News

A swift look at the baking aisle in your local supermarket will tell you that the UK egg industry is in crisis. Andrew Livingston reports

Fields and woodland which adjoin Blandford’s Milldown Nature Reserve and the North Dorset Trailway have been bought by Dorset Council to create a new wildlife haven. The 13 acres will extend the Green Flag award-winning site, creating new wildlife corridors to support the survival of one of the rarest bats in Europe, the Greater Horseshoe. The new nature reserve will provide crucial habitat for adults and juvenile bats from the nearby Bryanston Site of Special Scientific Interest roost, whilst also supporting other bat species and a host of other wildlife. The project will see hedgerows restored, a wildflower meadow established and more trees planted. Cllr Ray Bryan, Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for highways, travel and environment, said: ‘This recent land purchase is an excellent opportunity to create much-needed habitat for Dorset’s wildlife.’ The purchase has been made possible through the council’s Habitat Compensation Fund, using money secured through developer contributions and extra funding for the project from Defra’s Farming in Protected Landscapes programme (administered by Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), Blandford Forum Town Council and Dorset Council. ‘Protecting and restoring Dorset’s natural environment is one of the council’s key priorities.’ said Cllr Bryan, ‘We are determined to work with partners to promote the recovery of nature and tackle the ecological emergency.’

Come and plant a tree

To launch the nature reserve, the council will be holding a volunteer tree and hedge planting event on the weekend of 21st and 22nd January. Members of the public are invited to come along from 10am on either or both days to help with the planting. Volunteers will need to wear stout shoes or boots and bring their own spades! To find the event, follow signs from the Milldown car park (DT11 7FU); council rangers will be on site to guide you.

• Donations of £40 (+vat) for the 70 trees being planted are being taken by Blandford Forum Town Council. Contributions can be made via their online form.

Rooftop panels versus solar farms

The solar farm just at the foot of Hambledon Hill, the Iron Age hill fort in North Dorset

Rupert Hardy, chairman of the North Dorset CPRE, takes a long look into the case for solar panels on roofs or in fields

North Dorset CPRE is well aware of the climate emergency and the severe impact of the Ukraine conflict on energy prices, and it is fully supportive of renewable energy development. The government has prioritised offshore wind power to supply the majority of our renewable energy needs. But what can Dorset do? New offshore wind farms are less likely to be proposed here. The ending of the virtual moratorium on onshore wind farms may result in new planning applications but the main contribution will come from solar in Dorset. To combat climate change, Dorset Council (DC) aims to meet a huge renewable energy target of 3.8TWh/yr by 2050; up from the current generation of 0.5TWh/yr. Developers will retort that we have plenty of potential sites for solar farms, and that we should take advantage of the high solar irradiance of the county. However – do not be deceived by the frequently misleading data issued by solar trade associations, whose members are unsurprisingly more concerned with profit than saving the planet.

Profit not planet

This January in North Dorset we expect a hearing into the proposal for a 190-acre solar farm at Pulham/Mappowder. The CPRE has not objected to a number of less damaging solar farms, but we are opposing this one, on grounds of the harm it will do to the setting of the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the beautiful countryside for which it is responsible, as well as the adverse impact on amenity and the flooding risk. Last autumn, a proposal to cover no less than 1,400 acres of farmland near Chickerell (south west of Dorchester and equivalent to 885 soccer pitches) shocked many on account of its huge scale. It would be built on part of the Dorset AONB, desecrating countryside in the heart of Thomas Hardy’s Wessex, covered with ancient monuments. There will of course be more applications in North Dorset. Is the renewable energy benefit a price worth paying? We would argue that it is not.

