Possibly last chance to reform Lords

On 7 March 2007, MPs will have the best - and possibly last - chance to democratically reform the House of Lords for a generation. Visit the Lord's Reform Day website that is dedicated to encouraging MPs to vote for a predominantly or wholly elected second chamber, and to reject proposals to retain political patronage. It has plenty of good info on the site. I've already emailed David Drew MP and would urge others to do likewise from the website.

"Hereditary privilege is completely at odds with a modern democracy that claims to offer opportunity to all regardless of their birth. It is for this reason that members of the House of Lords should be elected. It is also essential to remove the Bench of Bishops; religious privilege is as much an outrage as hereditary privilege. Religion and the state should be entirely separate."
Rebecca Elliott, Penarth, Vale Of Glamorgan

Some will remember earlier this year I bought myself a virtual online peerage - Baron Booth of Bread Street - to highlight the terrible state of affairs where it appears that people can buy there way into the House of Lords (Click labels to see previous blogs). Amazingly investigations continue on that..heres a quote from Director of Unlock Democracy Peter Facey:

"The loans-for-lordships controversy has raged for a year now and is severely damaging British politics. As long as political parties are reliant on large donations and they retain the power of patronage, the perception of sleaze will remain. The main parties however appear to be unable or unwilling to see this, with Sir Hayden Phillips' attempts to develop a consensus on party funding deadlocked, and the government insisting that a third of the second chamber should continue to be appointed by party leaders. It is time they woke up."

We are long overdue reform.

Local odds and ends: manholes, roads, school safety

Photo: Ruscombe

Hedge planting and pond survey

4th March 10am to 1pm - Hamwell Lease hedge planting and March to April a pond survey is being carried out in Cainscross with a Pond Fair planned at Cainscross Primary School at 10am on 24th May: for more info contact Ivi on 753358. This "Greenspaces in Cainscross" project by Stroud Valleys Project has been hugely successful - Randwick Scouts have been out lots helping - bulbs planted, new hedges at Humphreys' Close and more. Others have also joined in - local schools like Archway, Ruskin Mill students, volunteers from a local forestry company, the Cainscross Wildlife Group and more. Parents who have joined children in helping have remarked how nice it is to spend quality time as a family with their children rather than all the usual interrupions of normal family life.

Overflowing manhole incident on 10-01-07 by A.S. Cooke's yard in Puckshole

Severn Trent tell me that the incident was confirmed as roots, root cutting had been undertaken downstream but some roots immediately adjacent to the manhole were still present (this occurs sometimes when the equipment is put into the system it can miss the first few roots as the cutting commences) - the roots have now been removed and all root cutting along the length has been completed. The system is remaining on planned maintenance until a scheme to overcome the roots is completed. Also Severn Trent have now had approval to progress a scheme which will probably include relining however the engineers are now looking at the system and will propose final details of the scheme in due course. Timescales will depend upon workloads. The Ruscombe Brook Action Group are delighted that the problem here has been recognised and solutions being considered.

Lower Street, Whiteshill still closed

Update: they are going to work in front of the wall on the private residence side which will need planning permission. Apparently the planning process takes 8 weeks, so they are looking at starting the repairs in May.

Ruscombe Road to close

Glos Highways are saying they are planning to close Ruscombe Road so that they can repair the wall supporting the carriageway by the Old Co-Op. The dates they have given are 19th March for 2 weeks. The Parish Council have raised a number of issues re this - see minutes on their website.

Climate change in the Western Daily Press

My 1000 wod comment re climate change appears in todays' Western Daily press. See it here.

WaRbler - future editions!

Whiteshill and Ruscombe residents will have recieved the first issue of the Parish newsletter - should be a copy on the Parish website. Future editions are being planned - a meeting to choose topics for next edition is planned - let WaRbler know direct or I will pass info onto next editorial meeting.

Main Road / Highfield Road Box Junction outside Whiteshill School

There have been proposals for a box to replace the zigzag lines opposite the school - apparently at the request of the school - I am unclear how much consultation has taken place but it looks like this will go ahead. I personally am generally unhappy about more road paint and suspect a box will do little to improve the situation - cars already ignore the zig zag area and my fear is that more paint will distract drivers from looking out for children. I consider other
measures are necessary to slow traffic and reduce parking there...and will continue to campaign for them - at the very least we should have a 20 mph zone.

Pipeline protests continue

More than 250 Corse and Tirley residents packed into a public meeting to hear how Campaign Against Pressure Reduction Installation members will battle against National Grid. Forest of Dean District Council through out the plans last year so residents will now go head to head with the gas company at a public inquiry in April. Read the latest from The Citizen here and links to most recent Glos Green party news release here.

I've been following the story closely as I have had contact with various groups along the whole route of the planned pipeline. I hear that on Valentine's day pipeline activists brought work to a halt at Milford Haven. It took police many hours to cut every one free and eventually make their thirteen arrests.

Photo: inside the pipe – taken by squatter – shows unprotected weld. Is this normal?

The 120-mile project cuts a nearly motorway-sized swathe through from Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire to Tirley in Gloucestershire. Sections of the ground along the route has been deemed unsuitable for building houses on, with some living nearby refused even having domestic mains gas - yet this giant main pipeline which even industry experts predict will suffer at least one crack in its lifetime is being built through these areas.

In November the first protest camp was established, now camps have sprung up at Milford Haven, Trebanos and Cilfrew, with locals and activists regularly disrupting work. January saw a number of actions, including at a new location at Alltwen, Pontardawe - where people chained themselves to machinery in order to stop the work carrying on the other side of the valley from the Trebanos camp.

On February 7th, the DTI announced approval for the start of phase II of the environmentally damaging project, across the Brecon Beacons heritage site - which the national park authority called a "huge blow".

One activist is quoted as saying: "Milford Haven is supposedly a potential target for terrorists. Yet this pipeline will commit us to another thirty years of fuelling a cause of terrorism: Western corporations taking countries' gas to expand consumption and their profits. This is not just a Welsh problem it is an international one! We all know about the effects of carbon dioxide on climate change - with the UKs main contributor being Gas!".

The protestors continue...Now the DTI is proposing to license oil exploratory drilling in sites of special conservation just off the coast of Wales. Local campaign Group S.O.S. have succeeded in delaying the granting of licenses through widespread local discontent.

Read more on the Green Culture blogspot especially 11th Feb blog.

Staverton airport hopes to expand

News that Staverton airport near Gloucester is applying for planning permission prompted me to another letter to David Drew MP (most of which is attached below). Amazingly all three main parties support this expansion and daily there is edidence that this Government doesn't understand climate change - today for example The Telegraph has a bit about how the climate change bill has been downgraded.

Photo: me outside Staverton last year

I am sure opposition will be strong - last July we had a demonstration outside the airport and since then I've written many letters to the press on this issue (put Staverton into search facility on Glos Green party website). I am hoping that David Drew will now clearly oppose this expansion.

