Paul Crossley

It was great to hear The Archbishop of York John Sentamu his morning speaking so strongly on the problems in Zimbabwe.

Some good news - the electoral commission has confirmed the counts so the MDC won 99 seats and beat Mugabe's party.

Now we need the confirmation that Mugabe lost the presedential vote. There is clearly no need for a run-off - why else delay the announcement by so long. Morgan is the new president and was elected by the people. Thank goodness the arms ship is not being unloaded. Thank goodness Jacob Zuma is speaking more strongly from South Africa.

Today is a day of prayer for Zimbabwe and its people at this difficult time as the forces of oppression try to subjucate Zimbabwe. For more detail check out Sokwanele link on the side bar.

The current Grangemouth dispute clearly spotlights attention on our energy misuse and its importance to our lifestyle. Two years ago when leader of Bath & NES council and chair of the LSP I signed up to the Governments Big Energy Challenge. Check out our website at Big Energy Challenge. This is all about raising awareness of energy misuse, its cost and its environmental impact. The project is going well across all public sector partners and the 10% energy reduction traget is being met. There have been lots of innovations and ideas tried. In the end its all about individuals taking responsibility and chaning their own energy behaviour patterns.

We get regular email alerts and reminders from our energy champions.Dear All,

It's a few weeks now that the initial launch of Our Big Energy Challenge occurred for the Guildhall. We thought it was time to issue a reminder of those little things you can do that can add up to making a difference.

- use double sided printing only (if anyone is unsure how to do this don't hesitate to contact one of us.) - turn off lights when office vacant or shared areas vacant (including toilets). - turn off computer monitor whenever you leave your desk - turn off machines (printers etc) at end of day and if not in use for any substantial period. - check radiators for excessive heat e.g. in mid-afternoon and adjust the thermostat. - If opening the window ensure any radiators are turned off first. - If you recharge your mobile phone, ensure the recharger is not left plugged on when not in use. - re-read your pocket size tips and check the website:- www.bigenergychallenge.org - allow yourself time to watch the 'Our Big Energy Challenge' Presentation.

Meanwhile our Government is doing diddlysquat about renewable energy. FOE latest press release shows just how far behind we are in this country compared with countries such as Germany.

MPs were urged today by Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and Enoughsenough.org to support a crucial amendment to the Energy Bill which would encourage householders, businesses and communities to produce their own renewable energy.

Full page ads in three of this morning's national newspapers - The Independent, Times and the Guardian - use a football analogy [1] to depict the national shame of the UK's feeble performance in renewable energy compared with that of Germany. Germany has 200 times more solar power and more than 10 times more wind power installed than the UK.

The ads call for the Government to adopt legislation to give people a renewable energy reward .The secret to the policy's success is a long-term contract with the National Grid guaranteeing a premium price for all renewable energy generated by homes and businesses - also known as a feed-in tariff. This makes renewable technology significantly more cost effective to install.

A cross party amendment to the Government's Energy Bill, known as `New Clause 4: Renewable Energy Tariff', will be debated when the Energy Bill receives its Third Reading in the Commons on 30 April. If adopted it would provide a massive boost to the small scale renewables industry in the UK.

270 MPs, including over 100 Labour MPs, have signed a Parliamentary petition (Early Day Motion) asking for the Energy Bill to be amended to include a feed in tariff for small scale renewables, making it the second most supported petition in the current Parliament out of more than 1400 that have been tabled.

Friends of the Earth Economics Campaigner Dave Timms said:

The UK's feeble performance on renewable energy is a national disgrace. If we want families and businesses to tackle climate change by investing in clean technologies such as solar panels for their homes and offices then they must get a guaranteed premium payment for all the renewable energy they generate."

The Government must take this opportunity to amend the current Energy Bill to include legislation for a feed-in tariff. Countries, such as Germany, who have adopted this policy have raced ahead in generating renewable energy while also creating the green jobs and low-carbon industries of the future.

