Make our planet rest for five minutes

Tomorrow Thursday 1st February we are being asked to dim our lights between 7.55 and 8.00 PM in an action against the climate change.

Photo: night sky across Randwick

L'Alliance pour la Planète, a group of 72 European environmental organisations calls to all civilians: "Make our planet rest for five minutes!"

They write: "This not only to save energy for five minutes, but to bring out a message that will attract the attention of politicians and leaders. It is time for them to take action and avoid the waste of energy. During 5 minutes we'll give the planet rest: it doesn't take long and it won't cost you a thing. And it will make a statement before federal elections that we as citizens want climate on the agenda."

And why 1st February?

Because on that day a new file from climatologic experts from the United Nations will be published in Paris. Because it is with our neigbours it is impossible to let this opportunity slip! We have to get attention to the urgent matter of the worlds climatological situation. If everybody takes part in this action it will have an effect on media and politics that might have a real influence, this would be good on such short notice before the Belgian elections!

Art: a bigger and bigger business

First congrats to Phil Thompson whose sculpture won pride of place in front of the new Stroud college building - let's not forget that Stroud College school of Art, Design & Media is now regarded as one of the best in the country. Anyhow Phil Thompson's piece aims to suggest people coming together and sharing experiences and emotions.

Photo: mosaic done by local children

There were an extraordinary 42 local entries to the competition - these were wittled down to 6 including Simon Packard whose daughter goes to Randwick School. Then the public voted and a panel of judges decided. Among the judges was Nick Capaldi - Chief Exec of Arts Council South West - he was also one of the presenters as last nights meeting at Twigworth.

So what was this meeting? Well, a seminar for Gloucestershire councillors on the creative industries and art....Nick Capaldi was there to set the scene then Fred Brookes of Comedia shared their huge research project on arts in Gloucestershire - I have to say I was disappointed as I was expecting new stuff but it was a repeat of Comedia's 2005 work - I was fortunate to have read that in connection with some Parish Plan work and it is great that it is now getting pushed to a wider audience. Indeed all councillors should really hear it - and in truth no harm in hearing it again!

“The creative energy that surges through Stroud and the surrounding valleys is extraordinary, stimulating and exhilarating at the same time.” Matthew Fort, journalist and Guardian Food Editor

I'll come to some of the facts and figures in a moment but have to say first it is such a pity that everything has to be analysed in terms of it's economic value and that was the angle being pushed....basically that there is significant potential to develop these industries.....


In terms of the creative industries Gloucestershire has:

- 1900 companies and small businesses ie 9.8% of all enterprises
- 9000 jobs ie 4.8% of all employed
- £808million annual turnover ie 4.2% of total turnover
- at least 600-700 very small businesses/individuals with £11-12 million turnover
- an estimated £50 million economic impact of subsidised art
- turnover increased by 62% in real terms between 1997 and 2005
- strongest were software, arts and antiques, publishing and advertising
- 50 to 60% of residents had accesseda subsidised arts event with 25-44 age group being under-represented

Marcus Moore, a performance poet led the debate at the end and also treated us to two short poems. It was interesting the stories he told and indeed others were often about the self-esteem and confidence that was gained from taking part in art - for some it was literally life changing from a world of crime to a very different more positive place - yet as noted how can you put a price on that?

My concerns are that we tend to focus on the money - and yes it is important but we also need to take risks and see what happens - what abouty instead of another Neighbourhood Warden in Stroud we appoint a Community Artist or theatre group to work with different sections of the population??

Art is too often provided for people rather than involving them - it is no wonder not all sections of the population get involved - participatory arts is what we need more of - as local Cashes Green-based artist Lis Parker says: “Art by the people as opposed to ‘art for the people’ is a good way forward.”

Certainly things are getting better but there is still a lack of recognition amongst many about the role the arts can play. As someone else wrote: "Good art, design and cultural events can all enormously enhance an area and help celebrate the cultural expression, history and values upon which economic and social confidence depends."

The County seem to be seeing the unelected Gloucestershire First group, made up mainly of local businesses, as being the ones to take the strategy forward. Clearly partnership working is great but the over-emphasis of business could be worrying.

All of this stuff re arts and development is really common sense and my work on the Shared Spaces project only emphasises that successful regeneration plans have made art a crucial component: promoting local cultural projects, celebrating local distinctiveness, encouraging more contemporary sculptures in public spaces and using art as a tool to promote their area. Research as we heard again last night confirms the social and economic benefits of arts programmes - but we should not expect art to cure all social ills or all artists to be cheap social workers.

"The arts sector is huge around here and makes a major contribution to the local economy. That heritage is one of the reasons I set up my workshop in Chalford."
Damien Hirst, artist

Lastly I cannot finish this hastily thrown together blog without mentioning that all of our creativity is going to be essential if we are serious about moving from the way we live now to something else. Art is surely one of the most important ways to communicate - there are projects out there but we need much more to tackle and help people get over the fears and dismay around our future - only by tackling those fears can we galvinise people into action.

Stroud especially should be well placed to do this - The Telegraph a while back said Stroud is to art what Hay-on-Wye is to books. The Open Studio with over a 100 venues in the summer is just one manifestation of that - we also have great theater groups, art galleries and much more - I feel very fortunate living here.

I would welcome thoughts and debate on how best to take all this forward.

Shell hypocrisy over photo exhibition

Yesterday afternoon I was at Twigworth 'Nature in Art' just north of Gloucester for a meeting - more of that in another blog - but arriving early I was able to view the first day of theWildlife Photographer of the Year - I love this exhibition and try to catch it every year - there are some incredibly stunning images.

Photo: this years exhibition at Twigworth

The competition also has a valuable role to play in promoting wildlife protection to the public. It is therefore very sad indeed that this role has been undermined by the Natural History Museum's choice of sponsor - one of the UK's most environmentally destructive companies - Shell.

Last year I publicised this issue on the Green party website and Friends of the Earth had a campaign running to highlight the issue. They do again this year. They write:

"Sadly, it's cheaper and easier for Shell to buy itself a green image through sponsorship of prestigious events, than it is for it to properly address its devastating impacts around the world."

Friends of the Earth have written to all the Directors of the Natural History Museum outlining Shell's impact on wildlife and asking the Museum not to continue with Shell's sponsorship. Dr Michael Dixon, Director of the Natural History Museum refused even to meet Friends of the Earth. Astonishing! I would urge all to email the Musuem - can be done easily from FoE website here.

A by no means complete list of Shell's 'Corporate Crimes' can be found here.

