Turner's Field

[tliouk]

The article by Chris Stone, copied below, was published entitled "Sowing Seeds" in the Big Issue at the end of January. It follows the High Court hearing on November 21st last, when Mr Justice
Sullivan dismissed an appeal against an enforcement notice to remove Ann Morgan from a piece of land ("Turner's Field") which she owns and has lived on for 16 years, where she has established a permaculture project. 

Plans are being formulated for the next eight months until the notice becomes active, and beyond into the next Turners' Field cycle.



WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE

Who do the planning laws serve?
If you require planning permission for a new out-of-town hypermarket,
say, for commercial development, or for luxury housing for the super
rich, chances are that you will get it. If you have the right face, that is. If you can show that there are profits to be made. If you have the backing of the banks and the bureaucrats in the planning office. If you know the right people. If, however, your proposal is for an experiment in sustainable living, for Permacultural activity, or for low-impact housing in the Green Belt, then your chances of acquiring planning permission are much less likely to succeed.

Such, at least, is the experience of Ann Morgan, the 61 year old
grandmother and social theoretician behind the Turner's Field
Permaculture project in the picturesque village of Compton Dundon in the heart of rural Somerset. After 16 years of experimentation in the arts and sciences of Permaculture, the project is now under threat: 16 years in which the land has been transformed from a ploughed field into a thriving, sustainable ecosystem, abundant not only in natural produce, but in beauty, in grace, in social transformation; where hundreds of trees have been planted, along with numerous shrubs and hedges and food plants; where thousands of people have met and worked and lived their dreams; where nature is nurtured and trained into architecture; where human beings and wildlife co-exist in the same landscape; where hope for a sustainable future for humankind has been maintained against all the odds.

But first of all, perhaps, we need to define our terms. What is
"Permaculture"?

According to Bill Mollison, the man who first coined the word back in
the 1970s: "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than
against nature." And again: "Permaculture is the study of the design of those sustainable or enduring systems that support human society, both agricultural and intellectual, traditional and scientific, architectural, financial and legal. It is the study of integrated systems, for the purpose of better design and application of such systems."

In other words, Permaculture is a way of living in harmony with the
natural world. It is inclusive, not exclusive, of human beings. For
Permaculture to work human beings need to be harmonised into the system.

It is NOT a form of farm production. Nor is it about self-sufficiency
alone, although self-sufficiency might be a desirable outcome. It is
less a form of agriculture, more a way of life.

And it is here, precisely, that Ann Morgan's optimistic proposals fell foul of the planning system. Because, though having been granted
temporary permission to live on the land for parts of the time, she has been unable to demonstrate any "proven need" for the educational
facilities she still hopes to build there. The temporary permission has since been withdrawn and an enforcement order served for the removal of the dilapidated mobile homes that have served as shelter, and which have also been used for exactly these educational purposes.

The term "proven need" is a planning term. It requires measurement. But how do you measure the future?

Meeting Ann Morgan is like coming face-to-face with a force of nature. There is a formidable commitment there. She seethes with passionate intensity, more like the bursting out of a geyser than the stillness of a well. It is this same intensity that has maintained her verve in this on-going saga of bureaucratic absurdity for sixteen long years.

"The planning laws are a huge problem," she says. "They need
challenging. They are blighting the organic, passionate, self-responsible, totally essential evolution of the human race towards
sustainability."

Indeed, she has run workshops at Turner's Field, and written a pamphlet entitled "Challenging the Planning Laws with Courage." It is one of the reasons South Somerset District Council cited when they refused her planning application.

As Andrew Cato, Area Planning Manager for the district, said, "she
hasn't shown a proven need for the facilities. This has nothing to do
with Permaculture. There is no need for anyone to live on site. The land doesn't require buildings. People can live off site and other buildings are available for educational purposes."

In reply, Ann said: "This has everything to do with Permaculture.
Permaculture is to do with integration of people with the landscape.
What has been achieved here is precisely because people have been living on the land in a sustainable way in such a magical atmosphere.
Permaculture is a continuous experience of loving the environment... and ourselves as part of that."

Even Andrew Cato admits that the loss of the site would be "a crying
shame".

We described the village as "picturesque". Indeed, Compton Dundon is
precisely that kind of rural idyll that city folk dream of, and - not
entirely coincidentally - are willing to pay a lot of money for. One
wonders if this might not be a part of the problem? And, as if to prove the point, one of the objectors, Robert Wright, was quoted in the  Fosse Way Magazine as saying, "that Ms Morgan would become a millionaire if 'given what she wanted', as residential land in such a village was worth far more than agricultural land."

Another neighbour was asked to pay a visit, to share his perspective to the project. He did so, in no uncertain terms, while the young students explained their case. "We may not have much money," one of them said, "but we have each other. We are a network of people growing all the time." "Yes, that's just what we are afraid of," said the neighbour, in a rare display of candour.

As for ideals: these can be summarised by a story Ann told, of a little six year old boy called Charlie. He woke up one morning dreaming of a bed of beans planted in a spiral formation. So, of course, the whole of that day was spent in creating just such a garden.

"That dream was fulfilled in a day," said Ann. "How do you present that as a planning application?"