New Milton Advertiser 4th Dec 2020

Friday 4th December 2020 · 5 News

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Funding shake-up set to halve commoners’ cash

Men’s Shed has goal of home near football club

PLANS for NewMilton’s branch of the international Men’s Shed project to have a permanent base near the town’s football club were welcomed by coun- cillors. The social hub to share skills and undertake projects for the community has been tempo- rarily housed in a workshop at Fernhill Sports Ground since its launch in September 2019. An online meeting of the town council’s amenities committee heard a search for its new home, before the current lease expires at the end of September 2021, had settled on Fawcett’s Field. It would involve a new

steel frame building on the north-eastern edge of the car park, off the A337 Christchurch Road. Amenities chair Cllr Geoffrey Blunden said: “The Men’s Shed are applying for funding from various bodies. The estimated cost of the project for them is about £65,000. “We could provide the land for it to go on at a peppercorn rent.” Members gave their blessing to enable the group to press on with seeking funding. Cllr Rob- ert Murrow said: “I think it’s a brilliant plan and I hope we go ahead with it.”

ing the cars without consent, and driving without a licence or insurance on both occasions. Southampton magistrates handed Horgan a 26-week pris- on term but suspended it for 18 months. There was a more “positive outlook”, the Bench said, as the defendant now had family support. Horgan was ordered to pay £85 court costs and £125 compensation to the female vic- tim. Charlotte Lines, chair of the Commoners Defence Associ- ation, welcomed the consul- tation, saying: “We hope it will result in a system which is more suited to supporting common- ing in the New Forest for the remainder of the BPS. “BPS is being phased out over the next few years and we are currently working with our partners to design a new sys- tem, through the Environmen- tal Land Management Scheme which will replace BPS and will continue to support common- ing in the New Forest.” New Forest West MP Sir Des- mond Swayne told the A&T he would follow up any rep- resentations from commoners with Defra ministers. The consultation has been fuelled by concerns that the current method for making BPS payments has encouraged com- moners to keep more animals in order to be paid more subsidies, harming the environment. The Defra spokesperson add- ed: “The Rural Payments Agen- cy is now seeking views on ways to replace or amend the pres- ent allocation method for BPS 2021 and the remainder of the life of the scheme. “It does not intend to con- tinue with the present method after this year.” The consultation will run un- til 3rd February 2021. Visit bit. ly/2HW03Nk

Defra looks to slash payments for livestock released onto Forest

BY ROZ WATERS

GOVERNMENT payments to commoners for turning out live- stock onto the New Forest look set to be halved by 2024 as part of a government strategy to shake up funding to farmers. The planned changes to the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) are the subject of a nine-week consultation which runs un- til 3rd February 2021 before changes are set to come in next spring. Currently commoners can ap- ply to the BPS and be allocat- ed a share of the subsidy based on the marking fees they paid to the verderers for animals turned out to graze in the pre- vious year. The fund for the New Forest is a fixed pot of around £3m a year so as animal numbers increase the payment per head is re- duced. As reported in the A&T, there have been claims that the number of animals is now dam- aging the environment. A New Forest commoner, who asked not to be named, ex- plained: “The difficulty is that in order to continue getting the same share of the pot, common- ers are paying marking fees for more and more animals.” Figures from the verderers revealed that in 2020 there were 13,628 cattle, ponies and don- DEVELOPMENT rights have been withdrawn by the nation- al park authority to stop fenc- ing “clutter” in a Cadnam field which is being auctioned off as multiple parcels of land. The four-hectare agricultur- al plot sits on the south side of Ringwood Road, within a con- servation area, and is currently on the market advertised as 16 plots. Under permitted develop- ment rights, a landowner could erect boundaries at the site without having to apply for planning permission. But when the matter went before the NPA’s latest plan- ning committee meeting, mem- bers agreed these rights should be removed, on the recommen- dation of enforcement manag- er David Williams. The committee report said:

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This year more than 13,000 cattle, ponies and donkeys were marked to graze on the New Forest

Under the first idea a “base” year would be selected, such as 2019, and commoners would re- ceive fixed payments based on marking fees paid during that year for the remaining duration of the subsidy scheme. A second suggestion is that payments are based on levan- cy and couchancy, an old sys- tem to calculate payments us- ing the “home-holding” land a commoner owns or leases for animals to overwinter. However, this system would have difficulties because some landowners already claim subsidies for land leased to commoners, and it could also be time-consuming to assess every commoner’s holding in the New Forest.

AN Ashley man who embarked on a two-day crime spree was spared an immediate spell in jail as magistrates believed he was “turning a corner”. David Horgan (37), of Holly Lane, admitted driving while disqualified on 9th and 10th February, as well as attacking a woman, obstructing a police officer and stealing bottles of wine and cider worth £24 over the 48-hour period. Horgan pleaded guilty to tak- A third option would base an element of payments on any conservation work commoners undertake, such as bracken clearance. However, this would also be problematic to quantify and throws up difficulties be - cause commoners are not the land owners of the Forest, and other conservation schemes are in place. A spokesperson for Defra said the Rural Payments Agen- cy, which administers the BPS, was open to other suggestions about how payments to com- moners could be calculated.

keys marked to graze on the New Forest and its commons. This is up from 8,880 animals in 2015, and is a 65% increase. A Defra spokesperson said: “Payments will reduce by around 50% by 2024 for the ma- jority of farmers and the money used to fund new grants and schemes to boost productivity and reward environmental im- provements. “Support and advice will be available to help those most affected by the phasing out of direct payments during the ag- ricultural transition period.” As part of the consulta- tion, Defra has put forward three suggestions for how cash could be allocated to commoners.

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Man spared jail over crime spree

NPA strips fencing rights to stop fields ‘clutter’

“If the land ownership were to be subdivided, it would be normal practice for individual landowners to fence their land and to create individual ac- cesses. “Any subdivision would ren- der the land unsuitable for ag- riculture and change the char- acter of the field. The clutter caused by separate and mixed types of boundary fencing of various sizes and designs would harm the wider charac- ter and visual amenity of the locality.” The field, which has been used for show events in the past, belongs to two joint land- owners from Winsor and is being sold by an organisation called Exclusive Estates and Auctioneers. The report stated that some “pre-application enquiries”

had been made by prospective purchasers. Mr Williams stressed he was not ruling out such develop- ment being undertaken. In- stead, he wanted planners to have control over particulars through the usual application process. Speaking to the A&T follow- ing the committee’s decision, he explained: “An article 4 no- tice has been agreed, served and takes immediate effect. “It seeks to ensure we can control the form, design and siting of new fences, gates and other means of enclosure which otherwise would not need plan- ning permission. “This action is considered necessary to help safeguard the special character and land- scape quality of the national park.”

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