> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://wiki.greatcollaboration.uk/knowledgebase/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://wiki.greatcollaboration.uk/knowledgebase/events/banter-sessions-inc-table-of-all-sessions/banter-130-29jul26-community-land-trusts-with-richard-small-and-janet-cobb.md). # Banter 130: 29Jul26 Community Land Trusts with Richard Small and Janet Cobb {% embed url="" %} #### Video Timeline: (min:sec) 00:00 - 14:54 Richard's presentation on why the MMCLT\ 14:54 - 17:34 Brief Q & A\ 17:34 - 35:25 Janet's presentation on what the MMCLT has achieved - and how\ 35:25 - 58:13 (end) Full Q & A *** #### Presentations: #### Richard: {% embed url="" %} You are welcome to use this presentation - click on arrows to see slides, or on the Menu icon (second from right) to download. #### Janet: {% embed url="" %} You are welcome to download this presentation (click on Open). Markdown (ie text only) versions are provided at the bottom of this page. Please also note the "Links" section below the "Chat" with further suggested links from Janet and Richard *** #### Meeting Summary: ### Quick recap This meeting featured a presentation by Richard and Janet from Middle Marches Community Land Trust about their nature conservation work in Shropshire and Wales. Richard explained how their CLT differs from others by focusing primarily on managing land for biodiversity rather than affordable housing, having acquired six sites including two SSSI locations and working with private landowners through memorandums of understanding. Janet detailed their collaboration with town and parish councils through conferences and local nature recovery strategies, highlighting their work with Shropshire Association of Local Councils and organizing national meadows conferences. The discussion covered their funding sources including public donations with gift aid claims, countryside stewardship funding, and grants from organizations like Heritage Lottery Fund and National Trust. Participants asked questions about connecting fragmented nature reserves, biodiversity net gain funding opportunities, and conservation covenants, with Richard and Janet sharing resources and suggesting contacts for similar initiatives in other areas. #### Next steps #### Graham * Share the link to the British Academy paper on pioneering place-sensitive nature recovery at hyperlocal scale after the session. * Share the link to the work boot for town and parish councils on the MMCLT website after the session. #### Janet * Follow up this call with the website for the National Network of Community Land Trusts. * Send Sue the link to the Three Parishes Project and the beginnings of the Six Parish Project. * Send Graham the information about the Depave Project after the meeting for circulation. #### Kirsten * Forward the link to the Water Sensitive Cambridge website to Graham for the knowledge base. * Forward the link to the BNG website to Graham when it launches for addition to the knowledge base. #### Summary ### Middlemarches Community Land Trust Presentation Richard Small presented Middlemarches Community Land Trust, explaining that it focuses on managing land for biodiversity rather than affordable housing like many other community land trusts. The organization has acquired five sites and is in the process of acquiring a sixth, including two Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and works with both private landowners and other conservation organizations. Richard described their funding sources including shareholder investments, public donations with gift aid benefits, grants from organizations like Heritage Lottery Fund, and potential grazing licenses for managed sites. The discussion concluded with John inquiring about collaboration with other CLTs outside their area, to which Richard confirmed they could contact the National Association of Community Land Trusts for connections. ### Middle Marches Community Land Trust Janet Cobb presented on the Middle Marches Community Land Trust, explaining its mission to address connectivity issues in the landscape and build community resilience through strategic land acquisition. She outlined the trust's current holdings including Cudwell Meadow, Norbury Hill, and three fields in Church Stretton, highlighting habitat restoration work and biodiversity initiatives. The discussion included mention of a potential connection to natural colonization projects and expanding rare temperate rainforests. ### MMCLT Community Land Trust Presentation Janet presented on the work of MMCLT (Minsterley Meadows Community Land Trust), describing their successful land acquisition projects including Minsterley Meadows where they raised £157,000 through public donations and matched funding to protect green-winged orchids. She explained their community engagement efforts, including conferences and events targeting town and parish councils, and their collaboration with various organizations like March's Meadow Group and Caring for God's Acre. The presentation highlighted their work with local nature recovery strategies and their efforts to engage 180 town and parish councils across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin through four conferences aimed at parish councillors. ### Land Trust Management Coordination Janet and Richard explained how they coordinate land management across different parcels acquired by the Middle Marches Community Land Trust, working closely with the Local Nature Recovery Strategy lead and operating through a hub and spoke model with individual management plans for each site. They discussed a specific case where they entered into discussions with a landowner whose commercial forestry manager wasn't meeting expectations for community access and wildlife conservation. Richard also mentioned their role as an approved body for conservation covenants, which allows landowners to protect conservation interests through binding agreements that last at least 30 years, and shared an example of a potential future case involving a meadow with valuable orchids that needs protection. ### Biodiversity Corridors Implementation Advice Sue from East Sussex sought advice on creating green corridors and implementing biodiversity obligations for local parishes. Janet and Richard recommended connecting with the local nature recovery strategy and exploring funding opportunities through Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) money, suggesting that parish councils could access 15% of CIL funds. They also discussed conservation covenants as a governance tool for managing land, with Janet suggesting Sue could find information on DEFRA's website. ### Wildlife Corridors and BNG Opportunities The group discussed connecting wildlife corridors and biodiversity net gain (BNG) opportunities. Graham suggested using Parish Online to access Friends of the Earth mapping layers to identify and enhance wildlife corridors. Richard explained that while they considered BNG funding, they felt unready to implement it due to ongoing changes and uncertainty in the system. Janet shared information about conservation covenants and the Depave Project, which involves removing impermeable surfaces to address flooding issues. The conversation ended with participants sharing resources, including Water Sensitive Cambridge and the Depave Project, to be added to the knowledge base for future reference. *** #### Chat: 00:34:33 John Payne redbrook forest of dean: This talk about CLTs could be very relevant in setting up a natural colonization project, in our case expanding a rare temperate rainforest into poor quality grazing land. \ 00:35:55 John Payne redbrook forest of dean: Apologies that i have leave for a meeting ### 01:09:01 Sue Burton Battle Town Council: [Rome is doing loads of depaving](https://www.isprambiente.gov.it/en/news/urban-heat-islands-reforestation-and-depaving-can-reduce-temperatures-by-up-to-4degc) \ 01:10:17 Christiana Bentley: I have some land and redundant farm buildings and am setting up a CIC . I want to find growers for the land . any ideas anyone ### 01:10:56 Kirsten Newble: [WSC - Water Sensitive Cambridge](https://www.watersencam.co.uk/)
01:11:16 Kirsten Newble: Thank you very much for this \ 01:11:33 Sue Burton Battle Town Council: THANK YOU *** #### Suggested Links: ### MMCLT : [https://middlemarchescommunitylandtrust.org.uk/](#mmclt-https-middlemarchescommunitylandtrust.org.uk) ### National CLT network [https://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk/](#national-clt-network-https-www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk) ### Conservation Covenants list : [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/conservation-covenant-agreements-designated-responsible-bodies/conservation-covenants-list-of-designated-responsible-bodies](#conservation-covenants-list-https-www.gov.uk-government-publications-conservation-covenant-agreement) ### De-Pave Oswestry [https://www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/blog/jenna-shaw/depave-oswestry-community-action-water-resilient-future](#de-pave-oswestry-https-www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk-blog-jenna-shaw-depave-oswestry-community) *** #### Audiotranscript: 136 \ 00:13:25.420 --> 00:13:43.900 \ Richard Small: Well, yes, good afternoon now. Thank you very much for the opportunity to talk about Middlemarch's Community Land Trust. I'll give a little bit of background to Middlemarch's CLT, and talk a little bit about 137 \ 00:13:44.150 --> 00:13:47.939 \ Richard Small: What we do, and in particular, 138 \ 00:13:48.140 --> 00:13:52.139 \ Richard Small: Acquiring and managing land for conservation. 139 \ 00:13:52.940 --> 00:13:58.369 \ Richard Small: Then I'll hand over to Janet, who, as you can see, will talk about, 140 \ 00:13:58.620 --> 00:14:11.420 \ Richard Small: Middlemarch's Community Land Trust cooperation with, or Collaboration with Town and Paris councils, and with the Shropshire Association of Local Councils. 141 \ 00:14:12.920 --> 00:14:16.170 \ Richard Small: Okay, so if you have the next slide, please, Graeme. 