Annual Forum
Friday 26 February
Toddington Village Hall
Climate Change – the future of farming and forestry in the
Cotswolds
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
The Lord Plumb of Coleshill, DL FRAgS
Lord Plumb is a name associated with national and international agriculture and
politics for more than 50 years. In 1964 he was elected Vice-President of the
National Farmers’ Union (NFU) and President in 1970, the office he held for nine
years. In 1973 he was knighted and in 1987 created a Life Peer.
In 1979 Lord Plumb was elected to the European Parliament where he held many
roles including President of the European Parliament (1987-89) and VicePresident of the European People's Party (EPP) from 1994-97.
Many Honours and Accolades have bestowed upon him by many countries, and to
name but a few of his many diverse interests, Lord Plumb was Master of the
Worshipful Company Of Farmers (2005-06), Chancellor of Coventry University,
Chairman Emeritus of the International Policy Council on Agriculture, Food &
Trade, President of the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) since 1989
and he is Patron of the Cotswolds Conservation Board and the former Cotswolds
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership.
Richard Lloyd MBE
Richard is Secretary of State Board Member of the Cotswolds Conservation Board and
Board Member of the National Association for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. A
recent member of the Forestry Commission’s South West of England Regional Advisory
Committee, Richard is also Vice Chairman of the Gloucestershire Branch of the
Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and Chair of the Branch’s Policy SubCommittee. He is also Vice Chairman of CPRE South West.
Previously Richard was head of a policy team at the Countryside Agency and on
retirement joined the panel of specialists working for Europarc Consulting. An ecologist
and qualified planner Richard has a particular interest in protected landscapes.
Jim Smyllie
Jim is Executive Director for Regional Delivery in Natural England, and a member of the
organisation’s Executive Board. He joined Natural England from Defra in January 2006
as Transition Director. His last post in Defra was leading the Delivery Strategy Team,
which had responsibility for creating and managing the framework for the department’s
relationships with all its delivery bodies, as well as for the mergers of bodies such as the
science regulatory agencies, and the creation of others including Animal Health. Before
then he was Head of Planning at the then Lord Chancellor’s Department, and Director of
Corporate Strategy in the MOD’s Defence Secondary Care Agency, where he led the
transfer of military hospitals into partnership with the NHS. Jim’s earlier career included a
decade in the NHS in a variety of service management and commissioning roles, several
years in the independent sector, and work in the arts managing theatres. He is a
published writer, and the founding Chair of Kaloko Trust UK, an NGO which has worked
in community development, sustainable development and environmental improvement in
Zambia for the last fifteen years.
Dr Mark Broadmeadow
Mark is Climate Change Policy and Programme Manager for Forestry Commission
England.
He is responsible for climate change adaptation and mitigation aspects of the Delivery
Plan for England's Trees Woods and Forests. Mark's background is in research, having
previously led Forest Research's Climate Change Programme for more than ten years.
Paul Cottington
Paul has worked as Environment Advisor for NFU for 2½ years. His role covers a range
of environmental issues for the NFU in the South West with a particular focus on climate
change, water resource management and biodiversity. He comes from a background of
working with farmers, wildlife trusts and local communities and has a wealth of
experience and knowledge in these areas.
Paul chairs the South West Climate Change Impact Partnership’s Land Use and Forestry
Group which aims to prepare for and reduce the impacts of climate change in the South
West.
Robin Mortimer
Robin Mortimer is Director for Climate Change Adaptation, Air Quality, Landscape and
Rural Affairs (CALR) in Defra.
Previously Robin was Deputy Director in the Office of Climate Change, where he led work
on the UK’s Climate Change Bill. From 2004-6 he led Defra’s Rural Strategy Division.
Robin joined the civil service in 1994, having studied history at Oxford University and
Development Studies at London University. His civil service career has included spells
as Private Secretary to John Prescott and Alastair Darling and at the Department for
International Development. He has also spent time outside the civil service as an
operational manager in the NHS.
David Crompton
David is a builder by profession but has worked in Estates Management for the last 35
years. Previous posts have been held with the NHS for 15 years looking after hospitals
and associated buildings, PGL Adventure Ltd for 8 years where he looked after holiday
centres across the UK, plus David spend 9 years in independent education looking after
boarding schools.
David has been working for the National Star College near Cheltenham for nearly 3 years
as Estates Manager, looking after a residential college for disabled young adults.
David says he is “enjoying the job as much now as I did all those years ago”.
Now living in Prestbury, David’s passion is horse racing.
Christine Shine
Christine has lived in her typical Cotswolds manor house for the past 21 years. She is an
ardent supporter of sustainability principles but matches this with a refreshingly pragmatic
approach.
Christine is both a core designer and a business woman. Her outside interests are
archaeology, history and gardening.
She is a Secretary of State appointee to the Cotswolds Conservation Board and sits on
its Living and Working Sub-Committee with a special interest in transport.
Owen Yeatman
Owen Yeatman is a dairy and arable farmer in Dorset. In 2007 he decided to invest in an
anaerobic digester after completing a Nuffield Farming Scholarship where he saw
farmers in Germany making money from feeding biogas plants with just crops and
manure. He set up the UK's first on-farm biogas plant on his own farm in 2008 which he
fills with manure and purpose grown crops. The unit generates enough power to supply
around 400 houses.
Revd Jeff West
Jeff was appointed Chairman of the Cotswolds Conservation Board in December 2009
and has been Secretary of State appointee to the Board since 2004.
His areas of interest and specialism include architectural and landscape history, social
and economic policy and research. Jeff is also a non-stipendiary Curate at St Mary's
Church, Banbury and was formerly Policy Director with English Heritage.
As well as serving as a non-executive director of the British Urban Regeneration
Association 2004-07, Jeff is currently a trustee on the International Council on
Monuments and Sites (UK) and a member of the Oxford Diocesan Synod and the
Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches.