COMPENSATION JOY FOR FMD GUN CLUB
Published on 24/09/2004
By Julian Whittle
A GUN club that was turfed off
Great Orton airfield during foot and mouth has won £59,000 in compensation from
the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs.
Carlisle and
District Gun Club used the airstrip twice a month for clay-pigeon shooting until
2001 when the airfield became a mass burial site for animal
carcasses.
What followed was a David-and-Goliath struggle as the club
took on the might of Maff, later Defra, in an effort to gain
compensation.
Club official Donald Armstrong claims Defra tried to evade
its responsibilities and only the threat of legal action, which, in truth, the
club could not afford, brought about a settlement three years later.
He
said: “I have a very cynical view of government and government
organisations.
“I used to trust them but now I see them as nothing more
than criminals. They do what they like, when they want and they don’t seem to be
accountable.”
The club had used Great Orton as a tenant of a local farmer
since 1988.
When foot and mouth broke out it suspended meetings for
biosecurity reasons.
Mr Armstrong says Maff, as it was then, took over
the airfield and asked the gun club to halt operations for 12 months in return
for £15,000 compensation. He says the club signed an agreement in good faith,
only for Defra to claim it was void because nobody at Defra had signed
it.
In the meantime, five sheds containing £6,000 of equipment were
bulldozed by Defra who told the club they could never return to the
site.
Despite all this, Mr Armstrong said, Defra was prepared only to
offer £15,000.
He added: “They were gambling that we couldn’t afford to
go to court. We bluffed them. In practice we only had £6,000 in the
bank.”
Defra has now paid £59,000 in compensation plus £16,527 to cover
legal costs.
Solicitor James Bell, of Carlisle law firm Bell Park
Kerridge, who acted for the gun club, believes this will give hope to other
businesses still owed money by Defra.
Mr Bell said: “Taking on a
government department is never an easy task but we have had plenty of experience
as a result of the foot and mouth outbreak.
“We have a reputation for
taking on cases which have been going nowhere, giving some direction, and then
winning. We do not need clients to have limitless funds. All we need are good
witnesses who believe in their case.”
Defra declined to
comment.
The gun club now has a healthy bank balance but nowhere to
shoot.
Its 75 members have to travel as far away as Blackpool, Manchester
and Newcastle.
Mr Armstrong, of Glasson near Port Carlisle, said: “Why
couldn’t we have stayed at Great Orton?
“What have they got to hide on
that site? Why do they have security there 24 hours a day? There’s something
untoward going on.”