Brill Common & Village Green Advisory Group
report of the first Meeting Report

The first meeting of the Brill Common and Village Greens Advisory Group was held on Monday September 5th. Present were representatives from Brill Parish Council, The Walks Committee, Friends of Brill Common, Brill Village Community Herd, and the Common Volunteers. The meeting was chaired by Alex Cruickshank from BBOWT, and minuted by Emi Slater from the PC. The first part of the meeting was a sharing of information and report back on what each group had been doing on the Common over the last six months to a year, in line with the HLS agreement.

Alex then invited the group to comment on the BBOWNT report.

All the groups made constructive comments and a very useful discussion ensued. Alex summarised the priorities made in the recommendations and we talked about the possibility of training up a warden to oversee Brill Common in the future, which brought up some really useful points. We then discussed the Group’s Terms of Reference; how we will work with the parish council, the flow of information, organisation of meetings (including attendees and minute-taking), and setting up a structure for future generations. We agreed to meet four times a year, corresponding with the natural seasons. The constructive sharing of ideas felt really positive.

During the last part of the meeting, Alex collected information about what data is held and where concerning local wildlife, with a view to setting up an ecological monitoring strategy for the common and The Walks; something we should implement now for the benefit of future generations. More on this project soon.

It is astounding how much hard work the groups have put in over the years - and how lucky we are to have such dedicated and energetic volunteers caring and protecting our very special common. I don’t think we fully appreciate or understand how much effort goes into keeping Brill Common and The Walks accessible whilst protecting wildlife, increasing biodiversity, and managing the land with awareness of the impact of the climate crisis. One thing is very clear, though: We need to start laying foundations for the next generation of custodians of Brill Common - so, please, if you’d like to get involved with any of the common volunteer groups, please contact them directly or email me, Emi Slater.

Thank you to everyone who attended this meeting and for coming so well prepared and so positive.