Protesters demand an end to nuclear trains in Gloucester

Press release from STAND:

On Friday the 26th September members of Stand Against Nuclear Development (STAND) are going to demonstrate and leaflet at Gloucester station.

This is in protest at the transport of water-filled flasks carrying highly-radioactive fuel rods from Hinkley nuclear power station to Sellafield nuclear complex in Cumbria for reprocessing, which pass through Gloucester weekly. As well as these highly radioactive flasks there are also flasks of intermediate level waste from 5 different nuclear power stations in the UK which go through Gloucester on their way to Berkeley for storage.

James Greenwood, prospective Forest of Dean parliamentary candidate for the Green party, said: “We are calling for this transport to stop, 1) because these flasks emit low-level radiation – and exposure to any increase in radiation levels means increased risk of cancers, particularly thyroid cancer in children; 2) In a serious accident the flasks would break open, releasing highly-radioactive material into the surrounding environment, causing deaths and requiring mass evacuation.  Can you imagine trying to evacuate Gloucester before the wind covered the city in radio-active poison?”

Barbara French, secretary of STAND added, “We are also calling for plans for building new nuclear power stations in the UK to be scrapped, since operating such stations would mean high-level nuclear waste continuing to be produced for many more decades into the future. This will either have to be stored in the area of the power station, threatening more cancers locally, or be transported by rail to Sellafield, with the dangers this would represent. This is just one of many reasons why STAND opposes the proposed huge new nuclear development at Oldbury.”

This protest in Gloucester is part of a coordinated protest against nuclear trains and nuclear power that is taking place up and down the country this weekend at stations used by trains carrying nuclear waste.

Philip Booth, a Stroud District Green Party member said: "We hugely welcome fellow Glos Greens raising this issue. Highly-radioactive fuel rods from Hinkley nuclear power station travel to Sellafield in Cumbria for reprocessing via Gloucester every week. There are also flasks of intermediate level waste from five different nuclear power stations in the UK which go through Gloucester on their way to Berkeley for storage. It is time to ditch dinosaur risky, uneconomic nuclear technology and embrace renewables...."

Further information about the plans for the new nuclear power station at Oldbury can be found on STAND’s website, www.standagainstoldbury.org



STAND is an independent campaigning group not affiliated to the Green Party. We support them because we share their view that nuclear power is too dangerous and unsustainable. We are glad to host news, press releases, events and announcements from any group, organisation, charity, or business that share our aims and beliefs.

 

The Greener Gloucestershire Festival

The Greener Gloucestershire Festival is happening at the University of Gloucestershire, Park Campus, Cheltenham this weekend from 12pm – 5pm!

Come along and join the celebration of all things sustainable in Gloucestershire – from local community initiatives and projects to local beer and face painting.

The festival aims to find out more about putting sustainable living into practice, with advice, information and support from many local experts, as well as interactive talks and discussions on topics such as G.M., carbon reductions, faith and sustainability and communications skills for effective sustainability.

The first event of its kind is organised by the Greener Gloucestershire Team at UoG Students’ Union, hopes to bring Gloucestershire communities together with staff and students to celebrate the amazing work in sustainability done by volunteers, organisations and businesses working to keep Gloucestershire a healthy, green and beautiful place to live. There will be something to meet the needs and interests of everyone, young and old – green and blue! The festival will be host to workshops, music, real ale and cider and the a chance for bakers and makers to exhibit at the impressive Cheltenham Connect Village Show

Stall holders from across the county will be selling their local produce and sharing their green initiatives and campaigns. This looks to be an eclectic event with delicious food, local cider and ale, and music from local bands including UkesAnon and Talis.

Greener Gloucestershire is a partnership between Gloucestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (GFirst LEP) and the University of Gloucestershire Students’ Union, and aims to enhance the student experience while they live and study in the county. The project was funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) backed National Union of Students (NUS) Students’ Green Fund.

Greener Gloucestershire project manager Rachel Purdon is looking forward to the inaugural festival: "We're delighted to be hosting the inaugural Greener Gloucestershire Festival on Park Campus. It is a perfect opportunity to come along and ask some questions about what sustainability really means, and have your say on what you want the future of Gloucestershire to look like – as well as trying some delicious

food and drink.

“Everyone is welcome to come along - whether you're interested in gardening or electric cars, saving bees or football – we’d love to see you there.”

Groups who will be present at the festival include Global Footsteps, Vision 21, Transition Towns, Allotment Society, Zero Carbon Britain RSPB, UOG Beekeeping Society, Sustainable Direction Ltd, Gloucester Bike Project and many more!

The Greener Gloucestershire Festival will be held from noon until 5pm at the Park campus, The Park, Cheltenham, GL50 2RH. To find out more, please visit www.greenergloucestershire.co.uk/festival

Greener Gloucestershire an independent group not affiliated to the Green Party. We support them because we share their green vision for a better future. We are glad to host news, press releases, events and announcements from any group, organisation, charity, or business that share our aims and beliefs. 

Stroud events with a Green flavour

Gloucestershire Green Fair
Sat 1st March, 11.00am - 3.00pm
Blackfriars Priory, Gloucester, GL1 2HN
FREE ADMISSION

The day will be a showcase of local businesses, producers, suppliers, charities and community groups sharing ideas and expertise on green living. There will be kids activities including arts and crafts by Global Arts, story telling by Ropert Mckenzie and animals from St. James City Farm along with cookery demos focusing on allotment grown produce from Natural Cookery School, shabby chic furniture refinishing by Reclaim and advice on bike repairs from Gloucestershire Bike Project throughout the day, admission is free. Vision 21’s Get Up and Grow More project officer Erin Baker will be on hand to offer top tips on growing your own ranging from a full-on allotment to growing in containers.

