Arson attack leaves Mathew Cole frustrated
Neil got a call early Sunday morning informing him the barn was alight and the Prison had been evacuated. Once the fire brigade had finished we spent 14 hours dragging the wet smouldering, stinking remains of our winter feed into a field which now resembles the Somme with a large pile of useless smouldering rubbish in it.
It makes you feel so angry and frustrated at this needless waste and the work and stress required in the aftermath, and all with a Dartmoor winter closing in fast.
With one of our commons’ HLS which began in June 2011, we are told we won’t receive any money until Nov 2012 and the payment will be less than ESA levels. We are glad to get an agreement, but it does feel as though we are dropping out of ESA agreements on Dartmoor having delivered everything which was asked of us.
We are told that HLS is unlikely and if you do get in you won’t get paid for two years. Yet it seems as though if you applied for HLS agreements when they were new you were welcomed in with all bells and whistles for 10 years guaranteed.
The government really needs to find some money to back up the HLS or we will have a massive two-tier situation with those in HLS having a massive advantage and those who aren’t having to cope with a massive income drop.
The playing field needs to be levelled as this situation stinks.