A huge boost to Midlands farming will be activated this week with the signing of an £800,000 deal to bring a weekly livestock market to the national agricultural showground at Stoneleigh Park by early next year.
The funding for the switch of the livestock market from Rugby to Stoneleigh Park has involved a personal contribution of £2,000 each from 250 local farmers, with legal advice throughout the negotiations being provided by David Lodder, one of the UK's top agricultural lawyers and senior partner of Warwickshire law firm Lodders.
The remaining financial input has come from the regional development fund of Advantage West Midlands (£200,000), the Royal Agricultural Society of England (£100,000) and Howkins and Harrison, auctioneers at Rugby Livestock Sales (£50,000).
The project has been led, and is largely the inspiration of Richard Heckford, chairman of the new Rugby Farmers' Mart LLP.
He said: "The creation of a Livestock Market at Stoneleigh will act as a business and social magnet for farmers from all over the region – and that is extremely significant for the industry,"
He added: "The lease on the Rugby livestock market site expired a year ago, but the landowner's failure to sell it resulted in a stay of execution. We can now move forward in a much more positive frame of mind."
Farmers, he continued, had felt the need to secure the future with a move to a prime and central site for buying and selling livestock at the heart of England.
The new market would not be a threat to Stratford Auction Sales at Clifford Chambers. "The more markets there are the better, he said.
The complex legal package, with the new co-operative Rugby Farmers' Mart LLP at the centre of the project, has been co-ordinated over the past nine months by lawyer David Lodder.
He said: "There were many lengthy legal issues to be resolved with the large number of shareholders involved, but we are now ready to sign the contracts. We are delighted because commercially the site will be second to none.
"It should provide a strong boost to the agricultural economy in Warwickshire and the West Midlands. We will be able to start building work immediately once contracts have been signed."
He added: "We all see this as an opportunity to establish a permanent base for buying and selling livestock at the heart and the showpiece of Britain's agricultural industry.
"It will be a significant bulwark against decline – the industry having lost Lichfield, Banbury, Northampton, Henley, and the former Stratford Livestock market in recent years.
Mr Lodder continued: "I think it is also a healthy sign to discover that the new generation of farmers in the West Midlands are prepared to work together. Co-operatives make sense in a tough business environment."
The senior partner and his agricultural and rural team at Warwickshire firm Lodders were earlier this month judged by the legal profession's "bible" - Chamber & Partners - to be one of the region's most respected practitioners in their specialised field. Mr Lodder received a Midlands Band One rating.
Prepared and issued by Andy Skinner of ASAP PR, 01527 892004, or mobile 07990 978257.
