tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81508541593648206042024-02-19T22:36:04.710+00:00Stockwood PetePete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.comBlogger408125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-87483271693989706632015-11-27T11:18:00.000+00:002015-11-27T13:39:52.980+00:00Not-so Green Capital<div class="western" lang="en" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">What a dog's breakfast they're making
of the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone. Here's the latest of a
string of lost opportunities.... </span></i>
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">A couple of key cycleway initiatives
that were adopted and funded to help workers reach jobs in the TQEZ have been
quietly – very quietly - ditched by the council and the Local
Enterprise Partnership. It seems they needed the money to make up
for overspends on the budget for the flagship parts of the scheme –
Temple Way realignment and Arena access.</span></div>
<div class="western" lang="en" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Cabinet had approved the spending on
off-road cycleways back in March 2014. One was to be along the
Conham towpath, the other a key realignment of the slow and hazardous
Whitchurch Way, to take it beneath Bath Road on a disused railway
track. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxRkwQXYTpNIOjZ2uMlN9gPOy4L4pbjpV79pWfywmJZuKSG-bynnFmFKJxa9O3pNuIqT223sMD5-QAut2krPPLRriVyUzCHbSUFxt5VXWWsNvowq8hocbDU2kZ_tl1ouXBSQc4PNseJ-Y/s1600/151127NCN3inwaiting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxRkwQXYTpNIOjZ2uMlN9gPOy4L4pbjpV79pWfywmJZuKSG-bynnFmFKJxa9O3pNuIqT223sMD5-QAut2krPPLRriVyUzCHbSUFxt5VXWWsNvowq8hocbDU2kZ_tl1ouXBSQc4PNseJ-Y/s320/151127NCN3inwaiting.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not the Whitchurch Way - a cyclepath in waiting... and waiting</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">That one, part of NCN Route 3, had been part of the Cycling
City project, too, but never made it to fruition then either.</span></div>
<div class="western" lang="en" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Hard to say who made the decision this
time, and whether they asked anyone else, elected or not. The news
emerged in Mayor Ferguson's belated reply <i>(<a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8150854159364820604&postID=8748327169398970663" target="_blank">see the comments</a>)</i> to a public forum question
at the last full council meeting. It seems that 'the council'
secured the agreement of 'the LEP' to forget the two cycleways –
but, whoever that might have involved, no-one seems to have thought
it should be made public.</span></div>
<div class="western" lang="en" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Especially in a European Green
Capital.</span></div>
Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-55528280737174003772015-11-18T19:03:00.001+00:002015-11-18T19:06:13.385+00:00Board Witless.<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Dear Neighbourhood
Partnerships Business Support Team
</i></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You've been asking
Friends of Stockwood Open Spaces (FoSOS) what's happening about the
community notice board you generously paid for. You know the sort of thing...... nothing fancy, but good enough to do the job.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-BWNFDFmVN5JVFmxpOQcnlnJx4Mjp8bo9ljPz51BEFJW38VfPjgQ7BVw7omUW4oS_5rAOhbcf4R1KRbRiO8FYJR0xRhUk9YRg5oDlk4VeXrMR6MpdLdghMt8Ofnerhz-bb3ailyon-Cg/s1600/151118noticeboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-BWNFDFmVN5JVFmxpOQcnlnJx4Mjp8bo9ljPz51BEFJW38VfPjgQ7BVw7omUW4oS_5rAOhbcf4R1KRbRiO8FYJR0xRhUk9YRg5oDlk4VeXrMR6MpdLdghMt8Ofnerhz-bb3ailyon-Cg/s320/151118noticeboard.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yes, it seems
unbelievable that a year has passed since everything was in place, ready to go. During those same months, the Arena
has moved on apace, the South Bristol Link has been turned from green
belt meadows into a sea of mud ready to link up with the emerging
Ashton Vale to Temple Meads metrobus. The BearPit is being
transformed . Bristol is certainly looking different.
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But Stockwood - apart from a fire in a tattoo parlour - looks exactly the same. </span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If all had gone well, you'd now be seeing our notice board in the middle of this picture, and FoSOS and a load of other local organisations, not least the Neighbourhood Partnership itself, would be putting it to good use. You might even see a council candidate or two posing in front of it.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT_Oz2OKh5nXh6DPKBjeZfV2ct3pX6f1U8o_PgDiTRykaxPB4_vnYhc5ko5mDP1MNxtyn2eKQDxG7nkbhjUISCluRH9W5whpJd0CXUvhOCXSRaK0eWR-KbqIaaVwQ97GumgoIpM30KFAE/s1600/151118noticeboardsite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT_Oz2OKh5nXh6DPKBjeZfV2ct3pX6f1U8o_PgDiTRykaxPB4_vnYhc5ko5mDP1MNxtyn2eKQDxG7nkbhjUISCluRH9W5whpJd0CXUvhOCXSRaK0eWR-KbqIaaVwQ97GumgoIpM30KFAE/s320/151118noticeboardsite.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The empty space is not the fault of
FoSOS. Sure, it was FoSOS that researched and drafted the bid after
a couple of the council's 'arms length' partners had promised, then
failed, to do it, and FoSOS who got endorsements from a load of other
community groups who'll benefit - while our councillors sat on their
hands. It was FoSOS that agreed to act as fundholders. That, in
spite of the last time FoSOS 'fund held ' on behalf of a community
project, the council managed not only to lose the cheque returning
the unspent money, but to suggested that FoSOS had misappropriated
it. Remember?</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway, we finally got
there, cash in hand, and on the point of placing the order for the
board. Just one problem..... it turned out that the city council are the only people
permitted to embed it in the pavement, and they're much too busy with the big vanity projects to bother with a piddling little notice board to
tell people what's happening in our not-very-important neck of the
woods.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Once that little snag
became clear, FoSOS took up a request to organise the work itself, using other
council-approved contractors. But they weren't
interested in the job..</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So we came up with
another scheme. Abandoning the preferred plan for a conventional
post-mounted notice board, we opted for second best. Another kind of
board could be bolted to the masonry walls of the raised flowerbeds
alongside the original site. Fixing this one would be no problem –
local people would volunteer their skills and labour for free (just
as well, because a more expensive board would have to be bought).
We were given the OK to go ahead.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After a bit of
negotiation with the suppliers – they'd wanted the cash up front,
but we preferred half now, half on delivery – the order was finally
placed and our cheque for half the cost was sent off. Yippee.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">BUT – then we got the
message from the council. We mustn't install it ourselves. The
flowerbeds are, it turns out, the property, and responsibility, of
the Highways department. They, and only they, can fix the notice
boards. And only when they have the time, and are paid the money.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So the order, and the
manufacture of the boards, has had to go on hold yet again. There's
not enough money left to pay the Highways dept charge for doing the
job.
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So there's still –
three years after being 'officially' proposed – no public notice
board in Stockwood.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thank you BCC. Your
monitoring form is being be returned, completed as requested.