Thanks for your recent reply re airport expansions. I write again though to seek your opposition to the current airport expansions.

In the region Bristol airport is currently being considered and Staverton airport now has planning applications out. Staverton is clearly much smaller: the improvements there were said to be about improving safety but now that the 5 year plan has been released to the public for the first time I am told it contains clear references to expected larger business aircraft. I have to say if this is true then this is a clear example of misinformation by the airport who have repeatedly publicly stated that the measures proposed are only about safety. They have also dismissed my comments publicly about expected increased use.

Indeed there has been much misinformation put out by the aviation industry: Ken Livingstone recently made a dramatic u-turn on airport expansions and said he would rule out any expansion in the South-east, arguing that the aviation industry had told him "a pack of lies" about the economic benefits of expansion. The likelihood of rising oil prices is not even considered let alone the possibility we have reached a point of Peak oil.

There has also been much misinformation regarding the impact on climate change and a reluctance to take on the industry. Environment Minister Ian Pearson, who has a collective responsibility for this massive expansion in aviation, even said last month that the Government is powerless to face down airline lobbyists!

This is not acceptable. I wont repeat all the facts and figures, Stern or IPCC, as I am sure you are well versed in them and for that matter, all the facts like travelling by train would have meant 17 times fewer CO2 emissions than aviation. I know also that you are deeply concerned by climate change.

I can at last see a change coming. More people have woken up to the importance of stopping airport expansions. There were 3,500 objections to Bristol.

You are probably familiar with the Environmental Audit Committee who wrote: “DfT’s plan for a large expansion of aviation was incompatible with the Government’s very demanding target for 60% carbon reductions by 2050—especially when taking into account the wider global warming contribution of aviation (previously accepted by the Treasury as equivalent to 2.5 times the weight in emissions simply of CO2 ).”

It goes onto say (bold in the report): “sadly, little has changed for the better since EAC’s last report on aviation. Progress on introducing financial mechanisms to reduce the growth in emissions from flying is slow, and both the Government and the industry are as intransigent as ever” and “even under the Government’s own and most optimistic projections, every other sector of the economy would have to cut its share of UK emissions, while that of aviation would be assisted to almost quintuple (to 24% of total UK emissions given a best case scenario).”

Similarly the draft South West Regional Spatial Strategy’s own Sustainability Assessment (SSA) notes airport expansions will increase climate-changing CO2 emissions in the region. The SSA concludes, if expansions do go ahead, “all other gains in CO2 emissions will be cancelled out by growth in air traffic alone.”

Why should other businesses have to cut emissions even harder to allow expansion of airtravel?

Expanding airports means increasing air travel. In the light of climate change and the most serious threat it presents, a more radical approach is the only acceptable strategy.

Many measures have been proposed in addition to stopping airport expansions like banning virtually all flights under 500km - in many cases fast trains can reach destinations in times that are not much longer when check-in times etc are included.

I hope you will be able to confirm your opposition to airports expanding. All the best - Philip

Philip Booth

UK's true carbon footprint and the carbon off-setting scam

Christian Aid have just launched a new piece of work on climate change – the most pressing campaign issue for the organisation - it is afterall vulnerable people in poor countries that are affected first and most seriously - it could well undo decades of progress in fighting poverty.

Photo: Carpenters Arms, Westrip

In their new report they look at the extensive and global economic reach of the UK and conclude that we have a far greater impact on global carbon emissions than the 2% the government declares. In the light of this the report argues that the UK should bear a far greater responsibility for reducing the world’s CO2 emissions than its rhetoric suggests.

This is very timely and comes on top of long-overdue criticism of Carbon off-setting. In 2005 this business was worth around £20m and is expected to top £300m over the next three years.
A report ‘The Carbon Neutral Myth – Offset Indulgences for your Climate Sins’ was published by Carbon Trade Watch - it is highly critical of the offsets industry, arguing that not only are supposed climate benefits impossible to quantify, but that projects are also being imposed on communities in the global South with little consultation - there are some shocking stories in the report giving illustrations of failing projects. In Uganda, for example, people have been expelled from their land to make way for plantation schemes, while workers are paid below subsistence wages.

The report also explains how these companies have little or no monitoring and are using number-crunching trickery to boost their eco-friendly boasts. Plus the off-setting industry is based on only limited research into the actual long term benefits of tree-planting. Carbon in a tree is not stored safely. Trees burn, trees die down, there's insect infestation etc etc Last year WWF, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace issued a statement saying they do not support forestry projects to offset carbon emissions and last month a new US study claimed that where you plant makes a massive difference to effectiveness.

For me carbon off-setting has been a distraction from the critical task of tackling our unsustainable consumption patterns and business practices. It is no wonder activists are trying to highlight wahat is going on: last week London Rising Tide occupied the offices of the Carbon Neutral Company (CNC), at the forefront of carbon offsetting.

Kevin Smith, London Rising Tide summarises the key objections:

• Offset companies are selling a “peace of mind” to consumers where none should exist. This breeds complacency.
• Some of the most polluting companies (and politicians) are using offsets as a cheap form of greenwash - a distraction from their inherently unsustainable practices and a refusal to take more serious action on climate change.
• Creative accountancy and dubious scientific methodologies are often used to inflate profit margins.
• Our knowledge of the carbon cycle is so limited that it is impossible to say whether tree plantations even have even a net positive benefit in terms of mitigating climate change, let alone exactly quantifying this supposed benefit into a saleable commodity.
• It is impossible to determine the baseline of what would have happened if the project had not taken place that would enable calculations of how many credits could be generated.
• Projects that look great on the website or in the leaflet are often, in practice, mismanaged, ineffective or detrimental to the local communities who have to endure them.
• The media and certain celebrities have been complicit in promoting an analysis of climate change that puts all the focus on individual lifestyles and draws attention from the wider, systemic changes that need to be made in our societies and economies.

The act of commodification at the heart of offset schemes assigns a financial value to people’s desire to act on climate action, and neatly transforms this potential into another market transaction.

There is then no urgent need for people to question the underlying social and economic structures that brought about climate change in the first place - one has just to click and pay the assigned price to get 'experts' to take action on your behalf. Not only is it ineffective and based on half-baked ‘guessing games’ and dubious science, it is also very disempowering for the participants.

For more information, visit http://www.londonrisingtide.org.uk/

Incandescent light bulbs: seeing the light at last?

Australia has just joined Cuba, Venezuela, California and New Jersey in phasing out incandescent light bulbs. Read more here. Good news but John Howard still won't join Kyoto and most of the country is still run on coal, but it is steps in the right direction, I guess. Natalie Bennet, Green party activist and serious blogger has a comment on this.

The International Energy Agency have said that if efficient, low-energy lighting were installed all around the world, global energy costs could be cut by nearly a tenth. They go onto say that artificial lighting accounts for 19% of the world's electricity consumption, and without rapid action, the amount of energy used for lighting will be 80 percent higher in 2030. The average American home uses 10 times the artificial light of the average Chinese home, and 30 times that of the average Indian home.

