In this issue:
We look at country life in the 21st Century, and the way most of us have lost contact with the primary producers of our food - farmers. Could we even do without farmers altogether in our part of the world, a radical suggestion which is the topic of our next Quarterly Meeting (see box below right).
We also cover in detail the latest news on the proposal to designate the South Downs as a National Park, and provide an update on the idea of having a Village Appraisal.
As we commute to work, take the children to school or drive to the supermarket how many of us spare a thought for the countryside through which we pass? It is there of course, to be visited for walks with the dog or excursions with the family at the weekend. But to many it is little more than a backdrop to the urbanised lifestyle which most of us, even in the country, have adopted. It is no more real than a safari park, to be viewed through car windows but with little bearing on our daily lives. Our detachment from the farming community is almost complete, disturbed, it is true, by the BSE and Foot and Mouth outbreaks which have at least made us aware of the crisis into which farming has been plunged, but soon restored by other diversions or events being reported on TV.
That we are not personally concerned about the fate of farming is sad but not surprising, for our links with the land were severed long ago. During the latter half of the 19th century, cheap food for the manufacturing masses won votes but ruined agriculture. Between 1870 and 1900 corn growing acreage decreased by two million acres and over the same period the introduction of refrigerated transport brought frozen meat to these shores from Australia, New Zealand and Argentina leading to a fall in cattle and sheep prices.
This led to a massive movement of people from the country to the towns. By 1881 there were already some 100,000 fewer farm labourers than ten years earlier and the migration continued. Unlike the peasant farmers of Europe who clung to their patches of land, English agricultural labourers were hired hands with no vested interest in hanging on when the work had gone. And even for those with land, law and custom ordained that it would pass to the firstborn rather than be divided up among the family when a death occurred, leading to a further incentive for many to leave the land.
In Europe, different conditions tied the rural population to the land until the growing momentum of Industrialisation made the familiar move from country to town economically inescapable. Since World War II that migration has led to rural depopulation, particularly in some areas of France, but it is notable that French families, even when living in towns, tend to maintain contact with their relations in the countryside. The link with the land has not been entirely lost.
In France too, local food markets provide a point of contact between producers and consumers, sustaining pride in their produce on the part of sellers and interest in the quality and origin of that produce on the part of purchasers. Moreover, although the volume of business done at local markets is presumably small compared with the takings of mainstream retailers, they do constitute a welcome counterpoise to the supermarkets, demonstrating that there is a demand for locally produced food.
In Britain, the link between the consumer and producer of food products has, like our link with the land, virtually disappeared. That such a transformation in our buying habits could have occurred in barely 40 years is due to the enormous success of supermarkets. The reasons for that success are clear; supermarkets are relatively cheap and they provide a choice of food products from all over the world. They are in fact the ultimate expression of the cheap food policies adopted in Britain over a century ago.
However their dominance of the food retailing sector is increasingly being questioned. Supermarkets are the enemies of a sustainable environment; shoppers travel to them by car and they are re-stocked with goods conveyed from distant warehouses, in both instances consuming energy, increasing carbon dioxide levels and adding to congestion on our crowded roads. In planning terminology, the food-miles generated by supermarkets harm the environment. And their success has also reduced High Street food retailers to little more than a few scattered shops in most towns.
Furthermore their purchasing power has been wielded ruthlessly, forcing down the returns received by primary producers. Last year the Dairy Industry Federation accused the four major supermarkets of keeping the price of milk below production costs. And earlier this year it was reported that supermarkets were selling lamb for the same price per pound that farmers were being paid for a whole sheep. Little wonder then that speaking at an agricultural college in Gloucestershire, Tony Blair said, in a moment of candour, “We all want cheaper food, but supermarkets have got an arm-lock on you people. That’s something we have got to sit down with them and work out.” We are still waiting.
Meanwhile, a number of initiatives are afoot to promote and support local food production and direct selling to the public. Perhaps the most successful of these are Farmers Markets which have grown in number from just five in 1998 to around 300 today. Their rules stipulate that only produce from a defined local area shall be offered for sale, that all such produce must have been grown, reared or processed by the stall holder and that the stall must be attended by the primary producer or a representative directly involved in the production process.
Benefits claimed for these are that they cut out the middleman allowing increased financial returns for the producer, that transport and packaging costs are reduced and that the environment gains from a reduction in food-miles. But perhaps as important in the long run could be the re-establishment of contact between local consumers and producers of food - to the advantage of both.
Farmers’ Markets have a long way to go before they can begin to match local markets in France. They will not constitute any real competitive threat to the supermarkets, nor will they, by themselves, solve the problems of British farming, but they deserve our support because, in their small way, they present an alternative to a global model of food production, sourcing and distribution which is environmentally unsustainable. And they might just help to foster that link between us and the countryside we live in which is so sadly missing at present.
Our nearest Farmers’ Market is held in Uckfield on the first Saturday in each month in the area of the public car park closest to the church in summer or, in the winter months, in the Civic Hall. For further information contact Roger Hoggins on 01892 664064.
