Debates on rural housing, renewable energy and wildlife conservation will take centre stage at this year’s CLA Game Fair.
CLA President Henry Robinson will kick off discussions at the CLA Game Fair Theatre this year by welcoming new Defra Minister Rory Stewart to the Game Fair. Entitled ‘A Conversation with Rory Stewart’, the first discussion of the day will offer an introduction to the new Minister and a chance to hear the priorities for his new brief.
Last year more than 140,000 people attended the CLA Game Fair to celebrate the countryside, rural businesses and country sports. This year’s event will again provide a platform for leading voices to spar on some of the countryside’s most controversial and pressing issues.
Later in the day, three leading companies providing innovative renewable energy solutions will battle it out in the CLA’s first Renewable Energy Dragons Den.
Angela Smith MP will also be joined by John McLarty from Strutt & Parker and Ian Bell from the Addington Fund to look at the rural housing crisis, tackling the question of where our young people will live.
The headline debate of the afternoon will include conservationist and blogger Mark Avery, former Defra Minister Owen Paterson MP, landowner Philip Merricks, and Director of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust questioning if conservation is at odds with modern agriculture and land management.
CLA President Henry Robinson said: “This year’s programme of debates in the CLA Game Fair Theatre promises many lively, provocative discussions and I am delighted that new Defra Minister Rory Stewart MP will be joining us.”