Roof not field

Rooftop solar panels could provide the same output, although we are supportive of <5MW community-funded solar farms. If you missed it at the time, please do see our article in the BV last February on “Why is Dorset So Slow Putting Solar Panels on Roofs”. Key factors that should be considered are:

On a recent walk near Blandford we couldn’t avoid seeing the large patch of metallic grey in the middle of the view. Image: Laura Hitchcock

• Solar farm inefficiency: They are hugely inefficient compared to offshore wind. Solar’s efficiency rating is 11 per cent, compared with 40 per cent for offshore wind. • Negative impact: Solar farms are mostly power stations that industrialise the Dorset countryside that is loved by residents and tourists. In particular the AONBs should be protected.

Cumulative impact from several solar parks in close proximity will exacerbate the damage, as can already be seen from Badbury Rings, an

Iron Age hill fort. • Adverse effect on heritage assets and their setting:

We have lots of historic churches, houses and ancient monuments which have huge cultural significance for

Dorset. • Loss of good agricultural land and food security: Many solar farms are being built on highgrade productive farmland, such as at Spetisbury, which is unforgiveable at a time when food prices are rocketing. Food security should be paramount.

Development should be limited to brownfield sites and poor quality agricultural land. It can be argued that land graded 3b should not be considered as “poor”, as much is productive and often soil here is better able to hold more moisture than higher grades. This was proved in 2022’s long hot summer.

There was talk last summer of the government including 3b in its definition of “Best and

Most Versatile” land, but this has recently been quashed by

Therese Coffey. • Wildlife and biodiversity:

Developers may suggest token gestures such as sheep grazing, but sheep rarely graze under panels and mostly just on the grass margin. Birds and bat deaths are common as they mistake glass panels for water, while the routes of transiting animals are blocked, forcing them to cross roads. • Amenity: Most solar farms have footpaths and bridleways crossing them, which are used by residents and visitors to enjoy the countryside. • Permanent or temporary land use? Most solar farms are leased for 30 or 40 years, with the likelihood of applications to extend. A 40-year period represents two generations relating to a farming tenancy.

Land may never revert to agricultural use. • Tenant farmers ignored: Solar proposal decisions may be taken by landowners, against the wishes of their tenants who actually farm the land. • Battery storage: Many solar

farms now incorporate this, but lithium-ion batteries present a dangerous fire risk which fire brigades find difficult to deal with.

Strong policies

We would argue that the government needs to have a clearer solar policy, which it does not, compared with development of land for residential purposes. The proliferation of solar applications across the country make it imperative that there is clearer guidance on grounds for refusal or acceptance of applications. We would also like stronger local landscape policies in Dorset Council’s emerging Local Plan. A 40-year solar Why do 95 farm land lease per cent of households represents two and 98 per generations of a cent of farming tenancy businesses in Dorset have no rooftop solar? Opposition to industrial-sized solar farms in the countryside is growing, as demands for food security and nature recovery clash with net zero goals. Promoting rooftop solar makes much more sense. Dorset CPRE has calculated that by installing solar panels on 64 per cent of currently un-utilised buildings, the maximum government target for 2050 would be reached without building another solar farm (download the report here).

New-build solutions

Last February we asked why 95 per cent of households and 98 per cent of businesses in Dorset had no roof-mounted solar panels, as of September 2021. The answer was first a failure by the government and DC (Dorset Council), despite its declared Climate Emergency strategy, to make it mandatory for new housing developments to fit solar panels on every roof. After much badgering it appears DC is finally looking at ways it can impose new conditions on developers. Other local authorities have already done this. Retrofitting older buildings will be expensive, but VAT on domestic solar PV was dropped last April. Another way would be to increase funding of community energy groups, like Purbeck Energy, which facilitates the fitting of solar panels at discounted prices. This would cost much less than direct subsidies to millions of home-owners.

