I came across this website - Make Your Own David Cameron poster - and it had some amusing posters with great catch lines - see some of them at: www.mydavidcameron.com/This blog occasionally covers news of local folk from Whiteshill, Ruscombe or Randwick...here in this post are two that have already had a mention in the local press.
Neil Leighton-Boyce
Stroud has lost the Greyhound and Market Tavern pubs so it is great to see trained chef Neil Boyce, 22, who is from Whiteshill, opening 'Utopia' - Stroud’s newest restaurant. The eatery will largely serve organic dishes made with locally sourced produce wherever possible - like Day's Cottage juices and Stroud Brewery beers.
The fully licensed bistro has beautiful ash flooring from Westonbirt Arboretum, a range of Fairtrade teas and coffees and free in-house WiFi Internet access for customers. It also has its entire power supply sourced from 100 per cent renewable energy firm Good Energy. Good on them indeed.
I'm planning a visit as soon as I can find an excuse and an evening - Utopia's Facebook site already has 385 fans - Visit Utopia at 50 High Street, Stroud, GL5 1AN or call 01453 756 043 to book a table.
Guy Davies
Meanwhile congrats to Guy Davies, 18, from Randwick who has just been awarded a scholarship to study at the famous New York Film Academy (NYFA). Educated at Wycliffe College Guy was accepted for the one-year course which started at the beginning of the month - the Brett Rattner scholarship offers up to $15,000 - some folk might have seen him act in the Jenny Wren productions locally - he played Laurie Lee in their 'Cider with Rosie'. I'm sure will be hearing more of him soon.
As usual a busy week and have a cold so not firing on all cylinders but here's a quick round-up of the Full Council meeting last week and a couple of other recent meetings....These are challenging times and there is no doubt the administration had some very hard decisions to make the budget balance - even now there are serious risks attached to it like will the canal really come in on budget? Will we get the Icelandic bank money back? What will a new Government mean for local Councils? How will the recession continue to impact...Francis Roden, Leader of SDC gave a speech - see it here on SNJ website - as an indication of how the recession is biting, the Council's revenue and benefits service paid benefits totaling £32.5 million this year compared to £26 million the previous year - an increase of 25%!
So where will cuts fall? Well already huge cuts have been made by senior staff leaving and not being replaced - this has already had a noticeable impact on other senior staff left behind - already busy workloads have massively increased - there have been other cuts too when other staff have left and the posts not refilled - again putting pressure on remaining staff....
Other cuts have come to community grants and rises in car parking charges are now agreed. All this led to Stroud District Council approving a 1.9 per cent increase in its portion of the council tax.
Greens and others opposed the Tories plans - here's a quote in the SNJ summing it up: "Some councillors at the budget meeting said the authority should investigate borrowing cash to improve services during this period of low interest rates. Cllr Sarah Lunnon (Green) said: 'What we actually need at this moment is to take a brave decision like we did on the canal and borrow some money so we can fund some of our initiatives.'"For me it is crucial that we look at borrowing - and I was delighted that the tories did not rule it out for the future. It makes sense - especially if we can spend now to make significant energy efficincy savings and install renewables - indeed we have the potential to develop an income stream in the future - especially when most renewables will have paybacks withing 7 to 10 years - and with rising energy prices even more!!
Arts funding U-turn
The good news is that SDC has made an 11th hour U-turn on proposals to slash grants to two arts organisations in the area. Both Prema Arts Centre, in Uley, which receives £10,000 in funding from the district council, and Stroud Valleys Artspace, which receives £12,000, will now get their full grants after fears were raised that the Arts Council would withdraw their funding if the council decided to cut its grants to the organisations. However it does not look like Stroud Valleys Project will have it's grant reduction reinstalled.
Joint-Use leisure centres
I have reported on this before - see here - well at Full Council this issue was not up for discussion as it was for a special meeting of Cabinet this last Thursday. Well sadly the future of Nailsworth Recreation Centre now hangs in the balance after Cabinet voted to go forward with plans to stop funding the facility. As they noted this is only a 'notice of intent' to terminate the informal agreements to run Nailsworth Recreation Centre, Vale of Berkeley Sports Centre and Wotton Pool - but let's get real - in practice their decision will mean vital funding is cut from the facilities. Here's how the SNJ report:
Cllr Keith Pearson, cabinet member for regeneration, said: "We are only talking about handing back control of the facilities, we have never used the word closed."