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Note: Friends of Stockwood Open Spaces has NOT been asked to endorse this post!</i></span></span></div>
Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-63503706296307294032015-08-26T09:31:00.000+01:002015-08-26T09:36:19.910+01:00The Dark Side of the Shops<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEuRW0JP4ET5JgiOSw4rwIbZnu3Ash_cQLbtfug3qSTKycO8GdXu-ePb77p3kzxOfMEk4IOviB190NA7torKQROCErSLZCQC-oN0Nqg0mpkLM6aUO6ZLaX6eDvmjuhijZSRvALbMNZCLU/s1600/150826ShopsYard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEuRW0JP4ET5JgiOSw4rwIbZnu3Ash_cQLbtfug3qSTKycO8GdXu-ePb77p3kzxOfMEk4IOviB190NA7torKQROCErSLZCQC-oN0Nqg0mpkLM6aUO6ZLaX6eDvmjuhijZSRvALbMNZCLU/s320/150826ShopsYard.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">It would easily top any poll for the title of the
ugliest part of Stockwood. The uncared for facade and brutalist
concrete stairways along the back of the Hollway Road shops border a
potholed, badly drained patch of tarmac that provides a hub for the
ward's antisocial activities. </span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Everyone agrees that something must
be done about it - but that's the easy bit. Clearly, the recent
(and very welcome) wall-painting doesn't quite do the whole job!</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4F7GbZdsKzW2pXU9SpSevaBLuNWNcc7OOPqGGAMl_jHcGtfVVnUm9yUJb2mlVFbAHRLLqH2-YqqArzKl3BViAf-sEWihBTrIHvEYhdlYU38Xpg6-aqEN1ijGmNlPYh0TLTuljeTtCgpA/s1600/150826shopsflowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="98" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4F7GbZdsKzW2pXU9SpSevaBLuNWNcc7OOPqGGAMl_jHcGtfVVnUm9yUJb2mlVFbAHRLLqH2-YqqArzKl3BViAf-sEWihBTrIHvEYhdlYU38Xpg6-aqEN1ijGmNlPYh0TLTuljeTtCgpA/s320/150826shopsflowers.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">BUT this little patch is prized by shopkeepers and
residents alike. It provides an informal and unofficial car park,
ideal not just for the shops but as a drop-off for Waycroft Academy,
the highly rated primary school a few steps away.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">The whole shopping area started as a single property,
but ownership is now fragmented, and bits like this rundown back yard
find speculative buyers in remote investment markets, “site
unseen”.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">In 2012, it was in the portfolio of a London investor,
who got planning permission to build 4 detached houses within the
site, in spite of strong local opposition including the ward
councillors and several shopkeepers. [<i>One protesting voice stood
out, with a theatrical and emotional personal plea to the planning
committee for the survival of his business and livelihood, threatened
with extinction by the loss of the essential access he and his
customers must have to the back of his shop. The reality was that
it had been boarded up for years!</i>]</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">That planning permission has now lapsed, and <a href="http://planningonline.bristol.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=NPOER8DNKGI00" target="_blank">a new owner is trying his luck</a>.
This time the scheme packs in four semis and no less than five
two-bedroomed flats. Full marks for ambition!</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Something Must indeed Be Done – and here's a new
Something for a planning committee to decide.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Predictably, it's attracting much the same objections as
the last one, most of them centred on an alleged loss of parking, and
its impact on the economic viability of the shops. The assumption
is, clearly, that this local shopping centre, away from the main
arterial routes, can't survive unless customers can be guaranteed a
parking place within a few steps of the shops, while the parents,
from wherever, can drop and pick up their offspring with minimum
exposure to the elements. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Stockwood Pete did a couple of spot checks (pre-11am and
post-4pm) on a wet Monday in August. On both visits, there were
plenty of public parking spots outside this 'private' space, though
some might require a fifty yard walk to the furthest shop. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMJ-4m2v_6O7E3pnWvaRPdNKikgyKDE5MB_WqffP1epLfv1qJJS2vbJsSF81HlqV9wO6XjdIN15hHQa6BZ0CHBKJzRNe1c2Crv0ofMa4GsAX_mMnpQC_D9LpvNbk1f1_BO6YV-RRVAajY/s1600/150826hollwayfrontage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMJ-4m2v_6O7E3pnWvaRPdNKikgyKDE5MB_WqffP1epLfv1qJJS2vbJsSF81HlqV9wO6XjdIN15hHQa6BZ0CHBKJzRNe1c2Crv0ofMa4GsAX_mMnpQC_D9LpvNbk1f1_BO6YV-RRVAajY/s320/150826hollwayfrontage.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">There's
also on-road parking in front of the shops, and that really is in
high demand (your reporter was bawled at by one of three drivers who
moved off from double-yellow lines as soon as they saw his camera).