Severn Tsunami 400 years ago

Today 400 years ago a tsunami - some 8 metres high and travelling at nearly 40 mph came up the Severn and hit most of the lowlands - some 2,000 people died. More info here. This was possibly England's worst 'natural disaster' - but nothing compared to the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2 years ago.

Photo: Severn from second crossing bridge

That tsunami that led to over 250,000 deaths and 1.8 million people being homeless was caused by a massive earthquake off the Indonesian coast that had a terrifying ripple effect across thousands of miles of the ocean. Earthquakes, asteroids or even volcanic eruptions might produce such tsunamis with devastating consequences for coastal regions in their path - but there is also growing evidence that climate change could lead to more tsunamis - see article in The Independent. It is certainly true that many things we are doing made matters much worse in SE Asia.

One example is the loss of the mangroves - this was one of the reasons for the tsunami having had such a devastating effect; the lack of these protective coastal ecosystems meant the tsunami hit the coast much harder and left very much greater devastation in it's wake. It is our appetite for shrimps that is partly responsible for the loss of over 35% of the world's mangroves in the last 20 years. One study found shrimp farming accounted for over a third of the mangrove destruction and there are other well documented serious ecological problems associated with shrimp farming - a year ago on the anniversary of that tsunami I wrote to supermarkets about the sourcing of their prawns and shrimps - sadly where they bothered to reply their responses were not great.

It seems we come in this blog entry to where we were in the last entry - we urgently need reform of our trade system.

Blood Diamond, blood Coltan and blood gold

The Hollywood release locally of Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio highlights some important issues. The film has received widespread media attention because it highlights how the illegal diamond trade has helped to fuel and finance armed conflict in parts of Africa.

I've not seen the film yet but at last this issue is getting wider coverage - but it is not just the diamonds. Over 5 years ago I had a letter in The Ecologist - dead chuffed at the time as it was my first in a national magazine/paper - anyhow in that letter I highlighted the issue of coltan and it's role in conflict in Africa. Mobile phones contain coltan and this mineral is more profitable than gold. It is the massive increase in mobile phones that has led to warring rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) exploiting coltan to help finance war. Sadly coltan still plays a big role there.

Gold mining, too, bears the scars of conflict, destruction, and human rights abuse. DRC is again an example of where armed groups are fighting for control of gold mines and trading routes - civilians have been tortured and killed and gold sales are used to buy weapons. This is another issue Greens and others have been trying to highlight - see Glos Green party news release from 18 months ago.

Rather than bringing prosperity to the nation, gold has been a cause of enormous human suffering in the DRC. It is one of the dirtiest industries in the world. The production of a single gold wedding ring generates 20 tons of mine waste. As with "blood diamonds" and coltan, gold mining bears the scars of conflict, destruction, and human rights abuse - fuelling war in the Democratic Republic of Congo that led to more civilian deaths than any war since World War II. Indeed in places as diverse as Guatemala, Ghana, Peru, and Indonesia, local communities and indigenous peoples have encountered intimidation, abuse, and even violent suppression when voicing opposition to mining projects.

The majority of gold is used to make jewelry. Jewelers should ensure that they are not selling their customers gold that has been produced at the expense of communities and the environment.

In the US Jewelers are being encouraged to take an important step by endorsing the No Dirty Gold campaign's "Golden Rules" and supporting an independent certification system to weed out "dirty gold." In Britain we can do that too. Indeed as a result of this film there is already a greater awareness - let's hope it grows and all of us can ask if the jewels we buy are 'conflict free'.

Interestingly the World Diamond Council (WDC) - see the WDC's diamondfacts.org has in the past suggested that conflict diamonds are a historical anomaly. Lately they are found to be saying that less than 1 per cent of all diamonds now sold, are of the conflict variety. Clearly that is still too many - but the whole process still has no independent verification or enforcement systems. A recent UN report claimed that thousands of diamonds were still illegally entering the international market, smuggled through the legitimate markets of Ghana and Mali.

The WDC also makes much of the fact that '10m people globally are supported by the diamond industry', but when the typical daily wage of an African diamond miner amounts to 50p and a cup of rice you have to ask how equitable such support is, especially compared with the profits of the De Beers cartel.

Martin Rapaport (diamonds.net) in New York has just established the first fair-trade diamond mine in Sierra Leone. He says: 'Every member of the diamond and jewellery industry should see Blood Diamond'. He's right. This industry is urgently in need of a fair trade make-over - indeed as Greens have been arguing isn't it time all trade was fair and took account of issues like the environment??

Cuckold's brook, drains, kerbs and more

Heres some other bits of very local news:

Whiteshill Kerbs dropped: Whiteshill kerbs have been dropped in several places to improve access for wheel and push chairs. The Parish had set up a meeting to discuss the exact location of the kerbs to be dropped - it was therefore with some surprise that a week before that meeting John Rogers, the Parish Chair and myself who were out looking at something elsestumbled across Highway contractors already at work!!! I do sometimes wonder....and have to question the location of some of the drops....

Bread Street drain cleared: at last after some months we have got the drain sorted - see 28th September blog - the blockage had led to the neighbours house being flooded on several occasions - the contractors ended up being there for 3 days as the whole pipe was completely blocked - they've done much root cutting and had to dismantle and rebuild a cotswold stone wall in one place. Now we need some rain to test it!

Litter in alleyway: I had a couple of reports re litter but would like to make a plea for people to report to SDC direct - you can use the online service at:
www.stroud.gov.uk/machinery/reportit.asp?did=reportit

Plea for old photos of Whiteshill: we are looking for photos of the Main Road in particular as part of exploring how to improve road safety along there - returing villages to beingvillages has shown in other areas to work well.

Cuckold's brook: is this really the name of the Lower part of Ruscombe brook (see photo)? A Randwick councillor tells me it is so and also is the name of the Randwick Tributary - a check with online history confirms that is indeed the name for the bottom section! Any more thoughts on name of the Randwick bit?? History online write:

"The smaller, western division of the parish, divided from the eastern by a long southern arm of Painswick parish, was known as Paganhill tithing and contained the villages or hamlets of Paganhill, Ruscombe, and Whiteshill, and part of the hamlet of Dudbridge. It was bounded on the south by the Frome, on the east by the Painswick stream, on part of the north-east by a tributary of the Painswick stream, and on part of the west by the lower course of the Ruscombe brook, known variously as the Cuckold's, Woosley's, or Ozel brook."

Landbanking EDM: Early Day Motion 494 was put forward by Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland - there is little chance this will be made law but it all helps to raise the issue - David Drew MP has signed already - if you know other MPs please get them to also sign. The Ruscombe Valley has already been sold off so we can't stop that but at least we can stop it happening to other communities. See links to Ruscombe Valley Action Group for more info.

