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OBJECTION TO 15/05538/MAF

MILNER FIELD FARM:

MORE ACCESSIBLE AND MORE BIO-DIVERSE

AN ALTERNATIVE

LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT PLAN

crafted by the community

BACKGROUND

This document has been prepared in support of the retention of Milner

Field Farm and in opposition to planning application 15/05538/MAF. It

sets out a plan to conserve heritage features, and to establish a more

accessible, environmentally sound and bio-diverse farm. This plan has the

enthusiastic support of the farmer who has participated in its creation.

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In the very short time we have had to prepare this plan, we have

managed to consult and collaborate with many local people plus members

and officers of many community groups. Their views are strongly reflected

in this document1.

The groups include:

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1 Inclusion of a group’s name in the list that follows does not indicate it endorses the

plan. However, the level of support for the plan has reflected the balance of objectors to

and supporters of 15/05538/MAF on the planning portal. Those individuals and groups

sponsoring this objection are listed at the end of the objection.

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Airedale Beekeepers Association

Baildon Friends of the Earth

Baildon Local History Society

Bingley Civic Trust

Bingley District Councillors

Bingley and District Local History

Society

Bingley Town Council

Bradford Beekeepers Association

Bradford Environmental Action Trust

Bradford Urban Wildlife Group

Eldwick Village Society

Friends of Roberts Park

Gilstead Village Society

Higher Coach Road Residents Group

Hirst Wood Regeneration Group

Mid Yorks Fungi Group

Saltaire History Club

Saltaire Village Society

Saltaire Walks and Talks

Shipley District Councillors

The Green Party

West Yorkshire Bat Group

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

INTRODUCTION

Milner Field Farm is a significant historical asset set in Green Belt. It is

also a productive and successful business.

Farmland covers around 75% of the UK: ‘farmland’ is virtually

synonymous with ‘countryside’. A healthy rural environment is one where

farmland is productive but is also a supportive home for wildlife, with

healthy habitats and soils. Our farmland’s ability to keep sustaining us

with the food we need to live is linked to their health.

The applicant wants to end farming at Milner Field and has proposed

changing the use of the farmstead and of the farmland. The applicant has

proposed an apparently ‘green’ transformation of the latter. In a partner

objection we have set out why this transformation is unacceptable and

why it is neither sustainable nor viable.

A more accessible and more bio-diverse farm is highly desirable, but not

at the expense of a heritage asset and a viable farm. Our view is that it is

better to work with the farmer with the aim of incremental improvements

to habitats and to heritage as opportunity and funding allow.

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Unlike the applicant’s scheme - which is over-ambitious, prohibitively

expensive and assumes a long-term commitment that cannot be delivered

- our partnership proposal is low cost and achievable.

So, working as a community alongside our farming neighbours, we have

devised and now propose a strategy – an Alternative Landscape Plan -

to enhance our farm’s sustainability, its potential as a wildlife habitat with

benefits to both flora and fauna, and, through arranged access, as an

educational and recreational resource for members of the public, young

and old.

We are not only committed to retaining our heritage. We also aim to

ensure that the heritage which the farm represents, and its unbreakable

links with the World Heritage Site of Saltaire, are enhanced and then

sustained for the long-term.

The best guarantee of that is the retention of farming and the

development of a farmer-community partnership with agreed goals.

THE EXISTING SITUATION

Milner Field Farm is a working farm and home to the Downs family who

have worked the land for 114 years.

It is a significant heritage asset: a model farm created by the Salt family

as part of the wider Milner Field estate. The Farm consists of buildings

and associated farmland. The latter is a historic landscape which

benefitted from the design expertise of Robert Marnock, one of the

outstanding English horticulturalists and garden designers of the 19th

century. The boundary of the Farm and many landscape features remain

as they were in ~1872 when it was completed by Titus Salt Jr.

Its significance is magnified by its close historical and geographical links

to World Heritage Saltaire. It sits within the buffer zone of the World

Heritage site. Local historians regard it as the single most important link

within that zone to Saltaire and to its founding family.

The Farm is also a community asset, employing local people, supplying

produce locally, and adding beauty and interest to our locality. It enjoys

substantial local support.

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We contend that the most practical and the most sustainable

option for the protection of this community and heritage asset is a

farm which is healthy, productive, and a successful business.

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY

The applicant proposes a development which even it acknowledges as

being “in the strict terms of Green Belt policy… inappropriate”2.

This Alternative Landscape Plan proposes no inappropriate development,

no inappropriate changes to historic buildings, landscapes and

boundaries, and therefore it does not pose a risk to the site’s historic

qualities nor its Green Belt status.

It is proposed that the existing Green Belt land continues as a dairy farm.