However a closer look at statistics shows that switching light bulbs will eventually save 1% of national electricity use. This measure is no replacement for more substantive, bigger action on say, the coal industry, and what about the people who will be unable to afford the bulbs, and find themselves having to choose between light and food?

Full Council: Environment Strategy adopted - great stuff!

I'm just back from three days at my parents down in Devon - very nice to see the sea and also discovered this Labyrinth that I hadn't known was in Seaton.

Photos: Seaton Labyrinth and left Napoli on right of photo viewed from Sidmouth.

Further along the coast, Sidmouth was surprisingly busy - many coming to catch a glimpse of the stricken Napoli - more stuff has apparently been washed ashore - indeed a walk on Seaton beach yesterday and there is much rubbish to be found - one man walking his dog excitedly told us he'd picked up 60 to 70 bottles of shampoo that morning - certainly there were still dozens left but all I tried were empty!

Photo: debris on Seaton beach

Anyhow this afternoon I came back from Devon for Full Council meeting! Perhaps foolish as I could have stayed on longer at my parents - meetings should be better planned - half term is the time that many councillors with families have time to see family or go on holiday - having meetings then makes no sense.

Hilary Fowles, Labour Leader at the Council, put forward a motion this evening calling for DCC meetings to move to the afternoon - see my blog for 9th February for more info on this - as I said at the meeting I couldn't support it as current DCC members hadn't been consulted but Labour are absolutely right to be looking at how we can improve access to meetings by councillors. This just wasn't the best way in my view to go about it. However I did get applause for coming back for the meeting!

The Government has launched a Commission into this just a couple of weeks ago - I will be writing to SDC in support of more work to look at how our meetings can be improved to encourage wider participation in council work - but we need to also talk to existing members before those changes can go-ahead. I hope members will listen.

Anyway other items at Full Council were setting the Council Tax which most agreed with - plus various other bits and pieces - the most important being the Environment Strategy paper. Leader of the Council Chas Fellows and Cabinet member Nigel Cooper have done an excellent job with this paper. Greens have welcomed this and also welcomed the process and indeed applauded officers and councillors from all parties who have helped put this together- see press release earlier this week.

Greens particularly welcomed that this strategy incorporated a considerable amount of what Greens have proposed as the way forward - we have produced 3 reports on the strategy at the various stages and attended many meetings - at last people are listening - much of this strategy is what Greens have been saying for 15 to 20 years - let us hope that continues!!

The success of the paper was slightly marred by confusion over two items which had been agreed in Scrutiny committee and were then in the initial council papers for approval. Somehow they were dropped when the paper was finally presented this evening. No one could give an explanation. The Green party's Martin Whiteside raised the issues - you can see his important points on the webcast on the Council website - and of course see the rest of the meeting.

One of the points was a crucial target about reducing waste - we thought this would be accepted but it was pushed to an amendment which Martin Whiteside proposed the - the Conservatives inexplicably voted against it - I am hopefully the issue will be picked up by them as the strategy develops - it is important. There also seems no reason why it shouldn't be picked up.We'll see. Anyhow time for bed.

Monthly summary of Glos Green news

I've just sent out our monthly summary of Glos Green party news - anyone can receive this free by logging on to the Glos Green party site and signing up to GNN very simply.

This issue includes:

QUOTES OF THE MONTH
1. BLOGS UPDATE
2. BOOK NOW: COACH TO TRIDENT AND TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ DEMO ON 24TH
3. NUCLEAR: BERKELEY STORE AND HIGH COURT WIN
4. STROUD GREENS GIVE £1.4M SPENDING PLAN GO-AHEAD
5. CLIMATE CHANGE: 1000 WORDS COMMENT, PARKWAY AND MORE
6. BIRD FLU: TIME TO END FACTORY FARMING
7. GREENS BACK PCS STRIKE ACTION
8. PETITION TO CHALLENGE ANTI-GAY PETITION
9. WASTE: VISTA AND FOREST RECYCLING RATES
10. REGULATION OF SUPERMARKETS IS CRITICAL
11. HARRIET: GREEN CALL FOR COMMON SENSE
12. OTHER LOCAL ISSUES
13. NEW ON 'BIG ISSUES'
14. WEBSITES THAT MIGHT INTEREST
15. OTHER UPCOMING KEY EVENTS: COFFEE HOUSE, OIL AND CONFERENCES

One of the sections I often enjoy is the quotes - often these are sent in my members or are just ones I've come across. This month:

"We cannot have peace ON the earth until we also have peace WITH the earth."
Julia Butterfly Hill

"The uncertainty of our times is no reason to be certain about hopelessness.”
Vandana Shiva

"Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us."
Nelson Mandela

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron."
Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Freedom of the press in Britain means freedom to print such of the proprietor's prejudices as the advertisers don't object to."
Journalist Hannen Swaffer in 1928

See more of this issue here - other issues also on the Glos Green party website.

Disability agenda launched: a much needed reminder

Britain has got better for many disabled people over the past decade yet more work is needed as, in some cases, things have got worse. Bert Massie writing in the Guardian spelt out some of the issues which I abbreviate here.

Photo: view across from Bread Street to Whiteshill/Farmhill

There are now more disabled adults of working age in relative poverty today than a decade ago; and only half of all disabled people are in employment, which drops to 20% for those with mental health problems. A third of all people without formal qualifications are disabled. The lack of services and support impacts on families and places them at high risk of poverty. One in three children living in poverty has a disabled parent, while the children of disabled parents in Bangladeshi families face an 83% risk of growing up in poverty. There are 6 million unpaid carers, a figure set to rise to 9 million within the next 25 years. They are mostly women, often out of work, impoverished, in poor health and likely to experience poverty in retirement.

Many families of disabled children say they are at breaking point, with only one in 13 getting support from social services. The chances of working have retreated for many mothers of disabled children, who just can't afford to pay £10 an hour childcare and attend huge numbers of assessment.

As someone who has experienced disability personally and in my previous work it is great to see this issue being brought to the fore with real plans about the ways forward. The Agenda calls for family-centred policies that start from the point that disabled people and their families need real opportunities and access to services that support them to take risks, escape poverty, and become resilient to it. It gives suggestions on how to improve the skills of disabled people; of how we can improve the housing conditions of households with disabled members, a quarter of whom are living in conditions that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard. It identifies how we can reform social care to give families the means to organise their lives, participate socially and economically, and get on. It identifies how health inequalities might be narrowed to stop disabled people needlessly dying earlier than their fellow citizens. The agenda is in effect also about all those who experience disadvantage.

The Agenda is launched just when the UNICEF report comes out showing this country ranks last in its care of children, out of 21 advanced nations - making it the worst place to grow up in the developed world. One interesting fact that to me is very telling is that the UK had the lowest inequality in 1979 in Europe and by the early 2000s had almost the highest - in contrast the Netherlands who came out best in the survey have stayed about the same.

