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Farewell to Fluff

Today the sad news of the passing of Alan Freeman pioneer DJ - Do you remember him pop pickers? Do you remember Radio Caroline playing David Mc Williams 'The Days of Pearly Spencer '??

Listening to Jerry Scott on Radio York this evening the challenge to listeners is for the oldest working gadget. Pundits have finally noticed that we spend an amazing amount on gadgets that end up gathering dust in the drawer, cupboard or cellar just because we have got something a bit better or a vital bit of plastic has come apart rendering the machine redundant. Our house is full of radios of various vintages - there is a bulky 'portable' that I got in the 70's that is now a door stop! There is the Hi fi in our liing room that has deck for the vinyl that still works, tape to tape for copying tapes and radio that work fine but a CD changer that infuriatingly chugs round and wont stop to play a CD any longer. The backroom has a radio that works but the CD part met its demise when the attic window was left open and it filled up with rainwater! And I still have my grandmother's 50 year old wireless that is permanently tuned to Radio 4 but still works once the valve has warmed up!  I can still remember when we first got it, one of the first radios with FM, hearing the police at the end of the dial you were not supposed to venture to!

So are we any better off, now that we have replaced our discs with tapes, tapes with CD's, and now CD's with ipods or MP3 players? I doubt it!

 

What's your poison? Would you like to know?

Well the results of the tests on the allotments at Fulford Cross have finally been released, although the Health Protection Agency say still more tests are needed before they can come to a verdict. The high levels of arsenic and lead were probably fairly localised resulting from ash from coal fires that was often used to increas the potash content and lighten the soil. Some allotment holders have had their own tests done and decided that the risks are minimal.

However the irony now is that the walled garden which had been used for years by the Steiner school for their gardening lessons will not now be used by the planned 'Skill Centre' for horticulture, nor by anyone else. Gardening lessons, which are a valuable feature of Steiner education have now ceased, thanks to the grand plans of the LEA to take back the walled garden and build a potting shed cum outdoor classroom there. In the short term at least the garden will slowly revert back to nature and would make an ideal nature reserve....!

 And what about those test results? well having complained in the media a fortnight ago that they should be released to the allotment holders the Contaminated Land officer wrote to them last week, asking if they would like the details.

 He has now sent me an email to ASK if I would like them too!! Err... that might be what I had in mind when I raised the matter in October but was told that they could not be released yet!

 

Toothless climate change bill!

Rowntrees Park and Terry Avenue from Millennium Bridge 13.1.07

The cover of the Independent this week said it all - against binding targets: UKIP and Tony Blair, for binding targets: Green Party, Tory Party , Lib Dems, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace.....etc

60 PER CENT CUTS BY 2050 INADEQUATE AND TOO DISTANT

Sian Berry, Green Party Principal Speaker, today commented on the 
much anticipated climate change bill: "Almost two-thirds of MP's have 
called for annual binding targets, reflecting the British public's 
desire for urgent action to tackle devastating carbon emissions.

"The government's own Stern review stated  that it is better to 
achieve faster reductions earlier, or greater reductions will be 
needed later.

"But Blair is determined to fly in the face of public opinion, of 
scientific recommendations, of common sense. The lack of annual 
targets in today's bill means the government will continue to dawdle 
on this crucial issue.

"If we are to to make real headway on curbing our emissions we need 
to act now - we do not have time for yet more commissions and 
reviews, for more political delay.

"We need a Climate Change Bill which sets binding emissions-reduction 
targets of 6 per cent a year to allow us to achieve cuts in UK GHG 
emissions of 90 per cent by 2030. This is the level of cuts required 
for us - in a framework of contraction and convergence - to play a 
fair role in delivering the global cuts needed to stabilise 
atmospheric CO2 at 450 parts per million."

"There is a whole menu of really effective measures out there already 
being implemented in Europe. Tony Blair just has to pick some of them 
and instead he is fudging and stalling, as he has been for nine long 
years.

"The Germans, the French and the Spanish government's have all 
managed to take decisive action on climate change. Why can't Blair?