"That this House shares the concern of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) about the growth of land banking, the practice of subdividing land into small plots then marketing these plots on the basis that permission for development will be granted; agrees with the CPRE that this practice is having serious consequences for the future of England's countryside; further recognises that investors are encouraged to invest in these land banking schemes despite the fact that in many cases no realistic possibility of planning permission being granted exists and thus stand to lose their investments; notes that Land Heritage UK, one of the country's biggest land bankers, has gone into liquidation; and supports the CPRE's campaign calling for the Government to recognise the seriousness of this problem and the need for a co-ordinated and joined up Government response, involving the Financial Services Authority, Office of Fair Trading and Department for Communities and Local Government to protect both the countryside and potential investors from this practice."

Veil wearing, white poppies and DVD with Wap and Kit & Helen Williams

What a brilliant gem this DVD is - £10 from The Vine Tree pub in Randwick - local award-winning film maker Cliff Smith has a collection of films from early 1970s that include 1972 Wap - great hairstyles, clothes and cars - indeed what a wonderful innocence - at least that's how it seems - or maybe it is just me remembering as an 11-year old child?

Although be careful - I got a scratched copy of the DVD so will need to change it.

The DVD also includes the Cheese Rolling, the uncovering of the Roman Pavement in 1973 and a great documentary about artists Kit and Helen Williams from 1977.

Kit Williams has his studio in Horsley and still has a semi-private opening once a year to show his wonderful latest creation - I first came across him when his book the Masquerade came out in the late 1970s (see photo of one of the pages) - the book, written and illustrated by Kit Williams, could be read as a standard child's fable about the moon falling in love with the sun, but it was designed as a real-world treasure hunt: Follow the subtle clues dropped throughout the book, and you'd discover the location of a very real hand-made jewel, valued at the time at around £5,000 - never understood the clues but it had people digging up half the countryside across Britain.

To see more about Kit visit some of the websites out there like this one:
www.bunnyears.net/kitwilliams

Helen Williams also still lives locally and years ago produced much miniature work - the later more recent stuff is much bolder but last year Helen was inspired to return to her miniature work following a study of Islamic decoration in Egypt and Morocco. In this collection, "An Afternoon in the Garden" she created a blend of delicate painting and embroidery that explores her fascination with carpets and gardens mounted within the intricate arabesques of Islamic windows and doorways.

Last night's cafe Discussion

Last year Helen Williams also illustrated a book about Islam - see BBC report - and it was infact her convertion and experiences of Islam that she shared last night at the Cafe Discussion in Star Anise - the evening explored "Image and Identity" with a particular look at wearing the veil - three muslim women were among the speakers in a fascinating discussion - their openness, honesty and frankness about their experiences of deciding to wear the veil or scarf, the racism experienced and their willingness to share was very special.

One of the other speakers Jeff Coates talked about White poppies - as noted in a previous post I have been happy to wear both - but it did have me wondering more about those red poppies - are they really viewed by some as a justification for war? Or a glorification - certainly there is a fine line....

Jeff also talked about the anger some people felt towards peace - it is indeed a strange thing - when I have been demonstrating for peace in a vigil it has often surprised me how angry that makes some people - not in Stroud as I think people are now used to the weekly vigil every Saturday in the HIgh Street.

New Island appears! Greenland disappearing...

I have to share this 'extraordinary experience' that was sent to me - a new island appearing in front of their very eyes - see the blog here. Is this real or some internet scam? It looks amazing and evidence of the huge powers of nature...

...just read a scary report in The Ecologist re Greenland disappearing at an astonishing rate - 80km3 loss had been expected for 2006 but latest NASA figures show 287km3 has gone. The consequences of this ice sheet melting cannot be overstated - sea levels would rise several metres destroying cities like London and Liverpool. Why is the world not acting? We should all be in a state of emergency.

Sadly some have said it will take several more Katrinas each year for the next few years before Governments really wake up....at least there are many positive responses locally like Transition Towns Stroud (TTS) and the Councils Environment Strategy. If blog readers have particular ideas or want to get more involved in solutions locally then do please contact me.

Stroud Budgets

As noted in the last post the Tories rejected looking at ethical investment last night - astonishing - the rest of the meeting was the District Council budget - and as noted I didn't get to the meeting but have just watched it on the webcast.

Photos: trees in Randwick woods last week

Budgets can be complex - I have spent a couple of hours with the Treasurer trying to get a better understanding and hours looking through the papers - but I'm still a way off getting my head around these figures - indeed parts of the budget are so complex they have to be sent to London for checking by auditors - none of this makes it easy for elected councillors to get a grasp of what is really going on.

In short there are some good bits like the new environmental measures, but they don't go far enough. Two key ideas for example that need exploring over the next year are firstly improving benefit take-up in the area as this is money from central government and will help the poorest sections of our community and secondly the Council borrowing for measures that pay back like renewables. Anyway hopefully will be able to explore more poossibilities for next year.

Stroud Town Council have also set their budget this week - loads less money and power but still making a difference - see news item here. In sharp contrast Greens on the London Assembly hold some of the balance of power and have had an extraodinary success for the third year running. Below is their news release:

GREENS SECURE £150 MILLION POUND BUDGET BOOST FOR GREEN INITIATIVES IN LONDON

Green group on London Assembly ensure Mayor's budget "provides a serious framework for tackling change in London" The London Mayor has pledged millions of pounds towards action on climate change in return for the crucial support for his annual budget from Green Group members Darren Johnson and Jenny Jones. This will be the third year in a row that Ken Livingstone has come to such an agreement.

Darren and Jenny have welcomed the Mayor’s adoption of his package of proposals on energy conservation, renewables and traffic reduction. The projects agreed by the Mayor will cost around £150m in total during the coming year. These projects build on the success of Green's previous budget initiatives.

The £150m includes many projects included in previous budget rounds, which have become a mainstream part of the GLAs work: - Energy in buildings: £8m minimum. - TfL Climate Change Fund: £8.3m - Travel Demand Management: £30m. - Cycling: £38.2m - Food: £1.5m - Green Grid: £0.360m - Road safety: £53.4m - Speed awareness: £7m. - Walking - funding to boroughs: £9.2m.

Darren Johnson, said: "The Mayor has taken on board our key demands and the result is a budget that provides a serious framework for tackling change in London. Any Assembly Member who cares about climate change would be mad not to vote for it."

Jenny Jones said: "This budget agreement builds on London’s success in reducing the proportion of journeys made by car. We want to promote cycling and walking in London as the healthier and more environmental option. We want cleaner buses and safer roads. We want London to lead the way on climate change by showing that an environmentally friendly transport system is also the most efficient transport system.”