We could also talk of the loss of playgrounds, the endless TV adverts and messages, but discussion around this can perhaps be for another day....

Vote for Amnesty on Labour party site

Amnesty International UK have started a campaign on the Labour Party website "Labourspace". Please cast your vote to help promote Human Rights in the area of Terrorism, Security and Human Rights. This is an opportunity to show the UK Government your strength of feeling on this issue. Please pass this on to all your friends and contacts as quickly as possible as we only have until the end of February to get as many votes as we can.

Click here

I wrote as a comment: "I whole heartedly support this motion. I have been shocked, disappointed, appalled, angered and more by this government that has repeatedly ignored its human rights obligations."

There are so many areas that Labour have disappointed - Guantanamo Bay, Belmarsh, ID cards, anti-terrorist legislation and more - the CIA abuses are just the latest example. See the latest news release from Green MEP Jean Lambert - the so-called 'war' on terror has been used by some to rework international law and defy international conventions on human rights and the treatment of those detained (on suspicion, not proof) without trial or any due process. The recent EU report is seriously critical of the role of the UK in this murky saga, not only the fact that there were 170 stopovers by CIA flights in the UK but also that the UK Government failed to co-operate fully with the Committee and also refused consular services to residents that were detained.

How can I reduce CO2 in my office? And One Bin Day on 21st Feb

How can I reduce CO2 in my office? This was a question recently put to me from someone wanting to green up their employer - another Green party member kindly suggested wrote this:

Envirowise has produced a free CD-ROM toolkit offering small businesses the opportunity to cut office waste and save money. The 'Green Officiency CD-ROM' is designed to help office-based businesses reduce waste and their use of resources such as paper, water and energy - as part of Envirowise's programme geared to helping companies improve their environmental practices.

For a free copy of the Green Officiency toolkit, please visit the Envirowise website or call 0800 585 794. I can also recommend EnVision http://www.envisionsw.org.uk/ as a consultancy which finds win-win solutions for businesses to increase profits, save energy and save waste.

It is interesting to see that Envirowise are promoting One Bin Day for 21st Feb: the suggestion is to take all the bins away from your colleagues, and put one bin in the centre of the room - then just see what happens. If your office is average, that one bin will quickly become full. Full of waste that can easily be reduced, reused or recycled. The suggestion is then to explore ways forward and take action:more on their website.

Randwick bus service update and minibus sharing?

Blog readers will remember that back in April just before I was elected the bus service stopped going along The Lane in Randwick - you can read more by looking at the old blogs: 17th May, 17th June and 21st June - basically this is had an impact on several people who now no longer can get to Stroud.

Photo: village bus in Bread Street

While I was able to arrange Ring-a-Ride to cover the village centre this is still wholly inadequate - and costs lots. I had also explored the Village Link bus service that operates like a taxi in some parts of Stroud but instead of expanding this popular and well used service to our area the County are cutting the service completely - the Government grant hads dried up.

Last month I 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. Yesterday I had another meeting with Pam. I suspect we will be putting concerns to the Parish Council seeking their support to take this issue forward: is there a way to get the bus back? What alternatives exist? There are few ways forward, but we need to make sure we have looked at all options and made clear our views to policy makers.

Photo: empty buses threaten viability of services that are already reduced

I have been reluctant to look at alternatives like a regular minibus until we have ruled out getting our bus back - a minibus used regularly could impact negatively on the already underused bus service. However it maybe a way forward for a local group to establish and run a bus once a week? Certainly it is a wonderfully positive scheme that could open up opportunities to people locally.

Minibus Sharing?

Vision 21, a community-based sustainability organisation, has received £35,000 from the Gloucestershire Rural Renaissance initiative to expand the existing urban Minibus Sharing Scheme, which currently operates in Gloucester and Cheltenham.

Vision 21 director, Graham Stanley, who lives in Ebley, said: "Many schools, colleges and village groups have saved up and bought their own minibuses, but don't use them all the time. This scheme aims to 'borrow' these minibuses when they're not being used, to help people get out and about. The Minibus Sharing Scheme could, for example, give a parish council the chance to organise regular visits to the nearest town for young people to go to the cinema, or to go bowling. Or a WI could hire a minibus for a theatre trip; primary schools might need minibuses to take the children on an educational visit, or a group of older people could hire one to take them to a tea dance in Cheltenham."

Certainly the minibuses could provide a lifeline for those who find travel difficult. Many local groups can't afford to buy a minibus, but would be glad to hire one and of course the scheme could reduce the cost of transport for clubs, groups and schools. By sharing the resource, they can get more use out of it, benefit their local community and earn a little income. It also provides a stronger case when applying for funding for a replacement vehicle in the future.

I'm waiting to hear back from Pam and the Randwick women who were concerned re the cut to the service in The Lane.

The way to go: Personal Tradeable Carbon Allowances?

My blog on 13th Feb challenged Stroud District councillors who were circulating a plea to sign the road pricing petition to think again. My piece has led to many comments sent to me by councillors, some supportive, some dismissive...one questioned carbon allowances. They made many useful points - here is my quick response to them:

Thanks for your comments - You are right there is much to clarify re personal carbon allowances. I too, have concerns that it could be an ID card and also be open to fraud. There is however growing support across parties for this move and I strongly welcome the Government looking at it further. Here are some bits written earlier that may explain more - to me it is the fairest way forward. Other taxes and measures are often seen as unfair by people, often hit poorer sections of the population harder and can also have other unintended consequences. All the best - Philip

How would it work?

Domestic Tradable Quota for carbon is a Green Party policy which aims: a) To reduce the UK's carbon emissions in line with the target of a 60% reduction by 2050. b) To change the way we as a society view carbon emissions by making each of us personally responsible for our own carbon footprint. The system of tradable quotas covers all emissions of carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels as well as: a) Purchase of electricity (from non-renewable sources) b) Air flights c) Direct purchase of fossil fuels (gas, coal, petrol, diesel, fuel oil). The total annual carbon quota is equal to current total carbon emissions.

The quota is then reduced annually in line with agreed targets. A proportion of the total quota is distributed by the government to all eligible adults in the UK for personal needs (all adults receive the same quota). The remaining quota is then sold to organisations (public, private and voluntary) through a system set up by the government. Another system is set up by the government for people and organisations to buy and sell quotas.

New infrastructure would be needed but much already exists: bank cards could store both pounds and carbon points. When we buy electricity, gas and fuel, we use our carbon points, as well as pounds.

Useful discussion here.

Benefits?

People on low incomes are likely to benefit as they will be able to sell their excess allowances. People on higher incomes tend to have higher carbon emissions due to higher car ownership and usage, air travel and tourism, and larger homes. A tradeable personal carbon allowance is more empowering than many forms of regulation, as it allowed citizens to make trade-offs rather than banning them from certain activities or goods, or taxing them heavily. It is also empowering because many citizens want to be able to do their bit for the environment and tackle climate change, but there is no measurable way of guiding their decisions.

