
Visible links
1. mailto:[Royal College of Art request email]
2. mailto:[Royal College of Art request email]
3. https://www.rca.ac.uk/
4. https://twitter.com/rca
5. https://facebook.com/rca.london
Dear RCA,
Many thanks for taking the time to reply to our request. Your response is really valuable in helping us to assess the potential for farmland holdings in the education sector to have a positive impact for the climate and nature.
If you have any questions about our research or our programme, please feel free to get in touch with the team at [email address].
Warm regards,
Kate Winters
Thank you for your enquiry under the Freedom of Information Act. We
acknowledge receipt of your email and will respond within 20 working days
with your response. Or alternatively, will be in touch to seek further
clarification from you about the information you require.
You can find out more information about the Royal College of Arts in our
[1]Guide to published information.
Yours sincerely,
Data Protection, Records and Information Officer
E: foi[2]@rca.ac.uk
[3]www.rca.ac.uk
[4]twitter.com/rca
[5]facebook.com/rca.london
Mailing address: Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2EU
[6]logo
--
Data Protection, Records and Information Officer
E: [7][Royal College of Art request email]
[8]www.rca.ac.uk
[9]twitter.com/rca
[10]facebook.com/rca.london
Mailing address: Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2EU
[11]logo
References
Visible links
1. https://www.rca.ac.uk/more/freedom-of-in...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.rca.ac.uk/
4. https://twitter.com/rca
5. https://facebook.com/rca.london
7. mailto:[Royal College of Art request email]
8. https://www.rca.ac.uk/
9. https://twitter.com/rca
10. https://facebook.com/rca.london
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