Friday 13 June 2008

BREAKING THE LAW?

I wonder if the people who set up the Ford Airfield Eco Town site have read the the Data Protection Act?

Their website is asking the public to submit name and address details electronically - therefore they are collecting data. The Ford Airfield Eco Town website has no reference to the Data Protection Act - 1998 and no contact details for the Data Protection officer.

ARE THEY BREAKING THE LAW?

I have requested details of their Data Protection Officer - but have heard nothing yet?

Fortunately this site is covered by Googles T&C.

We are the media...



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Thursday 12 June 2008

Never in the fields of West Sussex

I was walking the dog at the top of Ford Airfield just the other evening, and I found myself thinking about its wartime history; about the dozens of personnel killed and injured when it was bombed without fighter support, and the young men of 23 Squadron climbing into their cockpits, and taking to the skies.

What were they fighting for?
Quite simply, it was for their people, their homes, their way of life and democracy.

Then I thought about what we are fighting for right now, and I found myself paraphrasing Winston Churchill:
"Never, in the fields of West Sussex, has so much been threatened for so many, by so few."

I make no apology for meddling with a speech that has come to epitomise everything that was strong and good about this country. Although our struggle may seem small compared to those dark days, the principles are the same.

We are also fighting for our people, our homes, our way of life and democracy.

Thanks to Keith Chenery for posting this in.

Madness

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=18194

"eco-towns will use cameras to charge motorists if they want to leave"

Honestly, you couldn't make this stuff up!

Tuesday 10 June 2008

More Flint stink...

Published Date: 09 June 2008
By Caroline Flint

HOUSING is one of the key issues that affects us all, and one of the main challenges facing the Government today. As Housing Minister, two of my top priorities are to address the severe shortage of housing we face in this country, and taking action to confront climate change. Eco-towns – an issue that I know has sparked a lot of debate on these pages in recent weeks – are a unique opportunity to do both. Read more of this blah blah blah here...

Sorry Caroline...
Your (UN-ELECTED) boss - Gordon Brown Trousers, often refers back to the Tory dark ages... So can I refer back to when Tony Blair famously pledged to "halve child poverty by 2010", it was one of the most moving and inspiring commitments made in the optimistic days after 1997.

Despite one of the biggest economic booms this country and the global economy has ever seen in the last 11 years, Labour have failed to provide social and affordable housing. The issue of UK poverty has now been abandoned by Labour and the question is, does Caroline Flint care more about property developers than those in poverty?

More protest rally news...

Ben Fogle among objectors to proposal for site near Arundel, in the latest of a series of eco-town protests

Around 2,000 protesters marched against plans for an eco-town at Ford in West Sussex at the weekend, among them TV presenter Ben Fogle. Click here for more...

Recycling Centre fire

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/7445123.stm - Coming soon to an Eco Town near us?

Surely one of the reasons they sited the Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) at Ford was because it is relatively unpopulated?

Sunday 8 June 2008

Neil Champion - writes...

Dear Mrs Flint

It is with disappointment that I am writing today to express my strong opposition to the proposed so called ‘eco-town’ at Ford and request that it be removed from the possible short list of proposed towns.

I am writing, I feel with some authority on the subject of eco development as I am one of only a few hundred CIBSE registered Low Carbon Consultants and as such have undertaken the design of many sustainable, low carbon buildings, which have achieved the highest ratings for both BREEAM assessment and the code for sustainable housing.

As I said it is with disappointment that I am writing, the concept and brief of eco-towns set out in your document Eco-towns: living a greener future are excellent, unfortunately in the case of Ford it appears that the proposals barely fit the brief and far from being an exemplar of modern sustainable living would be a new traffic dominated dormitory town.

Your document states that all new eco-towns will be carbon neutral, using the code for sustainable housing’s definition, this requires all buildings, (houses, schools, workplaces etc,) will have their heating, hot water, ventilation and all electrical services including users energy use provided by zero carbon technology.

In the case of Ford the proposals for this zero-carbon technology appears to be two fold. Firstly the use of the river Arun for tidal power generation and secondly the use of household refuse to generate CHP (Combined heat and power). I say appears, as the exact proposals are either not fully developed or being kept secret, even the vision groups web site does not offer any details.

Starting with tidal power, this is at present an emerging technology with only a small number of trial sites in operation and to my knowledge none of which are on small fast flowing rivers like the Arun. Using tidal power, electricity can only be generated when the tide is flowing about 10 hours per day, therefore for the other 14 hours other means of generation will be required. Furthermore the drastic changes to the currents within the river could have huge effects on the rivers existing ecosystem.

The second option refuse fuelled CHP is a slightly more established process, although still only a handful of sites are currently in operation. Although refuse use is a very carbon efficient method of CHP generation it is certainly not zero-carbon, the refuse has a large quantity of embedded carbon, plastic etc which is released during the process and huge amounts of transportation will be required to deliver the vast amount of refuse especially to a fairly remote location like Ford.

I therefore do not see how this development could achieve zero carbon as required by your policy document and ask as both these systems are still far from reliable proven technologies, what will happen if either fail? Will the eco-town have to revert to the high carbon gas ‘back up’ being proposed by the vision group?

Finally I would also bring to your attention item 9.2.1 The need for regional and sub-regional planning rather than national specification. taken from your departments document ‘Best towns Practice in Urban Extensions and New Settlements produced by your department in 2007 which reads ‘The first lesson from our modern history and from this study is that the choice of new town or major urban extension is one that should be made through strategic design at the regional or sub-regional level, not by application of fixed theory or sequence set at national level.’ and ask why you feel it necessary to ignore this and impose eco-towns upon local communities without local consultation or local approval?

I look forward to your response to my questions.

Yours faithfully

Neil Champion BEng (Hons), C.Eng, MCIBSE, LCC

c.c.

Eco Towns Team
Gordon Brown – Prime minister
David Cameron – MP
Eric Pickles – MP
Nick Herbert – MP
Nick Gibb – MP
CAFE

Flints flipping flawed planning

Mr Gummidge

Mrs Flint forgot to say SHE decides on land use at Ford and SHE decides how many fields will become development land FOREVER. The RED LINE is in her hands.

Once SHE has fouled up this bit THEN and only then she'll endorse local planning

What say will Arun DC and the locals have? Very little, maybe we will be allowed to choose the colour of the flint?! Those will be the only bits of the planning process left for us to be involved in at that stage.

Name & address withheld.

Caroline Flint on Newsnight

This will be available on BBC iPlayer until Friday. Get it while its hot...