A special issue of Brill Parish Council’s newsletter

Brill Parish Council Newsletter

Special Issue August 2025 (vol 6, issue 8)

Welcome!

… to a very special issue of Brill Parish Council’s newsletter. There’s only one topic - the BRILL COMMON WILDLIFE & COMMUNITY RANGER post, now being advertised nationally and locally, online and in print. Read on for a whiz through the WHY, WHAT and WHEN of this job.

Loyal readers will recall that the excellent candidate chosen back in March declined the offer at the very last minute. Fingers crossed for a better outcome this time! 🤞🏼

This role has been made possible by a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant.

WHY is this role needed?

Here’s what Cllr Emi Slater said when addressing the Annual Parish Meeting in April 2025:

It’s striking how little money has been spent on Brill Common over the years. There’s so much to do but Parish Councillors are volunteers who simply don’t have the time and expertise - and our brilliant volunteers who work on the Common are (in their own words) growing old. We eventually identified the need for an energetic expert to share information and raise awareness, work with volunteers and generally manage things more professionally. Someone suggested applying to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for the money to make this happen - and so this project was born:
🌳Protect Brill Common Forever!🌳

The pond in The Walks in more clement times … one of the areas needing particular care to protect this valuable wildlife feature.

Fun question! This is one of THREE sizeable ponds on Brill Common. Do you know where the others are?

Why NOW?

Here’s Emi again:

Our long-standing volunteers are getting older and nature restoration needs are becoming acute and more complex. Complicated issues such as encroachment need proactive and consistent on-going management that doesn’t depend on individual councillor’s interest and energy. The excellent work of the Brill Common & Village Greens Advisory Group needs to continue independent of the input of individual Parish Councillors - plus we should be actively supporting wider projects, in particular the crucial Reconnecting Bernwood, Otmoor and the Ray project.

Read more of Emi’s address and view her PowerPoint slides. You may also like to read the project application and project plan.

🌳 Protect Brill Common Forever!🌳 is supported by all the groups who currently work so hard to maintain our Common.

WHAT will the Ranger be doing?

Here’s a summary of the Ranger’s duties. You’ll find all the nitty-gritty on this page of the Brill Parish Council & Community website, including an exhaustive list of ESSENTIAL and DESIRABLE candidate attributes ✅

Work alongside volunteers on the Common - and recruit new volunteers
Deliver the Brill Common management plan
Design and implement an ecological monitoring strategy
Manage the Common Advisory Group
Support the Parish Council in tackling encroachment
Raise awareness of wildlife on the common
Organise community engagement events
Become familiar with management of the BVCH

Brill Common is made up largely of ‘unimproved grassland’; permanent grassland that has not been cultivated or received artificial fertiliser for many years. This is the single most threatened type of grassland habitat in the UK.

WHEN will all this happen?

The closing date is September 19th with interviews being held in Brill on September 29th. How quickly the successful applicant starts work obviously depends on their current occupation and other personal circumstances - but dare we say Christmas? (Sorry!)

Let’s give Cllr Emi Slater (who has done so much to make this happen) the last word:

This is our chance to celebrate and protect Brill Common, deepen our understanding and knowledge of this unique and precious environment, create a lasting legacy for future generations - and make a real contribution to restoring nature and combating climate change.

We’ll keep you posted.

PS There might be a party 🎉 🍻 ☕️

Talking of Christmas … as we write, the Met Office are forecasting another heatwave so we thought you might like this soothing image.

Finally!

Thanks for reading. Our regular newsletter is emailed every month to nearly 200 subscribers. If you have friends, family or neighbours who’d like to join that number, please suggest they -

complete the newsletter form on the BPC&C website
OR
email the Editor hannahbrillcommunity@gmail.com

In the meantime, please spread the word about the Brill Common Ranger post!

All good wishes
Brill Parish Council

EMAIL THE PARISH COUNCIL