It’s been rumoured for some time now, but that doesn’t make the announcement that the HDC will relocate to Stoneleigh any less disappointing for staff at East Malling.

Defra, and in particular consultants Accenture, have outdone themselves this time in managing to produce a 61-page document with virtually no substance whatsoever.

Because unless I missed it, there’s not a sentence in there describing what savings horticulture can expect to see under the new structure. The only figure quoted is the £12m overall savings that can be achieved across the board.

Last week John Bridge told Commercial Grower that savings for horticulture would be in the ‘hundreds of thousands’ of pounds, which doesn’t sound like a lot, especially if it is decided upon to run a regional office.

There is always a danger of not moving with the times, but a genuine fear is that the industry could lose the valuable knowledge of the current workforce. Accenture’s prediction that 40 percent of professional and five percent of clerical staff would be willing to relocate to Warwickshire sounds pretty optimistic to me.

To end on a positive note, at least we’ve now received assurances that growers’ levy money will remain for horticultural use.

But this issue is set to run and run.