Heirs hand over estate to community stewardship

THE heirs to the Hardwick Estate do not want to inherit it and plan to put it into community stewardship instead.

Miriam and Lawrence Rose say the estate, which is off the Ridgeway in Whitchurch, has been a “painful burden” on the family for generations.

They believe that a community stewardship scheme is the best way of continuing the family’s ethos of organic farming and sustainability.

The initiative is expected to take up to two years to complete and the estate will then become the first in England to be owned in this way.

Sir Julian Rose, who inherited Hardwick in the Sixties following the death of his father and brother, is fully behind his children’s idea of a co-operative venture.

He said: “There is a strong case for developing a shared level of responsibility for the future of the estate and indeed for other similar UK holdings.

“This is an exciting project that could break new ground in ways to maintain and enhance carefully managed family enterprises in perpetuity.”

Ms Rose said: “It is our wish to release future generations from the tie of inherited land which has been a painful burden to several generations of our family, to share rights and responsibilities for land with the wider community and to try to secure the estate’s ethos and integrity into the future.

“My brother Lawrence, my father and I are all very blessed to share similar politics.

“When we spoke to dad about the idea initially, he was very much on board. He has always been focused on the organic land aspect.”

Ms Rose learned about community ownership schemes when she lived near Glasgow while she was studying for a master’s degree in human ecology.

The inspiration came from the Isle of Eigg in Scotland, which has been under the ownership of a community heritage trust since 1997.

Under the previous system of land ownership, residents suffered from poor housing conditions, lack of building security and unemployment.

Through public fundraising the island was bought for £1.5 million.

After the buyout, structures were put in place to make sure residents would have a say in decisions which impacted them.

Ms Rose said: “We’ve been told Hardwick is the Eigg of England as it will be the first community-led estate in England. We are not selling. We are giving the estate to the community, which is completely disinheriting ourselves. Community stewardship is a really viable alternative and good ownership method but it will be a slow transition as we are shifting from hierarchal aristocratic structures to community-led.

“We recently attended the 2023 Community Land Scotland conference. Being with likeminded people who have already achieved similar gave us the confidence that we can do it. A community-owned estate is the best way to secure our ethos for the future; we want the strong sense of community to continue for years to come.

“Most English estates have no awareness of the land reform movement. We want to raise awareness about opening ownership and governance of estates. Inheriting an estate can be a toxic environment.

“After much research, we have settled on a charitable company as the vehicle to achieve this, heavily inspired by the Scottish community-run estates which now make up three per cent of Scotland’s land area.” The board of the trust will be made up of the Rose family, the Hardwick community and directors with relevant expertise.

Ms Rose said: “We are now in the process of working alongside the community at Hardwick — residential and commercial tenants and homeowners — to shape the fine detail of governance and avenues to participation in this novel structure.

“Already you can see a structure starting to form with lots of working groups, particularly about green energy and biodiversity, which is very encouraging.”

The long-term plan will be for Ms Rose and her brother to eventually step down from the board.

However, the transition will be slow in an effort to make sure the family’s ethos is sustained.

Ms Rose is a human rights activist who lives with her partner Ben Manning, a forester at Hardwick, and their three-year-old daughter in a flat she rents from the estate.

She and her brother, a street artist, will each retain a plot of land on which to build a house once the estate has been transferred.

Ms Rose said: “We don’t draw any income from the estate. I work in the office and get the same wage as everyone else.

“We see Hardwick as a microcosm of wider society, an ‘unintentional community’ facing the myriad of environmental and social challenges of our day and meeting them as best we can.”

The estate, which covers 900 acres, is made up of several farming and educational enterprises and land-based businesses as well as 430 acres of mixed forestry.

The community is made up of 80 tenants, 30 of whom own their homes, and 10 business directors. There are also 27 tenanted houses, 23 of which are on affordable rents.