Ethical Investment proposal rejected by local Tories

Last night's budget had Appendix D report on ethical investment in the Council papers - this was produced in response to a Green party amendment to a motion a couple of months ago - yet this report rejected the idea of ethical investment for Council funds saying it wasn't possible. A Labour amendment last night called for further investigation - despite strong arguments by Labour, Green and Lib Dems, the Tories rejected this move.

Photo: Moon over Stroud earlier this week

I have to say I am astonished. I was unable to attend the budget meeting but had circulated to Officers and the administration the views of ethical investment advisors saying it would be possible.

Clearly this is a complex area but the advice from experts I have been given is that we can do it. Why don't the Council want to look further at this? One Councillor even suggested that ethical investment meant poorer returns - what nonsense. Many ethical funds are doing better - and even if they weren't I would argue it is wrong to invest in carbon intensive industries, the arms trade, nuclear etc. It is wrong to profit from such practices.

It is certainly not illegal to lend to an institution with a slightly lower rate, local authorities are, in practice, constrained by the implications of the "Guidance on Local Authority Investments 2004" issued by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The guidance states that authorities should seek the highest rate of return consistent with proper levels of security and liquidity.

But that is not the only point being made here - there are requirements in terms of security, liquidity and yield, but once those have been met then why can't we give consideration to ethical issues? The Coop for example has a very comprehensive ethical policy - the HSBC is streets ahead of Nat West when it comes to Climate Change.

I am not sure the next step but perhaps members will be able to request a Policy Panel as suggested previously to look at this again. I will be exploring how to take this forward. I am still hopeful.

On a more positive note it was great to hear from a Labour party County councillor who picked up this ethical investment from my blog or the Glos Green party website - he was interested in picking up on the ethical investment issue for his Council - have sent some details and hope he will be able to take the issue forward there. It is vital we all learn to pull together on these issues if we are to achieve the changes we need.

An inconvenient gift

50,000 free copies of Al Gore's climate change film, An Inconvenient Truth, have been rejected by the American National Science Teachers Association because the gift might be seen as a 'political endorsement' - they went on to note that accepting the DVDs might place 'unnecessary risk' on their fundraising campaigns - especially with regard to 'certain targeted supporters'.

ExxonMobil Corp, Shell Oil and major motor companies are just some of the supporters of the Association.

Meanwhile The Space in Stroud are showing the film this Saturday at 8.00pm. As noted before I am also happy to lend DVD to those in my ward - a week's waiting list at the moment.

The Lake at the Lawns work progresses

It is great to see progress at The Lawns - all that mud should clear and hopefully reeds will be planted later in the year. This will lead to a very much improved area.

Photos: views of lake yesterday

However following our Ruscombe Brook Action Group meeting last night a number of questions were raised. In particular there were some doubts about whether the work had been done according to the plans discussed with us. In particular there does not yet appear to have been dredging from the centre of the lake or putting the silt to one side of the lake. I have written for clarification. Concern was also expressed re subsoil appearing in woods - again we've written a letter.

Ruscombe brook latest

Yesterday evening after a meeting at Ebley Mill re training needs of councillors it was on to the monthly Ruscombe Brook Action Group meeting....

We heard about the latest overflowing manhole incident on 10-01-07 by A.S. Cooke's yard in Puckshole - see photo - suspected blockage - possibly root growth - Severn Trent acted pretty swiftly in sorting it but much sewage still got into the brook. Severn Trent are planning some further root cutting and some sections relining - I've just sent another email to them to see when all that can happen.

Bob Nightingale, SDC's Drainage Officer gave the group a useful summary of the state of the sewers after viewing the video work Severn Trent undertook last year. It was reassuring to know that most is not too bad - but clearly work is still needed! RBAG have booked the main Council Chamber for the end of this month to meet with Stroud District Council to explore Partnership possibilities. This must be the way forward - involving local Parishes, landowners etc - hopefully then we can seek funding for more sustainable works like reed beds etc.

A date to pencil in your diary is our AGM - provisionally booked for 1st March with 2 local speakers.

Fat traps - two-thirds of the 150 or so have been distributed with leaflets - favourable mentions in SNJ, Citizen and local Randwick Runner will hopefully raise the issue - see previous blogs to learn more.

Various other issues were raised - one re the work at the Lawns - I'll try and do a Blog entry re that later on as I need to write to British Waterways and others...

Stroud FM gets licence

Stroud's first full-time, community radio station is celebrating winning its licence. Stroud FM, which should begin broadcasting in the summer, will launch with the motto "radio made by the people, for the people". This is great news - Greens were among the many people who wrote in support of their application - read The Citizen article here.

Carbon plans that make you cut down: Transition Towns, footprints and more

That was the title of a piece in The Observer yesterday - and looked at activists making big changes to their lifestyles to limit their environmental impact.

They note that in the past year, seven carbon reduction action groups, or Crags, have started in the UK. Their members commit themselves to measuring their carbon emissions: they agree limits and can be penalised by the group if they exceed their carbon budget. At the launch of the last one, in Leeds just before Christmas, speakers included the journalist George Monbiot.

Carbon allocations vary between groups, but in Warwickshire for 2006 it was 4.5 tonnes, 10 per cent below the UK personal average of 5 tonnes (the UK per capita average is 11 tonnes if you include industry emissions), and the group is looking to tighten it by another 10 per cent every year - a tall order when you consider that the government's own target for CO2 reductions is 60 per cent over four decades.

If members don't meet the target then they pay 4p per kilogram - the price put on carbon by the group. Those who live within their carbon budget will decide what to do with the fund - however not all groups are penalising over-emitters, and some are putting limits on how much any individual can be made to pay. In future, Crags may trade carbon allowances between groups.

Locally in Cheltenham a new project is being launched along similar lines - the One Tonners. Although as yet the details are still to be decided by the group - there first meeting in Feb already has over 30 people interested. Projects like this are exciting as they show others what can be possible.

I've already mention Transition Towns Stroud - our own local project that is a group of people finding better ways to cope with the challenges of Peak Oil (& Gas) and Climate Change. We are working with TT groups across the UK to set up sustainable, satisfying and fun ways of living differently. Infact I've a meeting tomorrow to look at that more.

Many other projects are also springing up like Sustainable Thornbury which is supported by a Bristol University project. They had an excellent conference last year which brought together many other local projects including Sustainable Redland (Bristol) and the Chew Magna Go Zero project. It was very good to meet others from the region and explore different ways forward. Other examples include Sustainable Redhill, Planet Positive and Ashton Hayes Going Carbon neutral.

