National Trust destroys decades-old Bassenthwaite grassland

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Any of you guys into reverse ploughing......

 

[Tim G]

It's going to end up even more of a mess.

 

[curlietailz]

I think we farmers should print off that story and note any “action” or “penalty” that is applied. And cite it every time “we” get told off by DEFRA for doing something naughty

 

[Cowmansam]

I do want to see how they go about this un ploughing should be worth a laugh

 

[Suffolk Serf]

I do want to see how they go about this un ploughing should be worth a laugh

I reckon that it might be easier for them to develop a time machine so that they can rewind back to the day they rang the contractor and cancel him!

 

[ollie989898]

They should just hold their hands up, pay the fines and then use it as an opportunity to see how to go about reinstating natural habitats.

It is what it is. You can't unplough something. It will be a mass of weed grasses and docks and heaven knows what in time anyway. Just work it, seed it and roll it. Be done with it.

Nevertheless it is an ace illustration of why folk with an ecology degree are dangerous if unsupervised. It's this calibre of individual that are in charge of the EA.

 

[Happy hillbily]

I do want to see how they go about this un ploughing should be worth a laugh

It happend years ago somewhere i remember reading about it in one of the farming papers, some ancient grassland had been ploughed up, there was a call for people to come and help unplough that field, if I remember rightly an army of volunteers turned every sod back green side up, but as said above i bet it was a right mess afterwards.

 

[unlacedgecko]

I do want to see how they go about this un ploughing should be worth a laugh

A line of men with shovels.

 

[Bongodog]

I know the chap who heads up the NT farms/estates management team, he lives locally. We were talking last autumn and he was saying that due to covid the rest of his team had been furloughed, leaving him responsible for every single NT farm from lands end to the Scotch border! Can't remember how many farms that was but it numbered thousands! I can imagine it'd be pretty easy to miss someone ploughing the wrong field when you manage over half a million acres!

What a poor excuse.

The vast majority of National Trust income comes via membership subscriptions, they fall due in January, so when lockdown hit in March their piggybank must have been overflowing, yes
they will have lost income from non member admission fees and catering, but they should not have been furloughing people who were not visitor facing. Unfortunately they are not the only charity who took the mick out of the furlough system, I know of one that had just received about £10m in membership fees, shut everything down and claimed the wage bill from furlough, and now has the audacity to put membership fees for 2021 up by 20% having provided sod all for last years.

 

[7610 super q]

Oh well, it's xxxxx number of acres removed from food production, so higher prices for the rest of us.

 

[ollie989898]

The vast majority of National Trust income comes via membership subscriptions, they fall due in January, so when lockdown hit in March their piggybank must have been overflowing, yes
they will have lost income from non member admission fees and catering, but they should not have been furloughing people who were not visitor facing. Unfortunately they are not the only charity who took the mick out of the furlough system, I know of one that had just received about £10m in membership fees, shut everything down and claimed the wage bill from furlough, and now has the audacity to put membership fees for 2021 up by 20% having provided sod all for last years.

Companies that have taken the pish out of the furlough scheme or the bounce back loans should be named and shamed on the .gov database, then fined the full amount and made to pay back every cent.

 

[Cowmansam]

A line of men with shovels.

I’d reckon the sort of folk who would go and do that wouldn’t know how to drive a shovel

 

[Hilly]

I’d reckon the sort of folk who would go and do that wouldn’t know how to drive a shovel

I reckon they would be better with a spade as well .

 

[Hfd Cattle]

Well when I ploughed up 7.5 acres 3 yrs ago I ended up with a 5% BPS reduction . Hope the same will apply to NT .
Incidentally the field I ploughed up is now covered in houses ......and NE supported the planning application !!!
Tossers !

 

[Hilly]

I ploughed a so called since t monument, held under caution and threat of court for six month winter to then have to go and beg to plough it again to reseed it to be told oh yes no problem.

 

[betweenthelines]

I do want to see how they go about this un ploughing should be worth a laugh

They think that's what a reversible plough is for!!

 

[Cowmansam]

Ahh that makes sense

 

[Sid]

Well when I ploughed up 7.5 acres 3 yrs ago I ended up with a 5% BPS reduction . Hope the same will apply to NT .
Incidentally the field I ploughed up is now covered in houses ......and NE supported the planning application !!!
Tossers !

I expect the NT have lots of separate companies so that a BPS deduction won't affect all the massive cheque!

 

[Cowmansam]

I bet it’s claimed on a per property basis some how

 

[Ribble]

..

Companies that have taken the pish out of the furlough scheme or the bounce back loans should be named and shamed on the .gov database, then fined the full amount and made to pay back every cent.

You'll be pleased to hear the Police are drawing up lists.

My brother's mate is some sort of mid level senior detective and mentioned that he'd been reassigned to Covid scheme fraud which is rife, including among quote "lots of seemingly respectable local business people", not just the usual dodgy chancers.

Apparently the police will be dealing with the outright organised crime first, but over the coming years lots of "respectable" people are going to be getting a very nasty bill from HMRC