142 \ 00:14:16.640 --> 00:14:23.129 \ Richard Small: Many of you, I'm sure, will be familiar with community land trusts, and 143 \ 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:41.179 \ Richard Small: the vast majority of them are concerned with the provision of affordable housing. So we have an example there from Eastington CLT, where they were building some, affordable homes for their local residents. 144 \ 00:14:41.710 --> 00:14:50.129 \ Richard Small: And then there are other community land trusts who have roles such as, safeguarding assets like community enterprises. 145 \ 00:14:50.280 --> 00:14:55.860 \ Richard Small: Food growing, such as community orchards, or managing workspaces. 146 \ 00:14:56.270 --> 00:15:00.099 \ Richard Small: For local… small local businesses. 147 \ 00:15:00.290 --> 00:15:03.979 \ Richard Small: And then others might manage commons, 148 \ 00:15:04.490 --> 00:15:07.820 \ Richard Small: Village greens, and other public space. 149 \ 00:15:09.010 --> 00:15:14.660 \ Richard Small: But Middlemarch is different from these, so if we have the next slide, please. 150 \ 00:15:15.990 --> 00:15:24.820 \ Richard Small: Yes, we differ in that, the CO… Middlemarch's community, COT, 151 \ 00:15:25.310 --> 00:15:29.950 \ Richard Small: Its primary concern is managing land for biodiversity. 152 \ 00:15:30.380 --> 00:15:32.920 \ Richard Small: That may mean purchase. 153 \ 00:15:32.990 --> 00:15:52.289 \ Richard Small: of the land, but we're also willing to manage land which is in private or in public ownership. As an example of that, we've recently signed a memorandum of understanding with a private individual who owns a sizeable area of woodland in Shropshire. 154 \ 00:15:52.310 --> 00:15:53.240 \ Richard Small: And… 155 \ 00:15:53.450 --> 00:16:08.319 \ Richard Small: the CLT will manage it on his behalf, or at least direct the management. We won't be physically engaged with the management ourselves, but we will direct the management in consultation with the owner. 156 \ 00:16:09.580 --> 00:16:15.100 \ Richard Small: So, Middlemarches was launched in April 2019. 157 \ 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:21.410 \ Richard Small: And a little bit later that year, was constituted as a community benefit society. 158 \ 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:36.660 \ Richard Small: And we were very pleased when we won the, Community Land Trust Networks Award. It's called What a Wonderful World Award. We won that in 2024. 159 \ 00:16:37.940 --> 00:16:44.119 \ Richard Small: Okay, so, next slide, please. So, you might be asking, why is 160 \ 00:16:44.330 --> 00:16:50.869 \ Richard Small: it necessary for a community land trust, to be formed to 161 \ 00:16:51.380 --> 00:16:56.630 \ Richard Small: Acquire or manage land for conservation when there are so many other 162 \ 00:16:56.870 --> 00:17:13.429 \ Richard Small: organisations which can do that, and listed some of their Natural England, or… because we operate across the border into Wales, we're also, you know, involved with Natural Resources Wales. 163 \ 00:17:13.560 --> 00:17:32.970 \ Richard Small: And the many charities which own land and manage it for conservation. So, the National Trust, the Wildlife Trust, the RSPB, and so on, and Woodland Trust, you know, you can go on for quite some time listing the organisations which own 164 \ 00:17:33.120 --> 00:17:41.969 \ Richard Small: land and manage it for conservation. So, why do we feel that yet another organization was needed? 165 \ 00:17:42.390 --> 00:18:00.850 \ Richard Small: Well, we thought that there were a number of sites which were coming onto the market, which are probably too small to be, or currently lacking value for biodiversity to be of interest to those other organizations. 166 \ 00:18:01.220 --> 00:18:03.610 \ Richard Small: And certainly in this area. 167 \ 00:18:03.690 --> 00:18:14.259 \ Richard Small: Some of those organisations seem more reluctant to acquire land now, unless they can see potential for much larger schemes 168 \ 00:18:14.260 --> 00:18:25.549 \ Richard Small: than they used to be involved with. So, you know, perhaps rewilding schemes, or managing for biodiversity net gain, or for carbon, 169 \ 00:18:26.300 --> 00:18:28.449 \ Richard Small: Offsetting, and so on. 170 \ 00:18:29.250 --> 00:18:47.530 \ Richard Small: And we were concerned that there were a number of sites which were being lost as a consequence. And these might be, as I say, relatively small, or perhaps lacking biodiversity, and our original intention was that we would be 171 \ 00:18:47.650 --> 00:19:01.430 \ Richard Small: acquiring those sites and improving them from the point of view of biodiversity to increase their biodiversity. Now, having said that, this changed a little bit in that 172 \ 00:19:01.430 --> 00:19:11.799 \ Richard Small: The last two sites that we've acquired are sites of special scientific interest, SSIs as they're often referred to. 173 \ 00:19:11.800 --> 00:19:18.260 \ Richard Small: So, these are sites, then, which already are recognized for their biodiversity value. 174 \ 00:19:18.690 --> 00:19:27.549 \ Richard Small: But they came onto the market, and there was a danger that they might have been sold to owners who 175 \ 00:19:28.020 --> 00:19:35.689 \ Richard Small: might not manage them as well as they should be. I mean, they're under a legal obligation to manage them appropriately. 176 \ 00:19:35.830 --> 00:19:47.629 \ Richard Small: But, may not always be the case. Particularly, you know, neglect can be, a way in which those sites can lose their value. 177 \ 00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:52.600 \ Richard Small: And certainly in one case, the owners of the site 178 \ 00:19:52.820 --> 00:20:04.120 \ Richard Small: were quite, really, like, relieved, because they had a bungalow they wanted to sell with the attached SSI that they had managed for 25 years, or thereabouts. 179 \ 00:20:04.310 --> 00:20:10.420 \ Richard Small: And… It was difficult for them to sell the building with that 180 \ 00:20:10.620 --> 00:20:25.459 \ Richard Small: constraint. People were willing to buy the bungalow and the land if they could have it as a horse pallet, for example, but that wasn't appropriate, and in that case wouldn't be allowed by Natural Resources Wales. 181 \ 00:20:25.530 --> 00:20:36.270 \ Richard Small: So they were sort of a little bit stuck, and we were able to come in and acquire the land, leaving them to sell their bungalow separately. 182 \ 00:20:36.950 --> 00:20:40.849 \ Richard Small: So, it's not always that we buy land with 183 \ 00:20:40.990 --> 00:20:53.159 \ Richard Small: relatively poor biodiversity and improve it. Now we're sort of acquiring sites with some value already, but hoping to maintain, and still, if we can, enhance that 184 \ 00:20:55.040 --> 00:21:06.150 \ Richard Small: So the vision there, Middle Marches Community Land Trust for… is the vision for an ecologically rich and resilient landscape across the Middle Marches. 185 \ 00:21:06.360 --> 00:21:17.900 \ Richard Small: Supporting a work where you can read it, supporting work in partnership with local communities and landowners, both large and small, and inspires residents and visitors alike. 186 \ 00:21:18.270 --> 00:21:24.650 \ Richard Small: we define the middle of Marches, in this case, as, certainly all of Shropshire. 187 \ 00:21:24.820 --> 00:21:44.739 \ Richard Small: parts of, the neighbouring parts of Paris. Obviously, Paris is a very large Welsh county, and we can't cover it all, but the neighbouring parts, and also we would say, if a site came up in North Herefordshire, we would, you know, look at that seriously. 188 \ 00:21:45.250 --> 00:21:54.989 \ Richard Small: So, we currently own 5 sites, and are in the process of acquiring a sixth. 189 \ 00:21:55.320 --> 00:22:03.810 \ Richard Small: One of those, the ones I… the ones I've just described, the bungalow and the SSSI, is just over the border into 190 \ 00:22:03.810 --> 00:22:16.780 \ Richard Small: Paris, only by a few hundred metres, but nonetheless, we, you know, it becomes then, you know, that we, as I said, talk with Natural Resources Wales, rather than with natural England. 191 \ 00:22:16.780 --> 00:22:19.470 \ Richard Small: So, we have to be aware of those. 192 \ 00:22:20.740 --> 00:22:25.619 \ Richard Small: Okay, here we have the next slide, 193 \ 00:22:27.280 --> 00:22:34.169 \ Richard Small: But I should say, perhaps, that the CLT then acquires and manages land for nature recovery. 194 \ 00:22:34.280 --> 00:22:44.170 \ Richard Small: It works with… well, I think we've covered this… works with large and small landowners, farmers, and occupiers, and it works with other organis… excuse me… 195 \ 00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:48.940 \ Richard Small: Who works with other organizations, communities, and individuals. 196 \ 00:22:49.170 --> 00:22:56.960 \ Richard Small: And we can act as an advice hub, and I think Janet will say more about at least some of those collaborations. 197 \ 00:22:57.530 --> 00:23:03.449 \ Richard Small: to… our sources of income, we have shareholders, 198 \ 00:23:03.530 --> 00:23:21.149 \ Richard Small: Minimum shareholding is £50. The maximum is £100,000. That's very much a theoretical maximum. We've not got any shareholders who have got anywhere near £100,000, but in theory, they could do. 199 \ 00:23:21.300 --> 00:23:27.040 \ Richard Small: It doesn't matter the size of the shareholding, they all get one vote at the AGM. 200 \ 00:23:28.010 --> 00:23:30.839 \ Richard Small: But we've been very, 201 \ 00:23:31.410 --> 00:23:37.399 \ Richard Small: Reliant to acquire several of these sites on donations, public appeals. 202 \ 00:23:37.590 --> 00:23:54.790 \ Richard Small: And they've been greatly enhanced by the fact that because of our status, we were able to claim gift aid on those donations, and that makes a huge difference. It really does sort of top up the amount of money that we get directly from donations. 203 \ 00:23:54.840 --> 00:24:04.280 \ Richard Small: And makes it, well, a little easier to acquire, These sites through public appeal. 