Community Energy Groups

The phasing out of domestic solar panel subsidies in recent years meant that individuals became reluctant installers, despite the drop in prices of panels, while cash-strapped local authorities have been unable to help. But community energy groups began to spring up with the goal of offering panels at very competitive rates. It is a growing movement in which energy generation is owned not by large industrial companies but by local communities, with the profits invested back into the community. However, last year Community Energy England, in advance of the second reading of the Local Electricity Bill, said that Ministers were failing to respond to growing support for community renewable energy, or to properly plan for growth in line with netzero commitments. More than 300 MPs have now committed their support to this Bill, which is designed to ensure that Ofgem creates a Right to Local Supply framework – which would help community energy. The Bill appears to be stuck in some Westminster crevice, and the government seems to have other priorities! Despite this, in 2021 Sustainable Swanage and community energy group, Purbeck Energy, launched a project to offer Swanage residents the chance to get solar panels for their properties at competitive rates. They are using a company, IDDEA, which has already installed more than 1,000 panels across southern England. The Swanage mayor, Mike Bonfield, was fully supportive and praised it as a “brilliant scheme”. How about some of our North Dorset towns encouraging the same?

Solar PV on public, industrial and farm buildings

Historically, one of the reasons for slow progress on industrial buildings has been issues of building ownership and leasehold arrangements, as well as roof weight and warranties. High energy prices now mean owners of commercial buildings are looking at rooftop solar wherever they can, especially as installing panels on these properties is so much cheaper than for domestic properties thanks to scale. Progress is now being made to improve the energy efficiency on public buildings in Dorset too, where

Dorset Council is finally looking at imposing new planning conditions on developers

On a family holiday five years ago we couldn’t help but admire the sense of installing solar panels over the French supermarché car park - Ed Image: Laura Hitchcock

ownership is clearer. The first major push came from DC’s Low Carbon Dorset team, which gave grants of £5m to fund 4.1MW of projects, both public sector and business, thanks initially to the European Regional Development Fund. DC was also given £19m by the government for more renewable projects. This was one of the biggest grant packages given by the government, so well done DC! It paid for panels to go on the roof of Durlston Castle, an arts centre, County Hall in Dorchester and various schools. In North Dorset, Blandford and Gillingham Schools are busy installing panels. Bridport-based Dorset Community Energy, which facilitates community ownership of renewable energy production, has financed the installation of panels on 12 schools and four community buildings throughout Dorset, such as Blandford Community Hospital. Thanks initially to the Lottery and now 152 local shareholders, it has funded more than 1.5MW of panels. We hope to see more of these community-led projects.

On the farms

DC, in its briefing to its Climate and Ecological Emergency Support Group in November, spoke of the progress made on decarbonisation of DC properties, including rooftop solar installation. The council will now be funding directly the Low Carbon Dorset unit, which otherwise was due to close having distributed all the grants given them. Farmers are fitting panels to their buildings but it is estimated that only a small proportion of farmers so far in Dorset have done so. Weight problems are often quoted as the reason why there is less retro-fitting, but access to the Grid is another. Mole Energy has been busy promoting the fitting of panels to farm buildings here, but has emphasised the serious Grid capacity issues, which got worse through 2022. The company says the rapid phasing out of domestic subsidies in 2016 meant many solar PV installers had to diversify and the associated tradesmen left the industry, so there may now be too few installers.

Other solutions in Europe

In contrast to the UK’s approach, France has announced plans to fast-track renewable energy by mandating car parks nationwide be covered by solar panels – a popular policy that could generate up to 11GW of power. With good planning and design, 20,000 hectares of car parking space in the UK could potentially yield an additional 8GW of solar capacity alongside tens of thousands of new homes. The UK already has 14.5GW of solar capacity operational. Meanwhile Germany has focussed on rooftops first, with 80 per cent of its solar power coming from panels that generate little public opposition.

