On the south-western edge of Faversham, a pretty medieval market town in Kent, sits a field covered in rows of blackcurrant bushes.
This is prime farmland, but soon it could be paved over for housing following the submission of a planning application for 2,500 homes.
But this scheme isn’t being built by any old housebuilder; it’s the latest project by the Duchy of Cornwall, the secretive £1.2bn private estate held by Prince William that enjoys generous tax breaks.
The new development will further boost the income the Prince of Wales receives from the 52,440-hectare estate, which provided him with £23.6m last year alone.
With plans for net-zero homes and vibrant green spaces, the Duchy says it will deliver “one of the most environmentally friendly communities in the United Kingdom”. Its website boasts of features including renewable energy, allotments and affordable housing.
But the development has divided Faversham, with critics accusing the Duchy of pursuing profits at the expense of the environment it claims to protect.
‘This is the best land in the country’
The 320-acre housing development on the edge of Faversham was first purchased by the Duchy as farmland in the 1990s. Until now, it has been leased out to farmers to grow fruit and other arable crops.
The Duchy of Cornwall will benefit from a huge upsurge in land value if the council grants planning permission for the site.
“If you turn farmland into housing you make a lot of money because the value of housing land is far more than the value of agricultural land,” explains Norman Baker, the former Liberal Democrat MP and Home Office minister, who is a vocal critic of the Duchy of Cornwall.
“There will be some green around the edges, I’ve no doubt about it, but the hard-nosed reality is this is a money-making machine.”
What is the Duchy of Cornwall?
The British royal family owns huge swathes of the country’s land, the majority of which is owned by the monarch and managed by the Crown Estate.
Since 1760, the profits from the Crown Estate have been sent to The Treasury rather than going directly to the King or Queen. The Treasury then sends a percentage of these profits – currently 12 per cent – to the monarch to fund their royal duties.
But this arrangement controversially does not include land owned by the Duchies of Cornwall or Lancaster. The latter is a private estate held by the British monarch and the former is a private estate held by the monarch’s eldest son.
The Duchy of Cornwall was created in 1337 by King Edward III to provide an income for his son Edward, the “Black Prince”. A Royal Charter established that the Duchy’s land would always be held by the eldest son of the reigning British monarch.
Over the years, generations of MPs and campaigners have attempted and failed to have the duchies’ profits redirected to the Treasury.
The development has proved particularly controversial as the majority of the site is grade 1 or grade 2 farmland, defined as the best and most versatile for agriculture.
“This is the best land in the country,” says local campaigner Carol Goatham, 59, as she shows i around the site. “Are they even bothered about the needs of local people? Are they bothered about the wildlife that uses the farmland? Are they bothered about future food security?”
Prime farmland like this across the country is increasingly under threat from development. Research carried out by the Council for Protection of Rural England earlier this year found nearly 300,000 homes have been built on top-grade farmland since 2010, meaning land that could grow 250,000 tonnes of vegetables a year has been lost.
Food security is an issue that has become particularly pertinent in recent years as British supermarkets have experienced shortages due to various issues, including the Covid-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine and climate change.
A recent report by the Environmental Audit Committee found the UK currently imports around 42 per cent of its food and recommended the UK boost its self-sufficiency in imports that are particularly vulnerable to climate change, such as fruit and vegetables.
It’s an issue King Charles has spoken about himself. Four years ago the King, who until September 2022 was the Duchy of Cornwall until the title passed to his eldest son after Queen Elizabeth’s death, encouraged Britons to “dig for victory” by growing their own food after Covid-19 shortages revealed the fragility of our food system.
Critics believe the Duchy should be protecting prime agricultural land, rather than paving over it.
“It’s the hypocrisy that gets a lot of people in Faversham,” Ms Goatham says. “They have a great PR campaign around Prince William, around Charles, about how green, how ecological they are, around how they speak out about farming.”
Since it was established in mediaeval times to provide an income to the King’s eldest son, the Duchy of Cornwall has owned huge swathes of agricultural land.
Today the Duchy presents itself as a “sustainable steward” of the British countryside, with its website promoting images of grazed pastures and nature sites.
But it has evolved in recent decades. The estate is now worth more than £1bn and makes the majority of its income from commercial property investments on urban and industrial land however it refuses to disclose the full details of all the properties it owns.
i recently revealed the Duchy was making £800,000 a year from leasing out industrial land in the West Midlands to a giant car showroom complex which its critics also claim runs counter to the green credentials it tries to promote.
They allege the Faversham development is another example of the Duchy putting profit ahead of the green land it claims to protect.
“The day the Duchy of Cornwall was a couple of green fields here and there have long gone,” says Mr Baker
Why the Duchy of Cornwall doesn’t pay corporation tax
When Prince William inherited the Duchy of Cornwall following his father’s accession to the throne in 2022, he immediately became a billionaire and one of Britain’s largest landowners.
Profits from the Duchy have soared in recent years as the estate has diversified into commercial investments, benefiting from surging land and property values.
The business has grown while taking advantage of significant benefits compared to other private companies, most notably their exemption from corporation and capital gains tax, although Prince William pays income tax.
MPs sitting on the Public Account Committee have previously urged the Treasury to investigate whether this exemption is fair given the Duchy’s commercial investments.