The Sustainable Development Commission have said that it would provide a "virtually guaranteed" way of reducing fossil fuel emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. They go onto say that domestic tradeable quotas have many advantages over carbon taxes, not least because they are independent from political control.

Kevin Anderson, of the Tyndall Centre, has said: "Once you have accepted that we need a reduction of 60 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 - which it seems now that all parties have - you need to start soon. We saw what the public thought of carbon taxes in the protests over the fuel tax escalator. The beauty of personal carbon allowances is that you only need to make about a 1.25 per cent reduction in carbon emissions every year. This is a way that enables us to make the necessary annual changes without radical adjustments to our lives. It is about making the small changes year by year. It won't stop us going on holiday. But it might constrain how many times we fly. This could be up and running within four to 10 years."

RSA have an interesting project:
http://www.rsacarbonlimited.org/emissions/default.aspa
There are also Carbon Rationing Action Groups getting established:
http://www.carbonrationing.org.uk/topics/carbon-allowance
Including in Cheltenham:
http://theonetonners.blogspot.com/

Ruscombe Road to close temporarily: others to be repaired

Glos Highways say they are planning to close Ruscombe Road so that they can repair the wall supporting the carriageway by the Old Co-Op. The wall was damaged by a 7 and a half tonne lorry. The dates they have given are 19th March for 2 weeks.

Glos Highways also mention Lower Street: "I do appreciate that there will be concerns with another road closure in the Whiteshill area, but due to planning requirements and the complexity of the scheme in Lower Street, it is unlikely that those works could be done within the next 2-3 months."

Other news is that Upper Kitesnest, Ferndale, Lower Street and Bishop's Walk are all scheduled for repairs.

Concern re sub-station in Whiteshill

This sub-station in Whiteshill is not safe as the photo clearly indicates. The 4-6weeks given as the time before permanent repairs can be undertsaken is unacceptable. Parish councillor Steve Tomkins has been on the case and the Whiteshill and Ruscommbe Parish Clerk has now written to Central Networks urging repair as a matter of urgency.

1000 words on climate change

The Western Daily Press have kindly agreed to published a 1000 words on climate change from me in their Comment section towards the end of next week. It is very positive that papers are starting to cover these issues more - but a challenge often to meet deadlines. These 1000 words were pulled together hastily building on an article written a few weeks ago.

Photo: Antarctica ice melt 2006

How can we keep this issue alive and fresh in the press? Already I have seen 2 letters in The Citizen complaining that too many letters on climate change is a bore - yet to my mind they don't publish anything like enough - it should be news everyday!

Anyhow I've sent this morning a letter responding to the Comment in The Citizen yesterday - see letter here. It is vital these misconceptions around nuclear are challenged - it is not an answer to climate change.

Climate change: doing the impossible

Tackling climate change can seem impossible. Yet history is full of examples of things happening that previously seemed impossible. The sudden collapse of the Soviet Union, the ending of apartheid in South Africa or more recently, England winning a cricket match in Australia.

The latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report confirms again that the disastrous effects of climate change are already happening and will accelerate significantly without major policy changes. Michael Meacher, former Environment Minister, writes: "What we, and the government, need to get our minds around is that we are at war: at war against climate catastrophe, presenting us a far greater threat towards our survival than 1939."

So why aren't we tackling our addiction to fossil fuels?

In the case of addictions, we have to first recognise the problem. Denial is not an option. Scary reports and warnings do little to help: indeed can paralyse many of us with fear. We need more real communication.

We recognise the need for urgent action on climate change, but we still haven't created a positive debate to ensure everyone understands why change is needed. The online petition against road-pricing with 1.5 million signatures is a perfect example of this.

We have the worst traffic jams in Europe and our emissions from transport are rising. Since 1997, the real cost of motoring in the UK has gone down while public transport costs have gone up. We urgently need both better public transport, and tax measures to reduce demand and ensure we use less polluting vehicles. These could include fuel tax, road user charging, graduated vehicle excise duty, but the measures we choose need to be the subject of genuine public debate.

A sophisticated programme of road pricing could be accepted, if people know that the money raised is sorting out public transport and that it doesn't penalise the worst off. Indeed I challenge those objecting to such measures to come up with alternatives that will work.

Signs of hope

The report by Sir Nicholas Stern has been hailed as a turning point: he translated climate change into the language of economics which sadly too often seems the only language that governments and business can understand.

President Bush now recognises climate change, while over 400 US Mayors representing 60m US citizens are taking action. Even China has made dramatic shifts with new legislation not least because of the impact floods and drought will have on food supplies.

Al Gore's excellent film 'An Inconvenient Truth' has raised awareness enormously. More of us are taking action, businesses are changing and local Councils, like Stroud, are developing strategies. Opposition in this country is also growing to criminal plans like new coal power plants and aviation growth: over 3,500 objections to Bristol airport expansion alone.

The word 'criminal' is not used lightly: the average Somali is about 100 times more likely to die from events caused by climate change than the average American, despite emitting roughly 16,000 times less carbon. We must cut emissions not create more.

The Government already recognises the need to cut CO2 emissions by at least 60% by 2050. Most scientists now believe this is inadequate. If aviation is excluded from such cuts it will mean that everyone including other businesses will have to cut emissions even harder.

Similarly people have objected to the draft South West Regional Spatial Strategy; the most important regional planning documents for the next 20 years. Incredibly this strategy’s own Sustainability Assessment notes it will increase climate-changing CO2 emissions in the region! What are those politicians thinking when they develop such plans or want to expand airports?

Dangerous beliefs

Too many of us still hold dangerous beliefs that we can take ‘hard’ decisions without impinging on our rights as consumers, that some unspecified swift action will sort the problem or some Branson-inspired technology will transform us into an environmentally-friendly society. These assumptions distort reality.

However perhaps most dangerous of all is that we can tackle climate change whilst continuing economic growth. Do people really believe the climate and the natural environment can be protected in a world where the population is forecast to grow from its current 6.5 billion to over 8 billion, and in which everyone is entitled to the lifestyle of the most extravagent consumers?

Continual growth for an expanding population means greater exploitation of natural resources, greater pollution and catastrophic climate change. We need to start talking about quality of life, not quantity of consumption. Living sustainably doesn’t mean living miserably.


The challenge ahead

We know what needs to be done. The challenge is for us all to build sufficient political to make it happen. For starters no more tinkering, lets stop the £12 billion road building programme, end aviations annual £9 billion tax break, end subsidies to the oil industry, and build peace and save £78 billion by not replacing Trident. Then with all those savings make vast investment in home energy conservation, renewables and public transport.

