Friday, 26 April, 2002

John Sheard struggles to find a balance between rural tranquillity and a chance for small farmers to make a few extra pounds.

TWO of the countryside's heavyweight protagonists went head to head this week over a little matter of peace and quiet, two assets which to many people are the reason for going outdoors in the first place.

At each other's throats - with the Government playing piggy in the middle- were the National Farmers' Union and the Council for the Protection of Rural England, organisations which, from time to time, reflect the different needs of country folk.

Both are involved in a long-term consultation with the Government on future rural planning. In particular, Whitehall wants to make the planning process quicker, more efficient and cheaper (which is everyone's benefit except the lawyers who make millions out of endless planning enquiries).

On Wednesday, the CPRE demanded that the Government should in fact create new planning procedures to cover events that, more and more these days, are turning the countryside into a green-equivalent of Blackpool beach: motor sport meetings, car boot sales and - an unwise inclusion, I fear - clay pigeon shoots.

Under present rules, these events can be staged for either 14 or 28 days a year, depending on local bylaws, without the landowner needing planning permission. The CPRE is asking that this waiver be withdrawn and all such events should be subject to planning permission from the local council.

The following day, the NFU issued a hard-hitting press statement saying that any changes would threaten traditional country events like village shows and gymkhanas, as well as recent innovations like farmers' markets.

These, it said, were a "vital part of rural life" and an important source of revenue for farmers: "Many farmers have over decades provided venues for village activities in this way. They have also come to rely on events like farmers' markets for the survival of the farm business."

Now, for once in a while, I am stumped in this lot. I can see the arguments on both sides. Sadly, I have also suffered too: I have been unable to fish the River Lune near Devil's Bridge at Kirkby Lonsdale any Bank Holiday weekend for some years now, for nearby fields have become a regular venue for car-boot sales that bring out thousands of people, many of them totally unused to country ways, as the litter, noise and damage they cause proves throughout the summer.

At the same time, farmers desperately need new sources of income and, like them, I am horrified at the thought of yet another layer of rural red tape to strangle local enterprise. Ask a district council - or even worse, a county council - to pass judgement on such an issue and you would be lucky to get a verdict this decade, never mind this summer.

However, there is a much maligned local authority which can make quick judgements and one which is intimately involved in the life of the local community: the parish council. This is surely the body to say Yea or Nay to such matters.

Trouble is, this Government is said to want to abolish parish councils. Where that would leave us, God only knows. I fear yet another monumental countryside cock-up is on the cards.