Available shoppers parking was reduced, too, by the 17 cars that had
taken day-long occupation of key spots close to the shops. Shop
staff, maybe? Or commuters, avoiding the problems of driving and
parking in the city? I think we should be told.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">The site won't be everyone's idea of a dream home, or
even of a starter home – backing on to the shops loading area isn't
a strong selling point - but marketing it is a problem for
developers, not planners. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">It's true that there would be some losses if building
goes ahead here. </span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">The shops will lose some ease of access to their
rear doors (it will become gated, and narrower, and will need careful management).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">There will be a net loss of parking if these
'unofficial' spots are lost to housing (though it could be recovered
if those spots fronting the shops were to be time-limited instead of
being lost to permanent occupation.)</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Weighed against those losses are:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">nine new units of housing at a time of housing shortage,
using a brownfield site very well served by local amenities and close
by a good school.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">An area far less likely to attract antisocial behaviour
(better oversight and better defended access to the back of most
shops)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Improvement and screening for Stockwood's biggest
eyesore.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">For Stockwood Pete, the scales tip heavily toward
granting permission.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://planningonline.bristol.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=NPOER8DNKGI00" target="_blank">Application papers here</a></span></div>
Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-5409173864651817712015-04-14T12:05:00.000+01:002015-04-14T12:05:51.780+01:00Now Showing on Stockwood Open Space<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAkbq165lC1aQRPtnuC2aj4b7E2k6pLnrQSG9mCWyyFOTYLXaG0bIFVanptRhY_fta3yy_jEwyX85FAFQeye-TM6NUJJgPJleoGAkVElOAHh1Vw6b9DbB-NVpagTekXgrbB3xAbYimglc/s1600/150411interpretationboards.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAkbq165lC1aQRPtnuC2aj4b7E2k6pLnrQSG9mCWyyFOTYLXaG0bIFVanptRhY_fta3yy_jEwyX85FAFQeye-TM6NUJJgPJleoGAkVElOAHh1Vw6b9DbB-NVpagTekXgrbB3xAbYimglc/s1600/150411interpretationboards.jpg" height="375" width="400" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The Open Space has - at last - got a couple of Interpretation Boards installed, one at the Whittock Road end and one at the main Stockwood Road entrance. They should encourage people to take a closer look at what this wonderful but little known reserve has to offer.</div>
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Now's a good time to start, after the warm spell has seen the early flowers burst into life...</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7fEojbjce5gS3E4FHP3dar_i-IveKXfxHBLwi7o7zusd2NSmVP26cFAGB19o9dsZFciF10-z2YPoH9dFM6LYkqo4Hrcb9GdShFCRngOxiNoC-Ycp2UJu9VBNMiraKMyFJ4vY2CInBejA/s1600/150408cowslip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7fEojbjce5gS3E4FHP3dar_i-IveKXfxHBLwi7o7zusd2NSmVP26cFAGB19o9dsZFciF10-z2YPoH9dFM6LYkqo4Hrcb9GdShFCRngOxiNoC-Ycp2UJu9VBNMiraKMyFJ4vY2CInBejA/s1600/150408cowslip.jpg" height="316" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cowslip - this one making a first appearance in the glade behind Whittock Square</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFluPmCtbMx33VZ3u9Ukr42VJ9W51KmnYrnYx3q1spNfVhSTZo6Cnr7BKAKNPG_JorWDeaRMwT9Aci8JhyphenhyphenAbBduCYmfHez1CwNvnkXIUHulUjoKDht4DfWQYK_4rcSV3vnauGIfpBuxP4/s1600/150411aliens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYazHbvCp7yTffJRorOFwDgXleth8jJ_P6HRTq4IOEixMRiwxN6l121AjnROrWJIl7fhQHvrJVfmULJ3aATTT8r19JX1zrN49F-xvweg0KfzTBU-czQME6xtaGmhMKr3gTR7qDSrPRWu4/s1600/150411blackthorn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYazHbvCp7yTffJRorOFwDgXleth8jJ_P6HRTq4IOEixMRiwxN6l121AjnROrWJIl7fhQHvrJVfmULJ3aATTT8r19JX1zrN49F-xvweg0KfzTBU-czQME6xtaGmhMKr3gTR7qDSrPRWu4/s1600/150411blackthorn.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blackthorn (sloe) at the 'back door' entrance to the reserve, at Ilsyn Grove</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_kQK1iZRXOsm_pU-rS2AHI3PGO5mAUk8hQpvVTrky93BnhnEVABsvByNj9pTPn03aGt8U46cyFn9pfVsaOBQDzyDOv6jYEids14Wlt25jhT3P_PbV2-eMBCkNcCNu8uqXfujDXKZTOYo/s1600/150411blackthornblossom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_kQK1iZRXOsm_pU-rS2AHI3PGO5mAUk8hQpvVTrky93BnhnEVABsvByNj9pTPn03aGt8U46cyFn9pfVsaOBQDzyDOv6jYEids14Wlt25jhT3P_PbV2-eMBCkNcCNu8uqXfujDXKZTOYo/s1600/150411blackthornblossom.jpg" height="246" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">detail of blackthorn blossom</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidyk7aBT-r6WV5T7M1S9N2KvS6ZdxqRfVdQEZbRp9zulzZbd3634n6YaMqbhCCPN5HBlPFbdud2UUkZBBPtFfrg9MctVr5iQOZuWhf_5pmAHpaYH-cXBhOP_1ggzSoeR5FejoUStZm6Q0/s1600/150411celandine_bluebell.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidyk7aBT-r6WV5T7M1S9N2KvS6ZdxqRfVdQEZbRp9zulzZbd3634n6YaMqbhCCPN5HBlPFbdud2UUkZBBPtFfrg9MctVr5iQOZuWhf_5pmAHpaYH-cXBhOP_1ggzSoeR5FejoUStZm6Q0/s1600/150411celandine_bluebell.jpg" height="320" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0000ee;">Bluebells and celandine in the Ilsyngrove woodland</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfXUb3zyCfFCf9dD0uTH5hElO1faGLFTXzSnMPnw16GLj-aAVCtg7k50Kgf8tBwyrtgwDYsXs2KIOQnmmNiskLHR7Vu_82Sdd_7Wwe53HL-k2Wg4BQK080dagB4fYPV3_EsQfykxSp-P8/s1600/150411primroses.