South East Tractors

Surrey farmer to be evicted by wildlife charity.

A FARMER could become jobless and homeless as he faces eviction from the farm he and his family have worked on for more than 35 years.

Nick Bullen has lived at Swanworth Farm in Norbury Park since 1975 but in June last year Surrey Wildlife Trust, his landlords, served him with a year’s notice to leave.

The trust wants to use the land itself to keep cattle, but with no house of his own and the chances of finding a new tenancy slim, Mr Bullen faces an uncertain future.

“It will just knock a hole out because it’s my home,” he said.

“It’s my world. It’s not a job, it’s a way of life.”

Mr Bullen’s family moved to the house at Swanworth Farm in 1975 but, after his father’s death in 1998, the tenancy had to be renegotiated.

A two-and-a-half-year lease was signed with Surrey County Council, which owns Norbury Park and used to manage it, but by the time that deal ended conservation group Surrey Wildlife Trust had taken over management.

Mr Bullen said: “We thought they would be a breath of fresh air after the council. They certainly came in with lots of ideas and enthusiasm.”

The trust offered Mr Bullen a seven-year lease but the 53-year-old wanted one that would take him up to retirement, so he was granted a rolling yearly tenancy from 2003 while negotiations went on.

With discussions deadlocked, this continued until last June when Mr Bullen was served with a notice to quit the farm within a year.

He said: “When they came to talk to me afterwards they said I was the key concern in their minds and I said, ‘if I was, you haven’t shown it very well’.”

Trust staff told Mr Bullen they intend to use the land to graze cattle.

He said: “They said to me, ‘we have looked at other opportunities but there is nowhere else to rent,’ and I said, ‘funny that, I’ll be telling you that when I can’t find anywhere to continue my career’.”

With little training outside of the farming industry and tenancies difficult to get, Mr Bullen is fearful about the future.

“I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do if I do have to go,” he said. “There are a lot of people here I have known for a long while. It’s a tight-knit community.

“I have had support from the parish council and a number of neighbours have written to the Wildlife Trust.”

Chris Parker, director of marketing and fundraising for Surrey Wildlife Trust, said: “We are still talking to Mr Bullen over outstanding points and until they are resolved Surrey Wildlife Trust feels it is premature and counter productive to make any further comment.”

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