GREENHAM & CROOKHAM COMMONS COMMISSION

Commission Members

The Commission is comprised of 20 members, ten of whom are elected commoners and ten appointed representatives of various bodies. It sits for a three year period and is next subject to re-constitution on 1st May 2009.

The bulk of duties placed on the Commission by the Act requires it to use reasonable endeavours to exercise its functions in a manner which: -

(a) restores and conserves the Common as a peaceful place of natural beauty and in particular, conserves its flora and fauna and ecological, archeological geological and physiographical features

(b) conserves any part of the Common which is a site of special scientific interest

(c) subject to paragraphs (a) and (b) above -

  1. promotes and improves grazing on the Common
  2. promotes educational activities related to the Common land, in particular, encourages public awareness of the ecological, cultural and historic significance of the Common and any open space
  3. manages the Common and any additional open space as a place open to the public for recreational purposes
  4. facilitates the exercise of commoners' rights on the Common

It requires the Council and the Commission to exercise their functions in a manner which implements the policy set out in the Management Plan, also to maintain a register of commoners and commoners' rights.

Current Commissioners

Name Representing e-mail
Chris Austin (Chairman) Commoner amhb@newbury.net
Paul Hendry (Countryside) West Berks Council phendry@westberks.gov.uk
Tony Ferguson (Vice Chair) West Berks Council tony_fergusonuk@yahoo.co.uk
Derek Emes Conservation Volunteers derek@headshill.org
Alan Agutter Greenham Parish Council alan@agutter.wanadoo.co.uk
Julian Swift-Hook Newbury Town Council julian@swift-hook.co.uk
Sheila Ellison Thatcham Town Council ellison_s@sky.com
Sarah Wright Natural England sarah.wright@naturalengland.org.uk
Ed Cooper Greenham Common Community Trust edcooper@thamesvalleyhub.co.uk
Bob Milton Central Council for Physical Recreation bobmilton@kilnsidefarm.fsnet.co.uk
Janice Bridger Central Council for Physical Recreation janice.bridger@btopenworld.com
Chris Tufnell Commoner tufnells@littlefoxhold.plus.com
Derek Cutt Commoner derekcutt@hotmail.co.uk
Frank Huxtable Commoner franhux@aol.com
Helen Williams Commoner kasaque@aol.com
John Gale Commoner g3llkgus@aol.com
Mel Gatward Commoner melgatward@bigfoot.com
Michael Wilde Commoner michael.wilde@sjpp.co.uk
Surbjit Tomka Commoner sunrise_research@yahoo.com
Advisers
Annette Thomas Legal Advisor athomas@westberks.gov.uk
Elaine L Cox Secretary elcox@westberks.gov.uk
Adrian Wallington (Ranger) West Berks Council awallington@westberks.gov.uk