All have their merits but to me the Transition Towns offers some of the best ways forward - in Totnes hundreds of people have already got involved. Do please join us if you are interested - it is very early days - in the meantime The Observer offered this bit on how to measure your own footprint:

First dig out your gas and electricity bills. You'll need a year's worth, but if you aren't a good record keeper, your supplier may be able to help. If you are a British Gas customer, you can switch to online billing and see a graph plotting your gas and electricity consumption.

For £60 you can also buy a smart metering device from British Gas called Electrisave that will monitor how much electricity you are using in real time. Remember, if you are on a green electricity tariff (now being offered by British Gas - at no extra cost until March - Ecotricity and Good Energy), you don't have to include electricity in your calculations.

Estimate your annual car mileage. A rough estimate can be made by dividing the number of years you've owned the car by the number of miles on the clock. Then divide by the number of people in your household over the age of 18 before going to the next step: calculating your CO2 emissions. There are several websites to help. The calculator used by carbon reduction action groups is at www.carbonrationing.org.uk. A less complicated tool is at www.climatecare.org.

For air travel there is a drop-down menu that will tell you how much carbon is used for all destinations. The Royal Society's website, www.rsacarbonlimited.org, uses Climate Care's calculator, but also allows you to choose from different energy-user profiles if you don't have your own details to hand. Intriguingly, it also allows you to compare your carbon footprint with the average, and with individuals such as David Miliband, George Monbiot and Jon Snow.

Finally, if you want help reducing your carbon consumption but don't want to sign up to an action group, you can join a 15,000-strong community called the Community Carbon Reduction Project, or CRed (www.cred-uk.org). There you can find out steps you can take to cut carbon, make personal pledges, and receive ongoing online support in carrying them through. The goal of the community, which started out in East Anglia but has branches around the country and in the US, is to cut CO2 emissions by 60 per cent by 2025.

Latest on Bristol airport expansion

A second important meeting took place at the end of last week with North Somerset Council when the Planning and Regulatory Meeting was due to make a decision based on Bristol International Airport’s ‘Masterplan.’

The meeting had been described on the North Somerset Council’s website as the one where a decision would be made about airport expansion. As it happened, the impact of the enormous public response to the December consultation - some 3,700 responses 97% of which were concerned about the harmful effects of expansion - seemed to have had an effect on the North Somerset Councillors. The Councillors resolved simply to ‘note’ the Masterplan, and to register ’significant concerns’ relating to a number of issues including the environmental impacts and the uncertainty of the economic benefit.

North Somerset has also decided that small committees will not be given the full weight of responsibility for decisions about the airport. Given the unprecedented public concern, and the fact that recognition of climate change is growing almost by the week, they want all airport matters to be debated in Full Council. The Council will be requesting ‘independent’ assessments of environmental and economic impacts of the airport’s proposals, although how independent these will be remains to be seen given that they are likely to be funded and possibly even commissioned by the airport.

People who attended the debate said that it this 18 January meeting was more encouraging as the debate seemed to be far better informed than the discussion on 20 December, suggesting that Councillors had studied the consultation responses. What was depressing was the fact that some Councillors argued that climate change was not their reponsibility, and that it was purely for Central Government to solve the problems, even though 3,700 local residents had taken the trouble to tell them that they felt that climate change was the most significant issue in the airport decision.

Time for some smart metering here - Saving money and CO2

Just back from Ebley Mill (see photo) and a brief meeting to discuss the budget on Thursday. Some important steps towards greening Stroud are being made, but really need to go further and faster.

One painless option to consider...

While smart metering has already penetrated many countries across Europe, UK take-up is lagging; apart from one city in the Midlands – Leicester. There, the City Council has installed an energy and water monitoring system in Council-run properties such as schools, leisure centres, community homes and other public buildings. Data is collected at half-hourly intervals by smart meters and relayed by radio communications to a central system where it is logged and analysed.

Software is employed to establish normal usage patterns, factoring in variables such as weather conditions, enabling any deviations or aberrations to be identified and reported on a daily basis. The system cost some £500,000, and since installation the Council has identified annual savings of around £160,000.

The Leicester metering system is modelled on a similar, but larger-scale Swedish installation in Gothenburg, where the municipal housing association, Poseidon, owns some 23,500 apartments, heated for the most part through the district heating system. Poseidon has invested some £8m in a smart metering system that monitors demand, regulates energy supply, and identifies aberrations. As a result, energy consumption has fallen by around 15% without any significant change in temperatures inside the apartments, even during severe winters. Savings come in at around £2m per annum with annual carbon dioxide emissions reductions totaling some 1900 tonnes. Both the Leicester and Gothenburg smart metering schemes have indicated a pay-back time on the initial investment of just three to four years.

Leicester City Council spends over £5 million a year on energy and water requirements for its own premises, approximately the same amount as a small town of 8,500 houses. Its building stock is extremely varied and includes swimming pools, schools, offices, libraries, museums and district heating for housing estates. The Energy Management Team administers more than 3,000 individual energy accounts. Close monitoring of these resources is absolutely essential if costs and consumption are to be controlled properly. Monitoring and target setting represents a very low cost method of saving energy and yields a very high rate of success.

I've already emailed a Glos County Council Cabinet member who has forwarded it to the appropriate officers for consideration - also sent an email to SDC. If Leicester can save so much money then surely we can also save some? And of course tackle climate change.

Randwick Wap and Revellers

Randwick Revellers are putting on Robinson Crusoe and the Pirates this Friday and Staurday - only tickets left for Fridday so sadly will have to miss the show this year - a great pity. Tickets from Vine Tree at usual opening hours.

The Wap this year will be on 12th May - with Cheese Rolling on the Sunday before - tradition means that we have until 6th Feb to complete voting forms - details from Stan Giles on 766782 - posts to fill include Wap Mayor, a high sheriff, a sword bearer, a flag man, a mop man, a flag boy, Wap Queen of the May, a princess, a lady in waiting and a cheese bearer! Go to link to see more about last years Wap.

Last months' Gloucestershire Green party news items

See latest edition of the Green News Network - a summary of the last months news items from the Gloucestershire Green party. You can subscribe free from the Glos Green party website.

Whiteshill and Ruscombe Garden Birdwatch

This year there will be another Garden Birdwatch in the Parish Sat 27th and Sun 28th January. Last year 38 people took part and 30 species identifies - this year there are hopes that even more people will take part.

Photo: view across to Whiteshill from Randwick

All it entails is an hour of watching birds that live in or visit your garden next weekend. Whiteshill and Ruscombe Wildlife Group and Stroud Valleys Project are organising the event - forms can be got from the Village Shop. It is timed to coincide with the RSPB national bird survey.