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfXUb3zyCfFCf9dD0uTH5hElO1faGLFTXzSnMPnw16GLj-aAVCtg7k50Kgf8tBwyrtgwDYsXs2KIOQnmmNiskLHR7Vu_82Sdd_7Wwe53HL-k2Wg4BQK080dagB4fYPV3_EsQfykxSp-P8/s1600/150411primroses.jpg" height="310" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Primroses in the woodland edge of the orchid meadow</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs8U7LfpZdPVAxBc32jQVkthpA81sAXDU2IHtBJ5Z-36K8lwtqwaZwB3kax-agNzFg8mUF_mXC0tAKlxPetdrGCA0G40oaectaCf6i1w67Kc5_fn2cGMx_iRXZo-XCHKSCBSvwzYNqu4c/s1600/150411snakesheadfritillary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs8U7LfpZdPVAxBc32jQVkthpA81sAXDU2IHtBJ5Z-36K8lwtqwaZwB3kax-agNzFg8mUF_mXC0tAKlxPetdrGCA0G40oaectaCf6i1w67Kc5_fn2cGMx_iRXZo-XCHKSCBSvwzYNqu4c/s1600/150411snakesheadfritillary.jpg" height="247" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snakes Head Fritillary, orchid meadow</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWwm9i0JE9xuHlIspZCUKseB5ERzMnM6G6Z8hKSZ7TqwPUhRJ7ScskWv9LNEqFxLcLMSICTIFyHtBWfIZUVwq0qhR2SzLJWmxAd6QivV1xY7EsYXmWYixwnX1QioyAa8ZIvK8Jkx19My8/s1600/150411bullaceblossom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWwm9i0JE9xuHlIspZCUKseB5ERzMnM6G6Z8hKSZ7TqwPUhRJ7ScskWv9LNEqFxLcLMSICTIFyHtBWfIZUVwq0qhR2SzLJWmxAd6QivV1xY7EsYXmWYixwnX1QioyAa8ZIvK8Jkx19My8/s1600/150411bullaceblossom.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bullace blossom in the orchard edge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeS7BKDTxNPpJl-zwRdhlEJmOZjMncwfsm-Njihq0GaR2okBJ64_Xj_H72BnTxrWaJTAsr62QHM87Ee9Y0GbS6a6in8Lia5BTyQcQqYSUNwNIWbJhimjXU8VMzp4xaHZT9o0XkWI8-xzo/s1600/150411dogviolet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeS7BKDTxNPpJl-zwRdhlEJmOZjMncwfsm-Njihq0GaR2okBJ64_Xj_H72BnTxrWaJTAsr62QHM87Ee9Y0GbS6a6in8Lia5BTyQcQqYSUNwNIWbJhimjXU8VMzp4xaHZT9o0XkWI8-xzo/s1600/150411dogviolet.jpg" height="320" width="311" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dog Violets, Ilsyngrove woodland</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh30DsIwmXl7wK9HCzeCrL3vDKub_bimPsDY7HI6F-hRl8guaouWlGycbx4skrEZLoymchr27aIiQHiHb-kcs1CtVzxxmxWwvnBhswd7yPdicGZEsjpLEXZil77pr8XyQL-xtTX_aELLGY/s1600/150411viola_alba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh30DsIwmXl7wK9HCzeCrL3vDKub_bimPsDY7HI6F-hRl8guaouWlGycbx4skrEZLoymchr27aIiQHiHb-kcs1CtVzxxmxWwvnBhswd7yPdicGZEsjpLEXZil77pr8XyQL-xtTX_aELLGY/s1600/150411viola_alba.jpg" height="320" width="306" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Viola Alba, now carpeting the orchard floor since we cleared the brambles a few years back (thanks, DR, for keeping up the good work)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyj_wIGitszCE3Q8SO9kGAZAH1wuiBR7BMBBEOo20tCQ_uAaaWU8y9T0MrRSh1hY51p5snfDiMw214fSU5SqGn7rVl1qfhqsmdKUqgOTKMLHdoxSfZvQ8BvAYtu4ix5U_L0bdHOrZtW6E/s1600/150411woodanenome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyj_wIGitszCE3Q8SO9kGAZAH1wuiBR7BMBBEOo20tCQ_uAaaWU8y9T0MrRSh1hY51p5snfDiMw214fSU5SqGn7rVl1qfhqsmdKUqgOTKMLHdoxSfZvQ8BvAYtu4ix5U_L0bdHOrZtW6E/s1600/150411woodanenome.jpg" height="283" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wood Anenome at the foot of Ilsyngrove woodland</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFluPmCtbMx33VZ3u9Ukr42VJ9W51KmnYrnYx3q1spNfVhSTZo6Cnr7BKAKNPG_JorWDeaRMwT9Aci8JhyphenhyphenAbBduCYmfHez1CwNvnkXIUHulUjoKDht4DfWQYK_4rcSV3vnauGIfpBuxP4/s1600/150411aliens.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFluPmCtbMx33VZ3u9Ukr42VJ9W51KmnYrnYx3q1spNfVhSTZo6Cnr7BKAKNPG_JorWDeaRMwT9Aci8JhyphenhyphenAbBduCYmfHez1CwNvnkXIUHulUjoKDht4DfWQYK_4rcSV3vnauGIfpBuxP4/s1600/150411aliens.jpg" height="149" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and finally something completely different - new arrivals that appeared in the cart-washing pond. At least until the herons find them!<u><br /></u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-18869961747394157222015-04-13T01:03:00.000+01:002015-04-14T23:30:53.874+01:00Stockwood hits the headlines – for better or worse<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Strange
that this Bristol backwater should suddenly attract media mentions across the British
Isles. Stranger still that it should happen twice in successive
months.
</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Both
stories have what the press loves – the chance to write a story
that will produce a titter or a snigger among the readers.</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
In
March, it was the <a href="http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/bristol_bath/journey_planning/bio_bus/" target="_blank">BioBus</a>, usually described as the Poo Bus. I'm sure it's no accident that First
introduced it on the Number Two route, gifting an easy line to the
journalists and guaranteeing media attention. Apparently the
bio-methane fuelled bus is a first for the UK, though the technology
is well established.<br />
<br />
Long before moving to Bristol
over a decade ago, I organised a Green Party trip to see Wessex
Water's plant at Avonmouth. What made it special was that while
other water companies were still pumping sewage into the sea, or
taking it out in barges to be dumped, Wessex already had the
foresight to treat it onshore. The biogas provided a renewable fuel,
used primarily to generate electricity, while the dried granular
byproduct could be used to enrich or remediate soil. It's that
biogas that's now being used as a (relatively) clean renewable fuel
to carry passengers from Stockwood to Cribbs Causeway (if they have
the staying power, and nothing better to do!) and all points in
between.
</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
So
it's a good news story.... well done First, well done Geneco and
Wessex.</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
….............</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
This
month's Stockwood story has a very much darker side. I don't know
how the media got hold of it, though I have my suspicions. In the
coming local elections, UKIP's candidate to succeed Jay Jethwa as one
of Stockwood's two ward councillors apparently has a 'professional'
life as Johnny Rockard (snigger) a maker, promoter, and actor in
pornographic videos. Google his name if you must - I did, but a
click or two more was enough before I abandoned the enquiry!
</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Cue
lots of press and broadcasting media attention for the candidate, who's the
vice-chair of the local party. Cue righteous indignation from UKIP
and its supporters, complaining of being picked on by the media. My
guess is that all the attention was inevitable, no matter what colour
rosette the candidate was wearing.</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Apart
from the press enjoying the chance to describe in detail the 'plot'
of one such video, and a huge burst in public awareness of UKIP's man
in Stockwood, just before an election, the story is a bit of a
non-event. It won't bring about a multi-million local tourism boom.
Most people accept that for better or worse, the sex trade exists and
people do work in it and they do meet a demand.