However, our plan is not ‘same old, same old…’. It does propose change -

to make the Farm both more accessible to the public and more bio-

diverse, thus substantially enhancing its sustainability, the Green Belt and

the buffer zone.

Unlike the applicant, we do not propose a separate environmental

strategy. Our strategy is an environmental strategy.

ASPIRATION (work to be done) Contact has also been made with Bradford

Metropolitan District Council’s Countryside, Conservation and World

Heritage Officers together with the local conservation officer of the

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. All have expressed support in principle for the

proposals. YWT have also confirmed that they would be interested, in

principle, in having some involvement with the scheme.

OUR LONG-TERM VISION

We look forward – and will work towards – the conservation of the entire

Milner Field estate so that

• it will be accessible along designated footpaths;

• its history - and especially its connection to the Salts and World

Heritage Saltaire - will be experienced and understood;

• it will attract visitors and tourists;

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• it will be a haven for wildlife, and its natural history experienced

and understood; and

• it will be productive and economically successful.

OUR SHORT-TERM AIMS

• We aim to ensure that Milner Field Farm is a model sustainable

dairy farm.

• We aim to enhance the management of land at Milner Field Farm in

order to attract and sustain a wider range of wildlife.

• We aim to increase managed access to the Farm and to the historic

estate with a focus on agriculture, nature and local history. We aim

to create learning and recreational opportunities for the local

community and for visitors (including tourists).

• We aim to strengthen public understanding of the Farm, sustainable

agriculture, and the estate’s connection to the World Heritage Site.

• We aim to start a process of conservation and restoration of the

Farm buildings and landscape so that its history as a model Farm

and as a key part of the Saltaire story can be better understood.

OUR IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVES

We set out below measurable objectives which will act as indicators of

whether we are achieving the aims of the project. Management will be

dynamic with objectives monitored and reviewed regularly in concert with

community partners, and remedial or alternative action put in place as

required.

Objective 1

The development and implementation of a plan to

encourage bio-diversity.

In collaboration with natural history groups in the Bradford area and

across Yorkshire, we will work to create a realistic and achievable long-

term plan for the enhancement and creation of wildlife habitat. In creating

that plan we will be mindful of the Farm’s geographical context, for

example that it has Trench Meadow SSSI as a neighbour, and the need

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for any improvements to be in keeping with the planned historic

landscape.

Our first task will be to audit the Farm’s natural history. This will deliver

the baseline against which we will be able to measure progress. We will

use the applicant’s ecological appraisal3 as a starting point but we can

already see opportunities for community involvement – including the

involvement of young people – in this endeavour.

This audit will inform the overall plan which we would expect to be agreed

by the end of 2017. However, some likely elements will be pursued

immediately as part of the Farm’s routine work, for example managing

vegetation to give more variation and managing hedges more effectively

to provide a variety of habitats.

From the start of 2018, we will implement the plan – and again we can

predict some of the improvements we will be expected to make…

increasing the size of existing wildlife areas; planting new species or

encouraging the growth of existing plants; changing the timing of some

routine farm work.

We expect the plan to include an independent annual audit to ensure that

we are on the right track. We expect this audit will involve monitoring,

using the diversity of species over the site as a measure of success.

Objective 2

The improvement of existing farming systems and

practices in order to support the bio-diversity plan.

The steps we take to achieve Objective 1 will not be effective if the

routine work of the Farm is not examined and improved. We need to

adopt best practice sustainable farming methods that safeguard the

environment whilst maintaining the sustainability of the existing dairy

business.

We have already been recommended to study the principles of organic

farming as a good basis for sustainable land use and will work in

collaboration with consultants and bodies with expertise (such as the Soil

Association) to achieve our objective.

Again, we can anticipate some of the issues that must be tackled. We

need to farm in a way that reduces the risks to the bio-diversity we are

3 15_05538_MAF-ECOLOGICAL_APPRAISAL-4346230

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seeking to foster in Objective 1. Specific changes could include improved

soil management, selective tree planting, and reductions in effluent loads.

We anticipate that we could drive down cost and promote best practice by

introducing benchmarking.

Objective 3

The development and delivery of a programme of

environmental and agricultural education which will

include support to programmes in formal education.

The Farm is already active in agricultural education. For example, it has

hosted visits by the Young Farmers, and family groups from the Higher

Coach Road Residents Association. It employs an agricultural student

from Harper Adams University and another from Askham Bryan College.

It offers work experience to a Craven College student.

We intend to develop an enhanced programme during 2017 and have it in

place by the end of the year. It will eclectic, encompassing formal and

informal education, learning opportunities for young and old, and

agricultural, environmental and historical aspects. There is no reason why

elements of this programme could not overlap with programmes for

tourists.