204 \ 00:24:04.610 --> 00:24:16.289 \ Richard Small: there is, of course, you know, a slight danger. We're operating in a relatively small area, and it may be that in some time in the future, people will get fed up with 205 \ 00:24:16.560 --> 00:24:24.189 \ Richard Small: Giving us money, to acquire land, but so far, they've been very good, and some of the appeals have been quite 206 \ 00:24:24.370 --> 00:24:29.090 \ Richard Small: spectacular, really, particularly in places like Church, Stretton. 207 \ 00:24:30.450 --> 00:24:41.700 \ Richard Small: We've also acquired, then, some, some grants. There's a project operating in this area called Stepping Stones. This is through the, National Trust. 208 \ 00:24:41.840 --> 00:24:51.679 \ Richard Small: And indirectly, then, it's, heritage lottery funding, which includes, you know, quant… 209 \ 00:24:51.800 --> 00:24:55.420 \ Richard Small: Funding for lots of local organisations. 210 \ 00:24:55.570 --> 00:25:02.730 \ Richard Small: of which Middlemarch's Community Land Trust has been one, so we've benefited from that wider 211 \ 00:25:03.040 --> 00:25:05.699 \ Richard Small: project of the stepping stones. 212 \ 00:25:06.320 --> 00:25:07.710 \ Richard Small: We… 213 \ 00:25:07.850 --> 00:25:19.279 \ Richard Small: part of our area is in the land, Shropshire Hills National Landscape, and within that, there is a Shropshire Hills Landscape Trust. 214 \ 00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:27.949 \ Richard Small: Which has provided us with funding to manage… more especially to manage some of our sites, or to help towards the management. 215 \ 00:25:28.190 --> 00:25:34.799 \ Richard Small: And again, we've had money from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, for… 216 \ 00:25:35.060 --> 00:25:47.010 \ Richard Small: one of our sites called Minsley Meadows, which is one of the more recent acquisitions. That's one of the SSS size that we've acquired, but in that case, it's within England. 217 \ 00:25:47.560 --> 00:25:52.180 \ Richard Small: Once we've acquired some of these sites, then we can, 218 \ 00:25:52.630 --> 00:26:03.239 \ Richard Small: maybe, offer grazing licenses. Often the management of these sites requires grazing, so we can obtain some 219 \ 00:26:03.240 --> 00:26:14.780 \ Richard Small: income by leasing out that grazing. We don't own animals ourselves, but we can liaise with local farmers and graziers 220 \ 00:26:14.860 --> 00:26:18.620 \ Richard Small: The initials on this slide there, 221 \ 00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:35.210 \ Richard Small: NH is Norbury Hill, HL is, High Lesos, and question mark, is, Minsley Meadows that was… that we haven't yet set up, a grazing licence with Minsley Meadows, but we hoped we will. 222 \ 00:26:35.740 --> 00:26:55.019 \ Richard Small: For two sites, Norbury Hill and Mid… and Minsley Meadows, we can also obtain countryside stewardship funding, so we've acquired or agreed, to manage them according to countryside stewardship prescriptions. 223 \ 00:26:55.600 --> 00:27:14.629 \ Richard Small: And then, largely through Janet, well, almost entirely through Janet, who has organized lots of conferences for… mainly for local organisations, but through Middle of March's Community Land Trust, and that's generated income, which, 224 \ 00:27:14.780 --> 00:27:27.769 \ Richard Small: goes into a fund, which enables us, or enables Janet, to organize future conferences. So they've gone, which she might say more about this, but they've gone from very local 225 \ 00:27:27.830 --> 00:27:42.959 \ Richard Small: topics, and now into things like the National Meadows Conference. He's organized three of those, and with the prospect of several more in future years. So that's been a huge 226 \ 00:27:43.590 --> 00:27:52.409 \ Richard Small: And… benefit for middle Marxist community trans… but also our ability to Liaise with others. 227 \ 00:27:53.870 --> 00:28:08.199 \ Richard Small: So I think having mentioned Janet and her conference is probably the best time for me to pass over to her and let her talk about some of those collaborations, not only in terms of conferences, but other 228 \ 00:28:08.450 --> 00:28:12.040 \ Richard Small: aspects of the COT's work. 229 \ 00:28:15.540 --> 00:28:23.330 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: We have one person who is going to leave, Richard. Just wanted to check whether he wanted to ask any questions before that happened. 230 \ 00:28:23.630 --> 00:28:24.430 \ Richard Small: Huh. 231 \ 00:28:24.970 --> 00:28:29.260 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: I'm trying desperately to remember who it was. Was it… wasn't you, John, was it? 232 \ 00:28:29.260 --> 00:28:30.650 \ John Payne redbrook forest of dean: It's me. Yes. 233 \ 00:28:30.650 --> 00:28:35.999 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Was you, okay. Did you have any questions you wanted to check with Richard before you need to run away? 234 \ 00:28:36.990 --> 00:28:39.479 \ John Payne redbrook forest of dean: Yes, it's really interesting, because I… 235 \ 00:28:39.600 --> 00:28:45.950 \ John Payne redbrook forest of dean: own woodland in the forest of Dean, which is probably a bit further south in your area, but very close to the border. 236 \ 00:28:46.150 --> 00:28:49.719 \ John Payne redbrook forest of dean: And the thought of actually having somebody help manage these, 237 \ 00:28:51.110 --> 00:29:06.719 \ John Payne redbrook forest of dean: natural colonization grants would be very attractive, particularly as I want to, encourage the rare temperate rainforests in the Forest of Dinas area, a particular area, you know, to move into now, which is very rough woodland. 238 \ 00:29:09.470 --> 00:29:29.160 \ Richard Small: Right. We're certainly, you know, we're able to, advise. I mean, as you say, we're probably… or you're probably a bit too far south for us to get physically involved again, but certainly, you know, we… I think we would be willing to offer advice on what might be 239 \ 00:29:29.210 --> 00:29:39.219 \ Richard Small: possible, and perhaps how the site should be managed, if you needed that. By the sound of it, you know, you've probably got a good idea of what's necessary anyway. 240 \ 00:29:39.860 --> 00:29:43.219 \ John Payne redbrook forest of dean: Yes, and… and is it… is… Kevin, can we… can we… 241 \ 00:29:43.380 --> 00:29:53.800 \ John Payne redbrook forest of dean: make contact with CLTs in areas outside yours quite easily, and are they generally quite all up to a standard, and 242 \ 00:29:54.650 --> 00:30:02.440 \ Richard Small: Yes, there is the National Association of, Community Land Trusts, which, 243 \ 00:30:03.540 --> 00:30:12.019 \ Richard Small: You can look at the website and find local CLTs. I should have emphasized, perhaps, at the beginning, that, 244 \ 00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:24.549 \ Richard Small: as I said, other CLTs are mainly involved with other aspects. As far as I'm aware, we're the only CLT in England that focuses on 245 \ 00:30:25.190 --> 00:30:37.019 \ Richard Small: nature conservation. It's more common in Scotland, where land has been acquired for that purpose, and is owned by the equivalent of CLTs in Scotland. 246 \ 00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:48.520 \ Richard Small: But in, you know, what I'm saying is you might not find your local CLT is particularly experienced in conservation management. 247 \ 00:30:48.780 --> 00:30:51.400 \ John Payne redbrook forest of dean: Great, thank you very much, that's really helpful, yeah. 248 \ 00:30:52.180 --> 00:30:58.579 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Well done, Richard, thank you, and let's pass on to Janet now. I'll share the screen with your slides, Janet. 249 \ 00:30:58.580 --> 00:31:00.070 \ Janet Cobb: Okay, thank you. 250 \ 00:31:02.230 --> 00:31:09.970 \ Janet Cobb: So, Graham, I'll follow up this call with the website for the National Network of Community Land Trusts. 251 \ 00:31:17.330 --> 00:31:28.580 \ Janet Cobb: Okay, so I'm… Janet Cobb, and I'm on the board with Richard of the Middlemarches Community Land Trust, and I think Richard touched on this, why is, 252 \ 00:31:28.780 --> 00:31:43.300 \ Janet Cobb: Middlemarch's Community Land Trust needed. Well, there's a loss of connectivity within our landscape, so we're ending up with sort of miniature reserves dotted across the country, and there's no connectivity between them. 253 \ 00:31:43.490 --> 00:31:50.500 \ Janet Cobb: So we… and we know we've got wildlife in crisis, so we're the most nature-depleted country in… 254 \ 00:31:50.540 --> 00:32:04.509 \ Janet Cobb: Europe, and maybe in the world, I don't know. And we've also been faced with climate change pressures, and that's become all too obvious in the last couple of weeks with the wildfires in 255 \ 00:32:04.510 --> 00:32:13.000 \ Janet Cobb: France and Spain in particular, and it's becoming increasingly frightening in terms of nature and the destruction to nature. 256 \ 00:32:13.200 --> 00:32:23.570 \ Janet Cobb: We're also, likely to experience food and energy supplies vulnerabilities as a climate change, to its hold. 257 \ 00:32:23.580 --> 00:32:39.970 \ Janet Cobb: And, we are looking at, food production, I think it's down something… the yields are down something like 60% across Europe this year, so we need to start thinking about resilience, and Tone and Parish Council networks are one of the key networks. 258 \ 00:32:39.970 --> 00:32:43.669 \ Janet Cobb: Where we can think about developing resilience in communities. 259 \ 00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:59.849 \ Janet Cobb: There needs to be a future for agriculture and forestry in the UK, and we, again, we're interested in trying to build that resilience and that community action from a community land trust point of view. So, a bottom-up approach, not just waiting for government. 260 \ 00:33:00.100 --> 00:33:08.940 \ Janet Cobb: We're interested in supporting resilient communities and economies, and one of the fantastic things about community land trusts is that 261 \ 00:33:08.970 --> 00:33:27.149 \ Janet Cobb: They move assets to community ownership, and they also create circular economies for local communities. So whether it's nature, or housing, or food production, all those things create a circular economy for the community that owns the asset. 