Well done CPRE

Tim Harrold esq is a happy man. Mr. Harrod is chairman of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. Last week a High Court Judge, a Mr Justice Sullivan, stated that plastic tunnels put up over fruit fields must have planning permission. They are therefore currently illegal. Now you may know the things, these are the semi-circular clear plastic structures you see covering fields as you drive along the M2, M25 on your way to work. Let's be frank, some fields are covered in the things and they don't look terribly appealing. I'd rather not see them but their presence is a small price to pay for their benefits. Farming is a business and the purpose of business is to maximize output with as little input as possible in order to produce profit. That doesn't mean giving carte blanche to go giving people Mad Cow disease in order to boost profit but it does mean drawing a reasonable balance to a situation, pros and cons, you get the picture, something that people do everyday in one way or other. The fruit business is worth £200M p.a. and polytunnels as they are known ensure the protection of fruit from the elements. Consequently their use extends the growing season past the usual six or seven week spell. Up to now farmers avoided planning rules arguing rightly that tunnels were temporary structures. A test case was bought by the Hall Hunter Partnership which owns Tuesley Farm near Godalming last year. The farm owners had lost a planning inquiry last December (2005) when a planning inspector ruled that the erection of polytunnels was 'development'. Tuesley farm had 60 hectares of land covered by polytunnels. (Opps in prime greenbelt Surrey countryside). In this latest case they sought to overturn this. Tim Straker from the farm stated that the tunnels were an agricultural use of land and therefore a permitted development which would not require planning consent. Unfortunately the Judge upheld the planning inspector's decision and also stated that putting 45 caravans on the farm for hundreds of workers (hundreds?) was not permitted development. As of the 1st January 2007 all growers will have to comply with the new rules. This brings us back to Tim Harrold, Chairman of the CPRE who stated "We are delighted. It is a wonderful result because people have stood up and been counted defending some of the most important countryside we have." Really Mr Harrold. Why exactly is it "....some of the most important countryside we have" ? Because you live there in Surrey perhaps? Wouldn't everyone with the same thought process as Mr Harrold living in their chosen area of countryside from Lands End to John O' Groats say the same? More seriously the countryside needs protecting from the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England! These are the people who appear to be contributing to the ruin of the rural economy so we have more fallow fields. The fruit industry is worth £200M p.a. A good proportion of that income and services supplied to that industry provide tax to the Treasury and an income to a rural economy that has been in some serious distress for the last decade or more. So let us imagine then a large proportion of this industry being desimated because of the planning inspector's upheld decision. What is it going to be replaced with? Nothing? What about the immigrants who toil the fields? (They're welcome to, I wouldn't.) With a coninual flow there will be a bit less work for them now and a little more stress on the social security system. What will fill the void? Cheap imports of strawberries? Great, there goes more of our industry abroad. Around a third of agricultural land lays dormant at present. A few more fields will surely not hurt? That's great because housing companies will then seek Options to Buy on the most suitable fallow land with a long term view to development in which case if you are a farmer, your planning application is turned down and you want to sell the land CALL US on 01843 834938. We have companies seeking well placed strateigic land! The industry, as I have stated brings in £200M p.a. on only 0.01% of the UK's agricultural land so according to Chairman of British Summer Fruits Laurence Olins. Yes, o.o1% of the UK's agricultural land, not much is it? British Summer Fruits represents growers who supply 92% of UK soft and stone fruit. The National Farmer's Union has also expressed 'extreme disappointment' at the ruling. Lastly Monty Don has joined protesters against the 'rape of the countryside' (somewhat the term undermines such a traumatic act) by 'berry barons' mass producing out-of-season fruit. Well done Monty, your attempt to bring skag users to their senses and get off drugs and plant spuds instead will more than backfire with what will be interpreted as a country elitist stance against townies, except it isn't is it? What you're doing is stabbing your own in the back, those who make money from growing stuff.
So what have we seen by this latest ruling of the High Court's? Yes we are truly a backward country with small minded attitudes and a selfish elite. I ask you, 0.01% of the countryside effected by these tunnels, get over it fellahs, stick your pompous egos away and draw those that actually produce wealth some slack. You'll appreciate it when you're in your 80s, on a dialysis machine and burning telephone directories to keep warm.

I will have a severe case of smug satisfaction if planning authorities more or less give default permission for the continued erection of these polytunnels. There they will remain and the Courts and beneficiaries of the court's ruling such as the CPRE will have gained very little at all from the time spent on this. Perhaps a case of direct action and refusal to comply by all farmers is now required. Is this the beginning of country -v- country with the old opponent, townie relugated to 2nd division?

p/s Tory MP Bill Wiggin recently warned that eating strawberries out of season was ruining the British countryside. If you see the Rt Hon Bill Wiggin buying strawberries out of season (basically anytime other than the period covered by school holidays) will you please get a photograph if possible and post it to us? We'd love to publish it. Photos of Mr Wiggin can be found here: http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=bill%20wiggin%20mp&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

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