Hands Off Hartlebury Common

Subject: Re: NATURAL ENGLAND


Hallo Ian and others

Unfortunately, many Action groups tire after a few years of battling the bizarre world of Natural England and the conservation industry - constantly pressing at a sponge?!! Ashdown Forest was draining for the Action group there, consistently being stone-walled by NE, the DEFRA minister at the time, various MPs etc. In some places, it goes quiet for a while until the consequences of the fencing, cattle grids and grazing becomes clear - such as at Holt Heath in Dorset (which has been going on for over 10 years) where there was so much anger recently that the parish council held an open meeting this April after RTAs with cattle etc. (the cattle had reflective collars fitted, as if that would solve the problem!!)

I've copied in a few people: Sutton Heath in Suffolk, and Blacka Moor near Sheffield etc. Many of the contacts I have had over the years go quiet eventually when faced with the brick wall. They have had enough. Its hard to know what to do about NE. They are an "arms lenghth" Non-departmental Government Body that seems only accountable in terms of public scrutiny to the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee. And yet it dispenses millions in agri-environment money (HLS etc) solely to pursue an agenda of its own. The NE Board is filled with "thinkalike" place persons. There should be an EU angle to scrutiny since agri-environment money is partially funded through the second pillar of the CAP, with Governments topping it up.

The biggest defence that NE has is that our elected representatives - at all levels - can't be bothered to understand what is going on (perhaps the odd exception) and will just supinely take whatever explanation the current DEFRA minister dishes out. The minister of course will be relying on what NE has told them. Moreover, as some people have found out about MPs, they will claim that they cannot take up an issue for someone who is not a constituent, or if the issue is not in their constituency.

Journalists are no better. Its just too easy to regurgitate (churn out) press releases from NE and the conservation industry rather than understand the issues. They often have cosy relationships with local "sources" in the conservation industry, especially the ones on national newspapers..

It has to be recognised also that NE and the conservation industry will always hide behind legislation, irrespective of whether that legislation actually specifically legitimises the CHOICES THAT ONLY THEY MAKE. It is also on the back of a designation system - SSSI - that is deeply flawed, such that they can make it up as they go along to support THEIR CHOICES. It suits their purpose to use legislation as a scare tactic, as they also do the UKBAP and its devolved entities. And yet the various enforcement provisions available for SSSIs are very rarely used. It is all bluff, especially that the BAP list under section 42 of the NERC Act has any force . Same with the threats under EU law - the first round of reporting under Artcle 17 in 2007 would have had every country in the EU at that time prosecuted. As the action group at Kingwood Common showed, it can be very useful to throw the law back at the conservation industry, as they work on a presumption that everything they do is legitimate. It makes them lazy. However, it comes at a cost. Remember that everything the conservation industry does is financed by the tax payer - you also have to find your costs out of your pocket, and so you are paying twice! Sometimes, also, the conservation industry can be caught out in the lies they tell, their back door deals, and the incompetence they exhibit - Freedom of Information is about the only redress we have.

Any confrontation of this absurdity only puts us at personal risk, and at the risk of losing public support, but I fear that the challenge to NE and the conservation industry is getting nowhere when it is fragmented and easily containable by them. Like colleagues, I make no bones about my disgust of NE, and have long given up being reasonable. I hesitate to put into words what is needed, but I do think the time has come for some really obdurate high profile but clearly thought out stand, and which is backed by all of us as evidence of the frustration of dealing with such an oppressively tyrannical situation.

Cheers

Mark