262 \ 00:33:27.150 --> 00:33:30.180 \ Janet Cobb: So we're almost shifting the power away from 263 \ 00:33:30.660 --> 00:33:34.590 \ Janet Cobb: Politicians and the higher echelons back to people. 264 \ 00:33:35.010 --> 00:33:43.130 \ Janet Cobb: We're interested in strategic land acquisition for, for nature across, 265 \ 00:33:43.530 --> 00:33:58.650 \ Janet Cobb: the middle marches, and as Richard said, we started out with that ambition, and then what happened was these SSSI sites came up for sale, and we jumped in to try and salvage those, because nobody else was particularly interested, because they were too small. 266 \ 00:33:58.650 --> 00:34:06.299 \ Janet Cobb: And we're not here to duplicate those big organisations, we sit in the middle of them, between communities and the big 267 \ 00:34:06.400 --> 00:34:22.640 \ Janet Cobb: organisations. So we're operating very much at a community level, and a lot of networking and talking to the public comes into our work, you know, our work with the community land trust. 268 \ 00:34:22.889 --> 00:34:24.919 \ Janet Cobb: So, next slide, please, Cryan. 269 \ 00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:35.719 \ Janet Cobb: So, Middlemarch's Community Land Trust Land Holdings are Cudwell Meadow, which is a tiny wetland meadow, 270 \ 00:34:35.969 --> 00:34:40.299 \ Janet Cobb: In, Church Stratton, and it was our first acquisition. 271 \ 00:34:40.679 --> 00:34:56.730 \ Janet Cobb: A lot of work has gone on there in terms of habitat restoration and collecting the data, so insect populations and mammal populations, all that sort of work's going on, so we can prove that the ownership by the community has resulted in 272 \ 00:34:57.420 --> 00:35:15.160 \ Janet Cobb: an increase in biodiversity. Norbury Hill is a big, stepping stone in between two national landscape, features, which is the Long Mind, which is owned by the National Trust, and Stuyper Storm's National Nature Reserve. 273 \ 00:35:15.160 --> 00:35:29.659 \ Janet Cobb: And we've provided now the big stepping stone in between, in terms of the hill. And again, a lot of work's gone on in Norbury Hill. One of the projects is to reintroduce the small pearl-bordered fertillary butterfly. 274 \ 00:35:29.660 --> 00:35:37.719 \ Janet Cobb: by doing specific planting of marsh violets. Richard, jump in if I get… Any of these facts wrong. 275 \ 00:35:37.720 --> 00:35:39.810 \ Richard Small: No, you're fine. 276 \ 00:35:39.810 --> 00:35:59.529 \ Janet Cobb: Highly sources, 3 fields, again, in Church Stretton, and that was an extraordinary campaign, because we had two really dedicated people on the ground who managed to raise, and hold your breath for this, $400,000 in 10 days to buy 3 fields from that particular community. 277 \ 00:36:00.060 --> 00:36:12.589 \ Janet Cobb: A lot of community interest, and, lots of people already using those fields, so there was already a lot of public engagement, and it just needed somebody to step into that space. 278 \ 00:36:12.880 --> 00:36:17.049 \ Janet Cobb: Winsley Meadows SSSI was a bit different, 279 \ 00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:26.659 \ Janet Cobb: 50… over 50,000 green-winged orchids on two fields in Minsterly. Minsterly's not a particularly wealthy population. 280 \ 00:36:26.670 --> 00:36:42.590 \ Janet Cobb: So we managed to… how we did that was we managed to get to £100,000 in pledges from the public, and once we'd got £100,000 in pledges, we could then match fund those pledges with a Heritage Lottery grant. 281 \ 00:36:42.590 --> 00:36:52.959 \ Janet Cobb: So, we managed to get, £224,000 lottery grant, and in the end, we managed to collect £157,000. 282 \ 00:36:53.230 --> 00:36:55.209 \ Janet Cobb: Money in cash. 283 \ 00:36:55.340 --> 00:37:14.609 \ Janet Cobb: So, we now are able to employ a project coordinator, and then that's spilled out into all sorts of interesting things, like running forest school sessions for children who are not in mainstream schools, and working with a local primary school. So, again, it's spilling out into the local community, and 284 \ 00:37:14.610 --> 00:37:26.000 \ Janet Cobb: Because we've got, additional funding for Minsdale Meadows, we've now been able… and now we've been able to create a parish cluster, so 3 parishes working together. 285 \ 00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:37.630 \ Janet Cobb: Minsterly, Ponsbury, and Hanwood, working together to create a parish cluster in green corridors between that particular site and other sites in those parishes. 286 \ 00:37:37.820 --> 00:37:50.680 \ Janet Cobb: And then the final one was White Grit Triple Si, and that was, tiny little, three fields again, but our first step into Wales through Paris, into Paris. 287 \ 00:37:50.680 --> 00:37:57.940 \ Janet Cobb: And then, very excitingly, Richard mentioned Oakswood, which was a new development. Instead of purchasing land. 288 \ 00:37:57.940 --> 00:38:07.249 \ Janet Cobb: working with the current landowner, and that woodland, butts right up to the Stiper Stones National Nature Reserve. 289 \ 00:38:07.270 --> 00:38:12.549 \ Janet Cobb: And by the way, we're the first commuter Land Trust to own any land in a national nature reserve. 290 \ 00:38:12.620 --> 00:38:26.830 \ Janet Cobb: But it abuts right up to the National Nature Reserve, and it's the last remaining 200-acre linear woodland in Shropshire. So, potentially a very, very important site in terms of nature recovery and linkage. 291 \ 00:38:27.270 --> 00:38:28.750 \ Janet Cobb: So, next slide. 292 \ 00:38:28.900 --> 00:38:29.790 \ Janet Cobb: Please. 293 \ 00:38:30.770 --> 00:38:43.919 \ Janet Cobb: So, all… almost all the land has been bought with public donations, and as Richard mentioned, we're able to claim, 25%, 294 \ 00:38:44.800 --> 00:38:47.329 \ Janet Cobb: funding back from the Treasury. 295 \ 00:38:47.580 --> 00:38:56.410 \ Janet Cobb: Which, again, boosts the, the amount of money fantastically that we, we, are able to… 296 \ 00:38:56.520 --> 00:39:02.060 \ Janet Cobb: collect. The hassle for that is you need a gift aid form for every donor. 297 \ 00:39:02.270 --> 00:39:13.009 \ Janet Cobb: And that sort of, takes up a lot of admin staff chasing people for gift aid forms and so on and so forth. But it's very important for us in terms of collecting funding. 298 \ 00:39:13.170 --> 00:39:32.930 \ Janet Cobb: And public and community engagement has been one of MMCLT's strengths, and we've been engaged since… well, we lost a year through COVID, but subsequently running conferences and small events. So I think we've run, at the last count, 16 conferences for various 299 \ 00:39:32.930 --> 00:39:46.739 \ Janet Cobb: On various topics around nature, anything from woodlands to hedges, verges, ditches. And we've also started to target some of those conferences at Tone and Parish Councils, and Tone and Parish Councillors. 300 \ 00:39:46.740 --> 00:39:53.550 \ Janet Cobb: So we're up… this year will be our fourth and fifth conference aimed at Town and Paris Councillors. 301 \ 00:39:53.550 --> 00:40:02.280 \ Janet Cobb: And we also, have organized, public engagement events on particular sites, so walks on our sites. 302 \ 00:40:02.280 --> 00:40:14.529 \ Janet Cobb: But other, things like visits to, wildflower nurseries, or to, agri-woodland, sites, so a whole range of, 303 \ 00:40:14.830 --> 00:40:27.839 \ Janet Cobb: community engagement, events, walks, talks, and work with children. And we're actively collaborating with colleagues on the ground, such as Marches Meadow Group have become a key collaborator. 304 \ 00:40:28.020 --> 00:40:35.349 \ Janet Cobb: Stepping Stones Project, Caring for God's Acre, who are a national organization working with… 305 \ 00:40:35.570 --> 00:40:54.339 \ Janet Cobb: churchyards, trying to increase nature in churchyards. And CPRE, who are here running a Hedgerow Heroes project, replanting hedgerows across the whole of Shropshire, and that's led to much closer cooperation and working with a farming network. 306 \ 00:40:55.820 --> 00:41:00.280 \ Janet Cobb: Those are just pictures from two of our conferences, and the one on the left 307 \ 00:41:00.740 --> 00:41:06.340 \ Janet Cobb: was the, launch event for Minsterly Meadows. 308 \ 00:41:06.510 --> 00:41:16.620 \ Janet Cobb: And it was standing room only, so we… we organized this event. Misley Meadows came up for a site just before… up for sale just before Christmas. 309 \ 00:41:17.260 --> 00:41:31.780 \ Janet Cobb: And our hearts sunk, because Christmas and New Year, we're thinking, how are we gonna, you know, get this off the ground? So we organised a conference which took place… well, a meeting, which took place on January the 6th, 2025. 310 \ 00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:50.209 \ Janet Cobb: We were expecting maybe 20, 30 people, and over 100 people turned up, and we walked away from that meeting with £12,000 in pledges straight away. So we were testing public interest, and we came away with a thumbs up, and eventually… took us 11 months, but eventually we bought the medals. 311 \ 00:41:50.340 --> 00:41:52.360 \ Janet Cobb: So, next slide, please. 312 \ 00:41:53.400 --> 00:42:04.469 \ Janet Cobb: So, some of these… these are some of the extra initiatives that we've taken. So, we've been actively working with SALC, which is Shropshire Association of Local Councils. 313 \ 00:42:04.660 --> 00:42:06.460 \ Janet Cobb: And, 314 \ 00:42:07.270 --> 00:42:15.779 \ Janet Cobb: alongside that, we've been working with Exeter University, and Exeter University, wrote a British Academy paper, which is 315 \ 00:42:15.800 --> 00:42:33.969 \ Janet Cobb: as you can see, pioneering place-sensitive nature recovery at hyper-local, hyper-local scale. And that is about our work with town and parish councils, and how we got started. So, Graham's got the link to that, and I think he's going to share it after this, event. 