</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
But
despite of UKIP's defence of its candidate, making and selling porn
is not like more legitimate businesses. It's a very dark sector of
the economy, strongly associated with exploitation, with people
trafficking, with drugs, violence and even modern slavery. Perhaps
the media should have used this story to raise these much more
serious aspects of the industry, instead of just treating it as a bit
of a joke. <span style="color: blue;"><i>[added 14/04/15] <span style="color: black;">Looks like 'Object' are <a href="http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/UKIP-candidate-accused-organising-prostitution/story-26328330-detail/story.html" target="_blank">presenting them with </a></span></i></span><a href="http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/UKIP-candidate-accused-organising-prostitution/story-26328330-detail/story.html" target="_blank"><i>the evidence</i></a> <i>now</i>.</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Meanwhile,
for balance, here's a list of the other candidates aspiring join
David Morris as Stockwood's councillor for the coming year, until the
first 'whole council' election in 2016. Sadly, like the UKIP man,
none of them actually live in the ward.</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Phil
Bishop – Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Ian
Campion-Smith – LibDem</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
David
McLeod – Labour</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Graham
Morris – Tory (David's son, I understand. Part of the Tory's
inheritance strategy?)</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Ellie
Vowles – Green. Best of luck, Ellie!</div>
Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-22332469788672035382015-04-03T00:33:00.001+01:002015-04-03T00:33:31.983+01:00A Mail MysteryWe've all seen a marked deterioration in the postal service. Higher charges, less collections, less deliveries, less staff to do the job. I think it's called 'efficiency savings'.<br />
<br />
Today, among the junk mail on our doormat, was this envelope:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit15phv1kYsr7qffk6ishlhfNyMw60jW_a0XtPVb7KUoq1tdlX0giWqJi7iV20vNpHwxAbFB2mFKGNBFKVQC9TvRXZlgjPfgITGOna1207gDpOyTVPNSvW_fTQ8iVv4xBcs-Lf-9o5rQc/s1600/IMG_0780.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit15phv1kYsr7qffk6ishlhfNyMw60jW_a0XtPVb7KUoq1tdlX0giWqJi7iV20vNpHwxAbFB2mFKGNBFKVQC9TvRXZlgjPfgITGOna1207gDpOyTVPNSvW_fTQ8iVv4xBcs-Lf-9o5rQc/s1600/IMG_0780.JPG" height="173" width="320" /></a></div>
Inside it was a letter we'd posted to London on 1st February<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOmjEEr16NMDSoRBSffVBZDgAR3CL43WrjTdmVYqRD9EZIv5F3_OnSxus7NFJFtkJR9wI9eH_er4_U6lEDjjHk2hgkzom85lPM61_nY4iHYAH8A3MxXe_3mzK9DHxmCIdKHw668OBVWY0/s1600/IMG_0779.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOmjEEr16NMDSoRBSffVBZDgAR3CL43WrjTdmVYqRD9EZIv5F3_OnSxus7NFJFtkJR9wI9eH_er4_U6lEDjjHk2hgkzom85lPM61_nY4iHYAH8A3MxXe_3mzK9DHxmCIdKHw668OBVWY0/s1600/IMG_0779.JPG" height="287" width="320" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
By March 3, it appears to have reached Belfast, where the guardians of the nation's postcodes decided that there was 'no such address'. So they took a look inside, and sent it on its way back to us in Bristol, a journey of another month. And we're no further forward.<br />
<br />
I can just about understand that the postcode N1 9DY could be interpreted by some 'efficient' sorting machine as being somewhere in Northern Ireland - possibly Londonderry? But somewhere, at some point, there must have been some of the Mail's remaining human hands making a judgement on the addressing. And getting it all abysmally wrong. Maybe it's a reflection of the sinking morale among the staff, maybe it's just that they have absurd targets to meet, 'lost' letters to process? Even so, such a consistently inept two months of mismanaging the mail (it's not as if the letter had got lost) stretches credulity to the limit.<br />
<br />
A conspiracy theorist might even believe there was more to it; a letter addressed to a radical bookshop might have less chance of getting delivered intact than your average birthday card. But that would be silly, of course.<br />
<br /><br />Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-46555102601993546882015-02-27T01:11:00.001+00:002015-02-27T09:39:20.165+00:00Fracking: testing the groundsOn Wednesday, while a packed hall at the Wills Memorial Building was in thrall to a powerful talk from George Monbiot, down the road at St Mary Redcliffe another audience was learning about just one of many threats to the climate. Fracking for shale gas.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKfsL1poeOrqXS21xpcIWnu0DmZ6FJP8A65C0Il0s0sxfUddUaqef81Ly2uG-kD0giP1ByJ3CjruPfP7YSoLbA3ZKQlJq1YWuPbywIUZgbAUtGud9-vgZfzgSG4ALxIV88-rvFs9kgdE/s1600/150227frackingmeet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKfsL1poeOrqXS21xpcIWnu0DmZ6FJP8A65C0Il0s0sxfUddUaqef81Ly2uG-kD0giP1ByJ3CjruPfP7YSoLbA3ZKQlJq1YWuPbywIUZgbAUtGud9-vgZfzgSG4ALxIV88-rvFs9kgdE/s1600/150227frackingmeet.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Prof Peter Simpson of Imperial College promised an unbiased, fact-based appraisal of the scientific, environmental and economic factors in the Great Fracking Debate. <br />
<br />
Much of his evidence was based on the useful, if arguably limited <a href="http://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/reports/shale-gas-extraction-in-the-uk" target="_blank">“Shale Gas Extraction in the UK”</a> published in 2012 by the Royal Academy of Engineering. Limited because it looks primarily at the engineering risks of fracking, not the wider issues.<br />
<br />
The talk offered plenty of insights that the industry, and its supporters in Downing Street and the DECC, wouldn't want to highlight. It's not going to provide cheaper energy. It's nothing like the US situation, where fracking has boomed because of vast reserves, a market that pays landowners for fracking rights, and a geology that provides much greater depths of rock between clean water and the shale than is the case in the UK. Even so, there's plenty of evidence from the USA that fracking is bringing many local problems, and there (as here) its development may be as much to do with geopolitical dominance as with securing essential energy.<br />
<br />
Put in persective, the UK gas resource is miniscule as part of global reserves – by far the biggest are in China, followed by the USA. <br />
<br />
It turns out, too, that if it is exploited, only around 3% of the shale gas will be put to use. The rest will stay in situ as the extraction pressure drops, or else over the years seep out to the surface, perhaps via the water supply.<br />
<br />
That seepage, and a host of other 'legacy' impacts, would of necessity become the responsibility of a new publicly funded quango, much as the <a href="http://www.nda.gov.uk/what-we-do/" target="_blank">Nuclear Decommissioning Authority</a> has the impossible task of dealing with radioactive waste for centuries to come.<br />
<br />
For Stockwood Pete, whose default position is to challenge anything that might increase fossil fuel burning and consequent climate change, the talk tended to confirm that position. But it didn't get round to addressing the big claims made for fracking in the UK – that by displacing coal fuel, it will reduce net greenhouse gas emissions, and that it will improve our energy security. OK, in an hour and a half that would have been too much to ask!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs6ESkyM7BJe1QZ0wcIUZ9jwvzwqvUvoEp88JVfViF_SOVPDADPYVv4uybv4w_nQfY0zmEtSbITSbI_KA93tHmpmiX4ToO7avzEIbh6PFS5xl0ukOdUUE62buKBJzdJHD6uduknVYWTEw/s1600/150227coaltrain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs6ESkyM7BJe1QZ0wcIUZ9jwvzwqvUvoEp88JVfViF_SOVPDADPYVv4uybv4w_nQfY0zmEtSbITSbI_KA93tHmpmiX4ToO7avzEIbh6PFS5xl0ukOdUUE62buKBJzdJHD6uduknVYWTEw/s1600/150227coaltrain.jpg" height="167" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Here's a coal train, heading out this week from Temple Meads en route from Portbury Dock to EoN's Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Leicestershire. The coal might have come from Colombia or from Australia, Russia or the USA, but it's just one of hundreds of trains from Britain's ports constantly feeding the huge Midlands power stations – allegedly to keep the lights on. (Sorry, that's a stock political soundbite term, like 'hard working families').<br />
