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EXMOOR FURY

 

"There's trouble brewing in the hills. It is being dubbed locally as the "War of the Wilds" and people are becoming so passionate that one faction of hill-folk has even organised a direct-   action group called the Revolting Exmoor Peasants Party.

The biggest furore central Exmoor has seen since farmers threatened to plough up the length and breadth of the heather moors might be centred on just a single two-bedroom bungalow - but its outcome could have profound consequences for areas of wilderness across the UK.

For a start, it is no ordinary bungalow. Blackpitts, situated high on Exmoor's lonely Chains, is arguably the most remote homestead in the whole of southern Britain. No other dwelling can be seen from its metal-framed windows - in fact, no other man-made structure at all, save for a lonely road and a tin barn. The nearest supermarket of any size is  a 20-mile drive away. And yet this not very old, damp and fairly unattractive home is causing more of a stink than some huge planning issues concerning heavily populated communities."

 

 

This is exactly what the Western Morning News published on September 12th.

 

 

The row has intensified.

The National Park is in the firing line 

 

 

and the Exmoor Society does not emerge with flying colours either.

 

The people of Exmoor have organised a petition which I delivered to Parliament on Wednesday 22nd October. The depth of their feelings and the numerical size of the petition itself - well over 2000 signatures - is evidence of a major problem.

 

Feelings are running so high that I hope to convene a top level political meeting to seek a sane way through.

 

Exmoor is vital to the West Somerset economy.

 

The National Park has some serious questions to answer.

 

Here's what the Western Daily Dress shrewd scribe Chris Rundle had to say:

Another exercise in antipodean justice-dispensing?

The Tory MP for Exmoor, Ian Liddell-Grainger, really does seem to have upset the gnomes at Exmoor House – HQ of the national park authority. So stung have they been by his claims that they are arrogant, unaccountable and completely out of touch with the needs, beliefs and aspirations of local people that they have summoned him to appear before them. L-G is due to be arraigned to explain his behaviour within the next few weeks. Nothing new in this, of course: the authority (an unelected body made up of Ministerial and local authority appointees) has a history of coming down heavily on any who dare to question its activities.I used to attend its meetings during the tempestuous times when the national park committee (as it then was) was dominated by a junta of retired squadron leaders and majors, all intent on furthering the interests of local landowners. On one occasion, the police were summoned to eject Guy Somerset, chairman of the Exmoor Society, when he refused to leave the chamber because the committee was unlawfully trying to exclude Press and public from a debate.On another, the amiable Left- winger Malcolm MacEwen, a Labour appointee, was hauled in front of fellow committee members and accused of leaking sensitive information to the Press.Everyone else was excluded but, even from outside the building, it was possible to hear the table-thumping and the bellowing of outraged retired generals before an unrepentant Malcolm appeared to declare merrily that he had been hauled in front of a "kangaroo court".Is the authority preparing another such exercise in antipodean justice-dispensing for ILG? And will Press and public be allowed to spectate?

 

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  ©2003,2004 Ian Liddell-Grainger. All rights reserved. www.somersetwest.org.uk