"The French Prime Minister on Monday announced the creation next year 
of a coal tax and a 10-percent increase in taxation of industrial and 
air transport pollution in France - to re-enforce the principle of 
the polluter pays. (1)  Spain has this week made solar panels 
compulsory on all new and renovated buildings - predicted to bring 
energy savings of 30 to 40 percent for
each building and a reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from 
energy consumption of 40 to 55 percent. (2) "

"German Greens have incentivised installation of renewables by paying 
a higher rate for carbon-free electricity sold to the grid. They are 
also doubling the effect by lending about £1bn a year, interest free, 
to householders and companies to install wind and solar. The whole 
scheme is paid by a small charge (€0.5 per kWh) on fossil-fuel 
generated electricity. Italy's Green Party Environment Minister is 
also pushing for a similar scheme.(3)

"Our Green Peer, Lord Beaumont, will seek to add amendments to the 
Climate Change bill in its passage through the Lords. Proposals will 
include:


-  a commitment to Contraction and Convergence
- Increases to the rate of the Carbon Change Levy, placing it on an 
escalator like the old fuel-duty escalator
- Setting departmental investment in CO2 reduction measures targets - 
depending on the area, shift investment into energy efficiency, 
economic measures etc depending on remit
- Pledge to reduce spending on climate damaging technologies and 
developments
- Pledge to increase year on year investment in clean technologies 
e.g. local recycling, solar, wind etc - massively expand the 
renewables obligation, including financial incentives to encourage 
suppliers to use renewable sources along the lines of the German 
model (Feed-In tariffs)
- Establish a feasibility study and pilot scheme to prepare fort he 
introduction of a personal carbon trading scheme
- Require that embodied and trade-transport-related CO2 emissions for 
goods consumed in the UK get included in our national totals
- A commitment to the 450ppm target and hence to 90%+ reductions by 
2050 (not achievable but allows others to negotiate the current 
targets upwards)
Substituting cap-and-share for the ETS carbon trading scheme.


"Blair's could be one of the first world figures to put his head 
above the parapet and take decisive action on climate change. That 
would be a real legacy. Instead it seems clear he will fall far short 
of making more than cosmetic commitments to action on climate change 
- the most dangerous threat we face. "


ENDS

Notes for Editors:

(1) http://uk.news.yahoo.com/13112006/323/france-create-coal-tax-
tighten-pollution-measures.html

(2) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15698812/

(3) At a rate of 57.40 Euro cents per kWh

Green Party Press Office
020 7561 0282

Crocodile on the loose?

Yesterday I decided it was too windy to cycle into town and it might be nice to walk amid the autumn leaves along New Walk beside the river. Needless to say I had a conversation with one of the local residents who wanted to know what has happened to the carved crocodile that the ward committee paid for as a safe attraction for small children. The croc has been known to take a walk before, but this time he (or is it she?) seems to have vanished. This set me pondering whether some animal rights activist or landscape purist has launched it into the Ouse - could it turn up at Naburn Lock or has it suffered a worse fate as a substitute Guy on bonfire night? Could it be another instance of the council removing it for safety or esthetic reasons, like the offending benches - which are now in place in a shady spot that floods, against my best judgement ( see earlier entry)?

Whatever the truth, I hope that some reader of the local paper or this blog will be able to help solve the mystery of the missing crocodile.

THUR UPDATE: Well, as readers of the Press will know, our croc has been located, having been winched up from the bank of the Ouse some time ago and taken off to a council depot. Ther he will stay while the brains of Leisure Services Dept. contemplate how best to prevent the same thing happening in the future. Of course, as local councillor I should know that I have to ask the right questions of the right people to find out what is going on, as our hard working staff are too busy doing things to tell anyone what they are doing!

At the next ward meeting we will have to have a whip round to buy some secure bolts and concrete so that our popular croc doesnt go for a wander in the future!

Cardboard Recycling roll out

The Lib Dems have realised that they cant carry on with the situation where Lib Dem wards on the west of the city have a kerbside cardboard collection service while much of the rest of the city does not. They have also recognised that it doesnt make much sense to go back to weekly collections for a few winter months before resuming the alternate weekly collections. Bringing the two changes together in early 2007 will hopefully mean that they avoid the bins being an election issue next Spring!