 Seed Swap SVP Eco Shop Saturday 1st March, 10-30am - 1pm, Start your gardening year with the Stroud Valleys Project Seed Swap! Bring along any seeds that you have saved from your garden, or any packets of seeds that you have spare, and swap them for some different varieties. Free event, donations appreciated For more information please contact Clare or Tamsin on 01453 753358

Fukushima Day, Tuesday March 11^th, 2014 

It really can’t be as bad weather as last year can it!!  We really hope for a good turnout. Please tell your friends about it and bring along everyone you can.  We will be right opposite the Nuclear waste site at Berkeley and just upstream from Oldbury. So we think the press and TV cameras will be interested in the spectacle.

Here are the plans: 3.30 pm  We meet at the Standing Stones and picnic tables at Lydney Harbour. (See later for directions). We shall collect up messages, poems, drawings, etc, that people want to send to the people of Fukushima. Best if these are done before we get there – just in case it is raining – though there will be an opportunity to write messages using the picnic tables to lean on if need be. They will all be collected in a ‘radioactive waste bin’ – (good visuals for the TV cameras). These messages will be translated into Japanese for us and sent to the Mayor of Fukushima. 3.45 pm We will read out a personal message from Jonathon Porritt (unfortunately unable to be with us) and hear short speeches from Molly Scott Cato, Green candidate MEP for the South West and Steve Parry-Hearne, Labour candidate for the Forest of Dean. 4.00 pm We will take the short walk to the harbour wall where we will throw flowers into the river to a background of Japanese music.

In case you don’t know Lydney Harbour or the harbour area, Head for Lydney Station, cross the level crossing and just keep going until the main road ends just before it turns into a narrow lane by the sign to Lydney Golf Club. You can park your car in the main road alongside the small concrete blocks by the closed down factory. Take the first bridge over the canal and straight ahead of you there is a short slope up to the standing stones. There is wheelchair access (though it might be a bit muddy).

So. You need to:

a. Write a message to the people of Fukushima if you wish.

b. Bring a flower with you.

c. Work out transport for you and others. We hope that people with cars will be able to offer lifts to others from their area. 

Please email me or telephone if you are able to offer a lift – saying how many spare seats you have and where you are coming from, or if you need a lift, saying where you live. I’ll try and put you all in touch with each other.

There is no direct bus service to Lydney Harbour so it is best if you can get a lift. If you are arriving at Lydney Bus Station or Lydney train station let us know the time of your arrival and we will arrange for someone to pick you up.

Please join us and help to make this an important and memorable day for the people living in the shadow of Oldbury and Berkeley.

Please email barbara@standagainstoldbury.org or ring 01291 689327 to ask for lifts or to offer them.

Best wishes,

Barbara, for STAND against Oldbury

For your information: there will be a Rally in London on the following Saturday organized by London CND. March and Rally: Remember Fukushima: no to Nuclear Power 12:30pm, 15th March, Marching from Hyde Park Corner to Parliament On 15th March we will mark the 3rd anniversary of the Fukushima disaster with a march and rally from Hyde Park Corner to Parliament. Meet at 12:30pm at Hyde Park Corner near the exits to Hyde Park from Hyde Park Corner tube. March starts 1:00pm, will go past the Japanese Embassy and the offices of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, finishing outside Parliament. Join us for the whole march or find us from 3:00-4:30pm at a rally with speakers and music on Old Palace Yard opposite the Houses of Parliament.

For further info contact London Region CND on 020 7607 2302.

 

Storytelling for a Greener World with Jonathon Porritt and Alida Gersie: 11 April, 7.30pm; Stroud Subscription  Rooms. How can environmental organisations use storytelling to engage visitors, students, members, staff and the community with nature? And enable pro-environmental change?

Green Party leader to join badger patrols this Saturday

While we've had Brian May out in Gloucestershire, Green Party leader Natalie Bennett will be visiting the North Somerset badger cull zone this weekend and joining badger patrols as they carry out a nocturnal vigil on Saturday evening.

Ms Bennett’s expression of solidarity with anti-cull protesters comes in the wake of Green Party members voting overwhelmingly in favour of an immediate end to the badger cull pilots currently taking place in Somerset and Gloucester. A motion, passed at the Party’s recent conference in Brighton, reaffirmed the Green Party position that the culls are unscientific, unethical and will cause great suffering.

A key aim of the pilot cull was to assess the humaneness of free shooting but Greens claim the methods being used to assess humaneness are completely inadequate and unscientific. In particular they point to an admission by the Government's Chief Veterinary Officer that 'there are no definitive criteria for determining humaneness'. This, say the Greens, undermines the whole project.

Here's a blog from a Somerset councillor which really digs into the problematic technical details around the cull - http://mikerigby.org/2013/09/27/badger-cull-2-update/#

Another Gloucestershire Green, Forest of Dean Green Party member Sid Phelps has been involved in wounded badger patrols in the Forest of Dean. He said:

"The government target is to shoot 5,000 of the estimated 7,200 badgers in the two trial cull areas, killing over 70% of the badger population! Along with over 300 others I have been out on regular patrols looking for dead and wounded badgers. Fortunately we've not found many so it’s clear this ill-conceived plan is not really working. Exterminating badgers is simply not the way to successfully eradicate this dreadful disease."

As we've commented before, there are real animal welfare issues for cows infected with TB, and real livelihood issues for farmers whose herds are struck. The badger cull is not going to help with this. It is not a viable answer to animal or human suffering. We need to deliver a solution based on the best research available, for the good of all.