Greenpeace UK's Chief Policy Adviser, Benet Northcote said:

"The Government talks green but their policies are really dirty brown. The UK's renewable energy performance is shocking. We have the best potential for clean electricity in Europe, but we languish near the bottom of the table compared to other countries.

The Energy Bill doesn't do nearly enough to encourage clean energy. A Renewable Energy Tariff would help kick start the energy revolution we need if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change."

Chris Shaw of Enoughsenough.org said:

Germany produces 15% of its domestic electricity from renewables while the UK produces just 5%. That's a big problem - but the solution is simple. Give homeowners and businesses an incentive to produce clean electricity and we could soon be matching the best in Europe.

Copies of the ad are available from Friends of the Earth press office.

The ad says: CLIMATE OWN GOAL SOLAR POWER: Germany - 200 England - 1

The situation in Zimbabwe is getting worse. Check out the sokwanele blog on the blogroll to the right.

Also please sign the petition here to increase pressure from around the world to stop these arms reaching the dictator Mugabe. 

No Incinerator in Bristol

The West of England Waste Partnership is actively considering the complete folly of building a Mass Burn Incineration plant at Avonmouth. This is an environmental crime and sends out all the wrong messages. The Labour Government's scam of a lie that it is waste from energy is a travesty of the truth. It is simply burning materials which could be reused. It is avoiding the design issue of building things that can be completely recycled and it allows people to cop out of the real responsibility we all have to the planet.

Three things you can do.

1. Sign the petition to stop this madness at http://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk

2. Log on for information at the new website Bristol Against Mass-Burn Incineration group  which was launched last week and is open to anyone to join. Also on Friday Steve Webb MP, the Liberal Democrat shadow secretary of state for the environment, visited Ethos Recycling in Avonmouth and announced his support for this campaign. Several groups have been involved in leafleting and talking to local residents who live close to the proposed site, so awareness of the issue is starting to grow.

3. Sign up to this Facebook group and sign the petition and we can continue to put pressure on Bristol City Council and its partners to abandon plans for this expensive, out-dated and environmentally damaging mass-burn incinerator.

This insanity is being lead by Labour in Bristol and the Conservatives in S Gloucestershire and N Somerset. The Conservatives in Bath&NES have said they do not support this project but have left all the money in place for the pilot aplication.

The Liberal Democrats across the sub-region are opposed to this scheme. Our approach to this issue is based on Zero Waste strategies. 

Please visit the link to browse the March-April edition of Sustainability Now - the monthly bulletin from Sustainability South West (SSW), is from the SW RDA and is a good read with some good links and ideas.

AND I have signed up for this:- 

 Dear local Councillor

The charity Sustainability South West will shortly be releasing a press release to showcase Councillors from each of the main political parties who are backing real action to tackle climate change.

We've already signed up 13 MPs from all the main parties who've endorsed the idea of ‘a fair and safe carbon share for everyone' by signing up to Fair Shares, Fair Choice. This flagship South West initiative offers residents, organisations and businesses guidance on what choices they can make to reduce their carbon footprint and live within a fair carbon budget (see www.fairsharesfairchoice.com).

All the main political parties are claiming that they support sustainability. The sustainable response to climate change is for everyone to reduce their carbon footprint to a globally fair level.

If you think you should be the Councillor from your party and in your area supporting this message on our press release, sign up to Fair Shares, Fair Choice by adding your name to the supporters list at www.fairsharesfairchoice.com and then email us with a quote about your party's commitment to meeting the challenge of climate change.

All councillors signing up will be listed on the press release and quotes from the first councillor from each main party will be included.

We all have to individually reduce our carbon footprint. 

Here in Bath though our new Conservative Administration continues to be unclear on priorities on the environmental. Latest example from the budget was withdrawing from the Forest of Avon. Not a good move. The so called Cameron Greeen Blues look very mouldy brown to me. But on the other hand I do support moves to encourage people to remember that electrical items can be recycled.