316 \ 00:42:34.590 --> 00:42:42.169 \ Janet Cobb: We're also… we've also set up marches Artists for Nature, so we've got a group of artists who are 317 \ 00:42:42.310 --> 00:42:52.650 \ Janet Cobb: helping us with conferences and producing artwork, and the agreement is that if they sell some artwork, they will give us 10% of the proceeds, which will go into our Nature Recovery Fund. 318 \ 00:42:53.200 --> 00:43:03.129 \ Janet Cobb: It's not just the money, it's about connecting with people, new audiences, who are not… have not previously been engaged with, nature recovery work. 319 \ 00:43:03.370 --> 00:43:13.399 \ Janet Cobb: And this year, we ran our third National Meadows Conference at Kew Wakehurst, and that's all been filmed, and again, it's sort of… 320 \ 00:43:13.890 --> 00:43:27.699 \ Janet Cobb: promoted the work of the Community Land Trust and worked with Tone and Parish Councils. There was a lot of interest at the Q conference. 200 people came. A lot of interest in working with Tone and Parish Councils on nature recovery. 321 \ 00:43:27.700 --> 00:43:36.110 \ Janet Cobb: And we've also started work with schools and hoping to roll out across the town and parish council in Shropshire. 322 \ 00:43:36.110 --> 00:43:44.510 \ Janet Cobb: all the work that we've done with schools on Minsterly Meadows, so we've developed a teaching pack, and we've got lots of experience now working with children. 323 \ 00:43:44.840 --> 00:43:46.490 \ Janet Cobb: So, next slide, please. 324 \ 00:43:47.960 --> 00:44:05.919 \ Janet Cobb: So, as I say, we've been working for a long time with the local council network. There are 180 tone and parish councils across Shropshire, Telford and Recon, and the, the lead, chap call, the lead officer for SELC, 325 \ 00:44:05.920 --> 00:44:23.409 \ Janet Cobb: is Chris Mellings, and he's been extremely helpful in terms of engaging with Town and Parish Councils. So, if you've got a lead officer in your area, that would be somebody I would talk to straight away about Nature Recovery and Tyne and Parish Councils. So, 326 \ 00:44:23.900 --> 00:44:42.249 \ Janet Cobb: as everybody probably knows, we've got local nature recovery strategies across the whole of England now, and we've got a legal responsibility to implement those strategies, and some legal responsibilities are falling on town and parish councils, and again, we've been doing some work on that, which we're quite happy to share. 327 \ 00:44:42.250 --> 00:44:44.909 \ Janet Cobb: With other people, if they're interested. 328 \ 00:44:45.430 --> 00:44:47.080 \ Janet Cobb: Okay, next slide. 329 \ 00:44:48.250 --> 00:44:53.950 \ Janet Cobb: So we've had four conferences aimed at parish councillors so far, and Natalie Bennett. 330 \ 00:44:54.080 --> 00:45:08.659 \ Janet Cobb: who was the ex-Green Party leader, but she's also the Vice Chair of the National Association of Local Councils, and she, very helpfully, has been to Shropshire twice to speak at two of our conferences. 331 \ 00:45:08.690 --> 00:45:17.579 \ Janet Cobb: And because she's the Vice Chair of the… of NALC, that's a really useful connection back into the National Association of Local Councils. 332 \ 00:45:18.150 --> 00:45:37.359 \ Janet Cobb: We've also been working with the Local Nature Recovery Strategy and developed a workboot for town and parish councils, and that's available on our website as a downloadable PDF. It's simple things that town and parish councils can do, and again, I think Graham's got the link to that, and we can share that after this, 333 \ 00:45:37.360 --> 00:45:39.070 \ Janet Cobb: session. 334 \ 00:45:39.090 --> 00:45:54.370 \ Janet Cobb: It's not rocket science, but it is based on our local nature recovery strategy. It's simple things like develop ponds, tree planting, hedge restoration, birds restoration, and again, there's lots of help available if people want to pick that up. 335 \ 00:45:54.520 --> 00:46:08.380 \ Janet Cobb: And we're all working to the 30 by 30, which is an international… you probably already all know this… an international agreement to return 30% of our land to nature by 30… 2030. 336 \ 00:46:09.730 --> 00:46:18.239 \ Janet Cobb: And the delivery plan has been published. It was published in July this year by the new government, so people want to look at that. It's on DEFRA. 337 \ 00:46:19.120 --> 00:46:21.370 \ Janet Cobb: Okay, next, next slide. 338 \ 00:46:21.900 --> 00:46:39.980 \ Janet Cobb: So, across England, there are 48 local nature recovery strategies. There are lots of references in those strategies to housing nature and food, and the key principles are integrating biodiversity of wildlife corridors, sustainable design and bringing back redundant buildings into use. 339 \ 00:46:41.020 --> 00:46:55.459 \ Janet Cobb: from our point of view, that's a big issue, because we don't want to keep building, you know, enormous, housing estates all over green fields in Shropshire, because they are major… we are a major producer of food here. 340 \ 00:46:55.460 --> 00:47:04.550 \ Janet Cobb: So, we're being asked to choose between food production and house building, yet there are lots and lots of empty buildings that could be brought back into use. 341 \ 00:47:04.990 --> 00:47:22.819 \ Janet Cobb: We here have got very interested in the use of SIL money, so that's Community Infrastructure Levy. So, in our local authority, there's £12 million unspent CIL money, and we're quite interested in getting our hands on a bit of that. 342 \ 00:47:22.820 --> 00:47:42.760 \ Janet Cobb: to spend on green infrastructure, rather than just seeing it as infrastructure. It's something our council hasn't considered in the past, so we're lobbying on that… on that. We're interested in putting together town and parish clusters, and we're interested in carrying on with conferences and inspiring others to take action. 343 \ 00:47:43.880 --> 00:47:45.340 \ Janet Cobb: Next slide, please. 344 \ 00:47:46.200 --> 00:48:01.130 \ Janet Cobb: So, I think it's down to people. People power. Develop more community land trusts in your town and parish councils. There is a national network. Shift power and ownership and control to communities. Create circular economies. 345 \ 00:48:01.320 --> 00:48:12.280 \ Janet Cobb: Town and parish councils can facilitate action in communities and believe in people to do the right thing. Don't wait for politicians. This has got to come from people. Next slide. 346 \ 00:48:13.490 --> 00:48:15.400 \ Janet Cobb: And some quotes on there. 347 \ 00:48:16.630 --> 00:48:31.890 \ Janet Cobb: I'm not going to read the… I'm not going to read them out apart from the last one. We'll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost-effective. You know, the wildfires in France and Spain must be costing an absolute fortune. 348 \ 00:48:32.140 --> 00:48:44.989 \ Janet Cobb: Surely, investing in nature recovery and climate action is cheaper than firefighting enormous fires, which are gonna inevitably come all over Europe. 349 \ 00:48:45.540 --> 00:48:46.570 \ Janet Cobb: Okay. 350 \ 00:48:46.760 --> 00:48:47.739 \ Janet Cobb: That's the end. 351 \ 00:48:50.510 --> 00:48:53.420 \ Janet Cobb: I hope I've cheered everybody up. 352 \ 00:48:54.540 --> 00:48:57.260 \ Janet Cobb: I'm not depressed, everybody. 353 \ 00:48:57.690 --> 00:49:15.160 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Actually, both of you, Richard and Janet, thank you so much for something that I found absolutely fascinating, because it's just showing what a small organization can do as it grows, and as it gets momentum rolling, and you're pulling other people in. That's fantastic. 354 \ 00:49:15.160 --> 00:49:16.090 \ Janet Cobb: And, 355 \ 00:49:16.180 --> 00:49:22.940 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Very encouraging to the rest of us to see what you've managed to do, and the fact that you've been so successful with fundraising. 356 \ 00:49:22.940 --> 00:49:32.130 \ Janet Cobb: I forgot to say that I'm a parish clerk as well, in one of the small parishes in Shropshire, which was why I got interested in the CALT network. 357 \ 00:49:32.750 --> 00:49:35.689 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Oh, it makes you wonder what you do in the afternoons, Janet. 358 \ 00:49:36.420 --> 00:49:39.040 \ Janet Cobb: Yeah. 359 \ 00:49:39.040 --> 00:49:46.050 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Fantastic. So, thank you both very much indeed. Now, do any people have any questions for either Richard or Janet, please? 360 \ 00:49:46.580 --> 00:49:48.810 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Yes, tristram, off you go. 361 \ 00:49:48.810 --> 00:50:04.130 \ tristram cary Winchfield Hants: Yeah, I just wanted to ask, Janet whether, you… there was a sort of ever disagreements between all those different bits of land you've acquired about what the best strategy is, but… but I think you sort of answered it by saying you follow the… the local nature recovery strategy. 362 \ 00:50:04.370 --> 00:50:15.480 \ tristram cary Winchfield Hants: But the one in Hampshire is rather vague and leaves lots of room for, you know, different ideas about what to do. So do you find it easy to get a strategy which locks all those different parcels together? 363 \ 00:50:15.660 --> 00:50:30.170 \ Janet Cobb: Yeah, so we haven't at all come into conflict with the local nature recovery strategy here in Shropshire, but we've been working very closely with the local nature recovery strategy lead here, so Lynne Park has been working alongside us. 364 \ 00:50:30.170 --> 00:50:40.250 \ Janet Cobb: And there hasn't been any… do you want to chip in, Richard? Because we work to… all the sites… so we act as an umbrella, the Middle Marches Community Land Trust Board. 365 \ 00:50:40.250 --> 00:50:49.989 \ Janet Cobb: And we have developed management plans, or are developing management plans for each of the sites. So we're operating a sort of hub-and-spoke model. 366 \ 00:50:50.210 --> 00:50:50.890 \ tristram cary Winchfield Hants: Right. 367 \ 00:50:52.110 --> 00:50:58.520 \ tristram cary Winchfield Hants: But, yeah, I was just wondering if an ex-owner, for instance, if you work with somebody and take the management of their land. 368 \ 00:50:58.890 --> 00:51:05.799 \ tristram cary Winchfield Hants: I was thinking maybe that your strategy… then he might say, well, that's not what I had… that's not what I'd thought would happen. 