Cutting-edge debates, campaigns and VIP visits set tone for 50th anniversary CLA Game Fair
An enthralling array of CLA debates, launches, campaigns and VIP visits are to delight visitors to the 50th anniversary CLA Game Fair – the greatest event of its kind in the world.
The CLA Game Fair – from Friday to Sunday, 25-27 July 2008 – will feature a series of lively and contentious debates in The CLA Game Fair Theatre.
The CLA President's Debate - chaired by CLA President Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, from 10.15am on Friday, 25 July – is entitled Whose Land Is It Anyway? and will examine who really controls land use in an era of regulation and governmental interference.
Battling it out will be Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs Jim Paice MP, the Ramblers' Association's Kate Ashbrook, Labour MP Paddy Tipping MP, and Lembit Opik, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Housing.
The CLA London Branch Debate – entitled Have I Got Policies For You? – will look at which policies are right for the countryside.
Respected author and former national newspaper editor Sir Max Hastings will chair the discussion, and panellists have been picked from across the political divide - including Defra Under Secretary of State Lord Rooker, Conservative Shadow Minister Jim Paice MP, and Liberal Democrat Housing Spokesman Lembit Opik MP, as well as CLA Vice-President Harry Cotterell. The debate is to start at 10am on Saturday, 27 July, in The CLA Game Fair Theatre.
Other debates include one on the controversial issue of controlling predators to safeguard other wildlife, chaired by CLA Deputy President William Worsley.
The panel comprises CLA Chief Legal Adviser Christopher Price, Steve Tapper, of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, the RSPB's Mark Avery, and Professor John Edwards, of the Hawk and Owl Trust. The debate is to start at 2.15pm on Friday, 25 July.
Mr Worsley is also chairing a group discussion at 2.30pm on Saturday, 26 July, entitled Poaching – A Rural Crime Indicator, featuring David Kenyon, British Deer Society area director for England and Wales, headkeeper Dave Whitby, and Duncan Thomas, Lancashire Police's Wildlife Crime Officer.
CLA Policy Director Allan Buckwell will take part in the Farmers Weekly debate, We Need More Food – Is It Time To Forget About Birds?, which examines the arguably conflicting priorities of protecting wildlife and producing food.
CLA Deputy President Harry Cotterell will be chairing a debate and a question-and-answer session on the future for Game Shoot Standards Assurance, looking to answer questions and build support to drive the scheme forward to better protect shooting for the future.
CLA President Henry Aubrey-Fletcher said: "These debates illustrate how the CLA is committed to leading discussion and tackling the big issues in the countryside and rural economy.
"I would also urge visitors to support our fly-tipping campaign by attending the celebrity launch at 2.45pm on Friday beside the CLA Fly-tip opposite the CLA members' enclosure and signing the petition. They should also visit our locally sourced food campaign Just Ask at the Food Chain Initiatives stand in the Totally Food area, and the CLA diversification stand."
CLA Chief Surveyor Oliver Harwood said the diversification stand – number A217 - was being run in conjunction with a whole host of other organisations and would offer visitors free advice on the full range of diversification - with a topical emphasis on renewable energy.
The CLA Fly-Tip is certain to attract a lot of interest and has been strategically sited in one of the busiest locations of the CLA Game Fair site at Blenheim Palace.
TV star Phil Spencer – the presenter of Channel 4's Location, Location, Location - will officially launch the CLA's Fly-tipping Campaign with CLA President Henry Aubrey-Fletcher from 2.45pm on Friday, 25 July. Spectators are very welcome.
The list of other famous guests at this year's CLA Game Fair includes HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, the Rt. Hon. David Cameron, leader of HM Opposition, and Defra Minister Lord Rooker among others.