Bath & North East Somerset Council recycling facilities for electrical waste are located at the Recycling Centres in Midland Road, Bath; Pixash Lane, Keynsham & Wheelers Hill, Old Welton.

Electrical equipment deposited at these sites is taken away by a variety of companies for onward reprocessing. Old TVs collected from the three Recycling Centres within the district are taken to Sims plant in Newport and broken down into their different component materials, e.g. glass, metal and plastic and then sent on for recycling either in the UK or in Europe. In the first six months of this new system operating, over 200 tonnes of TV's and computer monitors were recycled from sites within Bath and North East Somerset and with your help this figure can keep on growing.

Do your bit, visit this one-stop recycling information centre : recycle-more

What is happening in Zimbabwe is an outrage. Come on Thabo Mbeki - lead your country and region - and stand up to this man who has the blood of Zimbabweans on his hands and the destruction of a country on his conscience. Mugabe must go. At the least support your own workers and do not allow weapons to transit through South Africa to Zimbabwe.

Watching the dignity of Morgan Tsvangirai face up to the world's indifference in the clear light of his party winning the elections on contest should be a lesson for democrats around the world. If we believe in democracy now is the time for us all to give Zimbabwe our support.

There are lots of witnesses to this calamity on the blogoshere. Try this one.

The Healthier Communities and Older People Overview and Scrutiny panel met this week to consider the call-in on the decision taken by the Cabinet member to raise home care charges. Liberal Democrat Councillors on the panel were supported by the single Labour member and the Call-in was upheld. Councillor Pritchard will at least be forced to give reasons now when he dismisses the call-in.

On the document below I have attached both the Liberqal Democrat PR and the intemperate response from Cllr Pritchard for comparison.

Care_call-in_18.04.08-1.rtf

Since the mid 70's a group of Bath Women have run and operated the Women's refuge in Bath and an associated fundraising charity shop to raise extra funds to support the cause. It has been highly successful and has helped a lot of women. This year The Council has decided not to award the contract to continue to provide the service to them and has instead awarded it to a much larger Bristol based Charity. Our Conservative administration seem to be totally unaware of this and anyway they delegated the responsibility so they would not consider it an issue of importance. However it is on two fronts. First these ladies provided a first class service to ladies in need who were fleeing domestic violence and should have been allowed to continue running the service and secondly despite the Government rhetoric about increasing the capacity of the voluntary sector small charities and bands of volunteers around the country are loosing out in the governments remoresless drive for efficiency at any cost.

To recognise the long and unheralded service these volunteers have given Bath for so many years we held a small reception in the Mayors Parlour where I gave the thankyou speach. The local paper ran a nice article on the story witha selection of pictures. see here.

The Call-in was lost because the Independents and Conservatives seem to be joined at the hip in our authority.

An interesting vignette of the letters and articles can be seen at this LINK.

The panel decision:On Monday 7th April 2008, the Safer and Stronger Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel considered a call in of the Cabinet Member decision 'Residents and Controlled Parking Traffic Regulation Order'. The Panel made the following decision:

The Panel decided to dismiss the call-in (4 votes to 3) and made the following recommendations:

· That enforcement should be improved in this area; and

· That consultation should be improved in the future; and

· That the later opening of Park and Ride facilities should be looked in to; and

· That the Panel support the undertaking given by the Cabinet Member to look into streamlining the parking department administration; and

· That before the amendment to the sunday hours is implemented, further consultation should be undertaken.

So March has been good for Bath Rugby

March 22 Bath 19 Irish 16

March 8 Bath 22 Newcastle 11

March 2 Bristol 9 Bath 19 at Ashton Gate

and on April 6 we finally got a response from the Charity Commission which enables the Rugby Club to move forward and submit some exciting rebuilding ideas for the Rec ground - surely the poorest premiership facility.

Charity Commission letter which was made public - 08CharityCommissionletter.rtf