Last year the Blackbird was the most commonly sighted bird followed by the Blue Tit and Robin. The Blackbird was also the most numerous with an average of 2.2 in each garden. The most noticeable decline from 2005 was Greenfinches.

It is a sad fact that our bird populations are in decline.

As well as disappearances of birds, there has been a serious, countrywide, decline in the numbers of many bird species, including many well known and loved birds such as the song thrush, skylark, lapwing and house sparrow. Thankfully we've still got larks in the field in front of my house.

The RSPB report that the decline in birds has been slow and gradual, rather than sudden. Most of the declining species are farmland birds. On the other hand, most woodland species such as the blue tit, nuthatch and great spotted woodpecker are still doing alright. However, declines may have started in woodland habitat also, with lesser spotted woodpecker and willow tit now red-listed because of their severe declines.

From the RSPB website below - strangely they fail to mention our changing climate in this list - yet elsewhere they have many papers showing how it is effecting bird populations - see here for example how upland birds are particularly suffering. They also have a good report to download here.

Extensive research has shown that these declines are caused primarily by changes in agriculture.

1. Increased efficiency has resulted in:

• grubbing up of hedgerows to create larger fields
• ploughing up closer to the edge of the field to increase the planted area
• drainage to dry out damper areas and remove wet flushes from others, all to increase production.

2. Changes in cropping practices etc:

• shift from spring to autumn sown cereals
• as soon as one crop is harvested, next one goes in - the land has no time to rest and lie fallow.

3. Specialisation of farms and regions to either arable or livestock production, resulting in loss of the habitat diversity that many birds need to survive.

4. Increase in the use of farm chemicals - fertilisers and pesticides.

5. Increased efficiency in grain and animal feed storage, and exclusion of wild birds from cattle feeding stations etc. because of Government policy.

6. Changes in farm buildings to exclude birds, replacement of old buildings with modern ones.

Although the actual factors that cause the decline are similar to most species, the exact way they act differs, which is why some species have been declining for 30 years, while in others the decline has only become prominent in the past 10 years.

The following lists percentage declines of some bird species recorded in Common Bird Census between 1970 and 1999:

• Tree sparrow -95%
• Corn bunting -88%
• Willow tit -78%
• Spotted flycatcher -77%
• Woodcock -74%
• Starling -71%
• Turtle dove -71%
• Song thrush -56%
• Bullfinch -53%
• Skylark -52%
• Cuckoo -33%

Changes in agricultural practices have had a devastating effect on farmland birds, and this process has been fuelled, particularly in north-west Europe, by European agricultural policies.

The 2003 Common Agricultural Policy reform is a step in the right direction, breaking the link between subsidies and production, and we think the new policies will help to make a significant difference for farmland wildlife. Today we understand more about the causes of these bird declines, and we are working to devise new management techniques to reverse the downward trend and benefit farmland birds. Many people don't think that this would be the reason for the decline of birds in suburban and urban areas. However, as 80% of this country is farmland, what happens there, will affect birds in all habitats. This is especially true of urban populations, since in most cases, the urban and suburban populations are an overspill from the better habitats in the countryside.

The house sparrow is an exception to this. Its populations in city centres are self-sustaining, and the exact way that the exceptionally great declines in centres of large cities are caused may differ in some respects from the surrounding countryside. As yet, the definitive cause for the city centre declines has not been determined.

Speed dating at High School??

I wasn't at all sure what I'd let myself in for this morning - 'political speed dating' at Stroud High School. What is that?

Well I was introduced to the concept in the Schools' main hall - a cheesy pop video of DJ Dee Mocracy described to the 40 girls and the 10 councillors present what would happen. Councillors would be sitting at a table, 3 girls would then sit and have 3 mins to ask us questions, they would then move to an empty table for 3 mins before meeting another councillor for another 3 mins and so it went on - councillors having an hour of non-stop questions - when the girls were at their empty table they scored each visit to a councillor on how well they answered the question, their approachability and more - scary or what? Results not out yet - will add them here if I dare!

(Update 30th Jan: no results out so suspect too embarassing to publish?)

After an hour of that, we had a break before another 40 or so girls were let loose with another set of questions.

It was a great opportunity to talk a little about local democracy, communities and of course green issues - it was so very inspiring to here how passionate many of the children were about the issue of climate change. Infact it was a huge boost to my own hopes about the future - and a boost to renew my own committment to tackling climate change. We can do this, but we need more people to take it seriously - it is slowly happening...let us not hope it is too slow.

Whiteshill Village Green: opportunities and challenges

I'm freezing - my own fault - it was such a lovely sunny afternoon I went out with a coat that wasn't warm enough - and then it got cold - infact that's just what I want really - some proper colder weather rather than all this weird warm stuff.

Photo: Cllr Sarah Lunnon in paper re plans for a possible Stroud centre Shared Spaces scheme

Anyhow 2 hours of walking around the Main Road and around Whiteshill Village Green (that's the area in front of the Woodcutters Arms) - what for? Well the Parish are exploring what can be done to improve that lump of tarmac - more 'Village Tarmac' than 'Green' - Whiteshill children did some excellent presentations last year on what they wanted - but it is all so slow to make it happen...

One option is to explore a Shared Spaces approach to the road or at least build in opportunities for that approach to be considered by the community. Clearly we need more consultation but there are not many options - a crossing is not feasible according to County due to sight-lines and gradient of road, speed signs have limited value - what is needed is a change to the road to encourage slower driving.....I'll talk for hours on this - but not now!

Cllr Sarah Lunnon, who has done work on the Shared Spaces approach met with myself and John Rogers, chair of the Parish Council - we looked at some very draft options but plan next a meeting to discuss the approach with councillors, the school etc.

More on floods

Must say this photo in The Citizen on Wednesday was a little shocking - water surrounding Tewkesbury town centre - and near Tirley a resident described going out in a see-through boat and went boating over apple trees! News today notes 14 now dead in the UK and some £14 billion of damage across the country!

Locally more trees down - and the road in front of More Hall Convent has been closed. The brook has been close to flooding and I've had another incident reported from last week of a manhole overflowing raw sewage into land near Puckshole.

In my bit on floods a couple of days ago I wrote about solutions - have been putting another article together - this time for The Edge - produced by Gloucestershire's Vision 21 - pity none of these groups have money to pay for all the words!! Anyhow I approached Water21 - another local group who have spun out of Vision 21 - they are the ones we are hoping will look at the Ruscombe brook. They have added some bits about poss solutions - this diagram represents a Willow bed. They write:

"A reedbed-biomass-lake system for sewage treatment, costing less than 10% of conventional sewerage costs, and producing a major (biomass) energy byproduct. Such systems have now been constructed in other countries very successfully treating over 8 million gallons of waste per day at single sites. In the UK they are not presently permitted by the water industry regulators! They are an ideal approach for community based groups like RBAG."