<br />
Will fracking actually reduce carbon emissions?<br />
<br />
Not in my book. Or at least, only if internationally there's some kind of agreement to cap global fossil fuel emissions. It's inconceivable that without such a deal, rigorously applied, the coal will just find its way into some other market, and finish up just the same spread through the planet's atmosphere.<br />
<br />
At the end of the British Science Association's event at St Mary Redcliffe, someone pointed out that the choice of energy sources won't depend on any rational assessment of safety, emissions, or price; it will be a matter of political horse-trading, ideology, and influence. Our votes on May 7 just might help with that.<br />
<br />
<i>Much more about the background and the local impacts on the excellent <a href="http://www.frackfreesomerset.org/what-is-fracking/" target="_blank">Frack Free Somerset</a> pages</i> Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-27715250506402965002015-02-07T23:51:00.000+00:002015-02-07T23:59:08.782+00:00Neighbourhood Partnerships in partnershipA good day at Circomedia looking at ways to make Neighbourhood Partnerships work better. Plenty of NP members and councillors there - Labour Green and Tory. For the Stockwood/Hengrove partnership, there were two of us Stockwood residents, but no sign of any of these wards' councillors. Pity.<br />
<br />
Clearly some Partnerships are already very proactive and forward-looking, and it's intended to expand the role of NPs later this year (a cynic might think we can do little more at present than decide which road repairs won't get done - and get the blame for it!) So there's hope even for NPs like ours that rarely - if ever - stretch beyond the bread-and-butter workload prescribed by officers.<br />
<br />
To work, though, it's got to attract a wider range of residents, not just the narrow demographic broken down by age and sex that we saw today and we see at NP meetings. And can it break free from the local authority stranglehold by a bit of 'arms-length' creativity, or with urban parish councils? Though even with that independence, a top-down austerity agenda will emasculate them from the start.Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-73502441457979914762015-02-06T13:52:00.000+00:002015-02-07T00:03:48.149+00:00Rus in Urbe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDxxvWcnrKpDJg3q4lEi4zGZaHvgfduCb4TKsgvtHlSpiMAPi6BVgqA7SBL3Joz3sOqPgCXcUiTdyKo25mPWEm8tF9w9UxuwmL6bHp2B9KC6wmpW_u3bfkqU9FuvSkPSv_TK2uxP9oQhM/s1600/150206kingfisher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDxxvWcnrKpDJg3q4lEi4zGZaHvgfduCb4TKsgvtHlSpiMAPi6BVgqA7SBL3Joz3sOqPgCXcUiTdyKo25mPWEm8tF9w9UxuwmL6bHp2B9KC6wmpW_u3bfkqU9FuvSkPSv_TK2uxP9oQhM/s1600/150206kingfisher.jpg" height="260" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Wedged between the
consumer palace of the Brislington's giant Tesco Extra store and the
non-stop traffic along Callington road, there's a short quiet stretch
of Brislington Brook and a brookside path.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
The kingfisher has
been a regular patroller recently – though it's very camera shy!</div>
<br />Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-78689366519392573832015-01-27T11:04:00.000+00:002015-01-28T13:29:58.933+00:00Bridging the Gap ? Not 'ere, mate!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIM-D-roOqnuK3p9KXGeQMDsIYt2MYXtQ9eGU_kE_7Lbo3KRsZuaYyYim38ZZhPwAoydrG7-iINSVDl7R7tCzpS_-EOJZ0orWlur9iACkUVlBgXpEXd1E3vUQxcRIpu8tUXUSKVFrI2F0/s1600/150127No2Hub.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIM-D-roOqnuK3p9KXGeQMDsIYt2MYXtQ9eGU_kE_7Lbo3KRsZuaYyYim38ZZhPwAoydrG7-iINSVDl7R7tCzpS_-EOJZ0orWlur9iACkUVlBgXpEXd1E3vUQxcRIpu8tUXUSKVFrI2F0/s1600/150127No2Hub.jpg" height="208" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
The scene when
Stockwood Pete left the Temple Gate consultation for a peak time
journey home. The 3 mile trip took an hour, most of it spent here.
The new proposals would do next to nothing to relieve the discomfort
and delay of this and similar journeys.</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
'Bridging the Gap'
looks like being a strapline for Bristol's year as European Green
Capital. Not as a daring highwire act, but as a serious attempt to
bridge the gap between our green rhetoric and what we actually do to
green the city and the world around us. Because we have to. And because it will make Bristol a better place to be.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
At Temple Gate,
the talk has always been about seamless interchange (add similar
phrases of your choice) as well as the wider city ambitions to
become a low carbon, healthy, pacesetter among the Core Cities.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Do the current
proposals for Temple Gate bridge that gap? No chance..</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
If (a very big if)
the <a href="http://www.bristoltemplequarter.com/gate" target="_blank">plans now out for consultation</a> do allow traffic to flow more
smoothly, then that will help a bit. There's not much to suggest
that will happen, though. We're told merely that '<i>The
reconfiguration of the road will ensure the existing capacity is
maintained</i>'. That doesn't really sound like a step forward, and
doesn't take into account whatever extra traffic is generated by the
Enterprise Zone developments and the major modernisation of Temple
Meads railway station to accommodate ever-rising passenger numbers.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
By the same token,
the conflicts between walkers, bikes, and traffic mostly remain... a
double whammy because it not only discourages the first two groups,
it causes delays and traffic build-up.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
A huge problem for
the city's planners is that they simply don't know what's going to be
built on the <a href="http://www.bristoltemplequarter.com/assets/TQEZ_Dev_Pros_v1_1.pdf" target="_blank">various Enterprise Zone sites</a>. The Arena and the new
Friary-side station entrance seem assured, but the rest are just a
gleam in the eyes of the LEP and speculative developers. How can
anyone design a road traffic system to serve that?</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
The obvious answer
would be to wait and see. Even the suggested improvements to a
short section of the Brunel Mile, taking centre stage in the Temple
Gate literature, can't form part of a coherent whole until the big
decisions are taken about Plot 6. For the rest of it, the newly
straightened Temple Gate – Temple Way alignment would provide no
opportunities for better public transport access to the immediate
station/interchange area – wherever it might be. Even the spanking
new Metrobus gets no nearer than 300m to the station – and that's a
single route in a single direction.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
To 'Bridge the
Gap' would be to provide that interchange. It's essential to absorb
all the new travel demands of the TQEZ and the rising passenger
numbers at the station. And it's got to be good – very good - if
it's to persuade significant numbers to forsake the car.
