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Month: June 2018

CPRW Brecon & Radnor Branch Annual General Meeting 5th July 2018

CPRW Brecon & Radnor Branch Annual General Meeting 5th July 2018

Brecon and Radnor Branch
2018 Annual General Meeting
3pm Thursday 5th July 2018
Old Stable, Penyrheol Chapel, nr Llanigon

AGENDA

    1. Chairman’s welcome and statement
    2. Apologies for absence
    3. Minutes of 2017 Annual General Meeting
    4. Matters arising from the minutes
    5. Chairman’s report
    6. Financial report and adoption of accounts. Treasurer
    7. Election of officers and committee members:
      1. Membership Secretary and Treasurer, Ann Payne would like to retire from the Committee at the next AGM but would like to hand over Treasurer duties at the end of December 2018 as this is the end of our financial year. We are looking for a new Treasurer to start at the beginning of 2019.
      2. We welcome new committee members to help us in our interesting and important work.
    8. Any other business
  1. BRB-CPRW Secretary: tel. 01544 260 839

There will be tea, coffee and cake!

Directions for Penyrheol Chapel (map)

From Brecon: Approaching Talgarth from Bronllys, turn left opposite the Castle pub on to the A4078 in the direction of Three Cocks,  past the new school.   After ¼ mile turn right signed Felindre.  Keep village hall on your left, through village and stay on narrow road in the direction of Tregoyd until you see the sign to turn right to Penyrheol.   Over cattle grid, past cottage and farm on left and keep on going – the chapel is on the righthand side.  Postcode:  LD3 0SR. Map.

From Glasbury: Follow the A438 in direction of Brecon.   Take 1st left immediately after the de-restriction sign onto the A4078 towards Talgarth.   Take 2nd turning on the left signed Felindre and follow instructions as above. Map.

Update: Petition to Welsh Assembly to Control Environmental Impacts of Intensive Poultry Units

Update: Petition to Welsh Assembly to Control Environmental Impacts of Intensive Poultry Units

On 22nd May, our petition was handed in to the Welsh Assembly Petitions Committee, having attracted 4,567 signatures, mostly from Wales and neighbouring English border counties.

We very much welcomed the help and support, both drafting the petition and collecting signatures, of a number of environmental NGOs. These included the Wildlife Trusts, in particular the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust, Plantlife, the Woodland Trust, Countryside Restoration Trust, Campaign for the Protection of Welsh Fisheries, the Angling Trust/Fish Legal among others as well as a number of high-profile environmental campaigners.

The petition has been mentioned in the local press, on radio and online and seems to have focussed some much needed political attention on the urgent problems surrounding these developments. To see how the debate is evolving, please see the following links:
• 30th April: Letter from Lesley Griffiths, Cabinet Secretary, to David Rowlands, Chair of the Petitions Committee;
• 30th May: CPRW B&R to David Rowlands, petition evidence provided in response to Lesley Griffiths letter of 30 April;
• 5th June: Senedd TV Petitions Committee debate and minutes of the debate;
• 12th June: Letter from Welsh Government’s Chief Planning Officer to County Council Heads of Planning.

The Chief Planning Officer’s letter sets out the need to ‘exercise particular care’ when considering applications close to sensitive environmental areas or to homes and schools, and also the need to consider cumulative impacts. While this is most welcome, the letter only addresses the range of problems associated with these applications in very general terms. It remains to be seen whether it has an impact on planning decisions.

During the continued consideration of our petition, we hope to see:
• acknowledgement of the multiple failures in the determination of these applications;
• stricter control of impact on the non-designated natural environment, including ancient woodland;
• clear guidance on the division of responsibility between NRW and determining LPAs;
• NRW acting up to its responsibility to reverse the decline in biodiversity by maintaining objections where negative impacts are likely;
• an end to reliance on conditions which LPAs have no realistic means of effectively enforcing.
• development of guidance on human health issues including proximity to residents;
• a biosecurity policy for minimum separation of intensive poultry developments according to type;
• clear guidance on how LPA decision-making must address cumulative impacts of multiple intensive livestock units on the natural environment and residential amenity;
• Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales address the issue of the lack of effective regulation of intensive poultry units for fewer than 40 thousand birds;
• development of effective regulation to address diffuse agricultural pollution, along the lines of that in place in England and Scotland;
• funding of research to improve the evidence base for assessing the true environmental impacts of intensive livestock farming;
• A moratorium on approval of applications to allow assessment of the cumulative environmental impacts of IPUs already existing – see Wales Environment Link position statement.

Thank you for your support.

We will be continuing to campaign!