Brill Common & Village Green Advisory Group Meeting Report
December 5th 2022

Present

Alex Cruickshank (Chair and Land Advisor for BBOWT Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust); Jon Cable and Dave Munson (representing the Common Volunteers); Roger Stone (representing Friends of Brill Common); Elaine Dickinson (representing The Walks Group); Christine Bailey (representing Brill Village Community Herd); Pat Stone (representing Brill commoners); Emi Slater (representing Brill Parish Council)

Work Schedule

We agreed we need younger volunteers to get involved. We also need to agree targets, limits and think about succession.

We will use the same divisions as the Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme. We discussed the clarity (or otherwise) of HLS.

Diversity of species and structure; advise is “a bit of everything and not too much of something”. Trees on the common - or not? We discussed overall diversity of our area and noted that the common is “unimproved grassland”.

The annual Work Plan to achieve these targets will include an aerial photo so clear for all. Goats are really important as are cows – so all need to go into the mix and represented in pictures. The work plan will include a range of different activities. Alex will come to Brill again in January. We will circulate the plan at the beginning of Spring. We need to agree who is doing what for posterity; make it transparent for future volunteers - and also to make clear what gaps need filling so the parish council can help fill. We discussed Span Green and the Thames Water work there. Alex will include this in the Work Plan and we will visit again. The parish council needs to approve and commit to the plan.

Work Plan monitoring strategy

We must keep track of activities to see if our plan is working. We need a strategy plan with limits and a rapid assessment monitoring system.

The parish council could pay for professional ecologist to do a plant survey; a detailed botanical survey of whole site (different to mapping and monitoring), maybe every 10 years. Completed by someone other than Alex? Bucks & Milton Keynes Environment Records Centre sould be involved. Brill Common as a local wildlife site (LWS).

Part-time warden for Brill Common

We need someone to deal with encroachments (or is this a parish council responsibility?), to write future work programmes, to monitor work. A more detailed job description is needed to enable us to discuss this properly; Alex will write one. We discussed what gap this role would be filling; Alex’s role - but on a more permanent level? We also need to apply for grants. Perhaps the role could be filled by someone who could be trained up? Alex will write a job description.

We shared feedback from the Bernwood Forest and River Ray Living Landscape project, including farmer clusters; a DEFRA sponsored scheme to encourage farmers to work together. We decided to invite Alison Offord to a future meeting. National lottery grants may be available.

Encroachment 

The parish council plan to deliver the Brill Common & Walks Policy to every household every 12 months. It should also be displayed on the PC noticeboard. The PC are meeting to sort out an encroachment strategy and get a clear system in place so the clerk knows what to do if an encroachment is suspected. We discuss different types of encroachments. Record keeping is very important.

Hazardous Tree Survey

Emi reported that Nick Dunbar of the Whole Tree Company will be commissioned to conduct a hazardous tree survey.

The herd

Maybe there should be a sign in the the car park giving information about the cows, to help people understand their role. Tony Bostrum makes attractive wooden signs. Maybe also information about the electric fence - and a nature information board. Perhaps a proposal to the parish council?

Next meeting

Monday March 13th 2023 at 7pm