</div>
Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-26948148940903513372015-01-11T23:58:00.000+00:002015-01-14T12:04:57.267+00:00Temple Meads - Now and When?<div class="western">
<i>A rare glimpse into the opaque planning process
for the derelict sites around Temple Meads station is promised from
Tuesday 13<sup>th</sup>, when we'll be invited to “help shape our
proposals for Temple Gate”. There'll be an exhibition of the
latest plans at the Engine Shed (the original GWR offices) on
weekdays till the end of the month, with actual planners present
between 4 and 8pm on the 13<sup>th</sup> and the 21<sup>st</sup>. The consultation website is at <a href="http://www.bristoltemplequarter.com/gate" target="_blank">http://www.bristoltemplequarter.com/gate</a></i></div>
<div class="western">
<br /></div>
<div class="western">
<i>If they've kept to the letter and spirit of the <a href="http://www.bristoltemplequarter.com/assets/articles/Spatial%20framework%20preview%20.pdf" target="_blank">Temple Quarter design brief</a>, published a couple of years ago, the proposals will contribute to </i>
</div>
<div class="frame-contents-western">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-bkthQ5dbKdcL23IA3ob2G1xNb5xTwTjppncXi0K86HilSNFFTxdi6gQFxCnU0O1vWs-dilRwQUxrDdRUkpyHdYSlfQjzZlMtgtvK97DS93IJfkOj8yRk8smJLm9IJ9EjqCKX6GwdqLs/s1600/150111TQEZambition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-bkthQ5dbKdcL23IA3ob2G1xNb5xTwTjppncXi0K86HilSNFFTxdi6gQFxCnU0O1vWs-dilRwQUxrDdRUkpyHdYSlfQjzZlMtgtvK97DS93IJfkOj8yRk8smJLm9IJ9EjqCKX6GwdqLs/s1600/150111TQEZambition.jpg" /></a></div>
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
<i>which sounds like
common-sense if seriously unambitious (where's the connectivity with
the rest of Bristol, where's the expectation of quality? "21st Century" isn't enough)
</i></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Before we get to a glimpse of
this promised land on Tuesday, lets look at where we are – at least
with the rail/bus links.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Temple Meads is a
lovely station – but it provides next to nothing for people on the
town side of the ticket barriers. No seats. No toilets. No cash
machine. During the working day there's a WH Smith's, plus basic refreshments
and flowers outside by the taxi ranks. There's been an attempt to
provide more public transport information as well – a real-time
display and more for buses leaving stops around the station, and
volunteer meet-and-greeters for the bewildered.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfNctuaGsa62N_9tgLOAaCKg5lK-attpzlfGGoZeChuS0B8ILJyq91LCW2qii3IeKE_XiQeoFLl4czsHRrm-zJOCCQQIXvPSwgIp536juji3HO3R8VBXwPM7E10fGFapHqhyphenhyphenG_rZvWJCI/s1600/150111BTMinfo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfNctuaGsa62N_9tgLOAaCKg5lK-attpzlfGGoZeChuS0B8ILJyq91LCW2qii3IeKE_XiQeoFLl4czsHRrm-zJOCCQQIXvPSwgIp536juji3HO3R8VBXwPM7E10fGFapHqhyphenhyphenG_rZvWJCI/s1600/150111BTMinfo.jpg" height="320" width="224" /></a></div>
<br />
There are bus
timetables to take away – but the only bus map of the city comes
courtesy of First, and only shows their services (I got the last one,
anyway!) Even the Elf-Kingdom to our southwest publishes a bus map –
but the European Green Capital no longer seems interested.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
For those travelling
on from Temple Meads by bus, the most fortunate are those heading for
the airport, or for the 8 and 9 services to the city centre and
Clifton.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjePRLldOWLZmbLbZGjO-nz8VH80ySqHQI_qhlU9dPOFgaHDgnQBkeb5J6TjnlvSOh2vE3OmoSkkATf6OE7_lnP0G6gvM5aFYVLHnAVDT12nfQsrd5B7lwCbb81jvkQp6Gx21nMm2sqqSk/s1600/150111_8-9BusStop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjePRLldOWLZmbLbZGjO-nz8VH80ySqHQI_qhlU9dPOFgaHDgnQBkeb5J6TjnlvSOh2vE3OmoSkkATf6OE7_lnP0G6gvM5aFYVLHnAVDT12nfQsrd5B7lwCbb81jvkQp6Gx21nMm2sqqSk/s1600/150111_8-9BusStop.jpg" height="267" width="320" /></a></div>
They get the benefit of the station canopy while they wait.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
No such luck for UWE
students and staff, and others headed up the Gloucester Road. For
them – if they can find it - there's an unmarked, un-timetabled,
unsheltered stop half way up the ramp.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqauQzSPT_7To7NXvBg-fHQvfm8SmAvM6xa8b3tOG_rX3BWuLuIvwdlhvo3njtuNRtLOmrZGtxiqZ6sUR8Dxy7822r3KC5SsvEZeimMBZ-pRTd0ZowiVKjXHgL8gRmx6iX2q0ujg4Wuig/s1600/150111_70BusStop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqauQzSPT_7To7NXvBg-fHQvfm8SmAvM6xa8b3tOG_rX3BWuLuIvwdlhvo3njtuNRtLOmrZGtxiqZ6sUR8Dxy7822r3KC5SsvEZeimMBZ-pRTd0ZowiVKjXHgL8gRmx6iX2q0ujg4Wuig/s1600/150111_70BusStop.jpg" height="245" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
For buses into the
south-eastern suburbs and beyond, there are stops along Temple Gate at the foot of the
ramp; small shelters that may be the only option for the busy narrow
pavements they stand on, but totally inadequate for the passenger
numbers they attract, and under extra pressure from pave-cyclists
escaping the considerable risks of riding the main highway .<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Those arriving from
the same places, or boarding the 1 or the 2 towards the north-west
of the city, must cross Temple Gate, adding as much as 2 minutes
to the journey time, or much more if it leads to a missed train or
bus.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6VJUc0uvoD3YXwZIEg1JylMbjnioDSWC2JHDSqc8avx1aXD-N0L6T9RukD8DxLHjOyqQQCLal0W9fwHfIZO09wImBvSGZYZrHmDz9nDGpjTph3xhrE7wM2bwBM0c7yINoTyvtUIH_WXI/s1600/150111TempleGateCrossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6VJUc0uvoD3YXwZIEg1JylMbjnioDSWC2JHDSqc8avx1aXD-N0L6T9RukD8DxLHjOyqQQCLal0W9fwHfIZO09wImBvSGZYZrHmDz9nDGpjTph3xhrE7wM2bwBM0c7yINoTyvtUIH_WXI/s1600/150111TempleGateCrossing.jpg" height="125" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
(Those 2 minutes might not seem much, but similar time savings
are used to justify many £millions of investment in grandiose
flagship transport schemes!)<br />
<br />
No real-time displays on any of these stops, by the way </div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Passengers suffering
these minor, but wholly unnecessary inconveniences are actually the
lucky ones. Those whose journeys will take them to other parts of
the city – huge swathes of the south, southwest, east and
northeastern urban areas must add an extra leg, and an extra wait, to
complete their journey. Or jump in a taxi, of course.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">WasteLand of
Opportunity.... the undeveloped brownfield sites around the station.</span></b></span><br />
<br />
