Letter from Peter Byant

[Brian Smith]

 

 

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  peter bryant  to donnarees, Dorothy, gillpurser, Karen, lindasmith, Suzie, jacqui, BRIAN, David, HAZELMAY, John, LES, London, Raymond, Richard, Robert

show details  10:40 (2 hours ago)  

 

MEETING WITH THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

 

23RD APRIL 2008

 

 

 

Representatives from the racing pigeon unions, Les Blacklock, Glyn Picton, Colin Prance, Tom Dawson and myself along with Gerry Francis and Derek Partridge who had arranged the meeting through Lyn Brown MP, met at Westminster for a meeting with Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment.  

 

The meeting was introduced by Lyn Brown who outlined the concerns of the fancy.  Tom Dawson then set the scene advising Mr Benn of the real damage that the DEFRA licence conditions and decisions were making to the racing pigeon sport.  I outlined in greater detail our concerns, specifically the fact that the pigeon racing in the Channel Islands has been devastated by the fact that DEFRA classes the islands as mainland Europe and therefore any pigeons entered into English races would have to undergo 28 days quarantine.  It was pointed out that Dover is closer to France than Guernsey.  The 7 day isolation period was also raised, a fact stressed by all our delegates at the meeting.  I also challenged DEFRA to produce any evidence that racing pigeons had acted as a bridge for the transmission of AI.  We also emphasised the problem of national bans on racing and shows when the problem affected a smaller geographical area.  This was no more apparent then last November during the showing season when the AI outbreak in Suffolk saw gatherings at shows cancelled in Cornwall, Wales and the North East.

 

Mr Benn asked many questions and also let the experts he had brought to the meeting about their areas of responsibility to put over their points in response to the ones we had made.

 

He also added that DEFRA will conduct a revision of the Veterinary Risk Assessment (this appears on their website about the potential risk from species).  He said that DEFRA had learnt a lot about AI and potential spread from the recent AI outbreak in Dorset and this was the basis for the review.

 

Mr Benn agreed to go away from the meeting and consider what we had said and discuss with his experts.  He certainly listened to what we had to say and we hope we had given him and his team food for thought.

 

All our delegates left the meeting with the impression that Mr Benn had listened to our arguments and progress had been made.  From a personal point of view I do not believe that DEFRA will exempt us totally from the AI restrictions and therefore we will continue to have some licence conditions imposed on us.  But unless we can make progress on the 7 day isolation period and get some respite for our Channel Islanders then we will not have moved forward.  We would then have to review what, if any, action we consider for the future.  

 

I did ask why we hadn’t yet received a response to our legal letter but was only advised that ‘these things take time’.  

 

 

 

So, that was what we did at the meeting.  Now what can you the fancy do?

 

Prior to the meeting with Mr Benn we had a session with Lyn Brown.  She told us that there were now several Members of Parliament sympathetic to our case and would support us to ease restrictions.  What she did suggest was for all fanciers to write to their MPs and ask them to sign an Early Day Motion.  This is a parliamentary procedure that keeps a particular topic on the agenda in the House, sometimes for months on end.  The more fanciers that do this then the more names will appear on the Early Day Motion.  Your letter just needs to say:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Furthermore, Derek Partridge has collected some 10,000 petition notices so far and Lyn Brown says that these are another valuable tool to let the Prime Minister know the strength of feeling amongst the fancy.  If you have not yet submitted the petition then please do so.

 

 

 

Peter Bryant

 

General Manager

 

 

 

 

 

Peter Bryant

 

General Manager

 

The Royal Pigeon Racing Association

 

The Reddings

 

near Cheltenham

 

Glos GL51 6RN

 

tel 01452 713529

 

DDI 01452 858240

 

mobile 079 77979 336

 

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