In conclusion

CPRE is calling on the government to adopt a renewables strategy that prioritises rooftops, surface car parks and brownfield sites in a concerted effort to attract wide public support. Grid capacity issues also need to be resolved. If implemented quickly, the policy could drastically reduce energy bills during the cost-ofliving crisis and speed up the transition to net zero, while leaving as much countryside as possible available for farming and nature restoration. Three urgent national policy changes are needed: • A national land-use strategy to balance the competing demands for development, energy and infrastructure, food security and nature recovery; planning policy amended so that it actively promotes solar panels on agricultural land avoiding the best and most versatile agricultural. • Solar panels should be mandatory for all new buildings, and planning permission should be witheld for commercial or public car parking spaces unless they also provide solar energy generation. • The government needs to give more financial support to community energy. Here in North Dorset we neither want nor need another 1,400 acre Chickerell solar farm to blight our lives and desecrate our countryside! It is not a price worth paying.

The County Show will be “a brilliant celebration of Dorset”

New organiser James Cox tells editor Laura about his plans for the county’s great agricultural country show in 2023

James Cox will be a familiar name to many in North Dorset, having run the Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show for the past four years. He has now taken on a new role as show secretary of the annual two-day Dorset County Show. ‘It’s an exciting opportunity,’ says James, ‘but in a way it feels like coming home. My family farms near Dorchester, it was our local show and I have been involved with it as a volunteer for as long as I can remember. ‘It feels appropriate to be starting the new year with a fresh look at the show – quite simply, we’re going to make it a brilliant showcase for Dorset rural life, both agriculture and countryside.’ The show may have a long history, but James is determined not to let it rest on its reputation; he is already deep in plans for 2023 and has been listening to feedback from last year’s visitors. ‘The big news this year is that we have the world’s biggest monster trucks coming to the main arena on both days of the show. We’re really proud to have secured them. But just as important as the big attractions are the basics of the show. We’re looking at toilets, car parking, layout. We have introduced a new food and drink area which will be a large (some might say ’gurt big’) comfortable area to get something to eat, where the catering will focus on Dorset food and drink – we want people to be buying burgers from Bridport, not Bookers. ‘We’re introducing a Woodland Area for the first time, where the Dorset Axemen will be demonstrating their forestry skills, along with various carvers and woodworkers showing traditional rural crafts. ‘We’ve also increased the trading area to allow more variety – the artisan crafts will extend outside the marquee this year. ‘Of course, we’re not losing the educational farming demos in the Fabulous Food and Farming Area, and the show wouldn’t even exist without the competitions in livestock, horticulture, equestrian and homecraft. The team never forgets that at its heart it is an agricultural country show – traders and visitors alike come together for a brilliant celebration of Dorset.’ Gate prices will remain the same this year at £23, but the team has introduced new ticketing options which mean greater savings. If you purchase before the of January, the cost is just £15. Watch the show’s social media for updates!

Karabits and the BSO – a new chapter

During the past 15 years, Kirill Karabits has built a reputation for exciting and adventurous programmes for the BSO. Fanny Charles reports

The Ukrainian-born conductor Kirill Karabits will end his tenure as chief conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in summer 2024, after a remarkable 15-year partnership. But the relationship, which has been so successful, will continue, with Karabits becoming the BSO’s Conductor Laureate and artistic director of the Voices from the East programme. Karabits is the BSO’s second longest-serving chief conductor after its founder, Sir Dan Godfrey. His partnership with the orchestra has seen a wide growth in its repertoire, with cycles of Beethoven, Brahms and Prokofiev, UK premieres of works from CPE Bach to contemporary music from Azerbaijan, and music from eastern Europe and Ukraine through the Voices from the East programme. Under Karabits’ adventurous leadership, the orchestra has commissioned music from composers including Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, Anna KorSun and Mark-Anthony Turnage.

