Next events: 

Ledbury Group AGM at The Ale House, Colwall on Saturday 19 July at 2.30pm.  All members welcome. Speaker and Tea.

CPRE committee and policy group meetings are held on the 2^nd Tuesday in each month, except August.  Members and those interested in joining are invited to attend these meetings at the Farmers' Club, on the corner of Widemarsh St and Bluecoat St in Hereford.  Meetings begin at 14.00.  Click for dates of forthcoming meetings.

Minutes of recent CPRE meetings are available on this site.

  Topics:

• New name & logo for CPRE:  From June 2003 CPRE will be known as the Campaign to Protect Rural England (replacing the Council for the Protection of Rural England) and will be using the new logo that appears at the top of this page - an ancient tree beside a ploughed field. Apart from remembering that we have a new name, members will not be affected by these changes.  Unlike some "rebranding" one reads about, our new name and logo have cost CPRE practically nothing.
• Night Skies: CPRE's latest national campaign focuses on the increasing intrusion of artificial light into our night-time skies.  The campaign will be launched in Herefordshire in the autumn, when the nights start to draw in and the effect of unnecessary or badly-designed lighting will be most apparent.
• Countryside Voice: The new CPRE magazine, Countryside Voice, was launched in October 2002 in a larger and more modern format.  The new magazine celebrates the English countryside. It covers national and local campaigns to protect and enhance the countryside. Not only will Countryside Voice keep members up to date on current issues, it can also be passed on to friends and sympathisers who might join CPRE.

A Vision for CPRE Herefordshire, from our President, Lawrence Banks

"It is vital to realise that The Campaign to Protect Rural England is concerned with people as well as countryside. Without the people there would be no rural England. This means that we must reach out to as broad an audience as we can. There are many special interest bodies with conflicting and in some cases opposing aims and no doubt many of us belong to such bodies. CPRE must be a broad church encompassing those with differing views who love the English countryside and way of life. Otherwise we will never achieve CPRE’s full potential. For example, if our campaigns mean that the livelihood of the local farming community is damaged, we will have done serious harm to the rural areas and not just to farmers. If our actions leave rural towns and villages worse off, or leave young or elderly people badly or even un-housed, we will have failed and failed badly. Our role is to help to find solutions that benefit all of those involved. This is not any easy task; it involves listening as well as speaking out. We need to understand the problems and aspirations of bodies such as the NFU and the CLA and, yes, even the National Federation of House Builders so that we can work together for our mutual benefit without compromising our principles. I believe that CPRE is uniquely placed to fill this role."
"We must remember that the countryside is in a constant state of change and always has been. The Rural England that we know and love is, in the main, a man made creation, and cannot be frozen or left to look after itself. It needs management. Perhaps as one who has the responsibility of looking after a landscape whose basis dates back for almost 750 years (editor’s note: Hergest Croft Gardens, near Kington in western Herefordshire) I am in a better position than most to appreciate that trees grow and die and that in managing a large garden the chain saw is an essential gardening tool. I end by giving you one example, in this case from rural France rather than rural England. The oak woods in the former royal forest of Rombouillet have been managed on a two hundred year rotation since the 17^th Century regardless of wars and revolutions and are rightly regarded as amongst the finest in the world for beauty as well as forestry. In the 1870’s the rotation in part of the forest was stopped to preserve the scenes beloved by the Barbizon school of painters – one hundred years later these woods were a ruin full of dead and dying trees incapable of natural regeneration and worse still, no one knew how to restart the rotation. That can so easily be the result of Preservation as opposed to Protection and it provides me with an example by which to judge my own actions, I hope it may also help in formulating policy for CPRE."

Unitary Development Plan (UDP)
As mentioned by the Chairman, we submitted 75 pages of detailed objections to individual policies in the first draft. Click to see a summary of CPRE’s objections.  The full 75 pages can be seen at Council offices. We are happy to send copies to anyone interested but would ask for a contribution of at least £2.50 to cover copying and postage costs.
Volunteers have already begun the task of analysing the objections submitted by other organisations. Our aim is to build up a picture of who will be our allies and adversaries at later stages. We welcome contacts with other objectors and with individuals concerned about policies in the first draft UDP.
We are also pressing Herefordshire Council to make information on objections more easily available, ideally on-line; and to begin the meetings with objectors recommended in Government guidance as a way to reduce the volume of objections that need to be examined at the Inquiry stage. Earlier Council statements had promised this but Council officials have recently said that no meetings are envisaged with objectors, at least with CPRE.

Leominster east to west "by-pass"
The draft UDP set out the Council’s wish to build a new road round Leominster from the B4361 Hereford road to the A44 south of Baron’s Cross. The case for this was, however, then undermined by the Council’s own statement that "there are no major transport implications arising from the development of 565 dwellings at Baron’s Cross which cannot be accommodated by making minor modifications to the existing transport network". CPRE believes that this proposed road would be an environmentally-damaging encroachment on open countryside and is opposing it.

