EXPANDING rural practice chartered surveyors Windle Beech Winthrop have appointed a new director - agricultural specialist John Akrigg.

John, 29, has worked at the firm’s headquarters at Skipton Auction Mart for the past seven years and himself comes from farming stock, being raised on his family’s farm at Cray.

John was educated at The Wensleydale School in Leyburn, before undertaking a four-year degree course in rural enterprise and land management at Harper Adams University College in Shropshire, which included a year’s work placement at Windle Beech Winthrop.

He left with a 1st class BSc (Hons) degree to begin his career as a land agent with Windle Beech Winthrop in 2007. John took a break in 2010 to spend nine months travelling around New Zealand working on dairy, sheep and beef farms, before returning to his post.

He is well qualified to offer across-the-board professional agricultural advice, including farm tenders and tenancy negotiations, planning and development, rural property valuations, grants and subsidies, compulsory purchase and compensation claims, and farm business advice in general.

John is a RICS Registered Valuer, member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Fellow of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers. He is also a Council Member for the Lancashire Agricultural Valuers Association and technical advisor to Skipton and Ripon Agriculture Group.

With farming in his blood, it naturally follows that John should follow such interests outside work. He retains an active involvement in the family farm, which has a flock of Swaledale sheep and herd of Continental suckler cows.

Chris Windle, senior partner at Windle Beech Winthrop, said: “John has proved himself a key member of the team and his elevation to the board is richly deserved. It comes at a time when we are experiencing marked growth across all areas of business activity, particularly in our agricultural sector work.”