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home ¦ news and events ¦ about us ¦ local to you ¦ support us ¦ contact us ¦ help and advice ¦ campaigns ¦ press releases ¦ publications ¦ links |
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From the Chairman:
Cheshire CPRE is a branch of one of the oldest, most highly respected environmental charities in the country: when we speak, others listen.
We campaign on behalf of rural, semi-rural and urban areas in Cheshire, the Wirral, Warrington, Halton, Trafford and Stockport. You can get an idea from the website of the many issues CPRE is working on in your area. If you think something has been overlooked – please let us know.
We believe that the best way to encourage people to stand up for our countryside is to help them to understand and experience the joys of the countryside, the value of local foods, and the role of the villages and towns in protecting the rural landscape and keeping the countryside alive. The countryside is a living entity not only because is growing but because we are there amongst it. The countryside is forever changing: in our opinion, sometimes for the better but sometimes for the worse.
Our plan over the next few years is to promote local issues, local foods, sustainable farming and affordable houses in appropriate locations. We will seek to influence people by helping them to appreciate the countryside and all its benefits so that when there are threats to places they care about, we will have willing volunteers to help us fight the cause.
We are part of the most effective organisation working to protect the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We are a charity, entirely dependent on members of the public for our financial support, and most of our work is done by volunteers, who give their time and expertise generously.
The last few years have been a difficult time for charities in general, and ours is no different. As a membership-based organization, we rely on income from membership subscriptions to meet the costs of our campaigning work to protect Cheshire’s countryside, but right now, this is under half the sum we need to enable us to move forward. As well as seeking new members to support our work, we need to reduce our overhead costs on administration and increase other income to allow us to develop our valuable projects and campaigns.
One of my first tasks as Branch Chairman is to set up a strategy for CPRE Cheshire, closely aligned with CPRE’s National Office Strategy, to set out our aims and ensure we have the means to achieve them. This strategy is now being developed and agreed between the Branch and our District Groups, and expressed in the Business Plan we are producing.
Our volunteers are essential in the campaign to protect rural Cheshire, and Cheshire Branch is keen to make the best use of their expertise and enthusiasm, and to make sure we create the best possible circumstances for them to work in – which is another good reason for having a clear strategy for the next three years.
We believe that we need to raise awareness of the challenges to the countryside with the people of Cheshire, Trafford, Stockport, Warrington and Halton, and involve them in countryside issues where they have the opportunity to get out and see for themselves how exciting a place it is. In this way when there are issues Cheshire CPRE needs to deal with, there will be a better understanding and a concerted response to them.
It is vital that we have a road map of the way forward to meet all of these needs, and so I look forward to discussing this with the District Groups, and would be very pleased to hear the views of the wider membership as well. Please email me with your comments: info@cprecheshire.org.uk.
If you agree with our aims, please support us by becoming a member of Cheshire CPRE, or taking a more active role as a volunteer. A the Branch level, we are currently looking for a Chairman and a Fundraiser - we also have a number of ways to get involved in your local District Group. If you have time to spare please take a look at our Support Us page, or call the Branch Office.
John Turnbull
Branch Chairman
Introduction
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Photo: Dick Makin / Last Resort Picture Library This charming scene is part of the River Bollin valley near Styal Country Mill in Macclesfield District. |
Cheshire Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England was founded just a few years after the national organisation came into existence in 1926. It is an independent charity in its own right (Registered Charity no. 248304), as are all the County branches, although it is a totally integral part of the national organisation.
The National Organisation
With a record of action and achievement spanning 80 years, .
Our network of county branches and
local groups screen over 100,000 planning applications every year, raising the
alarm when the countryside is
threatened by damaging development.
Locally and nationally, CPRE campaigns for positive policies to protect and enhance the countryside. We campaign for action to protect precious landscapes, green fields hedgerows. We campaign for sustainable development; for better rural public transport; for regeneration of urban areas and brownfield sites; and for green farming schemes which benefit the countryside.
More and more, we are winning the arguments.
For example, the Government is increasingly accepting our ideas for
redeveloping land in towns and cities rather than building on greenfield sites.
Cheshire Branch
Area Covered
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Photo: John Cleare / Mountain Camera Picture Library The obelisk is the 'Old Man of Mow' atop Mow Cop a few yards within the Cheshire border from Staffordshire. The vista behind it is mainly of Congleton District, although, in the far distance it is possible to see the Jodrell Bank telescope in Macclesfield District. |
Cheshire CPRE Branch still covers the area which comprised Cheshire County up to the re-organisation of local government in the 1970’s. In addition to the present Cheshire County Council area, therefore, this includes Halton (Widnes and Runcorn), Stockport, Trafford and Warrington. It also includes the former County Boroughs of Wallasey and Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula.