It is still a pitty howeverthat there seems to be no progress on working out a recycling collection service for the many new flats particularly near the city centre. These are precisely the younger people who might not have cars and have a positive attitude to doing their bit for the environment, yet the places have been designed with little or no thought of storing of paper tins and glass etc for recycling.

 

Solar bus shelters

York has finally got some bus shelters with photovoltaics to power the lighting, after I have been suggesting they look at this for about the past two years.Of course the Lib Dems are keen to take all the credit for this and ignore the fact that I have been trying to get the officer concerned to secure press coverage of the initiative for the past 5 months.  Ironically this same week a scrutiny report has gone to the Executive on 'sustainable lighting' containing comments from the citylighting engineer that the technology is not sufficiently developed yet to be worth considering for street lighting. The Executive response also waters down the aspect that I pushed for (as a member of the panel) of requiring the lighting contract up for renewal next year to specify 100% renewable energy suppliers.

Flats and more flats!

Today's planning (East) committee made a surprising decision to reject an application to convert a large Victorian terraced house on Wenlock Terrace from 4 flats into 9 flats, in spite of the officer recommending approval. Again this demonstrates how many approvals are probably going through (under the new delegated decision making) that the committee would previously have rejected. The property on Wenlock Terrace is surrounded by others that are either flats or Guest houses, but the developers provision of detail on this only served to confirm the committees view that this was just cramming too much into a small space - most others were identified as having no more than 7 flats in them. I made an unsuccessful attempt to suggest that if approved, residents should be excluded from any future Respark scheme in the area. Because there isnt one on the street at the moment this was considered unreasonable, even though the developer justified the absence of any real parking provision by the 'sustainable location' close to bus routes. I also questioned the design where some toilets were straight off the kitchen area as being against the rules, but I was told I was some 18 years out of date on this! I wish I had known that in 1979, when the house I lived in was classed as 'unfit for habitation' because of this and the design of the stairs being too narrow!  Still we won that battle at public inquiry, in spite of this and as far as I know the house still stands in Mayfield St, Hull.

 Back to York: I dont expect this is the end of it. Since many of the houses on the Wenlock Terrace have 7 flats we will probably get a revised application for slightly bigger flats

Casino - good for whom?

The Licensing Committee considered the draft Gambling Policy for the city last Friday, following a period of consultation giving people the opportunity to respond to the provision of the new law that says councils may decide to adopt a 'no casino policy' York had not put in a bid for one of the limited number of new casinos that the government will allow but it seems actually saying we dont want one here is a step too far for the Lib Dems and Labour. Sadly there were not many responses to the consultation with no really strong arguments being put forward about the potential increase in gun crime, money laundering, gambling addiction, that seems to be the stock in trade once you propose putting one in a specific neighbourhood.

In order to flush this out I proposed to the committee that we SHOULD adopt a no casinos policy. This certainly put the cat among the pigeons! Cllr Richard Moore seconded my proposal, keen as he is to prevent the former Ikon and Diva that caused his ward so much late night grief from becoming a casino in the future. Cllr Sue Galloway came out with a load of vitreol about how I should reconsider my position on the committee for questioning city centre binge drinking. Cllr Nimmo, committee chair initially completely ignored my attempts to move the amendment by simply asking for each members views on the issue of casinos and not calling me to speak.

After my amendment was lost (one Labour and one Lib Dem supported me) committee chair Cllr Nimmo then asked 'who's in favour of casinos then?' and when I protested that this was not on the agenda it was Labour councillor David Horton who came to his rescue and rephrased it as who supports the proposed policy set out in the original draft! WHat was interesting was the strong speech from Cllr Ken King in support of the view that most people enjoy the odd flutter at the races or the bookies and a casino would be no different. All the previous discussion about how children and vulnerable adults need to be protected (that is a key aspect of the legislation) seemed to be forgotten in the support expressed by Labour Cllr King, and Horton.

Now it has to go through the full council later this month, but I presume the members of the Licensing Committee will have to leave the room when this happens as we have already voted on it once! Meanwhile the latest James Bond film Casino Royale is soon showing at the local cinema and would-be casino operators are lining up to woo the councillors with promises of the wonders such facilities could bring to the city.

