LANDOWNERS' property rights are being severely reduced in this country, according to the chairman of the Worcestershire Branch of the Country Landowners and Business Association.

Andrew Grant said the right to manage land was continually being lost by a dictatorial Government.

"There is an attack on property rights taking place, with laws being constantly passed or new rules slipping through the net quite often unnoticed," he said.

Speaking at a Jubilee drinks party, at Spetchley Park, Worcester, last Wednesday, he complained that new rules, such as restrictions on spreading farmyard manure and the reduction of nitrates on land, had already affected them.

He also said further restrictions were in the pipeline, which could do even more damage.

"If there are going to be constraints on profitability because of the Government - such as environmental demands at the expense of agriculture - the Government must pay for these services," he said.

"The rural economy has to run at a profit, as does any city business."

n Andrew Grant, left, county chairman of the Worcestershire Branch of the Country Landowners and Business Association, with host John Berkeley, outside the Jubilee drinks party, at Spetchley Park.