In accordance with the Notice of Motion received under Section 4.19 of
the Constitution, Councillor Gruffydd Williams will propose as follows:-
We note the increasing threats to farmers and the farming world from
unelected super-national bodies that want to force them off their land.
This was seen at work recently in the Netherlands, Ireland
and other places, and now the Welsh Government wants to transform 10% of
agricultural land in Wales into forests.
This reduces our organic food supply once again even though nearly half
the population here are living in poverty.
In light of all this, I call on Cyngor Gwynedd to commit to support the Welsh
family farm that contributes so much to the Gwynedd economy, which is also a
way of maintaining the unique linguistic and cultural identity of the county,
and that Cyngor Gwynedd calls on the Welsh Government to reconsider the
decision to transform 10% of agricultural land into forests.
Decision:
That Cyngor Gwynedd commits to support the Welsh family farm that
contributes so much to the Gwynedd economy, which is also a way of maintaining the
unique linguistic and cultural identity of the county, and calls on the Welsh
Government to reconsider its decision to insist that every agricultural unit
has to assign 10% of their lands as forests.
Minutes:
Submitted - the following notice of motion by
Councillor Gruffydd Williams, under Section 4.19 of the Constitution, and it
was seconded:-
"We note the
increasing threats to farmers and the farming world from unelected
supra-national bodies that want to force them off their land.
This was seen at work recently in the
Netherlands, Ireland and other places, and now the Welsh Government wants to
transform 10% of agricultural land in Wales into woodland. This reduces our
organic food supply once again even though nearly half the population here are
living in poverty.
In light of all this, I call on Cyngor Gwynedd
to commit to support the Welsh family farm that contributes so much to the
Gwynedd economy, which is also a way of maintaining the unique linguistic and
cultural identity of the county, and that Cyngor Gwynedd calls on the Welsh
Government to reconsider the decision to transform 10% of agricultural land
into woodland."
The member also noted
that the reference to 'organic food supply' in the English translation of his
motion should be corrected to read 'locally sourced food supply'.
An amendment to the
proposal was proposed, as follows:
"That Cyngor Gwynedd commits to support the
Welsh family farm that contributes so much to the Gwynedd economy, which is
also a way of maintaining the unique linguistic and cultural identity of the
county, and to call on the Welsh Government to reconsider its decision to
insist that every agricultural unit has to assign 10% of their lands as
forests."
The reasons for the
decision were noted as follows:-
·
The two first paragraphs of the original motion referred to some sort of
international conspiracy by supra-national bodies, and it was not believed that
they were relevant to the motion at all, and therefore they should be deleted.
·
Having been given to
understand by the farmers' unions that around 7.5% of land that was currently
being farmed was woodland, that reaching 10% was not difficult work, but there
was a need to be flexible in terms of the 10% as not all farms had land that
was suitable for tree planting.
·
It was important to
plant the right trees in the right place, and a blanket policy would make it
difficult for farmers to implement.
·
As tenants would not be able to turn farming land into woodland without
the landlord's approval, this could also be problematic.
·
It was therefore suggested that the Government should be asked to
reconsider its decision to insist that every agricultural unit has to allocate
10% of its land as woodland.
The amendment was
discussed. Support was expressed for the improvement by some members on grounds
of:-
·
That the 2 first paragraphs linked the motion, which in essence was
quite sensible, to some extreme right-wing Anglo-american conspiracy theories,
which significantly weakened the seriousness of the remainder of the
motion. It would be repugnant for the
Council to be associated in any way with the poisonous international politics
that believes that we are controlled by undemocratic bodies, etc. Steps had been taken in Ireland and the
Netherlands, namely the two countries with very substantial carbon emissions
deriving from agriculture, but it was not supranational undemocratic bodies
that were doing this, rather the sovereign governments of those two countries.
·
The wording of the
amendment was clear and it was obvious what the intention was and what needed
to be done. On the contrary, it was believed that the information in the first
paragraphs of the original motion were unclear.
E.g. it is noted that nearly half the population live in poverty, but it
is not clear whether that refers to the population of Gwynedd or the whole of
Wales.
Other members
expressed support to the original motion noting:-
·
It was believed that the first two paragraphs included valuable
background information regarding why the motion had been submitted.
·
That unelected supra-national bodies did exist and it was felt that the
amendment would do more harm to farming in Gwynedd.
·
It was felt that some reading between the lines and imagination were
needed to claim that the two first paragraphs linked the motion to extreme
right wing conspiracy theories.
·
That it was a shame to see good farming land being turned into forests
and standing there doing nothing.
A member noted that they were not ready to make
a decision there and then on such an important matter and suggested that a more
detailed discussion was needed before deciding on the way forward.
The Chairman noted
that there was a motion on the table, along with an amendment to the motion,
and the Council had to reach a decision.
In his closing
comments, the proposer noted the original motion:-
·
That he had intended to include as part of his motion that Cyngor
Gwynedd would commit to offering local meat on school menus, but unfortunately,
he had left this clause out of his motion as an oversight.
·
He was astonished to hear that he was associated with the extreme right
for trying to put forward a motion to help agriculture.
A vote was taken on
the amendment and it was carried.
A further amendment
was proposed, namely:-
"In line with
the spirit of the motion, that the Council commits to supporting local
producers by ensuring that meat and other local produce remains on our school
menus."
In response, the
Monitoring Officer explained:-
·
That the aim of the notice of motion was that the Council published the
notice before hand.
·
That an amendment to a motion could only add to or change the wording,
and an entirely separate matter could not be brought into the discussion after
providing a notice of motion.
·
As the school menus etc. was an operational matter, he would advise that
it was out of order to bring a new matter in at this point.
In light of this explanation, the member amended
his further amendment, namely:-
"In line with the spirit of the motion,
that the Council commits to giving local producers practical
support." (without providing examples of that support).
The Chief Executive noted that he believed that
the further amendment asked for a commitment to support the family farm, and
that this was part of the amendment that had already been accepted.
As the amendment had been accepted, the Monitoring
Officer explained that the original motion had been amended and that a further
vote was needed on the wording of the amendment, rather than the wording of the
original. The majority voted in favour of the amended motion.
RESOLVED to adopt the amended proposal, namely:-
That Cyngor Gwynedd commits to support the Welsh
family farm that contributes so much to the Gwynedd economy, which is also a
way of maintaining the unique linguistic and cultural identity of the county,
and that Cyngor Gwynedd calls on the Welsh Government to reconsider its
decision to insist that every agricultural unit has to assign 10% of their
lands as woodland.