369 \ 00:51:06.160 --> 00:51:11.569 \ tristram cary Winchfield Hants: It's like, we've come across things where different people have different ideas about what's the most important thing. 370 \ 00:51:11.710 --> 00:51:30.610 \ Richard Small: In the case of the site where we've got a memorandum of understanding, it was because the owner had appointed a commercial forestry company to manage the woodland, and they did what they were good at. They managed it commercially, and 371 \ 00:51:30.680 --> 00:51:48.569 \ Richard Small: In his mind, he had wanted, community access and, wildlife conservation to be part of the management of the woods, and it was because they weren't delivering that, that we got into conversation with them, or sorry, with him. 372 \ 00:51:49.330 --> 00:51:50.790 \ Richard Small: And, 373 \ 00:51:51.400 --> 00:52:08.609 \ Richard Small: I think that that's our sort of role, really, is to look at what people want, and how that might be delivered, if we agree with the principles, of course. And neither Janet nor I remember to mention that we've 374 \ 00:52:08.610 --> 00:52:20.699 \ Richard Small: also become an approved body for conservation covenants, which you may well have heard of. This is a way in which landowners can 375 \ 00:52:20.910 --> 00:52:35.040 \ Richard Small: protect their, interests, if you like, in land for conservation by agreeing to a covenant, which will also bind future landowners, for 376 \ 00:52:35.170 --> 00:52:43.420 \ Richard Small: At least 30 years, and probably beyond that, to… for the land to be managed in a particular way, 377 \ 00:52:43.500 --> 00:52:57.799 \ Richard Small: for conservation in this case. But there, again, there are variations on this. You can do it for philanthropic purposes, or you can do it for things like biodiversity net gain and carbon offsetting. 378 \ 00:52:58.100 --> 00:53:02.029 \ Richard Small: In our case, we would only be interested in the philanthropic. 379 \ 00:53:02.180 --> 00:53:08.010 \ Richard Small: aspect. And just as an example of that, although it's still in, sort of, 380 \ 00:53:08.590 --> 00:53:28.090 \ Richard Small: well, it hasn't even been discussed yet. A local resident, unfortunately died recently. He had a meadow, which he had managed for, you know, many years, got many orchids in it, so many that they were spreading into his garden, and so on. And knowing that he was, 381 \ 00:53:28.140 --> 00:53:34.619 \ Richard Small: terminally ill, he was concerned that that meadow should be protected into the future. 382 \ 00:53:34.690 --> 00:53:43.469 \ Richard Small: And his son and other children have agreed to talk to us about the possibility of a conservation covenant. 383 \ 00:53:43.720 --> 00:53:53.640 \ Richard Small: It's early stages, it might come to nothing, but that would be one way in which they could protect their father's legacy of this good meadow. 384 \ 00:53:54.270 --> 00:54:00.000 \ Richard Small: So, yeah, that's another aspect to our… or potential aspect to the CLT's work. 385 \ 00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:01.649 \ tristram cary Winchfield Hants: Fantastic. Thank you very much. 386 \ 00:54:03.850 --> 00:54:08.979 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Now, somebody else did have their hand up, and they put it down again. They've had second thoughts? 387 \ 00:54:14.630 --> 00:54:18.239 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Sue, I thought it might have been you. Do please go ahead. 388 \ 00:54:20.330 --> 00:54:34.799 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: It wasn't me, but I've always got questions, so as there was a gap, so, fantastic, wow, you know, just bowled over with what you're doing. 389 \ 00:54:34.800 --> 00:54:41.980 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: Couple of questions. So in… I'm in battle in East Sussex. 390 \ 00:54:41.980 --> 00:54:49.249 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: We have formed a network of, with our local parishes for climate and ecology. 391 \ 00:54:49.390 --> 00:54:55.599 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: We haven't touched on creating corridors, but, 392 \ 00:54:55.700 --> 00:55:05.649 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: that's something that we could talk about, you know, we're all keen. So I wondered which organization you thought might be able to help us 393 \ 00:55:05.650 --> 00:55:20.160 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: create, to link up the land and the corridor, see what's missing. I don't know which organization might be able to help us the best. I've got another question afterwards, but that was my first one. 394 \ 00:55:20.160 --> 00:55:29.810 \ Janet Cobb: So, I'll go first, Richard. Yeah. So I'm also on the board of something called Restoring Shropshire's Verges Project. 395 \ 00:55:29.810 --> 00:55:40.379 \ Janet Cobb: So we started linkages with town and parish councils and creating of green corridors by looking at roadside verges, and plant life are a national 396 \ 00:55:40.380 --> 00:55:41.910 \ Janet Cobb: charity. 397 \ 00:55:41.910 --> 00:56:01.599 \ Janet Cobb: who were also running a verge campaign, road verge campaign. The idea is to create, instead of roadside verges just being grasp that's mown umpteen times a year, you look at restoring those roadside verges to long linear meadows, so you're putting back… you're managing them as meadows and putting back 398 \ 00:56:01.600 --> 00:56:17.279 \ Janet Cobb: the flora that should be there, and that's spilt over into linking up with CPRE's Hedgerow Heroes. We're a very rural community, so we've got verges, roadside ditches, and hedges that can 399 \ 00:56:17.310 --> 00:56:34.759 \ Janet Cobb: create long, linear linkages between town and parish councils, and then that spilled over into development of micro-nurseries, growing oak trees from veteran oak trees, so it's spilled out into all sorts of different conversations. 400 \ 00:56:34.860 --> 00:56:47.400 \ Janet Cobb: And we've just finished a project called the Three Parishes Project, which I can send you a link to. We've now extended that Three Parishes project to six parishes, and again, it's concentrated 401 \ 00:56:47.400 --> 00:57:05.819 \ Janet Cobb: immediately on roadside verges, but again, the conversations with those parishes have spilt over into, well, what can we do in our gardens? Can we put bird boxes up? Can we do a pond? Can we do a community nursery? And I can send you the beginnings of the sixth parish project. We've only just launched that, though. 402 \ 00:57:05.820 --> 00:57:11.570 \ Janet Cobb: But you can, you know, from the three parishes project, you can see where it's going with the six parish project. 403 \ 00:57:11.880 --> 00:57:26.409 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: Yeah, thank you. We, obviously, an urban area… I know your area quite well, but an urban area has different, and we do manage some of the, our roadside verges, but they're obviously quite small, but… 404 \ 00:57:26.670 --> 00:57:40.759 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: And my other question was, I took with my councillors, we talked about the Environment Act and the obligation of town and parish councils to 405 \ 00:57:40.760 --> 00:57:53.420 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: whatever, I can't remember the wording, but basically look after biodiversity. And I got pushed back, saying it was only desirable, and that we, you know. 406 \ 00:57:53.850 --> 00:58:09.830 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: that it was… was less of a priority, and I wondered where I need to go to come back and say, we really have to do this. I think one of you mentioned, the, mentioned it in when you were talking. 407 \ 00:58:09.830 --> 00:58:17.659 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: about the must-do as against desirable. And I've got a third question after that. Okay. 408 \ 00:58:17.660 --> 00:58:32.719 \ Janet Cobb: I think one of the key things you need to do is talk to your local nature recovery strategy person, and I think, from memory, I think we have a duty… Tony and Parish Councils have a duty to increase biodiversity by 10%. 409 \ 00:58:33.170 --> 00:58:45.050 \ Janet Cobb: So, on any building sites that are taking place, the builders… and, you know, you can… I don't know whether it's the same in your place. We collect SIL money, community infrastructure levy money. 410 \ 00:58:45.170 --> 00:58:58.510 \ Janet Cobb: or Section 106. From our point of view, sill money's more important, because we've got this big chunk of money now sitting in the local authority that was being saved for a relief road, which is no longer going ahead. 411 \ 00:58:58.510 --> 00:59:23.509 \ Janet Cobb: So we're quite keen to get at least 1 million pounds out of the local authority to spend on green infrastructure, which will, again, rocket boost the work that's already happening on the ground. And there might be opportunities in your local authorities to do the same, to do some detective work. Where's the money? Where's the support? So, local nature recovery strategy, where are the pots of money that you could tap into? And we've also, here, in my village. 412 \ 00:59:23.510 --> 00:59:32.080 \ Janet Cobb: We use preset money and small grants to organise village talks, village walks, and we've been able to 413 \ 00:59:32.110 --> 00:59:43.850 \ Janet Cobb: fundraise on a tiny scale, but raise a few hundred pounds, and with that, we've been able to put up house Martin boxes, owl box, barn owl boxes, and we got 3 owlets this year. 414 \ 00:59:43.850 --> 00:59:44.510 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: Oh, wow. 415 \ 00:59:44.510 --> 00:59:56.910 \ Janet Cobb: I can send you the photograph, you know, which then inspired other people to take action in their gardens. So, you know, small amounts of money can do lots of 416 \ 00:59:56.910 --> 01:00:15.239 \ Janet Cobb: stuff, and, you know, we asked for, like, £3.50 for cake and a coffee at a talk in the village hall, and eventually we ended up with £300, and we're just about to restore the village… a patch of grass in the village center to a wildflower meadow, and we've got the plant plugs to do that. 417 \ 01:00:15.240 --> 01:00:24.109 \ Janet Cobb: So it's that sort of thing. So it's showing people what can actually be done, and it's only small steps, but a lot of small steps make a big… 418 \ 01:00:24.110 --> 01:00:24.900 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: Absolutely. 