The following article is reproduced with kind permission of the Countryside Agency:
Late in September the Countryside Agency’s Board agreed to carry out a public consultation on a draft boundary for a South Downs National Park and on options for establishing a South Downs National Park Authority, including how planning and development control could be administered. This public consultation will begin in late November and will last for 3 months. Consultation booklets will be widely available throughout and around the Downs, and a number of public events will be held. Details will be shown on the Agency's website and the events will be publicised locally.
Draft Boundary for South Downs National Park
Please click the map or here for an enlarged version
The draft boundary agreed by the Agency for the consultation is based upon the area of search identified last March. The Agency looked in particular at settlements around the area and concluded that the draft boundary should incorporate Lewes, Petersfield and Arundel. It also looked at the A3 corridor, considered new evidence put forward and decided to include the upper Rother Valley. Additional areas, presently outside the AONB boundaries, have also been included; for example the North Itchen valley in Hampshire, the Ebernoe Common area in West Sussex and areas in East Brighton.
As well as the draft boundary, the Agency will also be consulting on ways of establishing a South Downs National Park Authority and will be consulting on the most effective ways of working. There are several choices to be made, for example on membership of the national park authority, rights of way management, transport planning and landscape restoration. The consultation is seeking views on this.
The Agency has also paid particular attention to how planning could be carried out. It recognises that planning and development control in a South Downs National Park would be different to that in many others, because of the linear geography of the area, its population, development pressures, number of cases and the inclusion of some large settlements in the draft boundary. The Agency is consulting on options which include a national park authority preparing joint structure plans with the three counties along with a park-wide local plan. Responsibility for development control could rest with a national park authority but the Agency is recommending that many day-to-day decisions are delegated to the local authorities who deal with these cases now.
Marian Spain, Head of the Countryside Agency National Park Designation Team, says: “This is an important step towards creating a South Downs National Park. We will, starting in late November, be undertaking a widespread public consultation on how best to create a national park that is right for the South Downs. Whilst the Agency has set out a number of options and agreed its preferred way forward at this stage, no final decisions have yet been made on the boundary or on the arrangements for the national park authority, and none will made be until after we have heard what people say in response to our consultation.”
“The views and knowledge of those who know and care for the Downs are vitally important in creating this new national park. We are seeking everybody’s views on where the national park should be and how it should be run. We want to hear from everyone who cares about the South Downs,” she says.
After analysing the responses to the public consultation the Agency may make changes to the draft boundary and the best options for setting up a South Downs National Park Authority will be determined. Next spring, after the Countryside Agency’s Board have approved any changes, the Agency will formally consult with local authorities and town and parish councils on the proposed boundary and the Agency’s draft advice to government on setting up a South Downs National Park Authority.
After considering all the responses to this consultation the Agency will then finalise the proposals and make the Designation Order which defines the boundary of the national park towards the end of next summer. This will be advertised in the press and there will be a four week period in which objections can be made. At the same time the Agency will send its advice to the Minister responsible for setting up the national park authority. He or she will then decide if the Order should be confirmed and how to establish a national park authority. There may be a public inquiry to determine any objections before the final decision is made.
Our PositionAs a Society, we have not yet come to a considered view about the proposals for the South Downs. As a conservation group, we are, in principle, in favour of measures to safeguard beautiful areas of countryside. However, as always, the devil is in the detail. In Newick, we are outside the area that is proposed to be included within the National Park, but there are important implications that will affect us. If the town of Lewes is included within the area, as currently envisaged, the current Lewes District Council area will be split into two smaller, very different, “rumps”. In the south we will have the coastal towns of Peacehaven, Newhaven and Seaford; whilst in the north there will be the so-called “northern parishes”, such as Barcombe, Plumpton, and of course Newick. Almost certainly, this will increase the pressure for development in areas outside of the National Park. Together with the new policies introduced after last year’s flooding, development within Lewes itself will become difficult or nearly impossible. What effect would this have on the commercial life of Lewes? Also, is it right that minor planning matters, such as someone building a conservatory, should be determined by a National Park Authority, rather than locally-elected councillors? We will be monitoring the situation closely, and would welcome views from members prior to making our formal submission during the public consultation phase. |
Last November the Village Society held a successful meeting which was addressed by Trevor Watson, Lewes District Council’s Sustainable Development Officer. His subject was Village Appraisals and their role in helping to ensure that the community’s needs and wishes are noted and acted upon.
Unlike housing needs surveys which merely establish the views of residents about the number and type of houses which should be built in a parish, village appraisals take a wider look at residents’ needs and aspirations for their community covering not only housing but also such issues as employment, public transport, young people, and access to shops and local services. A village appraisal is thus a community undertaking and although the parish council would be expected to play a leading role, success of the project would depend on participation of the whole community.
Shortly before that talk, the government had published its white paper “A Fair Deal for Rural England” clearly spelling out the need for rural communities to have a bigger say in their own affairs. A key passage acknowledges that “Local people are best placed to identify their individual challenges and opportunities and to shape their future. We will put up £5 million to help 1,000 rural communities develop town and village plans to put to their local planning authority. They will set out what people want their communities to be like: how housing should be built; (and) what features should be preserved.”
This move to wider forms of consultation is already having an impact. Trevor Watson was invited to address the Newick Parish Council's monthly meeting in September and the subject of Community Partnership was discussed by councillors. The possibility of a village appraisal being undertaken may have come a little closer.