Agenda and minutes

The Chairman invited Charles Kent, Gill Kent’s son, to say a few words in tribute.

Charles Kent thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to say a few words and explained that Gill Kent enjoyed being part of a small group of farmers who were prompted by the NFU to contact Wycombe District Council to arrange information sharing meetings. Two meetings a year, one in Spring and one in the Autumn along with a summer farm walk were arranged where discussions would take place about the issues and challenges that the rural community faced in the countryside.

Gill was also involved in the rejuvenation of Berkshire College of Agriculture (BCA) and attended regular meetings with the Principal and other farmers. It was good to note that the BCA were now regular attendees at the Rural Forum.

Gill enjoyed the bonhomie of the Forum and took great pleasure in being able to invite some of her contacts to speak and lead debates. The Forum functioned for many years at Wycombe and the Chiltern Hills and she hoped that the move to a unitary authority would not diminish its worth to the hills and pointed out that Vale and Hill farmers were different.

Gill believed that both sides of any story should be aired, even if it was difficult to hear or challenge popular beliefs. She was, truly, a champion of the countryside.

The Chairman thanked Charles for his words and noted that the Forum was, in fact, going from strength to strength and that Councillors had benefitted from the knowledge the farmers brought to the Forum.

Chris Schmidt-Reid made his own personal tribute explaining that he had been involved with the Forum for a long time and that Gill was a very highly valued member as well as being a member the Rural Forum Steering Group. Along with her husband Jim, Chris really appreciated the insights they brought and their invaluable contributions. She was a very important member of the steering group and would be very much missed.

The Chairman thanked Chris and Charles for their tributes and sent condolences on behalf of the members of the Forum to Gill’s family.

Emma Burroughs (Thames Valley Police)

Rob Butler MP

James Copas

Will Dallimore (Bucks Business First & Ngage)

Katie Higginson

Joy Morrissey MP

Helen Archer (Community Impact Bucks)

Alexander Ash (Thames Valley Police)

Steve Baker MP

Philippa Batting

Vicky Beckwith (BCA)

Tom Beeston

Tim Bingham

Jackie Binning

Peter Brazier

Fraser Brooks

John Chilver

Peter Cooper

Geoffrey Copas (Copas Farms)

Colin Courtney (Chilterns AONB)

Bryan Edgley (Kensham Farms)

Philip Emmett

Mark Gardiner

Steph Horn (Chilterns AONB)

Ted Howard-Jones (Cholsey Grange Farm)

Hugh McCarthy

Charles Hussey

Neil Jackson (Chilterns AONB)

Liz Johncock (Chepping Wycombe PC)

Charles Kent

Will Lacey (Lacey’s Farm)

Hayden Langford (NFU)

Alex Nelms (Kensham Farms & NFU)

Mike Seaton

John Sherlock

Greg Smith MP

Vicky Smith (Wet Wycombe PC)

Sue Wagner

John Whitby (Farmer & Chair Colne Valley Regional Park)

Presenters:

David Terrace (Waddesdon Estate)

Clare Phillips (Head of Strategy & Partnerships: Economic Growth and Regeneration)

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Rural Forum held on 23 March 2023.

·         National Farmers Union (NFU)

·         Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)

·         Berkshire College of Agriculture (BCA)

·         Bucks Council Update

National Farmers Union (NFU)

Alex Nelms thanked both Charles Kent and Chris Schmidt-Reid for their tributes to Gill as it summed up really well her contribution to the Rural Forum particularly helping to set it up which was a real testament to her and that her legacy lived on with the Rural Forum.

Alex explained that he was the Chair of the Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire NFU. He also explained that farmers were feeling the pinch currently as the output prices on farmers’ commodities whether it be milk or cereals etc. had fallen from the relatively recent record highs which were held prior to the war in Ukraine. In particular, milk prices had fallen some 30p from 50p per litre to the mid-20’s. However, input prices remained high affecting fuel, energy and fertiliser prices.

Alex went on to explain that the rollout of the new SFI, the Sustainable Farming Incentive, had been limited although the reason for this was not known.

Currently farmers were experiencing challenges with the weather which impacted on getting the autumn crops planted.

Alex then asked if anyone at the meeting had heard of the Red Tractor Scheme; about half the members indicated that they had. Alex explained that there was friction within Red Tractor and its board members. The NFU represented around 50,000 farmers nationwide who all had to fulfil a Red Tractor inspection annually in order to access the market and sell their goods. Red Tractor tried to manage the relationship between the farmers and the Big Four supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrissons) providing assurance and foods of a certain standard. However, with the ever increasing standards being required by the retailers which came at a cost, these costs were being met by the farmers but without an increase in payments.

Without going into too much detail, Alex explained that the NFU were carrying out two reviews, the first was on the governance of Red Tractor and the second on the wider place of assurance in the UK. When it came to producing food, the UK had very high standards but with new trade deals coming into force, there was concern that standards would being undermined by foreign imports, such as Australian beef.

Alex went on to explain that Buckinghamshire Council could support farmers and the rural community more when it came to planning issues. Alex cited Kenton Farms where 75% of their turnover was from agricultural production. Agriculture sales selling wheat for bread making 10% of our turnover is bps or SFI. This sort of subsidy or farm support for services that are not catered for by the market and the final 15% were diversifications. These other enterprises, using old chicken sheds that no longer house chickens, now housed joiners and paint sprayers and precision engineers. These are sort of craft, the one or two man bands, that did not want to work in their garage or do not want to work in an industrial unit, say, at Cressex or Sands.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

·         Rothschild Foundations Buckinghamshire Grants – David Terrace and Isobel O’Kelly.