419 \ 01:00:24.900 --> 01:00:26.240 \ Janet Cobb: And, you know. 420 \ 01:00:26.240 --> 01:00:38.069 \ Richard Small: I'll just add that, you know, as Janet said, the local nature recovery strategy is very important in this regard. You know, you can refer to that and say, that's what it said, that's what it… 421 \ 01:00:38.240 --> 01:00:38.940 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: beans. 422 \ 01:00:38.940 --> 01:00:46.690 \ Richard Small: signed up for. And, I forgot what I was going to say now, but, 423 \ 01:00:46.890 --> 01:00:48.670 \ Richard Small: Oh, I'll come back to it, maybe. 424 \ 01:00:48.670 --> 01:00:53.710 \ Janet Cobb: Well, it gives… it gives you the background, it gives you the legal background, doesn't it? Yes. 425 \ 01:00:53.710 --> 01:01:13.110 \ Richard Small: it's picking up on what Janet said in her thing, that it's people power. In the local area, there was lots of comments about the LNRS, which said, oh, well, it's all fine words, but who's going to deliver it? Well, unless we all get off our butts and do it. 426 \ 01:01:13.110 --> 01:01:18.219 \ Richard Small: And that's the prime example of this, far better than I am. You know, you absolutely. 427 \ 01:01:18.220 --> 01:01:18.550 \ Janet Cobb: Yeah. 428 \ 01:01:18.550 --> 01:01:25.550 \ Richard Small: get people involved and say, yes, we want to do this. It's… that's what we've signed, you know, has been signed off. 429 \ 01:01:25.910 --> 01:01:27.679 \ Richard Small: We need to deliver this. 430 \ 01:01:28.150 --> 01:01:37.340 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: Thank you. Incidentally, at my local district, we're trying to get a 20% of SIL money, not 10, so, 431 \ 01:01:37.340 --> 01:01:37.760 \ Janet Cobb: Right. 432 \ 01:01:37.760 --> 01:01:53.500 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: Whether we'll be allowed or not, who knows? But, and my final question is, conservation governance that Richard mentioned. Is there anywhere where these can be seen? 433 \ 01:01:53.500 --> 01:01:58.840 \ Janet Cobb: Yes, DEFRA website, just Google DEFRA, Conservation Covenants. 434 \ 01:01:59.190 --> 01:02:01.980 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: Right, right. Interesting, because we're, 435 \ 01:02:01.980 --> 01:02:10.920 \ Richard Small: It would give you a list of the approved bodies as well, you know, that you could go to if you wanted to create one. 436 \ 01:02:11.070 --> 01:02:30.789 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: Yeah, no, we've got a piece of land that is owned by our district council, and I'm encouraging it to come over to the parish in the devolution, and their main concern is the cost of tree surgeon work that might be required. 437 \ 01:02:31.550 --> 01:02:44.779 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: And there keeps talking about a covenant, and as far as I'm concerned, if it's not a conservation covenant, then it's of no value anyway, so it's… that's… I didn't know that existed, so that's really helpful. Thank you. 438 \ 01:02:44.780 --> 01:03:03.490 \ Janet Cobb: Can I just go back to the SIL money con… Oh, yeah. …conversation? So, here, they allow 15% of SIL money to go to town and parish councils, but 85% is left in the local authority, and the £12 million is the 85% that's sitting in the local authority. 439 \ 01:03:03.490 --> 01:03:22.919 \ Janet Cobb: We're also wanting to tackle the other money that's sitting in town and parish councils, that's unspent, because they don't know what to spend it on, which is a nice position to be in, isn't it? So, yeah, so understanding sill money has become sort of a key activity again, yeah. 440 \ 01:03:22.920 --> 01:03:26.880 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: I agree, totally. Okay. Thank you so much, both of you. 441 \ 01:03:26.880 --> 01:03:40.620 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: So, going back to your first question about who may be able to help you tying these things together, the Friends of the Earth do a map, which, if you are a user, I can't remember if your users are parish online or not, but… 442 \ 01:03:40.620 --> 01:03:41.859 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: We are, we are. 443 \ 01:03:41.860 --> 01:04:05.010 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Alright, so you can tie together the Friends of the Earth layers in there with wildlife corridors. So they show you where the nearest corridors are around you, and they also recommend where to go to increase the corridors, or to enhance them. So you can use your own mapping area for Parish Online to show where you're going to put in the bits that will pull them all together. 444 \ 01:04:05.010 --> 01:04:15.450 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: So, it's very powerful stuff, so if you're looking through your parish layers, sorry, not the parish layers, but the layers in, Parish Online, look for Friends of the Earth. 445 \ 01:04:15.590 --> 01:04:16.360 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: And, they. 446 \ 01:04:16.360 --> 01:04:18.080 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: Oh, I've never heard of that one. 447 \ 01:04:18.080 --> 01:04:19.219 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Well, there you go. 448 \ 01:04:19.220 --> 01:04:28.819 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: Thank you so much. So, it's parish online, and, well, I've, you know, mine is East Sussex, and then there's a layer from Friends of the Earth. 449 \ 01:04:28.820 --> 01:04:32.199 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Yes, there's two areas, actually, but yes. I should have. 450 \ 01:04:32.200 --> 01:04:42.809 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: mentioned, there's a big project around here called Wheel to Wave, which is the link creating a corridor from the North Downs right down to Brighton. 451 \ 01:04:43.270 --> 01:04:45.530 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: Which I could tap in on again. 452 \ 01:04:45.910 --> 01:04:59.409 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: I think pulling all these people together is exactly as Janet says, you're getting the people power to do the work, because they haven't got the time or the interest up at national government levels. You've been very patient. 453 \ 01:05:01.170 --> 01:05:19.429 \ Kirsten Newble: Thank you. I was just curious about the BNG side of things, because I thought perhaps that was an opportunity, you know, for funding. If you put BNG credits on one site, does that mean you've got funds to then be able to buy the next piece of land as a sort of rollover type thing? Is that something you've considered? 454 \ 01:05:19.840 --> 01:05:29.289 \ Richard Small: Yes, we considered it, not very, thoroughly, but we… 455 \ 01:05:29.650 --> 01:05:38.339 \ Richard Small: I don't say we fell out of our depth, but we weren't sure that we were ready to take on that. And there's still sort of a lot of 456 \ 01:05:38.480 --> 01:05:45.470 \ Richard Small: Changes within biodiversity net gain, in terms of, 457 \ 01:05:46.990 --> 01:05:56.560 \ Richard Small: well, change… I mean, for example, there was the recent reduction, so that small developments no longer have to 458 \ 01:05:57.430 --> 01:06:00.540 \ Richard Small: do PNG. So… 459 \ 01:06:01.010 --> 01:06:11.320 \ Richard Small: Basically, I'm saying we didn't feel we were ready to take it on, and that it was still too unclear to us exactly what we would gain. 460 \ 01:06:11.610 --> 01:06:20.060 \ Richard Small: having said that, you know, the, in Shropshire, the Shropshire Wildlife Trust has acquired a large area of land. 461 \ 01:06:20.060 --> 01:06:33.580 \ Richard Small: With the view to using BMG funding to improve it. And, as, you know, I was trying to intimate earlier, that seems to be the way in which the larger organisations are going. 462 \ 01:06:33.650 --> 01:06:39.089 \ Richard Small: Which is fine, that's great, you know, they're doing their thing, we do ours, you know, so… 463 \ 01:06:39.400 --> 01:06:46.629 \ Janet Cobb: Yeah, just to add to that, we've been on a couple of calls with DEFRA about conservation covenants. 464 \ 01:06:46.630 --> 01:07:05.219 \ Janet Cobb: And most of the people on the call have been, sort of, ecology organisations who'd be very intra- who are very interested in BNG credits, because there's a lot of money attached to BNG credits. But they're private organisations, and they're acting as the linkers, the brokers. 465 \ 01:07:05.220 --> 01:07:15.150 \ Janet Cobb: between people who own land and BNG credits, so there's lots of information online about that, but it scared the hell out of me, to be honest. 466 \ 01:07:15.150 --> 01:07:15.609 \ Kirsten Newble: I've done that. 467 \ 01:07:15.610 --> 01:07:21.559 \ Janet Cobb: I'm like, what? I can't, I can't, I haven't got time to get involved in this stuff as well. It's just mad. 468 \ 01:07:21.560 --> 01:07:34.929 \ Kirsten Newble: It might be helpful to know, then, that to sidestep those brokerages, there are people like… I am a trustee of Natural Cambridgeshire, who are the local nature partnership over here, and we're currently putting a site together 469 \ 01:07:34.930 --> 01:07:41.720 \ Kirsten Newble: to connect people that have land under BNG credits, so that you don't have to go through the brokers? 470 \ 01:07:41.760 --> 01:07:47.739 \ Kirsten Newble: There might be something like that in your area that might be kicking off as well, so it might get easier, might get better. 471 \ 01:07:47.740 --> 01:07:51.680 \ Janet Cobb: Yeah, I'm sure there will be at some point, but, yeah, we'll see what happens. 