Cllr Fi Macmillan (Green, Nailsworth) told the meeting that governors at Nailsworth Primary School said the centre would close if management was handed back as the school did not have the money to fund it.
The recommendations must be approved by full council on Thursday 25th February but it is not looking so good.
Members Development Group
This is a group that usually only meets a handful of times each year but we've had a number of additional meetings recently - don't think I've even mentioned I sit on this group - anyhow one of the areas we've been looking at his IT equipment used by councillors. It has traditionally been the case that Councils provide laptops for members.
SDC are now looking at giving a grant in the first year of £300 per councillor to purshase their own laptop and printer if necessary - this would mean significant savings but one issue I've ensured is addressed is that the principle is maintained that no councillor should be disatvantaged or not be able to function through lack of money....if a computer breaks before the guarantee runs out it is right that consideration is given to a replacement.
Some councillors have no problems re money but some are on low income and if we are to make the Council body representative then we need to ensure that councillors are not excluded through lack of money.
I've run out of puff writing - three other scrutiny meetings this last week but will write of those when their reports are presented in February.
I have discussed some of the aftermath of the sledging and snow - see here. We are now looking at what can be done longer term - the notices put up did help reduce the mess but what else? The letter below sent to the SNJ is from a local farmer and with the photo gives some indication of some of the mess left....
These are some of the items which had to be cleared after 8 days of tobogganing on fields in Randwick, Ruscombe, Whiteshill, Cainscross and Stonehouse - all land in the Cotswolds AONB and along the Cotswold Way, and part of my farm. This depressing picture was duplicated around the 5 Valleys, on Common land and other farms, where easy access to hills is possible. This has been anti-social behaviour on a large scale, and in some instances included wanton damage to property such as fences, gates and water courses. As such, it raises a number of questions.
Well to cut a very long story short on the basis of current figures about what is planned for Stroud District and what was in the Regional Spatial Strategy we have some 1,500 to 2,000 homes to build each year.
Meanwhile the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) has now been completed - see my blog here with details of potential impact locally.
You will see my previous blog with photos of the opening here - this blog post has more from the 'official photographers' plus the official press release from Alan Tomlinson and his great toilet-opening speech!
Val and Harden Flack were given a special mention for their tireless work. Mayor Tomo said: "Despite all good intentions no project goes anywhere without the shakers and movers. We are particularly blessed on the village hall committee to have Team Flack. Harden is always here giving his support, on call at a moments notice if we need him to meet contractors, help sort out problems, for advice and general support. And behind every great man there is a great woman. This is absolutely true. Val put her hand up for this project, has raised all the money from outside bodies as well as managing the project. She has been the driving force and I can tell you this has been no mean feat."
Alan Tomlinson's loo-opening speech
Saturday saw me setting off, after the opening of the Village Hall loo, for Potato Day in Malmesbury Town Hall. We apparently consume an average of 500 potatoes each year but most of us end up with just a handful of varieties grown for the supermarkets. Well in Malmesbury they had some 55 varieties for sale and more to look at including one, the Mairsland Queen, at £25 each tuber (see below)!
Potatoes are the world's fourth largest food crop following rice, wheat and maize. Peru is the birth place of the tatty but 99% of tatties trace their heritage back to Chile. They came to Europe in 1536 - then in 1846 blight hit - and the horrors of the Great Irish Famine. Apparently there are some 4,000 varieties (see here). See more about the potato at Wikipedia here.
I loved learning more about potatoes at the event - talking to the handful of experts and others browsing the rows of buckets there - Dave of Green Seeds who organised the event, recommended various potatoes - Lady Cristal and Kestral were a couple I picked - and I learnt that early varieties tend to crop before blight comes along while varieties such as Verity and Sante are resistant to blight.
Dave Chappell, a potato expert from Wales, dubbed 'Taffy Tattie' (see below) was also there with a collection of tubers that he had grown and offers to do talks locally if folk wanted. He had some wonderful old photos of himself with all the gardening greats from Percy Thrower to Geoff Hamilton.
