News for August

News for August ..........

Endangered Exmoor campaign success, Western Morning News, 31st August 2000
A leafleting campaign warning of the impact a hunting ban would have on the rural economy has been declared a success by supporters. Members of campaign group Endangered Exmoor greeted visitors entering the national park on Friday with placards and leaflets telling them of their plight. A total of 3,500 vehicles were handed literature telling how campaigners feared the entire economy of the unique area was under threat. Endangered Exmoor secretary, Pat Bawden, said: "It was an enormous success, far beyond our expectations and we found that visitors were, with few exceptions, very receptive to us distributing our literature. In fact, the response was one of reciprocation to the warm welcome they were given. One year ago we met for the first time on the village green at Exford. We sent a delegation to Number 10 pleading for understanding. After 12 months our situation has worsened, so we took our case directly to the people".
Kevin Lamacraft, livery yard owner, said: "Endangered Exmoor was formed to protect the communities, livelihoods and traditions of this beautiful but fragile gem in the British countryside, from a government that clearly does not understand rural Britain. Are we prepared to let centuries of hard work and loving care be sacrificed for the opinions of an ignorant urban government and a pressure group, funded by foreigners, who have never been near Exmoor, to get their hands dirty on the land? No we are not".

'Dying to move here?' by Chris Rundle for the Western Daily Press, 31st August 2000
Tony Howard fell in love with Withypool the first time he saw it. It was three years ago. His parents had just bought the village pub, the Royal Oak, and the village shop was on the market. So he sold his own pub business in Buckinghamshire and bought it. Yesterday Withypool, in the heart of Exmoor, looked as idyllic as ever with the sun glinting on the waters of the River Barle as it flowed under the ancient stone bridge which divides the village. The scene was almost timeless: even the 50-year-old globes on top of Tony's vintage petrol pumps help give the impression that in Withypool time has stopped. But its all an illusion. The reality is that the tourist trade on which the village relies to heavily has so far failed it this year. The farming crisis has already led to the loss of some of the more financially-vulnerable hill farms in the area and is set to get much worse. And the threat of a ban on hunting, which could come before the end of the new season, may well seal the village's fate. Hunt followers taking a break from the day's activities, or the wealthier ones who will come for a week to ride with the exclusive Devon and Somerset Staghounds, form a large part of the trade at the Royal Oak. So, too do the winter shooting parties. Together the field sports enthusiasts account for 75 per cent of its turnover.
For Tony, however, the signs for the village as a whole are looking ominous. Add a hunting ban to the reduced spending power of the farmers, the dwindling tourist trade resulting from poor marketing and rocketing fuel prices, he says: "The shop would just have to close down. Without other people coming here there just aren't enough locals to support it. A ban on hunting is going to have a drastic effect on the whole economy. All the staff in my shops have some connection with hunting, either working for the hunts or actually taking part". If you remove it there won't be anything for them to do here and they will just have to move away. Once that happens you will get even more houses being turned into holiday homes. We have enough of them already. You get people coming down using them, but they really aren't a lot of help to us. They bring all their food down in Tesco bags. I can't really blame them because it's cheaper, but it hardly helps us. The majority of our other customers are farmers and you can already see how they are suffering".

'First shots' fired in country battle by Mark Daniel, Western Morning News, 26th August 2000
Tourists on Exmoor were yesterday greeted by protesters who say government policies have reduced the local economy to depression and threaten their entire way of life. The aggrieved farmers, farriers, eed merchants and other country dwellers were distributing leaflets warning that these were just the opening shots in a lengthy campaign. Farmer, Guy Thomas-Everard was among those flagging down cars to inform holidaymakers of their plight. he said: "Farm incomes on Exmoor have dropped by 70 per cent in recent years and we already have 10 per cent unemployment in the area. The community depends upon field sports, which contribute £13.5 million to the local economy and provide 400 full-time and 800 part-time jobs. There is no ban - nor could there be - on killing deer which, as everyone knows, are enormously destructive. A ban on hunting would, however, withdraw the protection traditionally given to the deer by hunting farmers, their neighbours and supporters of the hunt. it would also bring to an end the hunt's admirable emergency service which rescues or humanely destroys casualty deer, those injured by cars, caught in wire or badly shot. It is totally unfair and unrealistic to expect farmers who are already struggling to look after vermin on their land. people look out over the moor and see a wild and beautiful landscape. They don't realise that it's been well and responsibly managed for centuries by people who know what they're doing.
" Pat Bawden, secretary of Endangered Exmoor, added "It is clear that we have a government that has no empathy or sympathy with rural life".
Fellow protester, Kevin Lamacraft added: "Centuries of hard work and loving care are going to be sacrified for the opinions of an ignorant urban government and a pressure roup funded by foreigners who have never been near Exmoor or got their hands dirty on the land."
Click here to link to the Western Morning News Opinion dated 25th August - 'Giving tourists the real rural message'

