LUCINDA Douglas has been appointed as the new CLA Director North.

She takes over from Dorothy Fairburn who announced her retirement earlier this year.

Lucinda will take up the post in early July as CLA Director North which covers Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria, and the North-East.

Lucinda grew up on her family farm near Leyburn in the Yorkshire Dales and started her career as a rural surveyor practicing for five years. She worked for the NFU in the North-East as a County Adviser before moving to the NFU Mutual in Yorkshire five years ago as an agent and group secretary where she has run a large team managing nearly 4,000 clients.

Since completing a rural enterprise and land management degree in 2008, Ms Douglas has lived on her husband's arable and beef farm near Pickering.

Lucinda said: “I am absolutely over the moon to have been appointed to this position at the CLA, especially as it is such a highly regarded organisation which represents the farming and landowning sector regionally and nationally.

“I look forward to working with the CLA North team, to meet and listen to CLA members across the North in order for me to represent and lobby on their behalf.”

Retiring CLA Director North Dorothy Fairburn said: "I am delighted to welcome Lucinda to the CLA. Her knowledge and experience in the rural sector would be of great benefit to CLA members across the North.

“I am envious of Lucinda, as the next few years will offer a heady mix of exciting and challenging policy developments within the agri- and land management sector. I wish her well and hope she will find the role as rewarding as I have.”