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Present: Councillors Mrs Bateson (Chairman), Hilton, Kellaway, Mrs Pitteway and Wiles.

Also Present: Councillor Rayner.

Elaine Cook (CCB), Geoffrey Copas (Farmer), James Copas (farmer), William Emmett (Farmer), Phillip Everett (Crown Estate), Tim Parry (CCB), Andrew Randall (farmer), Tamanra Schiopu (Berks Bucks and Oxon Food Group), Parish Councillor Mrs Story (Sunninghill & Ascot Parish Council), and Parish Councillor Westacott (Hurley Parish Council).

Officers: Harjit Hunjan and Michael Kiely.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were received from Councillor Mrs Wilson and John Emmett.

DECLRATIONS OF INTEREST

There were no declarations of interest.

MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2010 were approved.

CHAIRMAN’S INTRODUCTION

The Chairman welcomed all present to the meeting.

COMMUNITY COUNCIL FOR BERKSHIRE – REGIONAL UPDATE ON RURAL AFFAIRS

The Chairman welcomed Elaine Cook and Tim Parry from the Community Council for Berkshire (CCB) and Tamara Schiopu from the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Food Group.

The Forum received a comprehensive and informative presentation on Food Groups.

The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Food Group’s mission was to promote the production and consumption of locally grown foods. It was supported by the local Development Agency and several local authorities. Members could attend events to promote their produce, and receive training on ideas such as branding, publicity, packaging and website design.

The Borough was invited to consider supporting the Food Group.


Elaine Cook presented the Forum with an overview of key rural priorities. During the presentation the following points were made:

Ø A number of groups were working to raise the rural profile. Several had come together to create the Rural Coalition.
Ø Life in rural England was generally quite good, in comparison with the more urban communities.
Ø However, there were pockets of poverty, fuel poverty, unemployment, poor access to broadband and mobile telecommunications, lack of affordable housing and there was a rapid loss of services (such as transport, shops and pubs).
Ø The Forum applauded local initiatives to provide mobile Post Offices.
Ø It was noted that 40% of all farming households sought support from the Farm Crises Network, and that 25% of farmers faced life below the poverty line.

Detailed discussion took place on telecommunications and broadband:

Ø Within the Borough there were still broadband and telecommunications blackspots.
Ø A query was raised as to whether pressure could be put on BT to improve the broadband situation. Consideration could be given to inviting them to a future meeting.
Ø Some members of the rural community obtained their broadband facilities via satellite technology and made this available to local people.
Ø It was suggested that the Forum should request a map of the Borough which indicated where good and poor broadband services were.
Ø Tim Parry advised that CCB was running a rural broadband event in West Berkshire and that this would cover many of the key issues. Further details about the event, and its outcomes, would be published on the CCB website.
Ø Members highlighted the importance of an adequate broadband system as an essential service which supported the community.
Ø It was suggested that the more evidence of customer need that could be gathered, the greater the likelihood of a service provider meeting that need.
Ø It was noted that the Crown Estate generally did not permit telecommunications masts on the Great Park.
Ø It was important for rural landowners to support the demand for masts by allowing their land to be used. It could also provide a useful income stream.

RURAL WALK

It was noted that Clive Leeke was regrettably unable to attend the meeting. William Emmett kindly agreed to lead the discussion on the Rural Walk, which had recently taken place at the Shottesbrooke Estate.

During the walk Barty Smith had made the assembled party very welcome and both he and Clive Leeke delivered interesting and informative commentary.

Issues covered during the walk included:

Ø Shottesbrooke House and grounds.
Ø The church and those buried there.
Ø The Landmark Trust buildings.
Ø The woodlands on the estate.
Ø Efforts by the estate to improve and enhance the environment and the lake.

Ø The local flora and fauna.
Ø The community football pitch in Waltham St Lawrence.
Ø Trees, Tree Preservation Orders and the Council’s position on trees.

The Forum thanked William Emmett for his presentation and requested that special thanks to Barty Smith, his team, and Clive Leeke be recorded in the minutes.

CURRENT STATE OF LOCAL AGRICULTURE

William Emmett commenced his presentation by explaining that he was a National Farmer’s Union representative and that he was on the South East Regional Crops Board.

During the presentation the following points were made:

Ø 80% of the Borough was green space, much of which was managed by the rural community.
Ø The quality of land and soil in the area was generally high.
Ø The emergence of the supermarkets led to a large reduction in small unit farming in the area, as small units were unable to generate adequate income.
Ø Fewer people were now farming.
Ø Diversification of land and buildings was key to the survival of many farms. The lack of affordable small business units in towns often meant that farms were able to benefit by letting out their buildings.
Ø Direct support grants from the EU had been changed to the Single Farm Payment. Many farms were totally dependent of the payment for their survival
Ø A downside of farming in close proximity to urban populations was the number of people wishing to enjoy the countryside, sometimes in an irresponsible way.
Ø Increases in population in the UK and across the globe would lead to further demand for food production. There would also be increasing demand for energy, perhaps from energy crops, farming by-products going to power stations, installation of wind turbines etc.

At the conclusion of the presentation a hope was expressed that the new coalition government would recognise that members of the rural community were the best custodians of the countryside.

TREE AND WOODLAND STRATEGY

It was noted that the Arboricultural Coordinator would be present at the next Forum to talk about the new strategy.

One member reported his concerns that trees with Preservation Orders had a lot of associated ‘red tape’. He further expressed his concern that planning permission was required to coppice some hazel.

At the conclusion of a brief discussion, the Chairman highlighted that these were issues for discussion in the presence of the Arboricultural Coordinator.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

In a brief discussion, members considered the need for improved communication about meetings, and also future agenda planning.

The Democratic Services Officer accepted that promotion of the meeting could have been improved.

All present agreed that the Chairman and Harjit Hunjan would lead on the agenda planning in a similar way to methods employed for the Borough’s Parish Conference. Councillor Mrs Bateson also chaired the Parish Conference and advised that this worked very well. In future the Democratic Services Officer would set up a meeting with Councillor Mrs Bateson, Harjit Hunjan and William Emmett. This would be several weeks in advance of the meeting and allow time for proper planning for the agenda, and subsequent promotion of it. William Emmett would be free to bring along colleagues to have input on the agenda planning.

Discussion also took place on the timings of meetings some members considered spring and November to be more preferable than June and November. It was agreed that this would be the subject of future discussion.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING AND ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

The date of the next meeting was 5.30pm on 15^th November 2010.

Suggested items for discussion at future meetings were:

Ø Rural broadband provision.
Ø Walking and access to the countryside – perhaps invite the Ramblers Association.
Ø Provision of mobile libraries.
Ø Rural crime.
Ø Public transport services.

It was also noted that consideration would be given to inviting the Police to nominate a member of the Forum.

MEETING

The meeting, which opened at 5.30pm, ended at 7.30pm.