Click here to open Spring Newsletter  issue number 15, March 2012

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CPREssex makes a donation to support the preservation of Thaxted Windmill

CPREssex has donated £1000 towards the cost of preserving the only remaining windmill in Thaxted. 'Thaxted’s windmill is a fine monument to our county’s agricultural heritage,’ said Tricia Moxey, Vice-chairman of the Essex branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. ‘The CPRE is delighted to be able to make this donation to the John Webb’s Windmill Trust to support the further restoration of the mill and to encourage visitors to find out more about the way local land was farmed in the 1800s.’

Built in 1804 to satisfy a growing demand for flour at a time of agricultural expansion, John Webb’s Windmill was the largest and most advanced of all the Thaxted mills and it worked for a hundred years. A tower mill, it took the name of John Webb, who owned the farmland on which the mill was built. But by 1907 the mill was uneconomic to work and it fell into disrepair until the 1930s, when it was renovated sufficiently to be used as a scout and youth centre. It fell into dereliction again in the 1950s and remained so for 20 years until a Trust was formed to restore the building and open it to the public as a rural museum.  In 1991 the sails were re-erected and turned for the first time for 85 years and five years later the stones were restored so that the mill could grind grain into flour once more. Funds for the restoration work have been raised through windmill open days, topped up with grants, and the museum is now a tourist attraction.

‘Although the mill is owned by the Parish, restoration has been made possible through the enthusiasm of many volunteers, and by the support of visitors and bodies such as the CPRE,’ said Len Farren of John Webb’s Windmill Trust. ‘The donation by the CPRE will help to ensure that the windmill remains for future generations to enjoy.’  John Webb's Windmill is open to the public from 2-6pm on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays, from Easter to the end of September. Entry is free, but donations are welcome.

Glittering cabaret evening raises funds to help CPREssex to protect our beautiful countryside

Classics from West End musicals, opera and operetta, all performed in an imaginatively restored barn at Epping’s Gaynes Park, were the highlight of a Cabaret Evening to raise funds for CPREssex on Wednesday 26 September 2012. 

The event was hosted by Lord Petre, who is Lord-Lieutenant of Essex as well as President of CPREssex, and was attended by 75 guests, including High Sheriff Christopher Palmer-Tomkinson, Vice-chairman of CPREssex Tricia Moxey, and Guy and Liselle Chisenhale-Marsh, who generously donated the use of Gaynes Park for the evening. The evening began in style with pre-dinner English sparkling wine in the Park’s Orangery. A formal meal was then served in the ancient Great Mill Barn, before the cabaret artistes took centre-stage.  ‘The cabaret evening was most enjoyable,’ said Vice-chairman of CPREssex Tricia Moxey, ‘and a wonderful way to raise money to support our many endeavours to protect the beauty and tranquillity of the Essex countryside.’

CPREssex members and friends dance in aid of our countryside

The fabulous 13^th century Grange Barn in Coggeshall was filled with music and laughter on 18 August as 250 musicians and dancers revelled on the hottest day of the year at a barn dance to raise funds for CPREssex.

Local people turned out in force along with some from much further afield, including a group of guests from Japan. Fine produce from Coggeshall sustained the dancers, including local butchers Buntings, who put on a magnificent spread with roast Essex pig and all the trimmings. Anthony Ward’s cider was well received on such a hot evening, as was the local brewery’s real ale. Essex band, The Scampering Rogues, polished off this wonderful, joyous celebration of Essex rural life, its traditions and produce.

‘I am delighted that so many people enjoyed such a pleasant and sociable summer evening, dancing to traditional music and sampling excellent locally produced food and drink,’ said Tricia Moxey, Vice Chairman of CPREssex who enjoyed the event. ‘CPRE works to promote a vibrant and productive countryside and this highly successful evening gave many members and friends a chance to celebrate why Essex is such a pleasant place in which to live and work. The funds raised will help to continue to support CPREssex in its campaigning work across the county.’

CPREssex pays tribute to Chairman

CPREssex has paid tribute to its Chairman, Tom Holme, who died recently.  Tom, who lived in Colchester, joined CPREssex as its Chairman in 2009 and instigated and oversaw several successful campaigns, including a survey of the impact of fly-tipping on the Essex countryside and a collaborative conservation effort with representatives of neighbouring counties. He also had a positive effect on the structure and stability of the CPRE’s Essex branch. 

Said CPREssex Trustee, Peter Chillingworth:   

“I think I can speak for all the Trustees, Officers and the Executive of CPREssex to say Tom Holme has been an inspiration. I know he felt deeply about our work and the countryside generally and brought his undoubted skills and great enthusiasm to the Chairman’s role. When he took over as Chairman of CPREssex, Tom set to, using his not inconsiderable persuasive powers, to raise funds and, in particular, to organise some highly successful social events. He also made significant changes in the way we were organised - more volunteers were brought in and our financial position is now much improved.  Perhaps Tom’s major success was to initiate a campaign, in partnership with local CLA and NFU, to firstly establish the degree of fly-tipping on Essex farms through research, and then to publish a report setting out the results. This report will be used by our local rural MPs in an attempt to amend national legislation to relieve the financial burden fly-tipping has on farmers. He was also deeply involved with establishing the 100 Parishes Project in the west of the county. Tom devoted much time to this work and it will perhaps be seen as his lasting legacy. He managed to achieve so much in such a brief time as our Chairman.