·         Bucks Rural Business Grant – Claire Phillips, Head of Strategy & Partnerships, Bucks Council.

David Terrace, Rothschild Foundations Buckinghamshire Grants.

David Terrace, Grants Manager at the Rothschild Foundation explained that the foundation had given away around £8 million, £3 million of which was within Bucks. The focus of the foundation had largely been on arts and heritage, but increasingly in the last five years, they had focused a lot more on the environment, both in books and on the national level. The foundation currently had two strategic themes: access to the arts and culture and sustainable food systems.

The Foundation had funded the Bucks Food Partnership, which had ceased to be in operation, but work was taking place to get a collaborative partnership across the food system within Bucks. Much had been done around healthy food for all access to food and there were a number of projects such as community kitchens or growing projects.

The foundation was also interested in funding projects, increasing sustainability of food and were keen to fund in that area but due to the fact that if was a foundation, funding directly to farmers was not possible. However, work with the Farm Cluster and the Chiltern AONB had proved successful. The foundation was also keen to support the kind of good food movement around, helping people to understand where food came from.

David showed the Forum examples of some organisations they had funded. A large amount of land had been allocated in Chesham, where they had started growing and giving out produce to local families, this was a community venture.

David also explained that he would be happy to speak to anyone about whether they would be eligible for these grants. Organisations such as charities or community interest companies.

Following a query in relation to Bucks Council selling off some agricultural land, David Terrace agreed to take this information back to the Rothchild’s should they be interested in buying this land.

In response to a query about farmers, who were a part of the Rural Forum, being notified of sale of Bucks Council land. The Chairman agreed to take this subject to the Resources team.

Chris Schmidt-Reid asked about the timeframes and criteria for grant applications. David explained that grants below £30,000 have a 6 to 8 week process, while grants above £30,000 have a 6 month process and the application forms were online. Additional information from the applicants may also be sought. Chris asked David if he preferred projects that had other sources of funding or not. David responded that it depended on the project, but that generally, the foundation tried to fund organisations in a flexible way, without being the main funder.

Slides attached.

The Chairman thanked David for his informative presentation.

Claire Phillips, Head of Strategy & Partnerships, Bucks Council; Bucks Rural Business Grant.

Claire Phillips explained that the Bucks Rural Business Grant was about a scheme funded by the Rural England Prosperity Fund, which aimed to support rural businesses in Buckinghamshire with capital grants. The scheme had £1.8 million available for this and the next financial  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Chairman stated that the last tour at the Hard to Find Farm in Flackwell Heath, which was part of the Carington Estate, was a wonderful opportunity for councillors to see and learn more about the rural community. It was also an opportunity to meet, face to face, with farmers to understand the challenges they faced and not just from the farming point of view, but anything from planning to the weather.

The Chairman thanked those who had organised the tour as well as those who provided refreshments afterwards.

It was agreed that the farm tours were very important as it meant the farming community could engage with the councillors so they could understand the challenges faced by all farmers. It was agreed it was a good way to keep communication channels open. It was hoped that in future there would be one farm tour in the north of the county and one in the south. A visit had already been arranged for 2024 to the Rothschild Estate in the north of the county. The call was then put out to the farmers in the south of the county for any invitations to tour their farm and it would be good for a smaller farm owner to come forward with an offer. Geoffrey Copas commented that, with the agreement of his sons, he would be willing to host a farm tour.

Councillor Alex Collingwood proposed to work with the Rural Forum and some volunteers to improve the planning process for rural businesses. He wanted to create a framework that could help the rural community understand the rules and the opportunities for funding and diversification. Councillor Collingwood also wanted to speed up the process and make it more efficient and transparent and suggested that a meeting with the planners and a group mof volunteers to discuss the details and the challenges of the applications. Councillor Collingwood hoped that by doing this, it would make the process better and support the rural businesses.

The Chairman reminded Forum members about the local member surgeries, which were a way for local councillors to discuss planning issues and applications with the planning officers. He also suggested that the rural businesses should be considered from a rural perspective, rather than a local ward perspective, especially if there is a risk of losing £5 million of funding.

Ted Howard-Jones expressed his frustration with the planning system and the lack of support for farm diversification. He claimed that many farmers had lost faith in the planning system and did not believe that the local planning authorities were positive and creative as stated in section 38 of the NPPF. He asked for examples of successful farm diversification projects that had been approved by the Bucks County Council and for more PR and communication with the rural community and warned that if the situation did not improve, many farmers would simply go ahead with their projects without planning permission and face enforcement actions. Ted Howard-Jones hoped to find a way forward with the working party and the PR.

The Chairman acknowledged the difficulty of working with planning applications and the accusations of colluding with developers. However, role of the planners and the local plans in bringing sites forward and delivering them was a difficult one and which was why Local Plans were in place to help with the planning process.

The Chairman asked that if anyone was interested in volunteering for Councillor Collingwood’s working group, to contact Liz Hornby so she can pass on your name accordingly.

Chris Schmidt-Reid informed the Forum of the topic of discussion at the next Forum meeting in March 2024, which was solar farms and renewables in relation to farming and farm lands. Chris stated that he lived near a proposed solar farm site and wanted to hear different perspectives on the issue. Chris invited forum members to share their ideas or contacts who could speak on the topic and acknowledged that the topic was controversial and therefore wanted to have a balanced view.