'Save our Exmoor' by Cilla Webb, Somerset County Gazette, 25th August 2000
Bank holiday weekend visitors to West somerset will be lobbied to save a countryside that is under seige as rural campaigners across the district launch a desperate plea for help. Farmers, hunt supporters and even church leaders are mounting separate campaigns this weekend in a bid to win he support of tourists, who are the lifeblood of the area. They say people living in towns and cities across Britain must realise the consequences of falling farm incomes, cheap food imports and the threat to rural traditions. Their action follows an announcement that average house prices on Exmoor have shot up by nearly a quarter in the last year, adding to the economic misery of local people. Tonight (Friday) Endangered Exmoor will set up road checkpoints and stage rallies at give different points across the moor, including Wheddon Cross and Porlock. Drivers will be warner they are entering a renowned and favoured area of Britain with unique but threatened landscape, wildlife and traditions. leaders of the group, set up last year to highlight what it believes will be the devastating effect of a hunt ban on jobs and rural communities, insist they have no intention of disrupting visitors' holidays. Secretary Pat Bawden said: "We know that their investment in selecting Exmoor demonstrates the high value they place on coming here now and in the future."

All the uniqueness could be lost forever
Visitors entering Exmoor this weekend will be warned the uniqueness of its spectacular landscape and traditional villages could be lost for future generations. Endangered Exmoor, a group dedicated to saving the rural way of life, will hand leaflets to drivers at Exebridge, Simonsbath, Wheddon Cross, Porlock and over the Devon Border at North Molton from 4pm to 8pm tonight (Friday).
Spokesman Kevin Lamacraft who runs a hunter hire business at Timberscombe and will lead the Wheddon Cross rally, said that they wanted to make people aware farms were closing, fuel prices escalating and rural services getting worse rather than better. But he admitted the principle aim of Endangered Exmoor was to gather more support to fight off the increasing threat to outlaw hunting. "It is clear we have a government that has no empathy or sympathy with rural life", said Mr Lamacraft. MPs, especially jackie Ballard who represents Exmoor, are largely ignoring the findings of the Burns Inquiry into hunting with dogs. Yet we have found that when we have an opportunity to explain the true facts about hunting to the public, they are very supportive. people on Exmoor are very frustrated by the current situation. They are suffering a double whammy with the probelsm in farming and the threat of a hunt ban.

The Battle for Exmoor, Western Daily Press, 23rd August 2000
A rural way of life is under threat of collapse because of a three-pronged attack on Britain's smallest and most vulnerable national park, writes Chris Rundle for the Western Daily Press. The entire economy of Exmoor is jeopardised by the loss of farm subsidies, the proposed ban on hunting and a decline in the tourism trade, campaigners are warning. This weekend they will take to the roads to highlight the threat to Exmoor, claiming that farms could be abandoned as uneconomic and whole villages which rely on hunting and tourism for their trade could die.
Members of the Endangered Exmoor group - made up of farmers and hunt supporters - will greet tourists arriving in the park for the August Bank Holiday weekend along five main roads, and warn them of the uncertainties facing some of the most beautiful landscape in Britain. They say the entire way of life on the moor is threatened by changes in the way upland farms are subsidised - which will remove hundreds of thousands of pounds from the local economy - and by Government proposals to ban hunting. The group's secretary, Pat Bawden, said "We have farms closing down, fuel prices escalating, rural services worse than better. The list is endless, and sadly the historic cheerfulness and resilience of the Exmoor people is almost exhausted."

Rival Magazines join forces to save hunting, Daily Telegraph, 10th August 2000
Tony Blair is the target of a new campaign to save hunting launched jointly today by two rival magazines. Farmers Weekly and Horse and Hound carry the same headline, "Hands off Hunting Mr Blair", and robust editorials in defence of hunting as part of the rural economy. Both publications which claim a joint readership of 520,000, urge their readers to sign petition coupons calling on the Prime Minister to "respect the rich tradition of hunting and country sports".

