Arrogantia divitum non diligitur...

Recently spotting a Wall butterfly at the bottom of Barrow Hill was a bittersweet experience. My joy at seeing that these now-scarce butterflies are moving back into Upper Bush was tempered by the knowledge that Vineyard farms will soon be destroying the area for their vanity winery.

Walking down the North Downs Way through Upper Bush after my “parish boundary stone hunt”, I came to the crossing at Bush Road. Here, my mood darkened further when I saw that Vineyard Farms have now been putting up markers of their own...

Vineyard Farms' new boundary marker - a "boast post"...

A wooden post has been put in place, asserting that the area is now apparently part of something called the “Silverhand Estate”. This seems to be a piece of whimsy on behalf of our new baronial masters: the name “Silverhand” appears on no local map, past or present and has (as far as I know) no actual meaning or historic connection with the area, or indeed, with anything else at all.

Between them, the fields, woodlands and roads around Cuxton and Luddesdown have many interesting and unusual names, names that are steeped in local history. Wrangling Lane, Cutter Ridge, Bushy Wood, Hatch Hill, Wrenches Shaw, Brazenden Wood, Backenden Hill: all of these names mean something locally and would have made perfectly appropriate titles for Vineyard Farms’ new estate.

A company that cared a bit more about the local community might have even asked its neighbours what they thought their estate could be called, but then “community engagement” isn’t exactly the Vineyard Farms way, beyond the bare minimum needed to tick that box for the planning application. (Perhaps they were scared they might have gotten too many "Winey Mc.Wineface" answers...)

So sadly it appears that Vineyard Farms have chosen to ignore any local connotations when naming their new baronial fiefdom, preferring instead to celebrate their ownership of 1200 acres of historic farmland across Cuxton and Luddesdown by naming it after a computer game character.

It just seems like the Lord of the Manor crowing: "All of this is ours now, not yours..."

Their new propaganda post boasts about the hedgerows that are being planted on their new estate, as part of an initiative by a lottery-funded group called Old Chalk New Downs. Indeed, Vineyard Farms' "Biodiversity Net Gain Assessment" (on the Council Planning Portal) claims a net "Habitat Unit" (furniture?) gain of 14.34% and a "hedgerow unit" gain of 864.47%. Utterly meaningless twaddle, of course, as if "biodiversity" can be calculated to two decimal places. Shoving a few twigs in the ground at the start of a drought hardly compensates for the desertification of 1200 acres of arable farmland or the planned levelling of Barrow Hill to build a totally unnecessary and unwanted tacky tourist trap on a green belt AONB. 

They also boast about the "biodegradable cardboard" used to protect their new twigs. No mention at all of the hundreds of thousands of non-biodegradable plastic net sheathes that protect their precious vines (1.5 million of them, so I gather) and which, from a distance, now give the valleys their unpleasant chemical green tint.  

Given that each sheath weighs 45g, 1.5 million of them equates to a staggering 67.5 tonnes of plastic. Some of this already seems to be strewn across the public footpaths as you make your way around the estate, although one would hope that there would be arrangements made to collect and recycle the horrid things once they have served their purpose.

And can it really be that a company owned by a billionaire tax exile (and one with its tax arrangements doubtless being as "tax efficient" as those of its owner) would actually be exploiting UK tax-payer's money and lottery funding to get their new "hedgerows" planted?  Certainly such hedgerow work would be eligible for grants from the Farming In Protected Landscapes and the Old Chalk New Downs projects that VF are bragging about their involvement with. 

Personally I think it is disgraceful that public money is apparently being used to fund the planting of hedgerows on a private estate. I'm not sure that in these harsh times, those struggling to pay their bills would really want to hear that the taxes they pay may be subsidizing trendy "green-washing" by companies owned by billionaires, especially billionaires that live abroad for tax purposes. Perhaps it will give them such a warm feeling, they won't need to heat their houses with expensive gas or electricity...

I wonder if DEFRA/OCND even know just what MDCV/Vineyard Farms are really up to?  Are they aware that Medway Council's planning committee have just rejected VF's winery plans because of their "inappropriate nature" for green belt AONB and the damage they would to "protected landscapes" and "old chalk"? 

Vineyard Farms even have the cheek to display the logo of the Kent Downs AONB unit on their new boasting post, a group that expressed a strong and detailed objection to VF's plans on Medway Council's planning portal.

Despite the extensive local opposition to their plans, I understand that Vineyard Farms are now definitely going ahead with an appeal against the decision (made by Medway’s democratically-elected councillors on the planning committee) to reject their vainglorious scheme.

It's an appeal I think they will probably win. Vineyard Farms know that the locals can’t match the array of highly-paid experts and barristers they will be hiring to argue that black is white in front of the planning inspector at the forthcoming public inquiry. Their owner’s millions will buy them what they want in the end. We all knew that would happen anyway, didn’t we?

The final gloat on the boast post: "Wine Conquered"...

So I’m kind of surprised Vineyard Farms didn’t put “Vinum Vincit” (rather than “Vinum Victa”) on their cheesy, nineteen-seventies-style faux armorial. Even a shed-load of cash can't buy you taste, it seems...