Nocton Dairies 'Liaison Group'
News has reached me that the inaugural meeting between Nocton Dairies Ltd, various village residents and Parish Councillors will take place Thursday 09th September at 6.30pm at a venue in Metheringham.
I understand the following will be attending:
The Directors of Nocton Dairies Ltd
The Public Relations Consultant of Nocton Dairies Ltd
An Agricultural Chaplain from Market Rasen
A Councillor from Dunston Parish Council
A resident of Dunston
A couple of Councillors from Metheringham Parish Council
A couple of residents from Nocton
A resident from Potterhanworth
(N.B. An individual has asked me to remove their name after I initially published the list of attendees. To protect that person's identity I have now removed all names.)
I think it is fair to say these individuals are not formal representatives of the villages concerned. There is no mandate to act on our behalf without full consultation of views. As yet, there is no representation at all from the villages of Scopwick or Branston and Mere. It is also important for any Parish Councillor to consider their actions in any involvement with Nocton Dairies e.g. pushing out their literature or helping review and prepare such. Doing so may indicate possible support of the impending application and they would therefore have to declare 'Prejudicial Interest'.
The draft Terms of Reference (as published in this blog on 1st September) give the Aims of this Liaison Group. As with any inaugural meeting, these will need to be discussed and agreed before the group is able to embark on its proper business... that of improving communication and establishing facts about the planned intensive dairy development.
I will report back here if I get any more information, although I'm sure the group will want to issue its own publicity in due course.
Farmers Guardian and Farmers Weekly Interactive
More promotional material here from the dairy industry:
Jenson Button and Elle Macpherson to wear milk moustache
http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/rural-life/country-view/jenson-button-and-elle-macpherson-to-wear-milk-moustache/34132.article
Jenson Button joins milk moustache campaign
http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2010/09/06/123223/Jenson-Button-joins-milk-moustache-campaign.htm
Dairy Event 2010: VIDEO - Industry needs to tackle super-dairy questions
It is a shame the farming sector do not report the main reason why residents are objecting to the Nocton Dairy development... that it is due to be built right on top of a fragile aquifer supplying drinking water to the local villages. The potential risk to our local environment of accidental pollution from 8,100 cattle in a concentrated location doesn't even bear thinking about.
Listening to Aly Balsom in the video, I couldn't help smiling to myself. The dairy industry are content to leave the public perception with "cows in fields" and continue to use these sort of pictures in promotions and the like. Instead of spending large sums of money on the 'milk moustache' campaign, is it not time to stop misleading the public and show them exactly how their milk and dairy goods are produced. Of course, if they were to do this, the consumer may shop very differently indeed.
Interesting that major supermarkets like Tesco and Morrisons didn't even appear to want to comment. At least Asda made a statement that they wouldn't rule out purchasing milk from large-scale dairies. Once again though, Waitrose comes to the fore with their publicity... saying that they are focused on sourcing milk from traditionally run farms, that are largely family run.
For me, I know where I buy my milk from... and I will continue shopping there... 'Organic' and 'Duchy Originals'... do I need to say any more?
Supermarkets
The pressure on supermarkets begins to build again... and about time too in my opinion.
EU laws insufficient as MEPs go on supermarket attack
http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/business/eu-laws-insufficient-as-meps-go-on-supermarket-attack/34155.article
Dairy Event 2010: Kendall demands answers on milk price 'robbery'
http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/business/business-news/dairy-event-2010-kendall-demands-answers-on-milk-price-robbery/34164.article
Dairy Event 2010: NFU issue milk price warning to processors
http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2010/09/08/123286/Dairy-Event-2010-NFU-issue-milk-price-warning-to-processors.htm
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