Agenda and draft minutes

Mark Turner (Chairman) welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Councillor Richard Scott – Marlow Town Council

Cllr Sue Wagner – Wooburn Green Parish Council

Verity West – Wild Marlow

Hayley Glasgow (Council) – Lane End Parish Council

Richard Parker

Councillor Penny Drayton – Committee Member

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2023.

The notes from the last meeting were approved.

To be presented by Thames Valley Police.

Presentation carried out by Thames Valley Police (TVP) – Agata Cydzik, Jennifer Shrage and Pete Robinson – (see attached).

The presentation gave an overview of the following:

·       The meaning of rural crime.

·       The statistics in terms of agricultural crime, environmental crime, heritage crime and wildlife crime.

·       The role of Neighbourhood Police Teams, the Rural Crime Taskforce and Horse Watch.

·       Information on the Country Watch Packs.

Comments:

Decisions were soon to be taken on the Wooburn Parking Review and South West Chilterns Parking Review.

A local Volkswagen van dealership had six catalytic converters stolen over the last five days – the premises did not have CCTV. If there were any other incidents they should be reported to TVP.

To be presented by Alex Nelms and Ted Howard-Jones.

Presentation carried out by Alex Nelms (AN) and Ted Howard-Jones (THJ) - (see attached) on:

·       The difficulties faced by farmers in Buckinghamshire.

·        The importance of agriculture.

·        The reasons why farmers need to diversify, including some diversification success stories to keep them afloat.

·       What support/forums are working and what could be better, particularly around the Planning process.

Questions:

It was disappointing to hear the experience farmers were facing with Planning. THJ was asked if he was willing to attend another Community Board meeting with our Planners in attendance. THJ said he would be happy to attend. THJ added that the issue was perhaps perception rather than reality. Planners may want farmers to be successful but it was not perceived in this way. It was an expensive “nut to crack”.

In terms of food security since lockdown and Ukraine – were things going in the right direction locally and nationally? AN gave an example of Greg Smith inserting in the National Planning Framework, a presumption that when considering a site for planning, you consider whether it may have an impact on food production. There was a case with solar panels being placed on Grade 1 and 2 land - you were taking out food production in favour of energy production and there wasn’t a presumption to approve that you had to consider the impact on food production. This had never been considered before on how you were reducing the lands capacity to grow food.  This was an example of positive change.

AN felt that the more worrying thing would be the pressures our horticultural businesses were facing from supermarkets. We were 16% self-sufficient in fruit and veg and there was a massive opportunity for growth, but it wasn’t materialising. This may be down to buying practices in supermarkets. We have some of the lowest prices in the OECD as our supermarkets are the lowest of our neighbours. However, where we had the veg shortages earlier in the year, we would pay a grower in Morocco or Spain £1.60 a kilo, but in Germany they paid £1.90, so the growers would sell to the Germans. AN added that we were not willing to pay a fair price for produce. The NFU have advised Government that food security was being threatened and jeopardised by the lack of support. Consumers could also help in the way they shop as British farmers were being penalised because we want strawberries in December and avocado’s in January which was not natural. The air miles, travel and consumer choices were not resulting in good outcomes and was at the detriment of British growers. Some of this was on the consumer and where it shopped.

To be presented by Nick Marriner, Chiltern Conservation.

The Hedgerow Project

Presentation (with video) carried out by Nick Marriner (NM)– Chiltern Conservation Board (see attached).

Questions:

We had a dry summer last year, a challenge for hedgerows, and a wet one this year – how have the hedgerows survived? NM said the conditions were perfect this year with a 95% success rate, but last year it was a 50-60% survival rate, so everything that was lost in the drought was replaced.

A hedge on the south side (M40) did not survive due to badger and deer pressure – this was a concern. NM confirmed that they had made changes this year.  As part of the coppicing work, instead of burning it they chipped it and recycled as malt which made a difference in keeping the sun off the roots and the moisture in the plants. They also planted earlier this year so the roots had a chance to establish.

A major farm owner who was not located in the farm cluster asked what opportunities there were for more farmers to get involved. NW said this was tricky balance for a project of this size. The balance in the planning was to have a concentrated resource which made a significant difference instead of spreading them thin, so they had to make some decisions on scale. For now the cluster was 18 farms and there had been discussions on bringing one or two more in.  There were other ways the Conservation Board could support farmers in the Chilterns as they had a grant “Farming Protective Landscape scheme” so if farmers were in the Chilterns they might be eligible for that. NW said he could provide the details of who to contact for further information and help. There were also other funding pots that the Chiltern Conversation Board could help with.

·       Buckinghamshire Council corporate update

·       South West Chilterns Community Board – End of Year Report 2022-2023, for information

·       Funding Update – to be presented by Makyla Devlin, Senior Community Board Manager

·       Public Questions – received in advance – to be presented by the Chairman.

Buckinghamshire Council Corporate update: presented by Tony Ellis, Service Director (see attached).

Community Board update and how it worked: presented by Makyla Devlin, Senior Community Board (see attached)

Budget/Funding update: presented by Makyla Devlin (see attached).

Questions:

When was year end? MD confirmed it as 31^st March 2024. In terms of applications, taking into account processing times, would like to see before 31 December to allow for processing time.

Where was the Community Board with highways projects that were carried forward from 2022/23? Mark Turner (MT) stated that a meeting had been had with John Pateman before the last Council meeting, and as a result we were now moving forward. MT did not have the information to hand and said he could forward it on. He added that the contract transition had caused some delays.

Board Meeting - Wednesday 14 February 2024 (location and venue to be confirmed).

The meeting was adjourned at 8.24pm. The next meeting will be on 14^th February 2024 – location to be confirmed (looking to change the date)