Rotherwas Access Road
Herefordshire Council’s Planning Committee approved on 21 February 2003 the Council’s own planning application for the longer, costlier and more environmentally damaging southern route. Developers are already lining up to build thousands of houses, a shopping centre and a motel on the greenfields land between the existing city boundary and the proposed new road.
CPRE will continue to fight against the building of a road along this southern route. We are seeking Counsel’s opinion on the legality of the Herefordshire Council’s actions. The Council still needs to secure government funding for the Rotherwas road. CPRE will continue to lobby both for alternative solutions to the access problems at the Rotherwas industrial estate and for reconsideration of the shorter, cheaper and less environmentally damaging alternative road alongside the existing railway line on the city boundary. This route was recommended by the Council’s own consultants as the best option.

Hereford City Transport review
Rumours are that this is likely to recommend a western by-pass plus a park & ride. In the early 1990s, CPRE  objected to the former eastern by-pass because the proposed route (which crossed the Lugg meadows) was so environmentally damaging. At the time we pressed for full assessment of an alternative western route. Many of those most closely involved believe that, had the Council pursued this option, Hereford would already have a by-pass.
CPRE will look closely at any western by-pass and park & ride scheme proposed for Hereford. We will press for full environmental impact assessments and formulate our policy based on these.

Polytunnels
In 2002 CPRE volunteers noted significant increases both in the number of farmers using polytunnels and the scale of some of these enterprises.  We were concerned especially about polytunnels in the South Wye Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).  CPRE volunteers researched this issue thoroughly, including visiting a large enterprise near Ledbury that manufactures polytunnels. We were able then to make effective representation to the Herefordshire Council, as a result of which the Council has now adopted a "Voluntary Code of Practice to Control the Siting of Polytunnels in Herefordshire".   

The Voluntary Code covers the "Spanish" type polytunnels. These are not subject to Planning controls because they are deemed to be temporary structures, even though they may remain in place for some years. Several Herefordshire farmers now have significant acreages under such polythene, mainly growing strawberries but also trying out other crops such as salad vegetables and cherries.

Herefordshire Council’s new Code of Practice asks farmers/landowners who propose new polytunnels to complete a short "checklist" questionnaire to enable the Council's Planning Services to decide whether the scheme requires planning permission.  Where planning permission is not required, the grower undertakes to observe the terms of the Code, which are summarised below:

1. Polytunnels to be 30 metres from nearest dwelling
2. Within AONBs, grower to submit landscape impact statement and mitigation measures
3. Polythene covering to be in place for no more than 6 months in the year
4. Polytunnel framework to be removed as stated in grower's initial undertaking
5. Grower to confirm to Council that notice has been given to the Parish Council and neighbours

CPRE recognises the commercial opportunities that the use of polytunnels can provide for farming, the economic benefits for Herefordshire ands the contribution they can make to reducing food miles. These benefits need to be balanced against their potential adverse impact on the landscape, which may bring economic disbenefits, notably in relation to tourism and their impact on local residents, e.g. noise and disturbance from associated activity. 

CPRE believes that by definition those areas designated AONB are particularly sensitive and that, consequently, planning controls should apply.

Outside of these areas, CPRE supports the voluntary Code of Practice, as proposed by Herefordshire Council. CPRE believes this policy should be reviewed after two years and that the voluntary Code must be supported by a firm commitment that, if it is found that the Code has been ineffective or widely disregarded, planning controls will be extended to all areas.

If you would like a copy of the full Code of Practice, contact us or ask Herefordshire Council.

Biomass Power Stations
A commercial company has expressed interest in building a 20 MW biomass power plant in Herefordshire.  The benefits claimed for the proposal include that the power plant will be an alternative energy source to fossil fuels and that growing biomass raw material will provide a new crop for Herefordshire farmers.

CPRE has misgivings and concerns about the impact of this technology on Herefordshire's landscape and countryside character.  In particular, the proposed plant would require large tracts of Herefordshire's countryside to be given over to growing the most common biomass crop, a fast-growing, non-native species called miscanthus.  This grows to 15 foot, would have a strong visual impact and may reduce biodiversity.  We have other concerns about the impact on hedgerows and on lorry traffic along country lanes.

One of our members has produced a checklist of some of the main issues.  We will be monitoring the biomass power plant proposal and lobbying to ensure that environmental issues are fully considered.

Hedgerow Surveying
DEFRA's 79 page "Hedgerow Survey Handbook –a Standard Procedure for Local Surveys in the UK" has been so popular that it's already out of print. The text can, however, be viewed and downloaded from www.english-nature.org.uk.  The booklet resulted from consultation with other bodies, including CPRE (who produced the first survey pack). The booklet is comprehensive: it covers legal aspects, practical survey techniques, identification keys and data analysis; and contains survey forms. 

Dates for CPRE committee and policy sub-group meetings 2003: 2^nd Tuesday in each month, usually at the Farmers Club, Hereford.

CPRE is a registered charity that helps people to protect the countryside from threat and keep it beautiful, productive and enjoyable for everyone. Our national patron is Her Majesty the Queen. The Herefordshire branch concentrates on lobbying to improve the policy framework protecting Hereford's unique landscape heritage. There are District Groups centred on Ledbury and in South Wye area: these focus on specific local planning and related issues.  We are trying to re-establish a District Group in North West Herefordshire. We continue to need new volunteers to help either with the District Groups or at county level. We have vacancies for volunteers interested in policy formation, in organisational tasks and in media work.

CPRE Herefordshire Branch Secretary: Peter Louis, tel 01432 350178, 
Website maintained by Mike Clements 

e-mail : cpre@herefordshire.kc3.co.uk

Registered Charity No 213951