Supporting biodiversity, sustainable housing and potholes high on agenda at parish conference
Last Friday, Huw Merriman, MP for the Bexhill and Battle constituency, held a parish conference for town and parish councils at Great Dixter House and Garden in Northiam.
Huw organised the parish conference to provide a forum for discussion on a wide range of topics with councillors from the 28 town and parish councils in the Bexhill and Battle constituency. Following on from two rural roundtables which the MP organised last year, topics of particular interest were sustainable homes and encouraging bio-diversity and pollinators in towns and villages, as well as a discussion on road repairs and potholes.
The conference began with a talk from Fergus Garrett, Head Gardener of Great Dixter, about encouraging biodiversity in different landscapes. He explained how any environment, urban or rural, can be nurtured to provide habitats for a wide range of plants, wildlife and insects which are essential for the eco-system. He also explained how multi-layered planting can protect people and wildlife from air pollution and reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere. He gave examples of how flowerbeds can capture pollutants – oils, heavy metals and microplastics – from the road which helps to keep contaminants from flowing into the drainage system. Following his talk, Fergus took the parish and town councillors into the sunken garden at Great Dixter to demonstrate how the variety of building, paving and flowerbeds in the garden have created the most intensely bio-diverse area at Great Dixter.
Hastoe Housing Association then gave a presentation on their mission to provide sustainable small housing developments in rural areas which are specifically designed to fit in with the village vernacular and which provide affordable homes for local people.
Finally, Huw shared information from East Sussex County Council on the highways and drainage contract and how the County Council is tackling road repairs and potholes and listened to views on this issue from the parish councillors along with suggestions which he will feedback to County colleagues.
Huw said “It was really good to spend the morning with parish councillors who do such incredible work for their local towns and villages, entirely unpaid. They play a vital role in local government as they have such detailed knowledge of their local area and the communities they serve.”
“I should like to thank Fergus Garrett and his team for allowing us to hold the Parish Conference at Great Dixter. It is such a special place and Fergus is an inspirational gardener. He was generous with his time and in sharing his incredible knowledge on the opportunities parishes have to increase bio-diversity in all our local environments. I’m also grateful to Hastoe Housing Association for their presentation on the possibilities of building sympathetic, sustainable and affordable homes in rural areas for local people."
