I've been asked by Martin Wilkins, the Parish Council Chairman, to publish a letter sent by the Parish Council to Velmur Ltd in response to their no show at the public meeting on Monday 7th June, 2010.
The original document is in Microsoft Word and will be available in the Correspondence link at the top, however, for the benefit of those who do not have this software and to make it, more accessible, therefore, I'm publishing it in plain text below.
Mr M Walsh
Velmur Ltd
The Old Stables
High Street
Morcott
Rutland
LE15 9DN
Dear Mr Walsh,
cc Mr Stafford-Buckminster Estates, Mr Paton-Chesterton Humberts,
Peter Wilmot- Peter Wilmot Architects
We were most disappointed to be told at such a late stage that you would not attend our Public Meeting that had been arranged by us and agreed by you.
Some 230 people assembled in the Village Hall to hear your presentation and to raise questions and receive your responses. Asking our Chairman to show your presentation on your behalf was greeted with a certain amount of derision within the Hall and has been duly reported by both local Radio and TV stations.
The meeting lasted for approximately 1½ hours and a host of valid points was raised in a most orderly manner, culminating in a unanimous vote against your proposals and providing us with a mandate to proceed with a vigorous and robust campaign to prevent such a Factory Farm being built in the vicinity of areas of residential habitation.
Buckminster Estates also came in for severe criticism not only for not attending the meeting but also for contemplating allowing such a scheme to proceed with such total disregard for the well-being of the population that live in and around their Estate.
Yours sincerely,
Helen Sandon (Mrs)
South Witham Parish Clerk
For those in the village of South Witham, Lincolnshire (and their supporters) who wish to try to prevent the construction of a Concentated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) or Battery Cow Factory Farm, immediately outside our village.
It would be good if Buckminster could be given the reasons why the villagers object, given that they own property in the village and surrounding areas might be food for thought that rental demand could be affected as well as property prices.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they think we are just being NIMBY's?? Would be good to give them the arguements against sooner rather than later, just my opinion.
I hadn't thought of that...certainly mileage in that argument since, as you say, property prices and rental demand will, undoubtedly be negatively affected.
ReplyDeleteI'll ensure the campaign team are aware, although I'm sure they're all reading the blog anyway.
Regarding Helen's point above, I think being a 'nimby' is hugely important, so we're not 'just nimbys'! In a country as small as this, my backyard is always someone else's as well, and we have to fight to keep it clean and safe. I can't see, given the physical differences between the UK and the USA, how the US farming model can be considered appropriate anywhere here.
ReplyDeleteI agree entirely. I think, on numerous, well publicised grounds, the CAFO farming model is unsustainable and inappropriate, in any country.
ReplyDeleteWhat is needed is a sustainable approach to food, farming and the environment and this potential shift in UK farming, in considering the CAFO model, is a backward step as far as I can see.
Food supply is too important to be left to a free market approach which leads to fewer large scale, producers and suppliers producing food supplies at what appears to be reduced prices, when in fact, they are actually externalising their costs - costs which we then pay for through our taxes...the cost of food produced in this way may appear cheaper, but it is an illusion.
Is everyone putting their money where their mouth is?
ReplyDeleteHave a look at http://www.organicmilk.co.uk/
Hi Jane...that link is already on the Useful Sites page at the top...under OMSCo.
ReplyDeleteWe are certainly shopping more carefully now, I can assure you...organic milk and other ethical products from local farmers markets or supermarkets who are demonstrating sound ethical principles.
Everyone needs to start taking much more interest in what they consume, in my opinion.