Beyond the expected

The Voices from the East series of music from the Ukraine and beyond has come to define Karabits’ recent years with the BSO. Through performances – and recordings for the Chandos label – the orchestra’s audiences have been introduced to music from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and the Ukraine, by composers including Kara Karayev, Boris Lyatoshynsky, Chary Nurymov and Avet Terterian. Last year, The Times suggested that, thanks to the series, “music lovers in Dorset may now be the most knowledgeable in the western world about the symphonic pieces of eastern Europe and central Asia.” This spring, the orchestra will record the music of Ukraine-born Fyodor Akimenko for Chandos. Karabits’ other BSO recordings include releases on Decca, Onyx and Naxos, ranging from a complete Prokofiev symphonic cycle to concerto recordings with James Ehnes and Nicola Benedetti, and premiere recordings of Ivan Karabits, Valentin Silvestrov and Rodion Shchedrin. He says: ‘I have never forgotten my first encounter with the BSO. I immediately felt this was a very special group of musicians, and, artistically, we have continued to grow together over the last 15 years. It feels like a home from home — and never more so than during these last few years, where this community has been of great support. The warmth, friendship and open-minded approach here is very special.’ Dougie Scarfe, the BSO’s chief executive, describes Karabits not only as an outstanding conductor but also as ‘a musical detective unlike any other. His creative influence has defined the modern BSO – his understanding not just of the music, but of that magical relationship between music, musicians and audience.”

The BSO moves to Yeovil

The news follows hard on the heels of an announcement that the BSO will have a new Somerset residency at Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre, when the theatre reopens at the end of 2024, after a £29m transformation, to become a flagship cultural venue for the South West. Local audiences will have access to more symphonic performances by the BSO as resident orchestra, with its international conductors and soloists, alongside family-friendly BSO On Your Doorstep concerts, workshops and events. Octagon theatre manager, Adam Burgan said: “I am absolutely delighted that we can announce this partnership with the amazing Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. As one of the UK’s best loved orchestras it will be fantastic when they make the Octagon Theatre their new home in Somerset.” Meanwhile the BSO’s relationship with Artsreach, Dorset’s rural touring charity, continues this year with BSO On Your Doorstep concerts at Marnhull village hall on Sunday 12th February at 3pm. The programme will be a Spring Serenade by a flute, harp and cello trio, with music from Bach to Joni Mitchell, plus works by Elgar, Ibert, Schubert and Bizet.

See the portraits and words of people on the COVID front line

Unmasked is a local project that began in the dark days of March 2020 when a new disease called COVID-19 literally stopped the world

Unmasked is a series of portraits by local photographer Andy Scaysbrook which reveal and celebrate the stories and faces on Dorset’s Covid-19 front line. Working with journalist Emma Pittard and graphic designer John Nesbitt, Andy shines a light on many of the men and women behind the masks. Andy says: ‘We clapped for them every Thursday but we didn’t see their faces. At work, their identities were hidden behind masks and gowns and gloves.’ Three previous Unmasked exhibitions won critical acclaim in local and national press, and this fourth show coincides with the launch of a fundraising book which collects a permanent record of what were extraordinary times. Profits go to Dorset NHS charities. In addition, the book is being held by The British Library to support its NHS Voices of Covid-19 archive, part of the NHS 70th Birthday celebrations. The project was achieved by Andy and Emma during the lockdowns, while respecting all socialdistancing guidelines and without travelling too far from their homes. It grew quickly – from Andy photographing friends who are key workers to being featured in The Times and The Sunday Times. It was soon necessary to bring in John to prepare the body of work for exhibitions. Their first Unmasked show appeared on the walls of Dorset County Hospital (DCH) in November 2020, with the help of Suzy Rushbrook, Arts in Hospital Manager at DCH, who then organised displays at Durlston Castle in Swanage and the Lighthouse in Poole. Suzy said: ‘Art has an enormous impact on health and wellbeing and this is something people are becoming increasingly aware of, making collaborative projects like this invaluable.’ The project has proved to be an exercise in wellbeing and a morale booster for staff working all over the Dorset health sector; showing them they are truly appreciated, their stories are being told and people are listening.

Unmasked the exhibition is showing at the Dorset Museum until 8th February.