a Balham Hill press digest

Tue Apr 18 16:59:29 BST 2006

ALSO
Fancy an early start tomorrow?
Do have a listen to Farming Today tomorrow morning (just possibly Thursday
morning)
It's on BBC Radio 4 at 05:45-06:00 tomorrow and Thursday. - cheers
Tony

SHOWDOWN LOOMING IN BID TO SELL PRIME COUNTY COUNCIL FARM
Western Daily Press
http://www.westpress.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145809&command=displayCont
ent&sourceNode=145792&contentPK=14353319&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=
sidebarsearch

10:31  -  Tuesday 18th April 2006
The Battle of Balham Hill Farm could reach boiling point this morning as
the deadline arrives for protesters to leave the Somerset site.

A group of concerned farmers, a selection of their livestock and residents
have been staging a sit-in protest at the farm in Chiselborough, near
Yeovil, since Friday morning.

They are furious at the county council's decision to sell off the "jewel"
in its farm estate in four weeks time despite fierce opposition.

The campaigners have been told in writing to be off the site by 8am today,
but yesterday they said they had no intention of complying.

"We don't know exactly what's going to happen tomorrow but we expect the
county council to come along huffing and puffing, " said Simon Fairlie,
spokesman for The Land Is Ours group.

"They have written asking us to be out, but they need to get a court order
to force us to, so that's what they will have to do. We have no intention
of going unless we have to or unless they agree to review the whole policy
of selling off the farm estate.

"We will contest any court order and are going to resist being removed from
the site in whatever legal and peaceful way we can." The farm shop has been
reopened and did a fine trade over the weekend, bringing in well over £500.
An Easter egg hunt and cart-horse rides attracted dozens of youngsters, and
Mr Fairlie said they had received great support from the public.

Fellow protester Stuart Aylett said he also intended to be at the farm gate
this morning to meet head-on whatever the council could throw at them.

"They have told us to be out by 8am, but we are not going to respond to
that, " he said. "We'll wait and see what a court order brings. They can
request that we leave, but it's not yet an order."

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Council sell-off sparks unrest down the farm

Saturday, April 15 2006 @ 09:36 PM GMT-1
http://libcom.org/news/article.php/balham-farm-somerset-160406

Ten people, three cows, two pigs, several sheep and a carthorse occupied an
empty 80-acre farm in the village of Chiselborough, Near Yeovil in Somerset
on Friday. They were protesting against the council auctioning off the
publicy owned farm next month as part of spate of similar sell-offs -

Balham Hill's farm shop was scrubbed down during the occupation and started
selling milk, meat and vegetables, and then as more animals arrived, they
were put out to graze as the occupation continued.

One local said:
"Here is this wonderful small county farm, owned by the people of Somerset,
about to be broken up and floggged off for pony paddocks. The house will
probably go as a second home and the land will make £500,000,".

Local smallholder and land campaigner Simon Fairlie said: "We're not going
to do anything illegal, but we're going to stay here as long as we possibly
can.
"If the council agrees not to sell the farm and withdraw it from sale,
which is what everybody in the locality wants, then we'll move straight away."

Five farms owned by the council have been sold recently, earning £3.6m.

As of going to press, about twelve people were involved in the occupation,
and Somerset council had started legal proceedings for an eviction.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/country/article/0,,1754278,00.html

Council sell-off provokes Easter uprising down on the farm John Vidal,
environment editor
Saturday April 15, 2006
Guardian

It was the peaceful Easter uprising. Ten people, three cows, two pigs,
several sheep and a carthorse yesterday quietly walked into and then
occupied an empty 80-acre farm in Somerset in protest at the way the local
council was selling off its publicly owned land to make what they called "a
quick buck".

Within hours of the occupation, Balham Hill farm on the edge of the village
of Chiselborough, near Yeovil, was diversifying. First the old farm shop
was scrubbed down and started selling milk, meat and vegetables, and then
as more animals arrived, they were put out to graze.

"Here is this wonderful small county farm, owned by the people of Somerset,
about to be broken up and floggged off for pony paddocks. The house will
probably go as a second home and the land will make £500,000," said one
local who objected to the land being sold to people with no interest in
faming and the village becoming more suburbanised.
Somerset has already sold five of its small farms, earning £3.6m, and
Balham Hill is due for auction next month. It is to be offered in small
lots, while the buildings will be sold on for redevelopment.

The intention of the occupation, said Simon Fairlie, a Somerset smallholder
and land campaigner, is to show that farms of this size are financially
viable, and are important steps on the ladder to farming for people without
access to large amounts of capital. "They are also important to communities
because they can provide shops and local produce," he said.

"This is a good farm. It's been a great success for the the couple who were
here before and now the council wants to sell it off to make a quick buck."

The people of Chiselborough were yesterday supportive of the invasion. Jim
McCartney, chairman of the parish council, who sits on the action group to
save the farm, said he had no idea the land would be invaded. "We cannot
condone the squatting of the farm, but it shows the strength of feeling
about Somerset's plans. This was a model farm. It had a good farm shop, but
the council wants to sell off the family silver. They intend to sell 43
farms like this."

Cathy Bakewell, Liberal Democrat leader of the county council, said: "It's
most regrettable these people have broken the law. We are not selling off
all our public land. We are retaining some in the Quantocks and at
Donyatt." She added: "The first million from the sale of these farms goes
to a rural regeneration fund to help small busineses to diversify."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4910326.stm

Sit-in protest over farm's sale

Campaigners are staging a sit-in at a Somerset farm in an attempt to stop
it being sold off.

The county council plans to auction Balham Hill Farm in Chiselborough near
Yeovil, next month.

The authority says it needs the money for other rural regeneration
projects, but on Good Friday, protesters moved in with cows, pigs and a horse.

County Council leader Cathy Bakewell said legal proceedings had begun to
get the protesters evicted.

Behave 'legally'

"I'm extremely disappointed that they think illegal occupation of county
council property is a good way to campaign," she said.

"The county council has a number of farms that it's retaining to help young
farmers to start up and we are still doing that." 

About a dozen people are taking part in the sit-in. The group is also
re-opening the farm shop for business.

Campaigner Simon Fairlie said: "We're not going to do anything illegal, but
we're going to stay here as long as we possibly can.

"If the council agrees not to sell the farm and withdraw it from sale,
which is what everybody in the locality wants, then we'll move straight away."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/somerset/4910326.stm

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