CPREssex will miss him deeply."

Queen’s Speech: Groceries Code Adjudicator offers chance of food fairness in Essex

Food producers and consumers across Essex will benefit greatly from new legislation announced in the Queen’s Speech.

The proposed Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill would create an ombudsman to uphold the Competition Commission’s existing Groceries Code and ensure suppliers are treated fairly and lawfully by large retailers (those with a groceries turnover in the UK of more than £1 billion). The aim is to boost investment and innovation in the supply chain to the benefit of consumers by stopping supermarkets passing on excessive risk and costs to suppliers. The Adjudicator would be given the power to arbitrate disputes between retailers and suppliers, investigating anonymous complaints and taking sanctions against retailers who break the rules. The government is proposing to give the adjudicator the power to ‘name and shame’ supermarkets that are found to have broken the code, but not the power to fine.

“Farmers and small producers in Essex’s villages, market towns and countryside have been waiting for a long time for a body that will ensure they get a fair deal from supermarkets,” said CPREssex Chairman Tom Holme. “Supermarkets are here to stay, but a strong Adjudicator will help to ensure that they operate fairly, giving vital local food networks a better chance to compete.”

CPRE's own research, through the Mapping Local Food Webs programme, shows that, across the country, networks of suppliers, producers and retailers are providing high-quality local food and drink, contributing to the life and vitality of villages, towns and cities and helping to build a sense of local identity and distinctiveness. But many are also struggling against the overwhelming power of the big supermarket chains.

“The Groceries Code Auditor is a great suggestion,” says Peter Chillingworth, Agricultural and Countryside Co-ordinator for CPREssex. “Hopefully, it will address the long-standing problem of powerful supermarkets having producers, who in the main are relatively small in comparison with little ‘power’ to negotiate, to be screwed down on price and have produce turned down on delivery for minor blemishes.”

In Essex there are numerous individuals who are producing local food, for example Robert Moss, Primrose pork and sausages in Great Bromley, Verity Chamley and Michael Sharp with beef at Pebmarsh, Crapes Farm rare varieties of apples in Aldham, Freechooks free range eggs in Wakes Colne, to name but a few. Throughout the county many farmers sell through farm shops and farmers markets and currently do not have sufficient quantities or quality to sell regularly to supermarkets.  The CPRE would welcome the introduction of the promised Bill to Parliament at the earliest opportunity, and hopes that the Government will create an Adjudicator “with teeth”.

Wind Power stations

Climate change is one of the most pressing and complex issues we face today. CPRE has always been clear that we believe it will have a significant and long-term impact on the landscape and wider countryside. The question is not ‘should we do something to tackle climate change’ - we absolutely must. The question is how we can best do this without compromising our landscape, wildlife habitats or heritage.  

CPRE are not fundamentally opposed to onshore wind. We feel that wind should form part of a mix of renewable technologies uses of tackle climate change. However, the Government is placing too much emphasis on wind power stations. It should come clean on how many wind turbines are expected to be built and broadly where in the country they will be. The right places for wind power stations can be identified using landscape capacity studies and assessments. Local people need a voice in these decisions - but currently the number and scale of turbine applications coming through the planning system is drowning out that voice. To successfully tackle climate change requires careful and strategic planning, which empowers local people to identify the right places for onshore wind power stations. As with all development, we need to find a way to integrate it sustainably.

CPREssex Chairman, Tom Holme

Click here to listen to CPREssex Chairman Tom Holme interviewed on the subject of wind power stations on BBC Radio Essex, Monday 30 April 2012
 
http://youtu.be/2IM9xWjUoqQ

CPRE response to the final draft of the National Planning Policy Framework, revealed 27 March 2012

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) believes Ministers have made significant progress towards meeting the concerns raised by rural campaigners about the draft planning framework published last year, making some vital improvements that should achieve better planning outcomes.

We are pleased with the direction of travel on several of our key priorities, including the recognition of the value of undesignated countryside, the definition of sustainable development and the explicit acknowledgement that use of brownfield land is a core planning objective. Ultimately, however, the proof of the new policy framework will be how it works in practice. We and our supporters up and down the countryside will work with  local authorities and communities to try to secure the best results for what Planning Minister Greg Clark rightly referred to  as ‘our matchless countryside’.

Click this link to read CPRE National Office’s initial analysis of the National Planning Policy Framework:

Says CPREssex Chairman Tom Holme:

“I am breathing a little more easily than I was before the publication of the final draft NPPF.. Contrary to what was being indicated, it looks as if the Government has actually listened to and acted on some of the consultation about the first draft of the NPPF. The recognition of the value of our unprotected countryside is a big breakthrough and a credit to everyone who has campaigned so effectively to get this message across, both in our National Office and here in Essex: our Plans Group under David Green's able guidance, and everyone who has individually liaised with their MPs.

“There is, of course, no room for complacency: we still face big challenges, and we will continue to engage with local authorities and communities to achieve the best possible environmental outcomes.”