Over on the Littlehampton Gazette website is an article about the petition being presented to Downing Street last Thursday, click here to read. On the same page are various rants by people calling themselves, anon-e-mouse, food4thought, surfh0g and nickisplight.
At the very end comes an hilarious comment from anon-e-mouse, "Anyways, no matters, the voice of the minorities are louder than you think..."
OK anon-e-mouse you squealy squeak! It is no good trolling news sites ranting about the rights and wrongs of this campaign! Get your faces in the papers and start a pro Eco-Town campaign or just fight for whatever injustice you believe in!!!
Why do people like you make anonymous comments on websites and then expect us to believe your opinion is right when you won't even reveal who you are..?
My advice to anyone is not to respond to their comments as they cannot be taken seriously.
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
Any bets on Beckett then..?
Margaret Beckett, MP for Derby South, has taken over the position of Housing Minister from Caroline Flint, becoming the third person to hold the top spot within a year, and the eighth since Labour came to power... Sounds like a tough job to me - I'll give her 6 months... Click here for more...
Friday, 3 October 2008
Flint out Beckett in!!!
News just in, Margaret Beckett is to become housing minister, replacing Caroline Flint... Yep its official - Flint is off to the Foreign Office as Europe minister. Beckett is a highly respected and experienced minister, so what happens from here is anyones guess... I think Mr Brown is planning a Hallowe'en party!!!
MORE TO FOLLOW
MORE TO FOLLOW
CAFE hand in 10,000 signatures to Downing Street
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/7648898.stm
A small group of us went up to London today to hand over the petition signed by 10,000 people from the communities around the proposed Eco Town site. I caught the 10pm news on the Beeb, and saw the piece about the handover. I guess they weren't to know, when the date of 2 October was set, that there would be a lot of TV crews outside No 10 waiting for news of a cabinet re-shuffle. But it won't have hurt - and the press release includes a great picture of the group outside Gordon's house. Let's hope for some good publicity tomorrow!
A small group of us went up to London today to hand over the petition signed by 10,000 people from the communities around the proposed Eco Town site. I caught the 10pm news on the Beeb, and saw the piece about the handover. I guess they weren't to know, when the date of 2 October was set, that there would be a lot of TV crews outside No 10 waiting for news of a cabinet re-shuffle. But it won't have hurt - and the press release includes a great picture of the group outside Gordon's house. Let's hope for some good publicity tomorrow!
No 10 Petition
Well the 'original' petition I started on the Number 10 website, before CAFE got together, ended yesterday - and reached 1000 - an amazing number really, given the focus on the CAFE petition!
So that one is in Gordon's in-box now - I wonder what he'll say?
So that one is in Gordon's in-box now - I wonder what he'll say?
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Green and unpleasant
Pity the residents of what New Labour politicians think of as the strong and joyful ecotowns, one of which might yet blight a stretch of landscape near you by 2020. Not only will they have to live in developer-built dormitory suburbs given a fashionable name, they will also be the subject of unprecedented scrutiny by quango folk who, in a holier-than-thou spirit, will check on just how "eco" ecotown folk will be. Click for more...
Thanks Jez for alerting me - occasionally I miss those buried ones...
Thanks Jez for alerting me - occasionally I miss those buried ones...
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Crunch time for green housing
Just 12 months ago, eco-towns were at the forefront of the government's plans to build more new homes and reduce carbon emissions. But now, with the credit crunch biting hard and the housing market in real trouble, their future direction looks uncertain. Ministers should shift their green focus to existing buildings — both residential and commercial — which together account for around half of the UK's carbon emissions. Click here for more...
Friday, 26 September 2008
The day humanity starts eating the planet
On September 23, humanity will have used up all the resources nature will provide this year, according to the latest data from Global Footprint Network. Just like any company, nature has a budget - it can only produce so many resources and absorb so much waste each year. The problem is, our demand on nature's services is exceeding what it can provide.
Click here for more...
Click here for more...
Eco town dwellers may be monitored for green habits
Residents of the planned eco towns in England could face strict monitoring of their travel habits, home insulation and even wasted food, to ensure they are truly living a "green" lifestyle.
Experts advising the government on its plans to build up to 10 eco towns by 2020, yesterday called for ministers to toughen environmental standards for the developments with monitoring to ensure their carbon footprint is three times smaller than the British average. Click here for more...
Experts advising the government on its plans to build up to 10 eco towns by 2020, yesterday called for ministers to toughen environmental standards for the developments with monitoring to ensure their carbon footprint is three times smaller than the British average. Click here for more...
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Inside Out - on BBC iPlayer
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00dqp0p
So what did the Beeb make of the Aldingbourne Three? A few days left to watch!
