Minutes of the Committee Meeting of the Federation of Cumbria Commoners held at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 10th August 2010 at Threlkeld Cricket Club

  1. Present: Dave Smith (Chairman), Carl Walters, John Rowland, William Steele, Ernest Coulthard, Andrew Humphries, Edward Thomas, Harold Lindley, John Atkinson, John Jackson, Pauline Blair, Duncan Ellwood, Viv Lewis (Administrator)
  2. Apologies: Marianne Teasdale, Julia Aglionby, Charles Raine, Norman Bowe, Harry Hutchinson
  1. Previous Minutes: the minutes of the last meeting were agreed and signed.
  1. Matters Arising:
  2. We received a letter from Hugh Craddock, Head of Commons Team, Defra, responding to our letter of concern dated 6th June 2010. The letter acknowledged our concerns but they are unable to make changes
  3. We received acknowledgement of receipt of our response to the consultation on the simplification of livestock movement rules and holding identifiers in England. Defra will be responding in due course.
  4. Committee members who attended the 8th National Seminar on Towns and Village Greens at Cheltenham gave a brief report on the conference. All agreed that it was worthwhile, in particular the networking with other commons who are planning to set up Commons Councils
  1. Commons Councils: Report back on the visit to the South West 3 – 6 August: The team comprised Dave Smith, Carl Walters, Will Rawling and Viv Lewis. Members of the team gave a verbal report of what they saw and learnt.Committee Members will receive a more detailed written report (also to be posted on the website) in the near future.

In summary, the team are in favour of pursuing the development of a Commons Council.

Pros for Commons Council:

  • Has statutory powers to protect and support active commoning and sustainable use of common land – future proofing the commons
  • Can deliver a framework where active graziers have the majority voice and set and enforce the rules for good grazing management of the commons,
  • Is able to advise local associations on good management and mediate in disputes
  • Stronger voice to intervene when the actions of offroaders, cyclists, horse riders etc may jeopardise agri-environment agreements

Cons:

  • Cost of set-up and administration
  • Increased responsibility and time commitment
  • Unknown quantity – what are the statutory duties?
  • What is an acceptable make up the of the Council Board Members?

The Committee agreed that the Federation should continue to go ahead with the process of establishing a Commons Council if funding is available from Natural England. It was agreed to set up a Task Force to oversee the work to includeDave Smith, Carl Walters, Will Rawling (to be invited on), Viv Lewis, John Atkinson and Pauline Blair.

Action: Viv to maintain contact with Graham Bathe about funding from Natural England

  1. Administrator’s report: Viv gave a brief update on her work over the last 2 months. She has concentrated on re-building the website, loading the accounts onto QuickBooks, attending the Cheltenham conference and organising and attending the fact-finding visit to the SW.
  1. Finance and fundraising update: Currently we have £18,362.45 in the bankandare owed £1935 in unpaid membership fees: Caldbeck Common £1305; Brantfell £360; Middleton £150 and £120 from individual members. All have been sent reminders in the last month.

Action Viv to contact Ken Pears re Caldbeck and Harry Hutchinson re Brantfell and Middleton

We have an underspend on £400 on the SW visit which can be put towards continuing the work on developing a Commons Council.

We have been included in two funding bid:

  • University of Cumbria bid to RDPE for a project to inform farmers on the post 2013 agenda
  • Cumbria Wildlife Trust bid to Heritage Lottery on oral history
  1. Website update: The website has been re-built. Viv is looking for more photographs to upload onto the site so please send them to her.
  1. Working with Natural England:
  • Membership of Cumbria Grazing Group. The Committee agreed with Julia Aglionby’s suggestions for the farmer representation: Dave Smith, Michael Booth, William Steele, Gavin Fearonand suggested adding Harry Hutchinson. They also thought it would be a good idea to identify deputies (Pauline Blair, Duncan Ellwood expressed interest) and this could be discussed and agreed at the first meeting of the grazing group in October – no date fixed as yet.

