New CLA Director General meets members in the East
Bella Murfin visits farmer and landowners during a visit to the region
New CLA Director General Bella Murfin has met with CLA farmer and landowner members in Lincolnshire during a visit to the region.
Bella began as Director General of the CLA last month after taking on the role following the retirement of Sarah Hendry. Her previous experience was as a senior civil servant in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and she has worked on environment and farming issues as a policy-maker, strategist and programme director for over 20 years.
Like colleagues throughout the CLA, Bella is keen to understand the realities our members are facing – good and bad – and how those vary across the different types of business and different regions that the organisation represents. She has been getting out to meet members and teams across England and Wales, including a meeting with the county chairs in the East region which was hosted at the CLA’s office near Newmarket in Suffolk.
Welcoming Bella to the East, Regional Director Cath Crowther said:
“It has been a pleasure to spend time with Bella and for her to meet with some of our members and hear about their rural businesses.
“We have such a diverse range of entrepreneurial members here in the East who are producing food, enhancing nature, creating jobs and providing rural homes. It is important for Bella to hear directly from them about the challenges they are facing and where they believe the CLA should be focusing its lobbying attention with government.”
Some of the topics discussed included the upcoming Budget, the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Environment Land Management (ELM) schemes, water (flooding and abstraction), regulation, planning, energy performance certificates (EPCs) and the Renters Rights Bill.
“Major infrastructure projects in our region were also covered in-depth in our conversations,” says Cath. “Infrastructure projects are impacting more and more members with energy, water, transport, and other infrastructure schemes being proposed across the region.
“We heard about the massive cumulative impact these are having on our members and their businesses. We are using these examples to lobby government for a coordinated approach and better communication. Infrastructure will be a key topic discussed at our upcoming branch committees and CLA Council.”
Speaking of her recent visit Bella commented: “One of my early priorities is understanding from our members how the CLA can best meet their needs, what they value, what gives them hope and what causes them concern.
“During my visit to the East, it was reassuring to hear that, in the main, all the big priorities our members raised are things that we are already on the case with – agricultural regulation; water supply and management; infrastructure; housing – and an illustration of how farming is central to many member businesses.
“It also brought to life some of the issues we campaign about. It is really powerful to hear personal testimonies of some of the challenges our members face.”
There will be many more opportunities for members to engage with Bella over the coming months, including the upcoming CLA Rural Business Conference next month – get your tickets while you still can here.