Let us also introduce individual tradeable carbon quotas with smartcard technology that could ensure everyone gets the same ration of carbon. Light users could actually benefit by selling to others with the poor on average benefiting. While internationally Britain should assist sustainable development in poorer countries and push for the "Contraction and Convergence" model which would achieve the necessary reductions in emissions in a globally equitable manner.

We can all play our part in our own lives but without changes in government policy we are not going to win. Politicians rarely act unless they have public support. We must make them act: write letters, campaign, vote and consider joining the march on 24th February in London against Trident.

The changes ahead mean that nothing short of a new human era is in the making. The choices we make now will determine whether the birthing is successful.

Philip Booth is a Stroud District councillor and Coordinator of the 5-strong Green party District councillor group in Stroud. His ‘renowned blog’ can be found at:
http://ruscombegreen.blogspot.com

Front page story: Nuclear waste store at Berkeley

As regular readers of this blog will know I've helped compile several Green party's submissions to the recent Government consultations on nuclear waste. Today The Citizen ran a front page story (see left) of it's Stroud edition: "Massive Nuclear Store Planned" about the proposed nuclear waste store at Berkeley near Dursley.

It is interesting that one of the journalists I spoke to in Gloucester thought as a Green I would be against the proposal. Infact Greens support it. We are in a mess with all this nuclear waste - we just shouldn't be producing it in the first place. The map below shows all the other places we store nuclear waste in this country. Here is my comment to the papers:

"Regrettably an intermediate level nuclear waste store is the least worst option, but it must not take waste from elsewhere and it must be properly water proof as sea-level rises are forecast. "However clearly the best way to begin dealing with this hugely costly nuclear waste is to stop producing it. It is crazy the Government are planning new nuclear reactors that produce even more of the higher levels of radioactive waste. Last month a new report published in Nature, confirmed Green fears that materials used to store nuclear waste long term are much less durable than previously thought. Burying toxic waste deep in the earth is an unproven, unsustainable and unpredictable route to follow.

"We have already produced vast quantities of radioactive waste, some of which will be deadly dangerous for tens of thousands of years: yet we can't predict how climate change, might impact on this nor the effects the next Ice Age might have in 100,000 years time. Storing this stuff deep underground is asking for problems - the dangers presented by climate change may affect water table levels and geological structures and are likely to impact upon waste storage in ways previously undreamed of. At a time when no safe storage options have been found, it would be irresponsible in the extreme to build new nuclear power stations to add to this deadly toxic legacy."

BBC Glos were after an interview - I never like doing that stuff but it was at a particularly awkward time with other meetings planned - Martin Whiteside, the Greens Parliamentary candidate stood in and did a bit on the show despite being equally busy himself. Thanks Martin!

Interestingly yesterday Greenpeace, supported by the Green party won their High Court bid to make the government rethink plans to build a new nuclear power. This is wonderful news and of course I sent out a news release to celebrate - see here. However as I read the Citizen today I can see there are all sorts of mistakes in the Comment column re nuclear power - will need to put something together on that....

Iraq, Iran and Trident - join the 24th Feb demo

Casualties in Iraq are reaching even greater obscene levels. Yet Bush responds with plans to escalate the war with his troop "surge". Tony Blair says this "makes sense." I think there are now few who agree with such madness.

The Green party, alone amongst the main parties, was against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - the Liberal Democrats have at last now called for the complete withdrawal of British troops by the end of 2007. In the US the tide is turning rapidly against Bush. Even Russia's President Putin is strongly criticising US policy.

Bush's only answer to the growing condemnations is more war in Iraq, the intensification of the nuclear arms race and the threat of an attack on Iran. A massive expansion of the US military budget will mean that in 2007 the cost of the Iraq war alone will be $800 for every American man, woman and child - paid for by yet more cuts in welfare services for the poor.

Iran (see article by John Pilger) is a deeply worrying development - fears have been growing for some time - back in April I condemned the BBC with others for their grossly unfair coverage of the country. Indeed in 2005 Greens raised concerns and fears about Iran being the next target. It seems things are moving in that direction and if we are not careful there will be another war.

I have just sent out a letter by Stroud Greens Parliamentary candidate, Martin Whiteside to other local political parties calling on them to sign a letter with him to Tony Blair urging the Government to take actions to prevent a war in Iran. The Stop the War Coalition write:

"Can it get any worse in Iraq? The answer is, yes, it can, if we let it. The response to the escalation of the Bush-Blair wars must be to do all we can to make our elected representatives act in accordance with the wishes of their electorates. The US anti-war movement has responded magnificently to the challenge. Its demonstrations across America on 27 January brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets for the largest protest since the war began. Campaigns are now running in localities across America to make the US Congress stop Bush in his tracks by withholding the funding he needs to escalate the war. We in Britain on Saturday 24 February will have our opportunity to give voice to the view of most people in this country that the war must end and all British troops must be removed from Iraq."

We do indeed have the national demonstration on 24th in London and Greens are organising coaches from Stroud and Gloucester. Iran will clearly feature as an issue but the focus is 'Troops Out of Iraq' and 'No Trident' - Martin Whiteside will have a comment piece re Trident in The Citizen tomorrow, but Ruscombe Green readers can see it here now:

The Government is about to spend an estimated £76 billion of your tax money to replace Trident nuclear weapons with an updated system. This is a decision that defies logic. Nuclear weapons make us less safe, not more. Nuclear weapons are not a credible defence against the key threats facing us in the 21st Century. Nuclear weapons are no defence against terrorists, whether home grown or from abroad.

Senior Government figures have at last admitted that the greatest threat facing Britain is not actually terrorism – but climate change. £76 billion spent on a new nuclear deterrent is £76 billion that is not being spent on tackling climate change (or world poverty, or child poverty in the UK). This money could be used to make Britain a leader in taking positive action to make the World a better and safer place. Instead our Government plans towaste it on something that is illegal, unnecessary and a catastrophe for our future.

As a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Britain and other nuclear states are legally committed to prevent new countries adopting nuclear weapons AND to move towards phasing out their own nuclear weapons. How can we argue that Iran, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea should not have nuclear weapons and at the same time spend billions replacing our own with an updated system for the rest of the century - demonstrating very clearly to the World that we have no intention of phasing them out?

Are we, the people who are paying for it, being consulted about how our hard earned cash is being spent and how our future security, and the security of our children is being compromised? It doesn’t seem so.

Unlike the Labour and Conservatives, the Green Party opposes Trident's renewal outright (the Lib-dems seem to want to delay the decision). Many ordinary people share our views and no longer want to waste money on a mythical threat or supporting some vision of us as a warrior nation. At a debate on Trident in Higham, chaired by Citizen Editor, Ian Mean, 126 people voted in favour of ending the UK's nuclear weapons, 10 abstained and only 15 voted to replace Trident.

Next week Gloucestershire people are taking their disgust at the way our Government is acting to London, where they will be joining tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of others in a demonstration against Trident replacement and against the continued presence of our troops in Iraq. Many of us will also be voicing our concerns about Bush’s threats and build-up to attack Iran. We have got to stop this madness now.

