A GRANT from the South West of England Regional Development Agency has enabled Steeple Langford farmer Chris Andrews to keep a key tenant on his site.

The grant of £23,000, awarded under the Farmer's Redundant Buildings scheme, amounted to 25 per cent of the cost of converting former dairy/calf sheds at East Clyffe Farm into more offices for the Hope and Homes for Children charity, which has been based there since 1994.

Mr Andrews said: "The RDA grant helped to solve an immediate problem as Hope and Homes for Children are a most important tenant and have grown rapidly.

"I needed to be able to meet their expansion requirements because if they had been forced to look elsewhere it would have been a great financial loss to me.

"It would also have been very expensive for the charity, as rents elsewhere are around £10 per square foot compared to my rent of £2 per square foot."

Mr Andrews, who is semi-retired, undertakes sheep farming and general maintenance of the farm, and is developing some of the buildings for light industrial use.

He added: "I have a waiting list of tenants and my advice to other farmers needing to change direction would be keep their costs to tenants down unless they're on a prime site.

"It will help in getting planning permission if they have their tenants in place when applying."

The Farmer's Redundant Building Grant scheme came to a close at the end of 2001 and the RDA is launching funding from April 1 this year under a variety of new initiatives.

More information is available from the RDA website, www.southwestrda.org. uk.