What We Do
Policy: The Cheshire Branch supports national CPRE campaigns such as ‘Sprawl Patrol’ and ‘Quiet Lanes’ and lobbies for sustainable policies at the County level. See our Campaigns page for more information on current topics
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Photo: Nick Kennedy/uklandscape.net Lawton Woods, Cheshire |
Planning: Much of our planning work is carried out through District Committees (see below), although there is also a County Planning Adviser and major issues are also dealt with by ad hoc working groups. Planning is one of the issues we are most often asked for help on, and CPRE produces information specifically to help in responding to Planning Applications.
Information and Support: The Branch endeavours to respond to all requests for information and to run at least one seminar a year. It supports non-CPRE campaigns where they meet CPRE’s sustainability criteria, it takes the lead in some campaigns and it works with other environmental organisations when there are common goals. It disseminates National Office information and works to maintain the profile of the organisation through media work and hosting exhibition stands at events such as the Royal Horticultural Show.
Parish Councils: We work to help Parish Councils and Amenity Groups address local problems, through providing information and support on matters relating to our work.
Transport: Cheshire CPRE established a Transport Campaign Group in the mid 1990's which, in the past decade, has worked very hard to disseminate messages about the need for sustainable transport and integrating land use planning with transport, regularly engaging with the County Council, the Highways Agency, Government Office and other statutory bodies.
Regional Activities
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Photo: Nick Kennedy/uklandscape.net Borrowdale, Cumbria - part of the area covered by FOLD in our Regional Group |
Cheshire Branch, together with Lancashire Branch and Cumbria (which is one and the same thing as the Friends of the Lake District or ‘FOLD’) make up the CPRE North West Regional Group and through that take an active part in many regional fora. Throughout the North West, CPRE has a membership of 9,000. This includes the majority of Town and Parish Councils and many family and joint memberships as well as a number of amenity groups. It is therefore recognised that the organisation speaks on behalf of a very large constituency.
The Branch is an active participant in CPRE's North West Regional Group, where we join with other Branches in the area to address issues of concern to the region. For example, we actively support the regional group through the Regional Planning Guidance process.
Cheshire Branch volunteers have served on several sub-regional studies sponsored by the North West Regional Assembly and other bodies. These have included the West Cheshire - North East Wales Sub Regional Study, the M56 Scoping Study and studies looking at Green Belt and housing.
Local Activities
As well as addressing county-wide issues at the Branch level, we are also divided into Districts to enable us to keep in touch with issues in each part of the County and to campaign on what matters in each area.
Most CPRE District Groups are run by small District Committees which review local planning applications to identify threats to the countryside and open spaces. They also maintain links with local authorities and other bodies to press the case for their local countryside, and participate in other activities relevant to their areas.
A list of
Districts, together with contacts in each one, is
here.
Click here for updates from the Districts.
County Transport Campaign Groups (TCGs) are required by CPRE National Office to lobby their local authorities to give greater emphasis in their Local Transport Plans to rural transport issues such as ‘Quiet Lanes’ and ‘Greenways’, speed control on country lanes and in villages and better quality, more flexible public transport. How much a TCG does beyond that is left to its discretion as long as it follows National Office policy lines (see the national web site at www.cpre.org.uk).
Over the years Cheshire Branch's TCG has involved itself in a wide range of transport issues and it fielded representatives on the multi-modal and roads-based studies set up by the Government and the Highways Agency following the Integrated Transport White Paper. Cheshire TCG has been an active member of the North West Transport Activists Roundtable (NW TAR) and has participated in the regional as well as the county and district planning processes. It has endeavoured to respond to all relevant transport consultation documents as well as seizing as many opportunities as possible to lobby from a CPRE perspective.
Some other recent submissions are available for downloading below:-
August 2004 - TCG submission on the Highways Agency's M6 (junctions 11a-20) Route Management Strategy. Click here.
October 2004 - Submission on the Department for Transport concept of an M6 Expressway. Click here.
November 2004 - Response to the 2006-2011 Cheshire Local Transport Plan Scoping Consultation. Click here.
April 2005 - The TCG submission on Cheshire County Council's 'Setting Out Our Proposals' consultation on its 2006-2011 Local Transport Plan can be seen by clicking here and its completed questionnaire is available here.
December 2005 - Cheshire TCG contributed to a joint submissions by CPRE's North West Regional Group and the North West Transport Activists Roundtable on the Highways Agency's M60 Route Management Strategy. Click here to see it.
