Karen Bradley

LAST year, I was honoured to be invited a become a trustee of the ‘We Love the Moorlands’ fund and it was great to have the opportunity to meet again last week.

‘We Love the Moorlands’ is a fund operated by the Community Foundation for Staffordshire which gives grants to a wide range of good causes across the Moorlands.

We discussed a range of topics related to the fund and it was great to hear that planning is underway for lots of exciting fund-raising events that will be held throughout the year.

I am especially looking forward to the inaugural ‘Three Town Trail’ event, which will be held in May and June.

This event challenges people to run, walk or cycle 39.5 miles, which is the distance between the towns of Leek, Biddulph and Cheadle, to raise money for the fund.

This distance could be covered all in one go or over several weeks and is a great opportunity to get sponsorship and raise money for this fantastic cause while getting out and about and exploring the beautiful Moorlands’ countryside.

I was also pleased to visit the Advanced Proteins site in Cheddleton with other members of the Liaison Group and representatives from the Environment Agency.

I chair the Liaison Group, which meets regularly so that local residents and councillors can hear directly from the business and so it was great to visit the site in person and have an update on plans for a proposed new development on the site.

We heard that this specialist plant, the first of its type in the UK, will provide an additional 30 highly skilled jobs and we saw how measures are being taken to reduce the impact of the development, including locating the site on the lowest point of the land and incorporating natural screening where possible.