London Climate change protest

 

It certainly was a long day,with a real positive buzz in the sunshine as thousands of us stood in front of the American Embassy before marching to Trafalgar Square. I seemed much more relaxed than the angry crowds of the Anti war demos before the attack on Iraq and there was none of the heavy policing - we even went passed a few car show rooms sporting Bentleys and other prestige cars without seeming concern for their safety, or for that matter much attention from the protestors. The message in Trafalgar Square was clear enough though - I count, and every political party must now make climate change a top priority in its policies.

Biography

Found recently when clearing out emails (published in magazine for councillors in Autumn 2004):

When and why did you first become interested in politics?

 I suppose my first political activity arose from my mother's campaign, backed by the local WI, to get a pedestrian crossing in the village where I lived. Seeing that success from grassroots activity inspired me to go on to set up a paper recycling collection at University 30 years ago, join the CND protests of the 80's and the Poll Tax campaign in the early 90's. Party politics for me is a means to an end, to change policies and empower people to change things themselves.

What inspired you to become a councillor?

Going to Green Party Conference and learning of successes of other Green councillors making changes in their local area to improve the quality of life and reduce our impact on the environment. To be completely honest, our landslide victory was not predicted - the best I had hoped for was to push our vote up to a good second place so I didnt really have a burning ambition to BE a councillor so much as to get Green councillors elected in York!

What is your greatest fear?

 That we are already too late to prevent catastrophic climate change and reverse the destruction of the remaining natural wonders and ecosystems of the world. When you see people driving 200 yards to the shops to buy a paper then read about people in Africa walking miles to escape floods I sometimes despair of changing things before it is too late.

And your greatest hope?

That inspirational people like Nelson Mandella, Vandana Shiva, Tony Benn, Caroline Lucas can turn the tide of our lemming like rush to oblivion as a human race. What's the first thing you would change if you became PM?Scrap our insane costly nuclear weapons programme that is a relic of the cold war and makes us more vulnerable to terrorist attack.

What single thing would most improve your local area

Close out of town shopping centres that result in the loss of local shops and services and create a more anonymous car dependent community. Our children could then play safely in their street, with other people they know around and gain their independence going to local shops, meet friends etc.

 For which cause would you die?

Im not that brave, but I would like to think that I would stand up in the face of fascism as experienced in Nazi Germany.

What historical or fictional characters do you identify with?

I was very taken with the characters in Robert Tressell's'Ragged Trousered Philanthropist' and I always admired characters like Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple  for outwitting the crooks before the police.

What are the best and worst things about being a councillor?

The best moments are when you succeed in protecting an important part of your community from the bulldozers or when you get an appreciative thank you letter from a constituent. The worst things are when you daughter says you never have time for her now and when you realise you have to stay up late, again, to finish something that has to be done by tomorrow.

What do you consider your greatest political triumph?

Getting elected as one of the first Green Party councillors in York What was your most embarrassing moment? Realising that I had just forwarded an email with a 'history' that was supposed to be confidential!

What is the biggest problem with local government today?

Less and less power yet higher expectations from an electorate who dont understand the constraints and already cynical about the motivation of politicians

How would you solve it?

 Devolve more power to the regions (Regional Assembly for Yorkshire!) and bring in Proportional Representation so that a broader spectrum of opinion less dominated by party politics is reflected in public life. Who is your political hero, and why? Caroline Lucas, Green MEP, because she has worked so hard on the various committees of the European Parliament to tackle issues of globalisation, fair trade, labelling of GM foods and earnt the Green Party enormous respect. Whenever she is interviewed she manages to pack a lot clearly and simply into a short statement that sounds so obvious and clear that it is hard for anyone to challenge.When and where are you most happy?Cycling home from a successful meeting in the sunshine beside the river, or singing 'world music' in the choir Chechelele (which I still belong to) at a community event.

What's your theme song, and why?

A luta continua (Portugese meaning We'll go on until we win') or 'Imagine' because you have to have determination and we all need a vision to inspire us.