December 2005/January 2006 - TCG response to Cheshire County Council's Bus Strategy Consultation. Click here.
If you would like to find out more about it and/or to become actively involved, please contact the Branch Office.
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Photo: CPRE Cheshire Branch The Cheshire Plain |
CPRE Cheshire Branch is particularly keen to work with Parish Councils and other Amenity Groups in Cheshire, many of whom are our members.
We can help to address problems in your immediate area, particularly through providing information and support to help you campaign effectively for local solutions to local problems.
The Campaigns page gives some information about current and recent work which we hope is of particular interest to Parish Councils and Amenity Groups.
Our 'Policies in a Nutshell' and the rest of our Help and Advice page should give an indication of CPRE's position on important issues, and provide helpful guidance on dealing with issues which are of particular interest to Parish Councils and Amenity Groups, such as Planning Applications.
Finally, our Links page lists a number of other relevant sources of information.
Parish Councils can join or re-join CPRE at a special group rate. For further membership details, please click here.
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Photo: CPRE Cheshire Branch John Turnbull |
John Turnbull took over as Cheshire Branch Chairman from Richard Bass in May 2006.
John’s background is in science and computing. He began his career as a science teacher at Ulverston Comprehensive School and after gaining a degree in Applied Physics and Electronics, from Lancaster University, he joined British Nuclear Fuels as a Control and Instrument Engineer, remaining with the company for some 30 years.
When he took early retirement in April 2003, John looked for opportunities to put his expertise back into the community, and was soon co-opted onto the Parish Council in his home village, Barnton, rapidly becoming engrossed in the affairs of the local Memorial Hall, and ending up as Chairman of its trustees by the autumn! For the next two years he managed the project to build a New Memorial Hall on land bought for this purpose in 1951, and was delighted when the new building was completed ahead of schedule and under budget in November 2005.
John is still an active member of the Parish Council and at the moment he is part of a small team aiming to kick-start the writing of a Parish Plan.
Working with Cheshire CPRE will enable John to continue following his chosen path to help local communities act on matters that are of interest to them. He is especially looking forward to working with our committed and enthusiastic volunteers to ensure that the countryside is preserved for future generations.
John firmly believes that work is so much easier when the people doing the jobs together know and respect each other, and is very keen to hear the views of all of our members on how they feel the challenges facing the Cheshire countryside should be met by the Branch.
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Photo: CPRE Cheshire Branch Clare Lewis |
Clare Lewis is our Press and Membership Officer.
For Clare, this is a return to CPRE as she worked for the Lancashire Branch at Worden Hall, Leyland, before moving to Cheshire fourteen years ago. Since then, she has lectured, trained actors, run a business specialising in nut-free catering and carried out a great deal of freelance work. She is delighted to be back in the fold, and would like her former colleagues to know she still treasures one of their leaving gifts: a pair of “CPRE earrings”, lovingly hand-made from CPRE membership cards, rainbow erasers and garden twine!
Along with the rest of her family, Clare is an active member of two Cheshire amateur drama groups. She enjoys acting and directing, and working on wardrobe projects for shows allows her to indulge her interests in needlework and historic costume at the same time. She lives in Wilmslow with her husband Paul and their teenage daughter Rhiannon. Their son Dan has recently graduated from university and set off into the “real world”.
In her new role at Cheshire CPRE, Clare aims to raise the profile of CPRE in Cheshire to attract new members, open other avenues of support, and to be a point of contact for new and existing members.
If any members know groups who would be receptive to our message and would like her to give them a short talk on the CPRE, Clare would be delighted to hear from them on - please get in touch.
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Photo: CPRE Cheshire Branch Debbie Janney |
Debbie Janney is our part-time Branch Secretary and has worked for CPRE for over 3 years.
She can be contacted mornings only between 9am and 12pm.
Before working at CPRE Debbie has been a Secretary for many years, working in a Marketing Department at a paper mill in Kent, for a Professor and researchers at Southampton University and she was also a secretary for a bathroom manufacturer in Yorkshire.
She, her partner Paul and their two boys love walking and camping, especially in the Lake District, while gardening is another favourite activity of hers.
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Victoria Buildings Lewin Street Middlewich Cheshire CW10 9AT Tel/Fax: 01606 835046 E-mail: info@cprecheshire.org.uk |
President: Lord Grey of Codnor Patron: HM The Queen Registered Charity No. 248304 |
© CPRE (Cheshire Branch) 2004, 2005, 2006