Coaches are going to London from Stroud (01453-750962), Gloucester and Cheltenham (01452-549669) on Saturday 24 February.

Interestingly I just heard from CND today that Tony Blair speaking at a Young Labour conference in Glasgow said that he ‘doesn’t really know’ why there has not been a debate on Trident replacement in the Labour Party!!! This is what CND write:

During the Q&A, a delegate asked the Prime Minister why there has not been a debate and vote in the Labour Party on Trident. Mr Blair, visibly caught off-guard by the question, replied:

‘I don’t really know the answer to be frank. I think in the end there will be a vote in the Commons. There should be a very lively debate in the party and elsewhere. The trouble is we need to take a decision at some point…In terms of the process I honestly don’t know the answer. I know it was an issue at the National Policy Forum and so on but I don’t have a problem with people voting on it at all. Let the party express their view on this but we will need to take a decision on this as a government.’

Let us not forget that 17 motions on Trident replacement from Constituency Labour Party groups were ruled out of order before the Labour Party conference in 2006. In January 2007 three motions on Trident from members of the Labour National Executive Committee, including CND Vice President Walter Wolfgang, were again ruled out of order.


NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION: TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ/NO TRIDENT
SATURDAY 24 FEBRUARY
ASSEMBLE HYDE PARK 12 NOON
MARCH TO TRAFALGAR SQUARE

More on Painswick library and national situation

My blogs on trying to save Painswick Library have now been linked to another website - Volumizer - plus Painswick got a mention at a talk in London entitled, "What Have Global Trade Agreements Ever Done for Library and Information Workers?" at the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals this week - see also Flow of Ideas website for more info and key Online articles by Ruth Rikowski who gave the talk. Plus I've seen a link to the story on the Information for Social Change website.

...and while looking for further information I have come across more info on libraries that I think is useful....

Photo: Ruscombe valley fields

Tim Coates, a former MD of Waterstones, now writes a library blog. He insist that most libraries could be kept open if only they were more efficiently run - and has figures to prove it. He suggests for example that backroom staff, who often account for up to half of a council's library budget, always seem to keep their jobs even as branches close. Tim Coates also points out that councils have run some libraries down deliberately - if a library's stock is poor, fewer people will use it; if fewer people use it, they can make the case for closure. Amazingly in the last decade the number of books in libraries has fallen from 105 million to 80 million.' Tim Coates also makes some very useful points in his manifesto for public libraries.

"If there were to be a word that remains lovable for me, even when set adrift on meaninglessness, it would be 'library'. 'Tea and buns' may be nice, but 'tea and buns' in the 'library' is rhapsodic." Feminist Germaine Greer

So where is the Government in all this?

A year ago the culture minister, David Lammy, made a speech to Parliament on the subject of libraries. He said: "I love reading. Coming from a household where you could count the number of books on the fingers of two hands, I celebrate libraries' central mission of the promotion of reading."

Last year budget deficits meant councils were increasingly planning to close libraries - Painswick is not alone. David Lammy wrote, urging councils to think carefully before closing libraries. He even announced that he would look at his powers under the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act to see if he could, in some instances, prevent closures. Then all went quiet and by last June some 107 libraries were threatened with closure. Lammy was quoted in The Bookseller with quite a different attitude to the beginning of the year: "I will continue to monitor these things closely" adding that the figure being suggested was an exageration and in any case "Communities come and go". What does that mean?

I also wonder why the public library performance figures for 2005-6 are being kept Secret? These were meant to be available in January but the public has to pay £400 to obtain a copy. Some council figures have been released, but the totals are still being kept secret. Why?

Last week further concerning news is that the British Library may have to start charging researchers for admission to its famous reading rooms and the collection of 150 million items. A cut of up to 7% to its £100 million budget is proposed. As well as the unprecedented charges, opening hours would be cut by more than a third under the proposals.

The cuts would threaten spending on research journals and books, undermining 250 years of collecting and damaging Britain's position in the world research rankings. Other risks would include the "irrecoverable loss of unique conservation skills", the halting of targeted support for public libraries in London and the regions and the development of impressive web resources.

The Liberal Democrat peer Lord Avebury said in a letter to Gordon Brown that funding cuts would be "a gross act of cultural vandalism. It is difficult to fathom the mind of a government that sets out to wreck a world class public institution — as you would do if the BL is forced to make these cuts."

The Daily Telegraph reports that suggestions that funding normally designated for the arts could be diverted to help cover the spiralling costs of the 2012 Olympics has spread fear among library supporters.

Another possible blow to libraries this week is news that the management committee of the Feminist Library is calling an emergency meeting on Saturday 24th February to decide on whether to close the library for good. This meeting is a last ditch attempt to rally feminists
to support the library and, if they are not able to come up with a solution, to discuss finding another suitable home for the collection. The collection currently includes 75 boxes of material from the Women's Health Library which closed last summer. The library is run by volunteers.

John Dolan, is head of library policy at the Museums, Libraries and Archive council (MLA), the quango responsible for library strategy. He is reported in the Guardian and elsewhere saying good things are happening: new libraries in Brighton and Bournemouth; Big Lottery Fund funding of £80m for projects at community libraries; the MLA service which provides every library with access to 29 electronic subscription-based products such as dictionaries, saving them 50 per cent on some titles.

Meanwhile, as I've noted in previous blogs, communities like Painswick, are reduced to trying to persuade their local authorities to let them run their libraries themselves.

In 1866 the social reformer George Dawson noted that 'a great library contains the diary of the human race'. Indeed thanks to the Public Libraries Act of 1850, there are some 3,000 libraries in Britain - a system of which we can be justly proud. This is not the time to cut or close them.

Government to recommend 20mph for residential areas?

Valentines Day and I've got a Green party meeting tonight: a love the planet night? Ummmh - doesn't go down well with my partner....see blog on 9th February 2007.

James Wishart left a comment on my last blog about 20mph zones - in that he wrote: "In a few month's time the Department for Transport will issue new guidelines called the 'Manual for Streets' specifying that all residential areas should have a 20mph design speed."

Photo: Gloucester 20 mph zone: not the end of 20 mph zones but rather this must be the beginning of many more

This 'Manual' will basically be guidelines to assist practitioners in making informed decisions relating to appropriate streets design. The draft 'Manual for Streets' states: "7.9.2 All streets whose main function is to provide a residential environment should have vehicle speeds of no more than 20mph. All measures that slow traffic help pedestrians feel safer. The most effective ways to discourage speeds above 20 mph are often to either generate sufficient ‘side friction’ on streets e.g. by the provision of on street parking, ......."

I hope it still appears in the final version of the Manual and is made even stronger. The 'Manual for Streets' also looks set to move more in the direction of support for schemes like 'Shared Spaces' (click 'Labels' below for more info re this important approach).