472 \ 01:07:51.680 --> 01:07:52.680 \ Kirsten Newble: Al, how's it? 473 \ 01:07:52.680 --> 01:07:57.360 \ Janet Cobb: No, just to go back to, I think it was, 474 \ 01:07:58.030 --> 01:08:08.359 \ Janet Cobb: Sue, who talked about being an urban setting. So, in one of our urban settings in Oswire, they've started something called the Dave Project. Have you heard of that? 475 \ 01:08:08.730 --> 01:08:12.339 \ Janet Cobb: So that's come over from America, so deep paving is… 476 \ 01:08:12.340 --> 01:08:13.609 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: Oh, deep paving. 477 \ 01:08:13.610 --> 01:08:17.390 \ Janet Cobb: D-pe-D-E hyphen P-A-V-E. 478 \ 01:08:17.390 --> 01:08:40.719 \ Janet Cobb: So, depave projects is taking up surfaces that are not absorbing water and replacing them with surfaces that do absorb water, so that's leading to the creation of community gardens in tones, the planting of trees in tones, that sort of thing. So, you know, we've got this flooding problem because we've got… everybody's drives 479 \ 01:08:40.779 --> 01:08:50.720 \ Janet Cobb: tarmacked over for car parking, and it's trying to remove those surfaces to try and start collecting some of the rain. And the other thing we've got really interested in here is 480 \ 01:08:50.720 --> 01:09:04.700 \ Janet Cobb: Encouraging people to put water boats up to collect the rain. We're getting these sudden deluges, and then we have, you know, a month's worth of sunshine where we don't have any water anymore, so people need to start collecting the rain. 481 \ 01:09:04.700 --> 01:09:15.739 \ Janet Cobb: And it all helps with mitigating against flooding, and it's the same with the bird, ditch, hedge stuff. It helps stop flooding of fields and helps stop soil erosion. 482 \ 01:09:16.029 --> 01:09:17.120 \ Janet Cobb: So, yeah. 483 \ 01:09:18.490 --> 01:09:20.240 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Thank you. Kirsten, you're back up again. 484 \ 01:09:20.240 --> 01:09:29.480 \ Kirsten Newble: Just a quickie, if you look at Water Sensitive Cambridge, there is an organization, a small charity over here, that is doing something similar to the de-having you described. 485 \ 01:09:29.479 --> 01:09:47.959 \ Kirsten Newble: they're describing it as rainwater gardens, and they're putting slits in the, curbstones along the side of roads, with permission from highways, obviously, so that the water… where there's pooling of water in Cambridge in these circumstances you describe, it can run into what they then create as a deep 486 \ 01:09:48.029 --> 01:09:54.140 \ Kirsten Newble: planted area, to absorb that water and have it get back into the aquifer. So, fantastic. 487 \ 01:09:54.140 --> 01:09:54.820 \ Janet Cobb: Yeah. 488 \ 01:09:55.650 --> 01:10:07.440 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Kirsten, could I ask, there's a couple of suggestions you've made which have been really helpful. If you could just slap the links into the chat, then they get into the knowledge base and people can find them in the future. 489 \ 01:10:07.670 --> 01:10:10.839 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: So if you have a second to just do that, that would be wonderful. 490 \ 01:10:10.840 --> 01:10:18.049 \ Kirsten Newble: the water-sensitive Cambridge one in. The, the NGE website hasn't launched yet, but I can forward that to you when it does, so that perhaps it can be added later. 491 \ 01:10:18.050 --> 01:10:21.929 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Okay, and Janet, have you… is there a website for DeepHave? 492 \ 01:10:21.930 --> 01:10:26.280 \ Janet Cobb: Yeah, there is. Can I… can I just send you the information after, Graham? 493 \ 01:10:26.280 --> 01:10:34.030 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Of course you can, yeah, absolutely. As long as I get it, then I'll put it into the knowledge base, and people are able to find it from thereafter. 494 \ 01:10:34.030 --> 01:10:34.450 \ Janet Cobb: Yeah. 495 \ 01:10:35.050 --> 01:10:42.229 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Brilliant. Well, are there any other questions that people have got? I'm looking at all those of you who've kept utterly silent. 496 \ 01:10:42.560 --> 01:10:46.080 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: And you think, how are you? 497 \ 01:10:46.440 --> 01:10:47.580 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: So… 498 \ 01:10:49.390 --> 01:10:58.789 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: No mentions. Okay, well, thank you all so much for joining us today. It's been very fascinating, I've really enjoyed it. 499 \ 01:10:58.790 --> 01:11:17.279 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: And we will publish the recording and the presentations so that you can see everything up on the knowledge base, and people can have a look at it later. Next week, for those of you who are really, really fascinated in this stuff, we're being told all about somebody who switched over to a composting toilet. 500 \ 01:11:17.580 --> 01:11:29.109 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: In her own home, and I think… I think I'm hoping to find that very, very intriguing as well. So do please come back and join us next week, and I hope you all enjoy the sunshine. 501 \ 01:11:29.370 --> 01:11:32.390 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Take care, everybody. Thank you very much for your time. Bye-bye. 502 \ 01:11:32.390 --> 01:11:34.019 \ Richard Small: I'm not sure. 503 \ 01:11:34.020 --> 01:11:35.550 \ Sue Burton Battle Town Council: Thank you so much. Great session. *** #### Markdown of John's presentation: ## Middle Marches Community Land Trust ### MMCLT – A New Model for Conservation #### Working with SALC *** ### Community Land Trusts Many CLTs are concerned with the provision of **affordable homes**. Other CLTs: * safeguard assets such as: * community enterprises * food growing * work spaces * manage commons and other public space #### Eastington CLT *** ## MMCLT The Middle Marches Community Land Trust differs from other CLTs in that its **primary concern is managing land for biodiversity**. * May mean purchase of land * But willing to manage land in **private or public ownership** * Launched **April 2019** * Constituted as a **Community Benefit Society** in June 2019 * Won **CLTN Award 2024** *** ## Need for MMCLT Why is MMCLT needed when statutory agencies such as: * Natural England (NE) * Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and charities such as: * National Trust (NT) * Wildlife Trusts are already there? #### The gap There are areas of land which are: * **too small**, or * **currently lacking value for biodiversity** to be of interest to other organisations. *** ## MMCLT's Vision > We have a vision for an ecologically rich and resilient landscape across the Middle Marches, supporting and working in partnership with local communities and landowners big and small that inspires residents and visitors alike. *** ## Sources of Income * Shareholders * Donations * Gift Aid on donations * Grants: * Stepping Stones (HLF) * Shropshire Hills Landscape Trust * NHLF * Grazing licences (NH, HL, MM?) * Countryside Stewardship (NH, MM) * Conferences *** #### Markdown of Janet's presentation: ## Middle Marches Community Land Trust ### Why is MMCLT needed? * Loss of connectivity within our landscape * Wildlife in crisis * Climate change pressures * Food and energy supplies vulnerability * A future for agriculture and forestry * Supporting resilient communities and economies * Strategic land acquisition * **Not to duplicate, but to add value and fill gaps** *** ## MMCLT's Land Holdings * Cudwell Meadow * Norbury Hill * High Leasowes * Minsterley Meadows SSSI * White Grit SSSI #### New MOU * Oaks Wood *** ## Purchases & Community Engagement To date all land has been bought with public donations except one site, **Minsterley Meadows SSSI**, which has a Heritage Lottery Grant awarded and a project co-ordinator. Public and community engagement is an **MMCLT strength**. #### Minsterley Meadows * Walks * Volunteers * Work with children #### Collaborations Active collaborations with colleagues including: * MMG * Stepping Stones * CfGA * CPRE * etc. *** ## MMCLT Initiatives * Work with SALC * Marches Artists for Nature * Work with Exeter University * National Meadows Conference * Kew, Wakehurst — June 2026 * Work with schools *** ## Work with Town & Parish Councils MMCLT has been working for several years with the **Shropshire Association of Local Councils (SALC)**. There are **180 Town & Parish Councils**. The aim is to support the development of **bespoke nature recovery plans in every Town and Parish Council**, based on the **Local Nature Recovery Strategy**, and to work in clusters. *** ## Work with Town & Parish Councils Four MMCLT conferences have been aimed at Parish Councillors. **Baroness Natalie Bennett** was keynote speaker at two events. Natalie is also the Vice Chair of the **National Association of Local Councils (NALC)**. MMCLT has been working alongside the **LNRS** and has developed a **workbook for Town & Parish Councils**. #### 30by30 on Land: Delivery Plan Published **13 July 2026**. *** ## Local Nature Recovery Strategies Across England there are **48 Local Nature Recovery Strategies**. There are many references to: * Housing * Nature * Food ### Key Principles * Integrating biodiversity * Wildlife corridors * Sustainable design and redundant buildings * Local food production ### Actions * **CIL — green infrastructure:** green corridors * Town & Parish clusters * Conferences — inspiring others *** ## People Power * Develop more CLTs — see the National CLT Network for more information * **CLTs shift power, ownership and control to communities** * CLTs create local circular economies * Town & Parish Councils can facilitate action in communities * Believe in people to do the right thing #### Don't wait for politicians! *** ## Closing Thoughts > “There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about” **Margaret J. Wheatley — author** > “Without nature there is no economy” **Herman Daly — economist** > “We’ll go down in history as the first society that wouldn’t save itself because it wasn’t cost-effective.” **Kurt Vonnegut — satirist** *** --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. 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