June 2010
Links and references to articles by the leading UK news providers covering subjects that are of interest to those living and working in rural England and Wales.
'We cannot go on relying on expensive foreign fuel'
Greg Barker, the Climate Change Minister, talks about the Coalition's plans to give Britain its own supply of clean energy.
Daily Telegraph - 29 June 2010 - 27
Green bank plans to be unveiled
Details of a new "green investment bank", replacing several Government quangos and with powers to raise billions of pounds from green individual savings accounts (ISAs) and other financial instruemnts, will be unveiled today.
Financial Times - 29 June 2010 - 4
Hosepipe ban threat as resevoir dries up
A hosepipe ban is being considered by water companies in the North West after water levels at a resevoir in Lancashire have fallen in the region's driest start to the year since 1929.
Daily Telegraph - 29 June 2010 - 10
Local input vital for flood defence
Businesses, landowners and communities will have to make a bigger contribution to paying for flood defence in their area in the future, the Environment Agency has warned today.
Financial Times - 29 June 2010 - 4
Sea eagle chicks land to help species thrive
A batch of white-tailed sea eagle chicks has been flown into Scotland as part of an initiative to reintroduce the species to the east of the country.
Daily Telegraph - 29 June 2010 - 32
Tax 'bribes' to head off Nimby protest
Households will be offered reductions in their countil tax bills to persuade them to give the go ahead to controversial building projects such as housing developments, power plants and wind farms. George Osborne yesterday said new planning rules would give residents "economic incentives" to approve developments.
Daily Telegraph - 29 June 2010 - 1
Call to arms for villagers
A new guide produced by the Open Spaces Society and commissioned by Natural England advises campaigners how to reclaim village greens and public footpaths for public use.
Daily Telegraph - 28 June 2010 - 30
Home-grown solar energy
Writer Paul Gurley complains of difficulty in getting inverters for photovoltaic solar panels.
Daily Telegraph - 28 June 2010 - 19
Covert film exposes cruelty in abattoirs
Four meat suppliers, including two whose abattoirs cater to leading retailers, could face prosecution after hidden cameras revealed slaughtermen apparently inflicting abuse on animals.
Sunday Times - 27 June 2010 - 16
Whitehall given three weeks to find deep cuts
Whitehall departments will be told this week to prepare for cuts of up to third in their budgets over the next four years and to come up with proposals for reductions in the next three weeks. It says that the Chancellor wants to start the process before the summer recess of making £84 billion of reductions.
Sunday Times - 27 June 2010 - 2
Budget cuts may hit wildlife
Countryside campaigners are concerned that budget cuts will hit conservation projects but argue that investment in the environment will last for generations and are calling on ministers not to cuts funds for wildlife protection schemes.
Daily Telegraph - 24 June 2010 - 38
Efficiency drive tp turn wasteful houses green
Chris Huhne will promise today to put a £90bn domestic energy efficiency programme at the heart of the government's agenda saying that thousands of jobs will be created as 14m houses are given a complete overhaul to drastically cut energy demand, reduce power bills and lower carbon emissions.
The Guardian - 24 June 2010 - 29
Giant bird goes on the run in Suffolk
A Rhea, a giant bird native to South America has escaped from an estate in rural Suffolk.
Daily Telegraph - 24 June 2010 - 14
Higher rate of VAT is here to stay, says Cameron
The rise in VAT to 20 percent will remain in place permanently, David Cameron has announced.
Daily Telegraph - 24 June 2010 - 8
Mystery of the sea view homes and stealthy tree-feller with an axe to grind
A tree-feller has carried out a night-time attack on a protected Scots pine that may have been blocking the valuable sea views of nearby residents.
Daily Telegraph - 24 June 2010 - 13
Share your home with swifts, say RSPB
The RSPB has said that swifts in the UK have declined by almost a third in recent years, largely as a result of habitat loss. The charity is now asking the building industry to ensure there are access holes in buildings for swifts to find their nests if they are inside the roof.
Daily Telegraph - 24 June 2010 - 38
Groups team up to fight cuts
Countryside groups have ganged up to fight plans to cut funding for the environment. Sixteen groups including CPRE and RSPB, have signed a ltter to Caroline Spelman urging her to save schemes that pay farmers to protect the environment.
Daily Telegraph - 21 June 2010 - 34
Tomatoes feel the squeeze
Tinned tomatoes are to jump in price because of shortages due to a cold, wet winter which led to almost three million fewer tomatoes being grown for processing.
Daily Telegraph - 21 June 2010 - 14
Trust buys heathland to help save plants
Conservationists have bought heathland near Newbury, Berkshire to help rare plant species survive.
Daily Telegraph - 21 June 2010 - 34
Bee gets buzz from living in Britain
A rare violet carpenter bee usually found in mainland Europe has taken up residence in Warwickshire, Leicestershire and on the south coast.