The Duchy has always argued it is not a corporation and therefore should not be subject to corporation tax.
“They don’t pay proper tax and they make a lot of money out of it, which other developers couldn’t do,” Mr Baker explains. “So they have an advantage over everyone else. Once again, it’s the Royal Family making a lot of money and not paying their taxes properly and the public suffering as a consequence.”
The Royal Family has insisted profits from the Duchy are primarily used on royal duties or charitable causes, but is not required to provide an account of how the money is spent.
The Duchy publishes an annual report which provides a level of detail over the money it makes from its investments, including its housing developments.
However, the estate has been criticised for a lack of transparency, and has rebuffed attempts to make it subject to Freedom of Information laws.
Last month, Prince William took the decision not to reveal how much tax he pays on the income he receives from the estate, a backwards step from his father, who published the information.
‘They’re green and pleasant places’
But not everyone in Faversham is opposed to the Duchy scheme. Stephen Atkins, a director at Faversham Community Land Trust, describes the project as “head and shoulders” above what other “predator” developers in the region are building.
He points out that the Duchy is making investments that go far beyond what a typical housebuilder would deliver.
These include efforts to make a net-zero neighbourhood by installing solar panels and heat pumps on every home.
Half of the neighbourhood will be green space, according to the Duchy, with plans for woodland, parks, allotments and orchards.
According to Mr Atkins, the Duchy site is the best option for meeting the housing need in Faversham, as the town is surrounded on other sides by flood zones and protected nature sites.
He shows i around various developments that have popped up on the outskirts of Faversham in recent years, built by the big name volume housebuilders. The majority are uninspiring, with little green space or defining architectural features.
“The Duchy builds places. They’re green, very pleasant places,” he says.
‘It’s one too many’
Not everyone agrees that the homes will benefit the local area. Hundreds of residents have submitted responses to the Duchy’s planning applications, many raising issues including lack of infrastructure, school spaces and difficulties obtaining GP appointments.
In many ways this is unsurprising. Faversham is one of many towns across England pushing back against the housing targets first imposed by the Conservatives and now increased by Labour.
The new Government has set a target to deliver 1.5 million new homes to help alleviate the housing crisis, which has left a generation of young people unable to access secure, affordable homes.
But for Bill Rudgard, a semi-retired businessman who has lived in Faversham his whole life, the Duchy scheme is “one too many”.
“There’s already been an extraordinary amount of new builds around Faversham in every direction…the infrastructure just isn’t there to support it,” he says.
Traffic is a particular concern for residents, who describe “gridlocked” roads during rush hour as locals commute across the county.
The Duchy of Cornwall has said its “walkable” neighbourhoods mean the scheme will produce 20 per cent fewer car trips than a development of similar size, but a consultant working on behalf of the council has accused the duchy of taking a “laissez faire” approach to transport provision.
A spokesperson for the Duchy said they are also investing in improve road infrastructure.
Then there’s the question of affordable housing, particularly pertinent given Prince William’s charitable work to end homelessness.
The Duchy of Cornwall has said at least 35 per cent (875) of the homes will be affordable, which is in line with what the local council requires of developers building in Faversham.
Of these homes at least 400 are to be for social rent. This is much needed in an area that has over 1,600 households on the social housing waiting list and is more than a developer would typically deliver.
Locals are sceptical that the Duchy will deliver on this promise, as the exact tenure of homes is typically agreed later in the planning process at which point developers are known to wrangle their way out of previous commitments.
“People have been let down so much by property developers promising to build all this affordable housing and then they don’t. They promise to build parks and schools and houses and shops and stuff and they don’t do it,” Mr Rudgard says.
The Duchy insists it will deliver on its commitments and does have a record of building affordable housing on its schemes. At Poundbury in Dorset, 35 per cent of the homes were “affordable”, including homes for rent and shared ownership.
A spokesperson for the Duchy of Cornwall says the development will deliver 400 social rented homes “for the most vulnerable families in Faversham and the wider Swale Borough, many of whom are currently in temporary accommodation.
“In addition, South East Faversham will deliver essential infrastructure that benefits both new and existing residents, such as a new primary school, a water recycling centre, and healthcare facilities.”
But some people in Faversham still worry the majority of these new homes will not be occupied by local people, but will instead be bought up by people moving out from London who can afford higher prices.
While the Duchy appears to be doing more for the local community through this scheme than a typical housebuilder, there is still a question of whether they could go further given the tax breaks they enjoy. The Duchy pays no corporation or capital gains tax, although since 1993 the Prince of Wales has voluntarily paid tax on Duchy income.
“Yes there are some very good elements in this scheme, but they could do better,” says Dr Hilary Newport, director at CPRE Kent. (CPRE was previously named the Campaign to Protect Rural England). She suggests 40 or 50 per cent affordable housing would be more “exemplary”.
Since taking over the reins at the Duchy, Prince William has not said much publicly on the scheme.
He recently visited the site and sat down with the Faversham Community Land Trust, but did not meet Ms Goatham and those organising the opposition to the development.
He might hope to sidestep his critics but given the significant benefits the Duchy enjoys, it won’t stop some Faversham locals demanding more from Prince William than they would of any other housing developer.
