John Hall has resigned as chairman of the new sector board for horticulture after little more than a month in the post.
Hall told Commercial Grower that his life had been made ‘a misery’ by constant references to his past at Needham Growers, a company which he had taken into administration last year.
Defra meanwhile cited ‘continuing press interest’ in Hall as the reason for his resignation, which it added was accepted with regret by John Bridge, chairman of the overall Levy Board UK.
Hall’s resignation comes as a shock to the industry, and adds further instability at a time when many growers are questioning the wisdom of reforming the levy structure at all.
Defra last week began advertising for the remaining positions on the horticulture board, but it will now also have to start over the search for a new chairman.
The government department assured growers that arrangements would be put in place to ensure that horticulture’s voice would continue to be heard on the overall levy board until a new permanent appointment could be made.
A statement from Defra explained: “John Hall stated that he felt his position on Levy Board UK had become untenable. He said that he was concerned that continuing press interest in him may detract from the role to which he had been appointed and so, in the wider interests of the Board, he had decided that he should stand-down with immediate effect.”
Hall himself said that since his appointment the issue of his past at Needham ‘had been raised at almost every meeting I’ve been to’, which had made it impossible for him to focus on the job of taking forward to the horticulture sector company.
“It’s making my life a misery. You just reach a point where you don’t want to go on. I’m extremely sad to be leaving. I could have done an extremely good job, and I was very enthusiastic about it. But I couldn’t be persuaded to reconsider,” said Hall, who added that the had had many messages of support since his resignation was announced.
Last week Hall had spent two hours giving an interview to Commercial Grower in which he explained the new levy structure and gave assurances that growers would not suffer going forward.
Hall insisted that the level of R&D spend for horticulture would not be diminished going forward, and stressed that reported 50 percent increases in the levy would be unlikely to be implemented in the early years of the new regime.
He also reminded growers that the levy monies paid by them would be protected for use by the industry, and that any shared projects would have to be agreed upon by the new board representing horticulture.
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