Shows
Following the success of the much improved Shropshire County Show, we now head into a frenetic period of our local shows, starting with Newport, followed by Burwarton, Oswestry and then Minsterley (the Oswestry office also attend the Llansilin Show).
We are so lucky in Shropshire to have so many excellent events where the amazing farming that we do in the County can be showcased.
If you are going to any of the above shows, please do pop into the NFU marquee to say hello and enjoy the refreshments available.
New NFU Director General, Sophie Throup, will be at the Burwarton Show to meet members.
County council
At the end of June, Kate Mayne, your county chair, and I met with Heather Kidd and Alex Wagner from the county council in one of our regular catch ups.
Top of the agenda was their new County Plan which is now in the first stages of consultation. We are concerned that, as they now have to include their Waste and Mineral Plan in the procedure, they would try to include farmyard manure and slurry in the definition of waste, as one of out neighbouring counties has done. We were reassured by Heather and Alex that this won’t be happening, but we will be keeping a close eye on it as the plan progresses.
We also discussed the stalemate of planning involving poultry. It was indicated that they were no further ahead for two reasons, one being simply their lack of resources and the other being the fear of a judicial review from the likes of Rivers Action. Kate and I offered the full weight of the NFU’s support, whether it be legal, planning or environment specialists to the council.
In the Conty Plan, they will have a target of building 2,032 houses every year in the county, and we did, if somewhat tongue-in-cheek, ask how this was any more environmentally friendly that a handful of extra chicken sheds spread over the whole county.
Badger vaccination project
I have previously written about the vaccination project for badgers in the northwest of the county. The organisers tell me that they have exceeded their land sign up target for the first year and expanded slightly outside the original boundary. They are now looking to get going and have people lined up to do the actual trapping and vaccination.
If you haven’t signed up already, or would just like further information, please don’t hesitate to contact myself in the first instance.
RABI NFU Branch Clay Shoot
The annual branch clay shoot was again kindly organised and hosted by Brocton Gun Club. This year's winners were Ludlow, with Much Wenlock second and Dorrington third. Other branches represented were Shrewsbury, Telford and Bridgnorth.
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