We really do need to start looking at these solutions - the Government seem unable to wake up to the problem or the possibilities and opportunities - Minister Ian Pearson has failed to even respond to my second letter re Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems - there doesn't seem to be any national campaigning organisation looking at issues like this properly - maybe we will see Water 21 grow into something like that - certainly it's time has come.

TTS, broken glass, clay rabbits and no bus in The Lane

With a blog title like that I'm bound to bring in the punters - be warned this is one to send you to sleep......a sort of collection of bits and pieces from this week that might be of interest...

Photo: view across Cashes Green from near Carpenters Arms

It's been a few days of catching up on the correspondence and the huge number of emails plus:
- cleared glass from a path that I'd received several emails about - it wasn't even in my ward but it was easier than trying to get the appropriate authority to find it and respond
- had a meeting with 2 women from Randwick in Whiteshill Village Coffee Shop with Village Agent Pam Thorne to explore ways forward re the Randwick bus not going down The Lane
- raised a host of issues at the Randwick Parish meeting this evening where Calvin Williams was voted and co-opted onto serve on the Parish to replace Tracey Waite who resigned last year (Calvin's energy over coordinating the Parish Plan and youth involvements will be a great addition to the team)
- read papers for the upcoming SDC budget - more of that for another blog
- met other councillors at a Sites Panel re the Folly Park Farm footpath
- attended a meeting with 35 others to explore one of the most exciting projects around - Transition Towns Stroud (ended up taking on coordinating one of the sub-groups - more of that soon)
- made clay rabbits and other animals at Woodcraft Folk this evening with 6 to 10 year olds...OK this is the point where I'd better sign off...

SNJ: Goat milk, sculpture and woodland play

The Stroud News and Journal had 3 local stories worth a mention here. First, 7 year old Eloise Nixon-Malaure from Whiteshill will feature in the 2007 national publicity drive, Thank Goodness For Goats. The article notes how her story maybe told on cartons and the internet - how switching to goats milk helped tackle her chronic eczema.

Second was the story of Simon Packard whose daughter goes to Randwick School - he's up as one of the finalists for Stroud District Council's 2006 Arts award for sculpture - the winner will have their piece grace the new Stroud College building - people can see the pieces and vote until Saturday 20th at the Musuem in The Park. My vote is for Simon's piece - not because I've met him but reckon it will look the best. He is in the photo on the left pushing the pram in last summers health cuts march.

Lastly good on Callowell Primary School for their new wild woodland area - a new 'outside classroom' - great stuff - children don't seem to spend anything like enough time outside thesePublish days.

Floods, winds and more

The flooding last week highlights some of what we can expect in the future. The by-pass was closed, Ebley car park was under a foot of water in one corner - see photo - the meadows seen in the background were also under water. Others faced floods in their homes - please note the Environment Agency have a free service to warn people of floods on their mobile phones - their website also has details of flood warnings and maps of the flood plains.

The high winds have also meant trees were down locally - Bread Street and Ruscombe Road both had trees across them - The Citizen reported Ruscombe resident Mel Rodicq sending in a photo of the Ruscombe Road tree - missed her house.

The Government has at last brought in more mandatory national flood plain advice for Councils - it is extraodinary they haven't acted sooner - Greens were making this point years ago - infact I came across yesterday an article from The Times (27/10/01) reporting that house builders had almost doubled the number of homes they were developing in flood zones in a year - this is total craziness: that year saw homes being built in threatened areas rise from 13,700 to 22,800 ie one sixth of all house building!!!! And the value of homes in flood plains rose more than 5 fold to £16 billion. What are they now and how many more hosuses have been built?

Local planning authorities seem to turn a blind eye to such developments even when the Minister at the time said that it would take years to build defences to protect those houses. And at waht cost?? Furthermore many authorities including Stroud ignored the advice of the Environment Agency. The Times highlights Slad Mills converted into 22 loft apartments - but there are also the many houses built on the plain.

Photo: Developments at Ebley - now nearly completed

Climate change will mean more unpredictable and severe weather conditions - we've also heard that many of the flood plains need reassessing as some have underestimated the severity of the situations arising.

Julian Jones, local water expert from Water 21 notes that flooding is the result of poor land management. He says "we ignore the model of the natural water cycle at our peril" - he points out how we supply water and manage sewage and rainwater are largely done in an unsustainable fashion - and contribute to droughts and flooding.

Julian Jones suggests that farmers should be largely responsible for running our water infrastructure - farming that uses chemicals exacerbates problems - killing off soil microbes reduces the humus content and the ability of the soil to hold water - another problem is that draining of natural wetlands and marshes to provide more farming land and developments means we have lost our natural water storage sponges.

This all seems to make much sense.

Stroud has seen mill ponds filled in and building on flood plains - The Severn Trent water company estimate their area sees 4% more of the land turned over to hard surfaces each year!!! All this means excess water runs off land faster than ever with fewer places to go. Ebley flood plain - see photos above - plays a vital role in the water system around Stroud.

In the Ruscombe Brook Action Group we have, among other problems, seen our sewage system being unable to cope with excess rainwater - I have too many photos of raw sewage in the brook and surrounding fields! One of our hopes in RBAG is to look at some of these wider issues as well - restoring areas of wetlands, replanting trees etc.

In the meantime in my role on Development Control Committee I have raised Sustainable Urban Drainage and flood plains at every opportunity - the Planning department are even altering the way they do their forms to make this issue clearer. I've also repeatedly requested training for councillors re the new regulations - hopefully we'll get it later in the year - in my view these new rules still go no where near far enough - but more of that for another Blog another day!

I've heard it said that perhaps like Noah we should heed the floods as a symptom of something fundamentally wrong in the way we treat our planet.

A very 'inconviennient truth' and local artist

I was shocked to read that a set of schools in the Seattle banned Al Gore's climate change film 'An Inconviennient Truth' - read more here - it was a surprisingly good film - I hope to have a DVD of it soon - if anyone in the ward is interested in borrowing for the night do please give me a call.

Meanwhile I was in Minchinhampton this week and saw these great wire horses in 'The Kitchen' (good cafe with excellent food - the only Gold awarded cafe in Glos - mind I can think of a few others that are also v good) - artist Bryony Leatherbarrow lives in Woodchester and can be contacted via the cafe. There are also some excellent other pics there by one of the chefs at the restaurant - apols but forgot her name - worth a look.

