UPDATE - Pig farming adjoining the Village
Agreement reached
A ten-year agreement has now been executed between the Charity and Blois Farms which limits the type of agricultural activity permitted on Track and Manor Fields. Two of the excluded activities are pig farming and maize (the current crop). In return Blois Farms will receive an annual payment which compensates them for the resulting loss of income.
This has been a challenging issue for the Charity to deal with. Opinions within the Village were varied on whether or not pig farming would negatively impact quality of life or damage the economy of the Village. Likewise not everyone agreed with the principle of paying compensation to Blois Farms.
Given that variety of views, the Trustees elected to act as facilitator of the agreement and leave it very much to individuals whether they wished to donate towards the initiative. In total the Charity received 70 pledges, which exceeded the fund raising target. This enabled donations to be scaled back and the Charity is now collecting those donations from everyone who made a pledge.
The Trustees would like to thank all of the donors for their generosity, especially as a large number of the donors live away from the directly affected area. The next step will be to see whether a similar agreement can be reached for the fields adjoining Lodge Road and at the top of the Village.
Background
At the beginning of the year Blois Farms wrote to residents whose property adjoins either Track or Manor Fields to the south of the Village. The letter offered residents the opportunity to rent and manage the fields themselves, thereby giving them the ability to prevent pig farming from moving onto the land. The proposal directly impacted residents in Seven Acre Lane, Stocks Lane, The Street and Millfield Road.
Following consultation with interested parties in the Village, Walberswick Common Lands Charity agreed to take the lead role in pursuing this matter with Blois Farms, with the intention of reaching an amicable agreement which has now been concluded.
Walberswick Common Lands CharityFounded 1901 - Registered Charity No. 206095