James Wishart's blog about 20 mph zones has some great info about his campaign - like commonly held myths about 20 mph zones. I have taken the liberty of reproducing them here:
There are some commonly held negative views that the public hold regarding 20mph zones which are usually based on misconceptions or misapprehensions.

• “20mph is too slow for most traffic.” In most residential areas, the average speed will already be below 30mph and in the St Edmund’s area is probably about 20 to 25mph. Government guidance for road planners is shortly to be published which will say that all residential areas should be governed by a 20mph limit.

• “20mph zones require road humps which are a nuisance”. As stated above the average speed in residential areas is likely to be just over 20mph. At this low average speed, the law permits the provision of 20mph zones without road humps.

• “If the average speed of traffic is already low why do we need 20mph zones?” Accident statistics show that the death rate resulting from a collision between a car and a pedestrian is nine times higher for 30mph than it is for 20mph. Furthermore a 20mph zone is about more than accident reduction. The limit reinforces the fact that residential areas require a different balance between car and pedestrian with more power and authority being given to the pedestrian.

• “The police do not enforce or monitor 20mph speed limits”. The police do not monitor 20mph limits because it is considered that they are ‘self enforcing’. However there is no reason why these limits should not be enforced like any other speed limit.

• “20mph zones are already provided near schools. Why do we need them elsewhere?” Pedestrians are a vulnerable class whatever their age and children do not disappear when remote from schools.

Other sources of good info include the Slower Streets initiative and of course the Transport 2000 website - see under capmaigns for their '20 is Plenty'. Click on the 'Labels' below to link to letters re campaign in Gloucestershire and more locally in Randwick, Ruscombe and Whiteshill. Meanwhile coming soon I hope to be adding some of the responses re 20 mph zones to this blog - at the moment I've had very favourable from Lib Dem and Labour are putting a motion on this - all good news.

It does seem amazing how long all this takes to get the Department of Transport to move - it was only in 1991 that the first three 20 mph speed limits forming zones were implemented in Sheffield, Kingston upon Thames and Norwich. In much of Europe 30 kph is standard for residential/town centres. Until June 1999 specific consent from the Secretary of State was needed - and up until October 2005 only around 450 zones were installed in the UK. But we are at last getting through, a culture shift is slowly taking place.......

Randwick Educational Trust: financial assistance offered

The Randwick Educational Trust has limited funds to use "in promotig the education of persons under 25 years old who are resident in the Parish of Randwick and who are in need of financial assistance" - equipment, books, travel are included - a wider view of education than the study of academic qualifications. Contact the Clerk, Mrs Flack on 757136. Applications must be in by 23rd February 2007.

Photo: View from Selsey across to ward centre left top is Randwick village with to the right Ruscombe then Randwick

And talking of education, next Friday - 23rd Feb - the Coffee House Discussion in Stroud will be on 'What is Real Education?'

Brook group talks with EA

The Ruscombe Brook Action Group met this evening for a talk by retired Environment Agency Officer, Bill Blake. He gave us many insights into his work and relationships with other agencies. It was interesting to hear that some years ago members of our group would have been labelled "Continuous Complainers"!

Photo: Randwick tributary coming from top left corner of photo plus Cashes Green and More Hall Convent

We also learnt that Stroud was so effective at dealing with sewage incidents in the early 90s that they became the first Council nationally to be sacked as agents for sewage - in their place a much less effective system was put - nationwide our sewage system is in urgent need of action. Bill was able to share many intersting stories and his passion for getting the right solutions shone through. In the past he has also helped Water 21 and RBAG when they set up the Archway School water testing project.

We also learnt that local Freddie Whittacker, who helped set up the testing project and attended various RBAG meetings was recently voted into Gloucestershire County Youth Council - he holds the Environment portfolio.

RBAG also celebrated this evening the news that we can proceed with setting up of a partnership and accept Water 21s offer of £3,000 plus to develop plans for the brook - see blog for 2nd February 2007.

Photo: Archway School towards Whiteshill - Ruscombe brook runs from two-thirds up the left handside of photo down following the hedge/trees across the bottom of the photo

There was plenty of discussion about ways forward: plus planning our AGM meal and another public event - hopefully a talk on 25th April on the 'Mysteries of Water' - more details to follow when venue confirmed. Our RBAG website has now been transferred to a new site - same address - link in column on right-hand side of this blog. The new site will hopefully allow more of us to update it but first there is the task of putting back all the old info - please bear with us!

Greens challenge councillors on road pricing petition

Labour are messing up on this one - they just didn't sell the scheme properly - people have recognised the need for urgent action on tackling climate change, but the government is failing to make the case for the sensible measures that need to follow.

Photo: view down Ruscombe valley

Which measures we choose - and how to ensure any money made pays for better public transport - needs to be the subject of genuine public debate. The motoring lobby has run a deliberate campaign of misinformation and sadly what we're likely to see is the government rolling over at the first sign of trouble. A Stroud District councillor circulated the petition which gained public support from some councillors - below is my response just sent out on behalf of Greens:

Over a 1.2 million people have now signed this online petition against road pricing. There is indeed much wrong with this particularproposal: it might sound green, but it makes no sense to reduce fuel taxes so that gas guzzling vehicles can pay almost the same to drive as a mini. We need incentives in favour of fuel efficient cars, not a technocratic solution which involves just moving traffic off one road and onto another. Furthermore we need guarantees that data used for road pricing does not get abused by other Government agencies.

However there are now 33 million vehicles on our roads - 7 million more than in 1997 - and the number of miles driven on British roads each year is rising by between 400 and 500 million miles. It must be clear that neither the economy nor the environment can sustain a rise of 500,000 vehicles a year nor the journeys they make.

On top of that since 1997, the real cost of motoring in the UK has gone down while public transport costs have gone up, leaving many people without travel choices. We have the worst traffic jams in Europe and our traffic related CO2 emissions are rising, not falling. They make up a third of all our climate change emissions, yet the Government is going ahead with it's £12 billion road building programme. We cannot afford not to take radical action now - this is a moral issue regarding climate change and the state of the country for future generations.

Road-pricing could have a role to play, but it must be part of a strategy to reduce road-traffic, cut emissions and encourage more fuel-efficient vehicles. Sadly the government has failed to get across why change is needed. A sophisticated programme of road pricing could be accepted if people know that the money raised is helping sort out public transport and doesn't penalise the worst off.

We have got to stop thinking of motorists' and start thinking about people who need to travel to work every day in the most efficient and pleasant way possible - few motorist groups would argue that a stressful, wasteful gridlock every morning is the way forward.

An effective and fairway of addressing both climate change and congestion, would beindividual tradeable carbon quotas. Using smartcard technology everyone would get the same ration and light users could actually benefit by selling to others - on average the poor would benefit from such a scheme. Individual choice and ingenuity into how to economise on energy use would be increased. Using this approach the total quotas available each year could be gradually reduced, in line with our national CO2 obligations.