Garden Organic's National Potato Day is Sunday 31st January this year - see more here including a video celebrating the potato and looking at potato day at Ryton Organic Gardens in 2008. It started 17 years ago in 1994 however Hampshire is perhaps best known for Potato Day and their 12th Potato Day with over 150 varieties is all of next weekend: www.potatoday.org/
My thoughts are that it is time we did something here in Stroud to celebrate the great diversity of tatties and encourage more of us to grow them. We already have Apple Day celebrated locally (See display left at Farmers Market last year) - indeed we've also been out juicing in a local orchard - see here.
Grow more potatoes
Last week was bloggers day for Haiti (another on 1st Feb) - and locally already folk are already raising money - the opening of the loos on Saturday at Randwick Village Hall added £62 to the Haiti fund - and in Whiteshill too money has been raised.
Well the snow has gone and huge thanks must go to all who helped folk manage through the difficult times. I have to say it was a little shocking to have more snow on Wednesday - it took me an hour and three quarters to get to Gloucester in the car for work and some very dicey moments from other car drivers.....
We are of course now left with what the county Council estimate could be a £5 million bill for filling potholes! With finances already in a difficult position this potentially could have a very serious impact.
However none of this was a touch on last year when vast amounts were cleared away by a team of litter pickers - this year it seems talking to sledgers and the notices put up - see here - did help.
Grit
The government said it would control all salt deliveries due to the national shortage. Of course this is right to direct where most needed but seems a little unfair when Glos had got good stocks due to the mess last February when they had to buy table salt.
Indeed salt stocks had been increased by 53 per cent to the maximum capacity of 7,500 tonnes and more was to be re-ordered from supplier Salt Union throughout the winter to ensure this was maintained. Anyhow I have been generally impressed with the vast gritting and ploughing tasks carried out - but of course here in this ward we have suffered quite badly from lack of gritted roads - at times they have been very dangerous and several days there was no access other than by 4x4 - indeed more gritted teeth than gritted roads?!
One area we need to get better at is the pavements - these seem to be left until last and leave pedestrians to walk in the road. In a survey by the Local Government Association nearly three quarters of people would back a law to protect householders who cleared snow away from a pavement outside their home from being sued by people who injured themselves slipping on it. A further 59% said they would support a legal obligation on householders - like in several other countries - to make sure the pavement outside their homes was clear of snow. This seems less possible as I can't see some vulnerable or disabled householders doing that - or those away on holiday etc - but would be interested to learn more??
In terms of the grit bins (see many previous posts on this like here) we have had some success recently in re-siting some bins locally although there are still some problems and we have also not yet got an alternative to grit that can be used (see letter last year on this here). Whiteshill and Ruscombe Parish have also purshased some better bins which are much neater, safer and don't leak salt like the older broken plastic bins.
One of my most popular blogs about the snow was how to make a snow lantern - see here - and the pics of the Redwing - indeed I had several emails from others locally who have also spotted this wee bird - and one from a keen birder who said even though the snow has gone please keep feeding the birds! See here deer in snow and here woods. Lastly a link here to the post "Weather is not climate".
Today saw a crowd of nearly 80 people come to the opening of our village hall's loos. I have to note it has been an impressive feat - what other village would have 80 folk come out to open loos? And what other village could raise the funds in some 7 months?
Huge congrats must go to all who helped make it possible - but as Alan Tomlinson, Randwick Wap Mayor said in the opening speech, particular thanks to 'Team Flack' - Hardon and especially Val Flack for their huge efforts to make it possible.
It was a lovely morning with a great selection of cakes all in aid of Haiti. Indeed there is also a Ceilidh being organised on Saturday, 30th January at the Randwick Village Hall to raise funds for the disaster appeal. More of that in another blog coming soon but more info from Richard Hannah on 01905 371 268.
All this reminds me of 15 months ago when we opened the toilets at the Whiteshill and Ruscombe Village Shop - see here. Then they used toilet roll instead of ribbon but clearly Randwick are a little more upmarket?! But nice to see that the ribbon was recycled from a wedding at the church!
Anyway I left the Village Hall to go to a Potato Day - more of that in a blog on Monday. Meanwhile see here how to book the Village hall.
This week I read a report (see here) showing how road building is a huge gamble and poor value for money. This is not a surprise as it is an issue I have raised before (see for example here).