So what did the Beeb make of the Aldingbourne Three? A few days left to watch!
What makes an Eco-Town?
The report, What makes an eco-town?, produced jointly by the BioRegional Development Group and CABE, defines an eco-town as a place designed to make it easy for residents to reduce their ecological footprint by two thirds and their carbon dioxide emissions by 80 per cent below 1990 levels.
The report proposes features of places designed for living within ecological limits. These include generous space to grow food; ample tree canopy cover; attractive alternatives to shopping as the default leisure activity; and substantial reduction in car dependency. It provides clear criteria and practical guidance on how the sustainability of settlements can be monitored and tested.
Click here for more info and to download...
The report proposes features of places designed for living within ecological limits. These include generous space to grow food; ample tree canopy cover; attractive alternatives to shopping as the default leisure activity; and substantial reduction in car dependency. It provides clear criteria and practical guidance on how the sustainability of settlements can be monitored and tested.
Click here for more info and to download...
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Eco-town protesters light beacon
Final signatures for a petition against plans to build a West Sussex eco-town are being collected, as protesters prepare to light a community beacon. The government has named the former Ford airfield, near Arundel, and surrounding farmland as a possible site for 5,000 homes. Ford is one of 15 sites in England originally shortlisted for the 10 new eco-towns. Two have since dropped out. Click here for more...
Meanwhile an environmental pressure group has called for plans for an eco-town to be reconsidered. Click here...
Meanwhile an environmental pressure group has called for plans for an eco-town to be reconsidered. Click here...
No mention of Eco-Towns this year..?
Gordon Brown presented his Labour Party Conference speech yesterday, which consisted of 6,703 words. You can read it here in full on the BBC website. I did a quick count of how many times Eco-Towns were mentioned. Zero, zilch, not a sausage, bugger all! What does this mean for his flawed Eco-Town scheme?
Here is a reminder of what he had to say on September 24th 2007 - "And for the first time in nearly half a century we will show the imagination to build new towns - eco-towns with low and zero carbon homes. And today because of the response we have received we are announcing that instead of just 5 new eco towns, we will now aim for ten eco towns - building thousands of new homes in every region of the country."
Here is a reminder of what he had to say on September 24th 2007 - "And for the first time in nearly half a century we will show the imagination to build new towns - eco-towns with low and zero carbon homes. And today because of the response we have received we are announcing that instead of just 5 new eco towns, we will now aim for ten eco towns - building thousands of new homes in every region of the country."
Monday, 22 September 2008
So where will the power come from now!
http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/ccm/content/your-council/news-room/press-releases/2008/2008-09/turning-rubbish-into-a-resource--west-sussex-to-use-the-latest-technology.en
WSCC have decided to locate their Material Resource Centre at Warnham, near Horsham. Thus WSCC now have no plans for an "incinerator" at Ford.
The Centre at Warnham will deal with all the West Sussex waste that currently goes to landfill. It is actually also where the current landfill waste goes, so the traffic patterns in the future will be exactly the same as now.
One of the "outputs" from the new plant will be "waste derived fuel (WDF)", which will then need to be sold to produce energy or otherwise disposed-of. Biffa, the contractors, currently have 2 potential customers for energy-from-waste in the Horsham area - one a housing development, and the other an industrial park. Also, the WDF will become available with effect from 2011, so by the time that a Ford Eco-Town energy-from-waste plant could come on-stream, Biffa and WSCC should have long-established constomers already on board.
The result of all this is that FAVG will not have access to the WSCC waste stream, and it will not in any case be coming to Ford. Also, if FAVG want WDF then they will need to "import" it (with all the obvious unsustainable transport implications), and the output from the Biffa plant will not necessarily be available to them.
WSCC have decided to locate their Material Resource Centre at Warnham, near Horsham. Thus WSCC now have no plans for an "incinerator" at Ford.
The Centre at Warnham will deal with all the West Sussex waste that currently goes to landfill. It is actually also where the current landfill waste goes, so the traffic patterns in the future will be exactly the same as now.
One of the "outputs" from the new plant will be "waste derived fuel (WDF)", which will then need to be sold to produce energy or otherwise disposed-of. Biffa, the contractors, currently have 2 potential customers for energy-from-waste in the Horsham area - one a housing development, and the other an industrial park. Also, the WDF will become available with effect from 2011, so by the time that a Ford Eco-Town energy-from-waste plant could come on-stream, Biffa and WSCC should have long-established constomers already on board.
The result of all this is that FAVG will not have access to the WSCC waste stream, and it will not in any case be coming to Ford. Also, if FAVG want WDF then they will need to "import" it (with all the obvious unsustainable transport implications), and the output from the Biffa plant will not necessarily be available to them.
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