Action: Viv to inform Julia

  • Training days: nothing to report, no contact from Natural England
  • Mungrisedale case study: Andrew Humphries reported that he had received the material from Natural England and he will be taking this forward.
  1. AGM 2011 – invitation to collaborate with Hill Farming Gathering: After some discussion it was agreed that we will not take up this invitation. We wish to continue holding a conference/ AGMs that focuses on issues affecting commons and commoners. We were concerned that by teaming up with the Hill Farming Gathering this focus would get somewhat diluted.

Action: Viv to inform Terry McCormick of this decision.

  1. Updating the database: it is likely that our current database has errors as it hasn’t been updated for some time. It was agreed that Committee Members would review and correct the portion of the database that corresponds to the Commons Group they represent.

Action: Viv to send the database out to Committee members for updating

  1. Response to Defra Review on Animal Welfare: We discussed the response to the two questions posed by Defra:
  2. Whether there has been an improvement in animal welfare of farmed livestock on common land?
  3. Whether commoners have experienced prohibitive additional costs as a result of the Regulation applying to livestock on common land?

We agreed that the 2007 regulations (which applied for the first time to livestock on common land) had not affected the welfare or costs of keeping livestock on the commons, as traditional livestock husbandry systems deliver good standards of animal welfare. We also noted that there is always room for improvement, however.

Action: Viv to respond to the review

  1. Lobbying Advocacy: John Staley from Wales has written an aide memoire on the future of Commoning. Action: Viv to circulate to all members of the Committee for comment
  2. AOB: Edward Thomas mentioned the potential for renewable energy to be an important income stream for hill farmers and wondered if the Federation should try and get this included in Priority 3 of Defra’s Draft Structural Reform Plan, also lobby Natural England to promote this. Committee members recognised the potential, but didn’t think it was the Federation’s role to promote renewable energy, rather signpost farmers to other organisation with expertise in this area.

Julia (via e-mail) asked if the Federation should write to the Minister to stress the need to implement Part 1 of the Commons Act and to provide continued support for the Defra Commons Team. It was agreed that we should do this. Also to find out if Anne Wallace (commons registration officer) who is retiring soon will be replaced, and if not, write to the local MPs and relevant Council member to stress the importance of this role.

Action: Viv and Andrew to write letters

  1. Date of next meeting: Tuesday 2nd November 2010

There being no further business the meeting ended at 10.00 pm

Brief notes on meeting with Mervyn Edwards and Richard Potts of Natural England.

Making a UELS application for a common

Main points:

  • There are limited options for commons to make up the required 23 point per hectare for parcels of land of more than 15 ha.
  • Have to sign up to compulsory requirements UX3 worth 15 point per ha, and completion of plan EA1 worth 3 points = total of 18 points
  • The main options to gain the extra 5 points per ha are:
  • EL6 unenclosed moorland rough grazing = 5 points per hectare (most likely option for all commons)
  • UD13 Maintaining visibility of archaeological features on moorland = 53 points per feature
  • UL17 no supplementary feeding on moorland = 4 points per ha
  • UL18 (possibly) cattle grazing on upland grassland and moorland = 30 points per ha
  • For other options refer to ELS Handbook
  • Also have to complete UX1 Moorland Commons and shared grazing requirements (hefted self maintained flocks, commoner association and internal agreement) to get UELS on the common and £5 per ha supplementary payment
  • Also RPA are asking for further cross checking arrangements of signatures on UELS agreements and SBI (single business identifier) of those signing up to the agreement.

Committee Members highlighted problems with maps (RLR) and RPA, potential difficulties in gaining the required level of points (if entering HLS as well) and the difficulties of developing internal agreements and how to apportion the money. There were few satisfactory answers and it is likely that these challenges will persist.

Richard Potts has offered to talk to Local Commons Associations – he can be contacted on 0300 060 0946

For more complicated problems contact Mervyn.07774 136654

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