Daily Telegraph - 17 June 2010 - 10
EU considers food label law
Meat sold in Europe will have to label clearly where the animal was born, raised and slaughterd under plans before the European Parliament environment and consumer protection committee.
Daily Telegraph - 17 June 2010 - 36
Paying in rent
Letter to the Editor in response to Philippe Legrain's opinion that landowners should pay a land tax. The writer says the landowners would increase tenant farmer rent to pay the tax.
The Times - 17 June 2010 - 4
Business leaders warn over tax rise
British business will be damaged if the coalition pushes ahead with its planned rise in the rate of Capital Gains Tax, the British Chambers of Commerce has warned.
Daily Telegraph - 16 June 2010 - 10
Saving the woods for the trees in Wales
An inventory of Wales's ancient woodlands is to be updated to ensure that all sites are protected.
Daily Telegraph - 16 June 2010 - 32
Shoppers support farmers
The Townswomen's Guilds are urging their 37,000 members to support farmers by buying British produce and demanding that supermarkets give farmers a fair deal.
Daily Telegraph - 16 June 2010 - 32
'Most would pay more for GM-free food'
More than two thirds of people would pay extra to ensure their food is entirely GM-free, according to an opinion poll by Friends of the Earth.
The Times - 15 June 2010 - 2
Ministers urged to extend wind subsidies
One of the biggest backers of UK wind power will warn the Government today that subsidies for the industry must be extended or investment will be put at risk as European countries vie to expand their capacity.
Financial Times - 15 June 2010 - 4
Outcry over plans for £1bn Heathrow-sized reservoir
Thames Water has provoked a planning row with proposals to build a £1 billion reservoir the size of Heathrow airport on prime agricultural land in Oxfordshire using compulsory purchase orders.
Daily Telegraph - 15 June 2010 - 11
Power from waste
Europe's first advanced biorefinery, converting municipal waste into bioethanol and clean electricity, has been earmarked for the Tees Valley in the North East.
The Times - 15 June 2010 - 47
Support for farm visits
Farm visits by the public should continue without excessive regulations, according to Lacors, part of the Local Government Association Group which supports councils' regulatory services.
Daily Telegraph - 15 June 2010 - 32
Beekeepers forced to import colonies
Commercial beekeepers have lost up to 80 percent of their bees in recent years and say they have had no choise but to import them from New Zealand.
Daily Telegraph - 14 June 2010 - 34
Further clouded
After yet another set of United Nations talks on climate change, a belief is growing that partial agreements on cuts in emissions offer a better route than a full treaty.
Financial Times - 14 June 2010 - 9
Global group to help stop biodiversity loss
The Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has been set up by the United Nations to gather scientific data on the degradation of the natural world.
Daily Telegraph - 14 June 2010 - 34
Lib Dems in warning to Osborne over CGT rise
Senior Liberal Democrats are warning George Osborne to resist pressure from the Tory right to retreat from the Con-Lib coalition agreementon increasing Capital Gains Tax in next week's Budget.
Financial Times - 14 June 2010 - 2
Rare plants saved from extinction
One of the country's rarest plant collections have been saved from extinction using a pioneering micropropagation cloning technique after succumbing to sudden oak death four years ago.
Daily Telegraph - 14 June 2010 - 2
Sea eagles do not need to be a risk to farmers' lambs
Letter to the Editor from a sheep farmer who writes that "suggestions by the Defra that farmers should lamb in polytunnels to avoid eagles is ridiculous. These birds are naturally pretty lazy, and all that is required is a relaxation of the current over-zealous regulations on the disposal of dead farm animals. The odd dead sheep left in a discreet locality would be more than enough to meet their needs."
Daily Telegraph - 14 June 2010 - 23
Tends of thousands join fight to stop CGT increase
More than 180,000 Daily Telegraph readers have signed a petition urging George Osborne to scrap plans to increase Captial Gains Tax.
Daily Telegraph - 14 June 2010 - 2
Help for milk farmers
Letter to the Editor says that that Fairtrade Foundation decided not to extend the Fairtrade mark to goods produced in the UK, nor other developed economies, even though British and European dairy farmers are going out of business at a rate of 20 a week.
Sunday Telegraph - 13 June 2010 - 25
City children given taste of the country
More than 400 farms nationwide will open their gates to the public as part of Open Farm Sunday this weekend.
Daily Telegraph - 11 June 2010 - 38
Farmers aim to cut red tape
Farmers have launched a review to look at ways to cut red tape in the industry. Jim Paice, the farming minister, said that red tape must be cut for agriculture to prosper in the future.
Daily Telegraph - 11 June 2010 - 38
Broadband for rural areas
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt's plans to introduce broadband to rual areas have been welcomed by campaigners. William Worsley, president of the CLA called for more details as soon as possible.
Daily Telegraph - 10 June 2010 - 36
CBI warns Osborne to avoid 'damaging' tax rises
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has written to the Chancellor urging him to offer Capital Gains Tax breaks for "long-term investment".
