Defras entire ministerial team to visit The CLA Game Fair
The entire Defra ministerial team is this week set to visit The CLA Game Fair the biggest event in the countryside calendar.
Secretary of State Caroline Spelman, Minister of State Jim Paice, and Under-Secretaries of State Richard Benyon and Lord Henley are all scheduled to be at the event on the Blenheim Palace estate in Oxfordshire.
Mrs Spelman will take part in the CLAPresidents Debate, starting at 10.15am on Friday morning, debating the topic: Big Society in the Countryside Reality or Rhetoric? with Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change Huw Irranca-Davies, former Daily Telegraph Editor Max Hastings and CLA President William Worsley.
She will also tour the site on Friday (22 July) as will Mr Paice and Mr Benyon. Lord Henley will visit and tour The CLA Game Fair on Sunday (24 July).
All the ministers will see The CLA Village where the Association will showcase food, farming and the countryside; renewable energy and climate change; navigating the planning system, and protecting assets, including succession planning.
Mrs Spelman will also see a local food champion honoured for making an outstanding contribution to local and regional food in Britain. The CLA Food Award will be presented at 12.15pm on Friday (22 July) in the Cookery Demonstration Theatre.
The CLA Charitable Trust is to auction a contemporary fine art sculpture of a falcon valued at nearly 8,000 during a fundraising event from 4.30pm on Friday (22 July) in the CLA Game Fair Theatre.
- The CLA Game Fair, the world’s leading country sport event, is at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire from Friday, 22 July – Sunday, 24 July 2011. For more information and to request press passes please visit: http://www.gamefair.co.uk/trade-sponsors-press/press.html
- The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has around 35,000 members.
- As a membership organisation, the CLA supports landowners by advising them on how best to protect and maximise their asset: the land. We are dedicated to supporting landowners and their businesses. Our success is measured by how effectively we do that. We have a team of experts in London and a regional structure able to give local support.
- We have been looking after the interests of our members, as well as promoting the positive aspects of land ownership, land management and rural business activities for the past 100 years. CLA members own or manage approximately half the rural land in England and Wales, and the resulting expertise puts us in a unique position to formulate policies and lobby effectively.
- For more information about the CLA, visit: www.cla.org.uk or follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/CLAtweets