Because of the environmental innovations we are likely to adopt, we

anticipate greater demand for visits from those in agricultural education

and the industry, but we also see an opportunity to expand access

opportunities for local schools. As a token of our resolve, in 2018, in

collaboration with local schools, we plan to host 2 half-day junior school

visits, rising to 4 in future years.

Beyond formal education, many opportunities present themselves. We

want to seize opportunities such as Open Farm Sundays to strengthen

community engagement and to increase public understanding of

agriculture in general and Milner Field Farm in particular. We see no

reason why our involvement in OFS could not begin in 2018. And though

it will take longer to organise, we think there may also be a demand for

volunteer days that combine specific practical activities with a chance to

learn about the farm’s connection to Saltaire.

Objective 4

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The delivery of a programme of heritage education.

This will be achieved in collaboration with the Bingley, Baildon and

Saltaire local history societies and with Salts Walks and Talks.

It will be implemented in 2018 and, as a token of our resolve, we are

committed in that year to delivering 2 open days, on World Heritage Day

(the international day for monuments and sites, in April) and Heritage

Open Day (now a major event in England, in September).

Based upon the experience gained from these events, and using materials

developed for them, it is already anticipated that additional ‘Introduction

to Milner Field’ events – up to 4 separate half-days – will be delivered in

2019 and beyond.

We anticipate that this programme will grow. See Objective 4.

Objective 5

The improvement of signage and access to Milner Field

mansion and parkland.

We welcome the proposals from the applicant/landowner (copied below).

The area of woodland to the north of the Farm formerly contained Milner

Field, a large mansion set within its own grounds and constructed by Titus

Salt Jnr in 1869. The house was demolished in the 1950s and little now

remains. Like the Farm, this part of the estate is owned by the Hartley

Property Group. Hartley is effectively the applicant: it owns and controls

Bradford Innovation Centre Ltd.

Unlike the Farm, this part of the estate has been greatly neglected. The

parkland surrounding the house has now been lost and its immediate

curtilage is overgrown. There is no public right of way through Milner Field

estate, but it is used extensively by the public.

If the outcome of the planning process allows, we would approach the

applicant/landowner and propose a collaboration between Hartley, the

Farm, local history groups and tourism businesses to pursue these

proposals.

With better signage and access, we see this as an opportunity for a

significant extension of our proposals for heritage education above.

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Objective 6

The development and implementation of a conservation

and restoration plan for the Farm buildings and

landscape.

The aim of this plan would be to enable the Farm to be better understood

as a Victorian model farm; as a Salts’ farm which was landscaped by

Robert Marnock; as a vital part of the Milner Field estate; and as a key

chapter of the Saltaire story.

The implementation of this is for the long term, but we would expect the

plan itself to be in place by the middle of 2018.

HOW WOULD OUR PROPOSALS BE FUNDED?

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The beauty of our plan is that it can largely be organised by existing Farm

personnel working alongside local agencies and voluntary groups, and

much of it can be funded by the farming business. For example, the

improved management of grassland is something the Farm can and

should fund.

However, there are aspects of our proposals which would benefit from

injections of external funding. Examples include the engagement of

specialist advisors and the construction of designated footpaths.

We are confident that the Farm can make sound and successful bids for

additional external funding.

For example, the government’s Countryside Stewardship Scheme

provides financial incentives for land managers to look after their

environment through activities such as

conserving and restoring wildlife habitats

woodland creation and management

reducing widespread water pollution from agriculture

keeping the character of the countryside

preserving features important to the history of the rural

landscape

encouraging educational access.

A better fit with our objectives would be difficult to find.

We are also optimistic that funding will be secured from some or all of the

following: the Heritage Lottery Fund, Woodland Trust and the Prince’s

Trust. We anticipate that further research (at

https://www.dsc.org.uk/publication/the-directory-of-grant-making-trusts-

201617/ and https://www.dsc.org.uk/publication/guide-major-trusts-

201718/) will identify further options.

And finally, as we have already mentioned (Objective 4), we hope that

the landowner will feel able to work with us and local groups to deliver the

improvement of signage and access to Milner Field mansion and parkland.

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The objectors are

Bradford Urban Wildlife Group

David Downs

Friends of Roberts Park

Hirst Wood Regeneration

Group

Jamie Roberts

Les Brook

Nicholas Salt

Saltaire History Club

Saltaire Walks and Talks

This objection has been submitted on behalf of the objecters by

Les Brook 91 Riverside Court Victoria Road Saltaire SHIPLEYBD18 3LZ

01274 590537 Les Brook is the contact.

March 2017