Daily Telegraph - 10 June 2010 - 2
Eagle owls driving out Britain's last hen harriers
A non-native eagle owl has attacked the next of a hen harrier, one of Britain's rarest birds of prey.
Daily Telegraph - 10 June 2010 - 15
Red squirrel to make comeback in Cornwall
They were once a common sight in trees and parks across the country but have been driven to the edge of extinction by the spread of their grey cousins but in the first reintroduction programme of red squirrels in England, the endangered animals will be returned to protected areas on the coast of Cornwall.
Daily Telegraph - 10 June 2010 - 3
Bee project fails after hibernation deaths
An ttempt to bring a species of bumblebee from New Zealand to Britain has failed after many of the insects died during hibernation.
Daily Telegraph - 9 June 2010 - 32
Scientists test GM potatoes behind £20,000 security screen
Hundreds of genetically modified potatoes have been planted behind a £20,000 security fence for an experiment in Norfolk approved by ministers as part of a publicly funded project to develop disease-resistant varieties.
Daily Telegraph - 9 June 2010 - 12
Guide to Lib-Con options
Analysis of the impact and political fallout of where cuts to the Environment budget could fall.
The Environment Agency, Natural England and the Comission for Rural Communities are all vulnerable. Cuts in cash towards new farm businesses, surveillance for BSE-type diseases, effeciencies in flood management and fewer farm inspections.
The Times - 8 June 2010 - 7
Hope grows for elms
The English elm, all but wiped out by disease after a new strain arrived from America in 1967, could stage a comeback.
The Times - 8 June 2010 - 12
New bluetongue vaccine rule
The Government has announced that all cattle and other ruminants coming into the UK will be vaccinated against bluetongue to stop the spread of the disease.
Daily Telegraph - 8 June 2010 - 30
Agricultural shows reveal the country at it's best
Letter to the Editor says those who despair of the state of the nation should spend a day at an agricultural show.
Daily Telegraph - 7 June 2010 - 21
Cameron offers hope to savers over tax rise
David Cameron has said he "totally understands" the arguments of those who fear a rise in Capital Gains Tax saying he did not come into politics to punish people who want to do the right thing and save.
Daily Telegraph - 7 June 2010 - 2
WI demand origin food labels
The Women's Institute is calling on the Government to introduce compulsory country of origin labels on meat, fish and poultry.
Daily Telegraph - 7 June 2010 - 32
- 4 June 2010
Gyspy and travellers rights
Letter to the Editor which says Government needs to think again on its policies over Gypsy and traveller rights otherwise we face a future of more roadside and unauthorised encampments, leading to inevitable community conflict and enforcement costs to local council tax payers.
The Guardian - 4 June 2010 - 35
Letter to the Editor on Capital Gains Tax
A reader writes that he expected Labour with its hatred of the countryside to raise CGT but not from a Conservative Government.
Daily Telegraph - 4 June 2010 - 25
RSPB survey for Cereals
Thirty eight bird species have been found living on the site of the largest arable farming event.
Daily Telegraph - 4 June 2010 - 38
The tree bumblebee heads way out west
A bumblebee that has never been seen so far west in Wales before has been discovered in the National Botanic Garden of Wales in Carmarthen.
Daily Telegraph - 4 June 2010 - 38
Citizen science could stop bird extinction
Twitchers who record sightings of common bird species could help to limit future extinctions, a new study suggests.
Daily Telegraph - 3 June 2010 - 34
Farmers told to help wildlife
Farmers must do more to protect wildlife or the Government will be forced to bring back set aside, according to campaigners. The Campaign for the Farmed Environment is a voluntary scheme to make sure farmers put aside land for wildlife. But 40 percent of farmers do not intend to participate in the scheme.
DailyTelegraph - 3 June 2010 - 34
RSPB spreads its wings in survey of garden mammals
The RSPB has launched "Make Nature Count", a new survey which asks the public to report sightings of foxes, deer, hedgehogs, badgers and red squirrels in their gardens.
Daily Telegraph - 3 June 2010 - 10
Osprey camera keeps an eye on new arrivals
Two chicks have been born at the site of England's only osprey reintroduction programme on Rutland Water.
Daily Telegraph - 2 June 2010 - 34
Prince invites public to stroll through his vegetable patch
The Prince of Wales is opening his garden at Clarence House for the first time this summer to promote a more sustainable life.
The Times - 2 June 2010 - 18
Two-storey breeze block building on greenbelt? It's a shed, say travellers
Travellers in Wickford, Essex, insist that a property they are building on greenbelt land is a shed even though it is two storeys high and has holes for windows and is made of breeze blocks.
Daily Telegraph - 2 June 2010 - 11
Discarded alien reptiles 'devouring flora and fauna'
Terrapins and turtles that have been dumped in canals, ponds and lakes are threatening native habitats and bringing disease to Britain, according to the British Vetinary Association.
The Times - 1 June 2010 - 17
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