Nine out of ten bus users in Stroud say they have had enough of getting cold and wet while they wait for a bus in the town. Well done to the Town Council for doing this research - see here - for so long we have been told we will get a new bus station and that the current arrangements at Merrywalks are 'temporary' - however this last summer a final nail in the coffin of a new bus station was delivered - see here. The Town have taken the initiative and undertaken this survey after improvement of bus facilities in the town was identified as a top priority for local people - around 250 people took part in the survey which also showed strong support for better signposting to local facilities, improved cleanliness, more seating, a payphone and a new clock. There were also widespread calls for the provision of a cafe and waiting room. I would echo all that - the lack of any decent shelter and no coffee being the worst aspects for me!!
The Town Council has already begun a number of preliminarily discussions and had several meetings - they have also set aside £17,500 over three years towards the cost of improvements, with the shelters being the top priority. It will be seeking support from the district and county councils to implement the priorities identified by local people. See here a history of the Stroud buses on this blog.
I've covered gold mining before on this blog (see post Blood Diamond, blood coltan, blood gold) - it is not a good picture - but here is some good news - A landmark ban in Hungary on the use of cyanide in mining looks set to make huge improvements in public health. The change follows a 10 year campaign by the Hungarian Green party along with many other organisations. Now the country's neighbours need to follow her lead...
Bloggers Unite for Haiti is today January 19 - the idea is to share information about this disaster and how people around the world can provide aid to ongoing relief efforts.The purpose of Bloggers Unite for Haiti is to encourage bloggers to posts about ways to donate to help the relief efforts in Haiti. They also encourage posts about current conditions in Haiti or to share information about this tragic event with readers around the world."We hope President Obama sees this sad occasion as a chance to initiate a new era of relations with Haiti, one based on cooperation, respect, and non-intervention. It should begin with a massive and green rebuilding effort that promotes Haiti's political self-determination and economic self-sufficiency. If President Obama's post-earthquake aid plan for Haiti puts an end to a century of exploitation for cheap labor, brutal human rights abuses by US-backed regimes, colonial corruption and graft, and political bullying by the US, he'll be remembered for having helped the Haitian people emerge from two disasters -- the earthquake itself and Haiti's status as the poorest nation in the western hemisphere."Haiti has seen improvements in recent years - it is shattering to see these swept away. Yet seeing the Haitian people's courage and faith in the midst of catastrophe is inspiring. Their is hope that after this earthquake something good can come. It is also inspiring to see thousands of others writing similar posts to this in an effort to spread the cry for help as far and wide as possible. There can be few who have not heard about this disaster.
Rosa Clemente, 2008 Green nominee for Vice President of the United States
"The decision on Friday, January 15, to grant Temporary Protected Status to Haitians residing in the US before January 12 was long overdue. We're glad the Obama Administration announced that deportations of undocumented Haitians in the US will cease and that Haitians will be allowed access to employment opportunities so they can support their families."
Betty Davis, co-chair of the Green Party Black Caucus.
Tesco have previously admitted using Palm oil in their biofuels - as this blog has noted before this is associated with a number of serious problems including large scale deforestation, adding to climate change and human rights abuses in Indonesia.
Last week I had a couple of Scrutiny meetings - one on financing climate change measures - well our report is nearly out so I wont cover that here - the other was the evening Performance Overview and Scrutiny Committee and a look at the budget.
Thursday 4th February will see a public meeting looking at the possible dangers posed by waste incineration and the safer alternatives. It will be held at King's Stanley Village Hall, Broad St., King's Stanley, Nr. Stroud, GL10 3HZ from 7.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m (doors open at 7.00 p.m.).
Much happening locally re nuke stuff - first though petition to sign at: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/NuclearNo/
Hospital cleaners are worth more to society than elite City bankers, according to new analysis from the New Economics Foundation (nef). This could be a bit of nonsense - or at least I thought that until I looking more closely - a very refreshing way to look at this issue which comes to conclusions that I am sure many agree - how for example can it be right that we entrust our most important 'resource' - the next generation - with some of the least well paid people in the country?The report said tax accountants were the most destructive, laying waste to £47 of value for every £1 they created. Elite City bankers (earning £1m plus bonuses) destroy £7 of value for every £1 they create and advertising executives wreck £11 of value for every £1 they are paid. On the other hand, the report judged that waste-recycling workers generated £12 for every £1 spent on their wages. Childcare workers create between £7 and £9.50 of value for every £1 of pay and hospital cleaners create more than £10 in value for every £1 they receive in pay.
Well I am delighted to be able to offer this piece regarding the radioactive shipwrecks in Italian waters.
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