2012 will see major changes to the planning process which will require individuals and organisations representing the land based sector and wider rural business to step up to the mark and ensure that their voice is clearly heard.
That’s the message this week from the chairman of the Dorset branch of the CLA, James Selby Bennett, who says that Dorset will start the year with a new LEP which has a substantial rural enterprise element in it and which he hopes will provide a much-needed mechanism for cross fertilisation of ideas and of concerns between the public sector and the private sector.
“We are fortunate to already have had a good response from within the CLA to supporting the LEP and putting forward the arguments which have ensured that our LEP has a vibrant and recognised rural element.
“But we will need to be prepared to get engaged at every level with our local authorities and with the government agencies that are so important to our affairs. Our association will lead the way and will be available to help and advise us - but at the end of the day a lot is going to depend upon us individual landowners and rural businessmen being prepared to engage in dialogue, in order to protect and enhance our rural enterprises.”
Mr Selby Bennett said that the inescapable event of 2012, The Olympic Games, should provide a genuine legacy for Dorset - particularly in terms of broadband and mobile phone coverage.
Even though the event will be confined to the south coast, Mr Selby Bennett said the whole of Dorset was likely to be affected by the Olympic Game. There would, he said, inevitably, be:” a fair bit of disruption with road and rail systems already beginning to creak” but he was equally confident this would be offset by increased demand for goods and services throughout the county.
“I hope that the Olympics will give our local economy a much needed boost and I believe, not least due to hard work and lobbying by the CLA, there will be some substantial Olympic legacy,” he said.
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