Nailsworth climate blog prompts me into a letter

Just came across Kev's Climate Change Blog - have seen some of his articles in Nailsworth News - anyhow in one entry he has his correspondence with David Drew MP over airport expansions. I have to say I am more than a little surprised by Mr Drews comments. For example he writes:

"On restricting air travel the increase in airport capacity represents the rise in demand. Again you cannot stop this unless you are prepared to say who you wnat to stop from flying and how this will be done. I am quite happy to constrict growth but you can't just stop any expansion at present unless you are prepared to take enormous risks in safety as well as the wrath of stopping people from flying without putting alternatives in place or attempting to build a consensus on why this should be done. The latest poll indicated that 98% of people would oppose this - indicative of how far we have to travel in this area."

Kev's column answers these points and I have covered similar in the past here and on the Glos Green party website. As I have said before the facts speak for themselves: unless the government’s decision to double the size of UK airports is reversed, the rest of its climate change programme is a waste of time.

I will be writing to Mr Drew in the hope of understanding better his position - Government's are meant to lead and while they claim climate change is the greatest threat they do precious little to show they take that seriously.

Meanwhile well over 3000 people sent in objections to North Somerset Council’s public consultation. The Council meet tomorrow night to discuss that matter in Weston-super-Mere.

Still too warm? Green strategies

It is just too warm - where is winter? Borage, roses, irises and more are flowering in the ward - hedgehogs are waking up too soon. Of course there are natural cycles in weather patterns but already the warmest years ever recorded are nearly all in the last few years....it was with these thoughts over the last couple of weeks that I've been writing a report to the Diocese and helping with another to SDC....

Photo: Hips in Randwick yesterday

Report to Diocese

I've finished comments on a draft of a report to Bishop’s Council : "Sustaining and Renewing the Earth" - it is currently being put together and should come out on March 6 2007 - I've made various recommendations - the Church is clearly in a wonderful position to influence and lead on climate change - it is exciting that they are now looking at these issues but my own feeling is that they need to be bolder.

To that end I put together various thoughts building lots on my previos Blog item on 26th August that had some suggestions re a poss Environment policy for Randwick Church. Clearly I'm not involved in the internal workings of the organisation so it is hard to make specific recommendations but important issues like education, targets, monitoring etc all need to be addressed. In my section, for example, on having specific targets I included suggestions like:

- Ensure all new housing developments in the Diocese are carbon-neutral by 2008 plus incorporate Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems.
- 100% of all churches recycling by 2008
- 80% of churches composting green and kitchen waste by 2008
- No polystyrene or plastic cup use by 2008
- All electricity purshased by the Diocese comes from a green energy company by 2008
- Use eco-cleaning products in 80% of churches by 2008
- End pesticides and fertilisers use in 70% of church yards by 2009 - these are high in fossil fuels to manufacture and damage the environment
- Increase the number of people walking and car sharing by ?
- No increase in non-permeable surfaces from 2008 ie no tarmaced carparks - use of permeable surfaces

These may need adjusting but it gives some tasters as to what might be possible.

SDCs Environment Strategy

Greens have once again met to look at the latest version of SDC's Environment policy - our comments can be found here. There are Scrutiny meetings to take this forward and we will be hoping to ensure the document is improved.

SDC received unprecedented levels of correspondence boosted by the good media coverage. There were nearly 500 submissions from local people, agencies and bodies. It was far more than expected - every idea received was recorded and the top 10 suggestions (or areas) were as follows:

1. Increasing the number of recyclable waste streams (eg cardboard)
2. Encouraging and supporting household recycling
3. The promotion of energy efficiency products and appliances (including within council properties)
4. Encourage businesses and Stroud District Council to reduce waste
5. Promotion & support (including planning policy) for sustainable transport (walking, cycling, public transport, rail and canal)
6. Facilities for commercial waste reuse and recycling (including waste exchange)
7. Planning policy – improving energy efficiency
8. A one-stop-shop for advice on energy efficiency and micro-generation (including alternative ways to accessing grant aid)
9. Promoting alternative vehicle fuel use generally (LPG, bio fuels) including council and contractors
10. Promotion and support (including planning policy) for community-led and appropriate industrial-scale renewable projects

It is wonderful that there is so much enthusiasm and interest locally - it is vital though that the changes made are the ones that bring the most benefits - it can be fun to do certain high-profile projects but ultimately we need to make cost-effective cuts to our emissions.

Micro-generation in Stroud

I was recently asked whether you needed planning permission for solar panels - basically if in doubt phone Stroud District Council's planning department - the Council have produced a brief planning guidance paper re micro-generation - if you are interested click here to download pdf file.

Photo: Nympsfield turbine: clearly such turbines do need planning permission!

Latest on Lower Street

Here is latest on the Lower Street closure:

"...I have made enquiries with our Geotechnical Engineers on the current situation. It seems there were delays in receiving the soil testing results from the ground investigation company that undertook the work. However, the results were received just before Christmas, so now the Geotechnical Engineers will spend about a week modelling the area to understand what's going on in the general area and then say another week to report. At that point we can agree what works to do...I appreciate that this is all taking some time and that there is the on-going inconvenience of the closed road, but I thank you for your patience."

Meanwhile Puckshole lane is being repaired yet again today - filling holes which includes one that must be nearly a foot deep. It will appear again as the road is built over a spring or water course and the underlying drainage problems need to be tackled. However as I've said before there is an argument to say those holes are great - they slow down traffic on that stretch wonderfully - however clearly such deep holes are dangerous.

Parish meeting in Lady Chapel

The Whiteshill Village Hall was double-booked so it was very nice to be in the Lady Chapel of the church: loads of apologies meant the meeting went quicker than usual, although I missed the last bit...basically a chance to update on various items like the campsite, 20 mph, Folley Park farm footpath etc. I'm hoping to set up further meetings with Highways but sadly the crucial person has been off sick - until we get her we can't move this forward with police etc.

Other issues raised at the Parish included a darft piece of work looking at improving the dropped kerbs in the village, the plans for a newsletter plus a presentation by the Village Agent, Pam Thorne - discussed possibility of holding joint surgeries with her for parishioners. One issue of concern was the 12 break-ins in Upper Kitesnest Road - they disturbed the 3 involved and police managed to catch a suspect - however 2 escaped across fields - fog meant the helicopter didn't get to fly otherwise they would very likely have caught them like a similar recent incident in Stroud. Anyway you can catch all that in the minutes I'm for a glass of wine...

UK Poli Blogs

Just got myself added to this list of political blogs - UK Poli Blogs - this huge list is just the tip of the iceberg - well over a year ago Blogs were being created at one a second - apparently even more now - over half die very rapidly but an amazing 13% are updated at least once a week. Who reads them?

Photo: Randwick woods last week