'Five-year deadline for rural rescue ...', Mike Stones writing for Farmers Weekly, 4th August, 2000
The government has five years to rescue rural communities before they are damaged beyond recognition and repair, the Countryside Alliance warned at last week's Game Fair at Blenheim Palace, near Oxford. Baroness Mallalieu, Countryside Alliance, President, told reporters: "It's a crazy situation when country people, like ordinary farming families on Exmoor, can no longer afford to live in the countryside. Within five years we could lose the lot". She urged rural groups to speak with a united voice on countryside issues. "Major bodies are busy fighting their own corner. But if the countryside does not speak with one voice it will be damaged beyond recognition". "Too much time is wasted on sideline issues", she continued. "It's not about hunting or rights of access. It's about a precious community under pressure, which we shoiuld be treasuring and that is about ti disappear".
Anthony Bosanquet, president of the Country Landowners' Association, which organises the Game Fair, pleased for greater understanding of rural communities. "Our most important task is to explain to the public that countryside management doesn't happen by magic or automatically", he said.

Country sports slips off Nick Brown's agenda, Farmers Weekly, 4th August, 2000
Farm minister Nick Brown has infuriated the field sports lobby by addressing a conference at last week's Game Fair without mentioning country sports. In a wide ranging speech to European rural leaders at the Friends of the Countryside conference at Blenheim Palace near Oxford, Mr Brown spoke at length about the urgent need for reform of the CAP but ailed to mention country sports. Richard Burge, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance slated Mr Brown's failure to recognise country pursuits' £3.8bn contribution to the British economy and promised to step up protests. "The Alliance autumn offensive will involve regional rallies of rural focus groups, concentrating on the issues of liberty and livelihoods. There will be a training session for what could be one of the iggest marches ever to be held in London (next year)", said mr Burge. The last rural rally held in March 1998 attracted more than 300,000 protesters. The Countryside Alliance also plans to tarket the next Labour Party conference. "We will have a substantial presence at the Labour Party conference this autumn", said Mr Burge. "Also planned are numerous local and national events which will remind the prejudiced back-benchers that hunting is not for sale", he added.

MP Harvey 'No' to hunt ban, North Devon Journal, 3rd August
MP Nick Harvey is not backing the biod for a hunting ban it has been revealed in the wake of a recent poll. Mr Harvey, MP for North Devon, said he would consider the options put forward in an autumn Bill, but would retain his stance on not voting for a ban on hunting with dogs. Mr Harvey said: "I have not previously voted for a ban. The Burns Report has not provided any grounds to change that view. When the time comes, I will consider whatever proposals come forward, and am not adverse to suggestions of licensing or registering hunts, or bringing in some regulations. This is an important issue. The livelihoods of many constituents are at stake. So are our rural landscape and habitats."

Peterborough, Daily Telegraph, 1st August
Stag Party - Happy honeymooning to the two parties behind the National Trust's ban on staghunting on Exmoor. Last weekend saw the marriage of Nigel hester to Elizabeth Bradshaw. Hester, as manager of the National Trust's Exmoor estates, was instrumental in the ban, while Bradshaw produced, together with Professor Bateson, the report that was used as the Trust's evidence. "It just confirms what we heard at the time", says a local.

John Holliday, Huntsman of the Ledbury Foxhounds writes in the August issue of Hunting Magazine
A blocked bridge: the huntsman's case
I am huntsman to the Ledbury Foxhounds, a position I have been proud to hold for the past five years. ledbury is a quiet town in Herefordshire. One of the least populated and beautiful counties in England, famous mainly for forgetting about the millennium thing. So why, in such a place do several busloads of people regularly trek up to London, alight in Parliament Square and stand waving banners and such? Why does the huntsman of the local pack involve himself in blocking the Severn Bridge instead of attending his usual duties? I will try to explain.
A fortnight ago, I and six others met in Monmouthsire. We had one thing in common a wish to play an active role in the defence of hunting with hounds. This led us to call ourselves the Rural Action Group. The plan was to block the south Severn crossing for a short period to demonstrate what could be organised by a few people in a short time (10 days). We 'country folk' are a tolerant lot. We have suffered massive job losses and seen thousands of farms go to the wall. Nobody disputes that we are in the worst rural depression for generations. Farmers cannot strike - nobody would notice; supermarkets would buy elsewhere. The banning of hunting with hounds is seen by many as the last straw. The Government jackboot has been firmly placed, whilst they think we are on the ground. Therein lies the backbenchers' folly. I am not on the ground. I have more to lose than most, not only the sport, which I love, but my job and home. I do not want sympathy because I do not intend to lose them.

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