A bid to convert an agricultural barn at Graysmoor Farm, Elm, near Wisbech into four homes has been dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate—bringing an end to a closely watched rural planning dispute and inadvertently shining a spotlight on one of Cambridgeshire’s most quietly influential landowners.
The proposal, submitted by Farmland Reserve UK Limited—a charity ultimately owned and directed by a Utah-based non-profit tied to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) —was rejected on November 20, 2025.
The ruling has not only halted a small-scale housing scheme near Elm but has also prompted renewed public curiosity about how one of the world’s wealthiest religious organisations came to own vast tracts of farmland in rural Fenland.
A Rural Lane at the Centre of the Dispute
The case centred on a steel-framed agricultural building at Graysmoor Farm. Access to the barn is via a private track leading north to Graysmoor Drove, a classified C road with a narrow 3.7–4.1m carriageway and a 20mph speed limit. To the south, the drove feeds onto Twenty Foot Road, linking the B1101 and A141.
The site stands roughly 4.1km from March, and the village of Coldham lies a similar distance to the north-east.
The access track and rural road layout were more than just background details—they became the decisive factor in whether the barn could be converted into new homes under Class Q permitted development rights, which allow agricultural buildings to be turned into dwellings without full planning permission if specific safety and suitability tests are met.
Fenland District Council refused the application, citing road safety concerns. Farmland Reserve appealed.
Inspector: “Unsafe and Unsuitable Access”
In dismissing the appeal, Inspector C. Skelly concluded that the proposal failed the key test relating to transport and highways impact.
The inspector accepted that the increase was numerically modest but said the character of the lane was the decisive factor: large agricultural vehicles already use it; the road is narrow and bordered by a deep drainage ditch; passing opportunities are informal, uneven, and sometimes difficult for smaller domestic cars to negotiate.
A Local Planning Row That Lifted the Lid on a Global Landowner
If the planning decision had involved a typical local farmer, the story might have ended there. But Farmland Reserve UK Ltd—owner of Graysmoor Farm and the wider Coldham estate—sits within a vast, international structure linked to one of the world’s fastest-growing religions.
The charity is wholly owned by Farmland Reserve, Inc., a non-profit corporation based in Utah, USA, affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Its UK operations are managed through trustees, with day-to-day farming undertaken by its subsidiary AgReserves Limited.
The Coldham estate, covering around 4,000 acres outside Wisbech, forms one of the organisation’s major farm centres in Europe—and has done since its purchase in 2022.
How the Church Came to Own Coldham
In 2022, Farmland Reserve UK Ltd acquired the Coldham estate (along with the similarly sized Goole estate) from the Wellcome Trust. The combined 8,000-acre deal was funded by a single £108.5 million donation from the LDS Church’s Utah-based Corporation Sole, designated specifically for land acquisition.
This was part of a decades-long strategy.
The charity’s filings show that since 2008, the organisation has worked to consolidate farmland around major centres—Coldham in Cambridgeshire and others in Yorkshire—to overcome inefficiencies created by scattered holdings. The result is now one of the largest contiguous private farming operations in the East of England, supplying major commercial markets.
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Coldham is more than an agricultural asset: trustees describe it as a “geographic anchor” for UK operations. Recent acquisitions in South Lincolnshire—3,500 acres across Gosberton and Donington in 2024, with another 5,000-acre Sutton Bridge purchase expected in 2025—were chosen in part because of their operational “synergy” with Coldham.
A Quiet Agricultural Powerhouse
To most Fenland residents, Farmland Reserve’s presence is felt less through religious ties than through its agricultural footprint.
AgReserves Limited, the farming arm, operates the fields, grows cereals and high-value crops, and employs staff drawn largely from the region. The operation is described in reports as technologically advanced and commercially focused, using scale to improve yields and profitability.
The charity’s income jumped from £13.7 million in 2023 to £57.9 million in 2024, largely due to major donations used for further land purchases. Its balance sheet now holds £262 million in assets, dominated by farmland.
Only a small portion—£9.6 million—is unrestricted cash. Most is embedded in the land the organisation sees as its long-term foundation for both farming efficiency and future charitable activity.
Why the Church Buys Farmland
While the LDS Church is widely known for missionary work and community outreach, it is also an experienced agricultural operator, maintaining large landholdings around the world. The UK charity’s objective—to support the Church’s religious and humanitarian work—aligns with this model.
Profits generated from farming are ultimately used to fund Church-approved charitable projects globally, from humanitarian programmes to religious buildings. Trustees emphasise that this centralised approach ensures large, well-managed projects rather than a scatter of small local donations.
In 2022, for example, the charity made donations to the Church Corporation for international projects, and further donations are planned annually.
Indeed, behind the scenes of the planning appeal lies a far larger story about international capital, long-term agricultural investment, and the quiet transformation of Fenland farmland into one of the Church’s European farming hubs.
More Than a Planning Case
Although the Graysmoor Farm appeal hinged on technical details—passing places, ditches, lane widths and prior-approval rules—it has highlighted a much broader story about land, ownership, and the evolving identity of rural Cambridgeshire.
For Farmland Reserve UK, the dismissal is a minor setback in an otherwise expanding agricultural portfolio centred on Coldham.
For residents, it has opened a window onto the complex, global structures behind what, until recently, many assumed were simply Fenland fields.
Bidwells were the agents who sold the Coldham Estate, a premier 4,179-acre (1,691-hectare) commercial farming estate advertised at £43.5 million.
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Background
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often referred to as the Mormon Church) owns thousands of acres of farmland in Cambridgeshire, including farms near Huntingdon through its investment entities.
The Church became one of the largest overseas owners of agricultural land in the UK, spending around £30 million in the late 1990s to acquire approximately 15,000 acres (around 6,000 hectares).
The farms are operated for profit, with the earnings intended to support the Church’s religious and charitable work in the UK and worldwide.