Even before electrification and MetroWest, passenger numbers at Temple Meads have been rising. With the present shambolic interchange between rail and bus there'll certainly be a shift in the modal split away from rail/bus toward rail/car or rail/taxi - exactly what we can't afford to happen. So radical change is a must - and it's got to involve those wonderful windfall sites around the station. The Temple Gate proposals must take them into account.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9C8MbAgJBnhw01sSq2d6idyF140oyrENiNiKwcxuibNlHxmCrwuqFNE3uMiXkQVs3QOPesU7oUJZq6olhSs6TJMb3cFdvEb3NHg-BeR_CKoTWX4pcyxCBuVOW-6fl39g0aimvUY6KA1Q/s1600/150111Plot6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9C8MbAgJBnhw01sSq2d6idyF140oyrENiNiKwcxuibNlHxmCrwuqFNE3uMiXkQVs3QOPesU7oUJZq6olhSs6TJMb3cFdvEb3NHg-BeR_CKoTWX4pcyxCBuVOW-6fl39g0aimvUY6KA1Q/s1600/150111Plot6.jpg" height="127" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
First among them is Plot 6, of course. That's the strip between the station and the Friary, where Network Rail have talked of putting the new station entrance. Although the DigbyWyatt Shed (the redbrick part of the station currently used to park cars) will be provide a home for the London electric expresses, and so won't be available as a common concourse for all passengers, it must be possible to find similar space in the new entrance for the amenities that waiting passengers want. Plot 6 offers easy access to southbound buses from Temple Gate, and could be engineered to allow northbound buses to enter and leave while the pedestrian crossing is in use, keeping flow interruption to a minimum.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPQP1eBtHpLnP2YESAwbWSIFlk3XEh9jNERG6Z3KOj6crdhBQjXANiTaM1BgpsJVNTxqFsZ5eeTEWzE2nDNLazXJz8PTKw5Ehm9IBN6Y_KmvAMJU3ppbo_c8qDqIB7isNypExav8IZRSE/s1600/150111BandEsite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPQP1eBtHpLnP2YESAwbWSIFlk3XEh9jNERG6Z3KOj6crdhBQjXANiTaM1BgpsJVNTxqFsZ5eeTEWzE2nDNLazXJz8PTKw5Ehm9IBN6Y_KmvAMJU3ppbo_c8qDqIB7isNypExav8IZRSE/s1600/150111BandEsite.jpg" height="176" width="320" /></a></div>
Next, the area around the Bristol and Exeter building at the front of the station. Again, a great opportunity to get the buses off Temple Gate while their drivers are busy taking fares and issuing tickets to boarding passengers (what a crazy way to do things!). Already First seem to be using this 'mixed use development' as an ad hoc bus park. An advantage could be easy access into the station at the road level, and through to a planned eastern exit on Cattle Market Road (for the Arena, more new developments, and traffic-free routes to Brislington and beyond). Difficulties might be in providing a route into the site to and from the northbound lanes of Temple Gate. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR2mvjIAGTvFPchC5fpMb6P2X_3ZsBgDMzUBsJXSxGFLernx3TqkYdX68Kp-q06F9S4ZeUP4VJDkF2lgneLabmVmv94PRd87prFnqqcchxhS9s03xl0bKSRzfn5KpeCacdyDo6XUTPGHs/s1600/150111Parcelforce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR2mvjIAGTvFPchC5fpMb6P2X_3ZsBgDMzUBsJXSxGFLernx3TqkYdX68Kp-q06F9S4ZeUP4VJDkF2lgneLabmVmv94PRd87prFnqqcchxhS9s03xl0bKSRzfn5KpeCacdyDo6XUTPGHs/s1600/150111Parcelforce.jpg" height="195" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Finally, that long-derelict eyesore the Royal Mail building on Cattle Market Road. Probably not a place to redirect buses - but potentially a hub for pedestrians, bikes, and - yes - cars! With the Arena over the bridge, dependent in its financing plan on parking revenues, that's become a sad reality - and of course there'll always be a need for some station car parking. Whatever happens on the other two sites, this one needs to complement them. <a href="https://bristolpolitics.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/prime-minister-brands-bristol-eyesore-a-bad-advert-for-the-city-during-visit/" target="_blank">Reported plans</a> by the present owners Kian Gwan to use the existing structure for multiple uses, and to relieve the isolation of the site with a riverside boardwalk link towards the town actually look very promising, especially if Network Rail and the Arena planners manage to provide direct access to and through the station (those who are familiar with Cardiff Central will recognise the similarities)</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
The conclusion is that all these sites are interdependent, and all relate to Bristol's transport infrastructure. Mess one up, you mess the lot up. On Tuesday, when we get to see what's being lined up for Temple Gate, the big test will be how it relates to improving public transport, and whether it shuts down options for the other sites.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
This picture is the flyer for the Temple Gate consultation :<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWpg-TvI36FlwqIrsuRIpMVXSlguFsoZT-fOlz0eCc1QW3J8r0vubq2GymPmVOpSdJPrYfSU65tP_fZV6hm7AFsRUjVAQXfOpKnxwv4u7jsFmctF6Pujh7KAJJvxHsbSHbm-X1_n84wC0/s1600/150111consultationflyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWpg-TvI36FlwqIrsuRIpMVXSlguFsoZT-fOlz0eCc1QW3J8r0vubq2GymPmVOpSdJPrYfSU65tP_fZV6hm7AFsRUjVAQXfOpKnxwv4u7jsFmctF6Pujh7KAJJvxHsbSHbm-X1_n84wC0/s1600/150111consultationflyer.jpg" height="173" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Apart from the much heralded two-way carriageway, some scaffolding removed and an opportunistic spot of infilling, it looks much as it does today. Lets hope Tuesday reveals something much more radical</div>
Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-12380900141369949782014-12-23T21:49:00.000+00:002015-01-09T23:36:13.123+00:00The Railways Bill<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
<span style="color: red;"><i>[See update (added Jan 9) at end] </i></span><br />
<br />
Come January 9<sup>th</sup>,
the <a href="http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2014-15/railways.html" target="_blank">Railways Bill</a> is scheduled for its Second Reading in Parliament.
Bristol's MPs should be well-placed to support it – but will they?</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
The Bill, introduced
by the Greens' Caroline Lucas with formal support from a number of
Labour and Plaid Cymru MPs, has been hyped as renationalising the
railways.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
It doesn't do that
though. This Bill is more modest and very much cheaper. It sets out
to bring the passenger train operating franchises, the ones currently
held by Virgin, Stagecoach, First, and a fistful of foreign owned
companies, back into public control.
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfI9syXmFeT6WojlBfomQ8vmopBBxyi8aWVe1DdqxwKmyupeOB2i6mkV4TWk81Ok41TUcIQPTlGyGtg6NBPlaIl24XizE9jLjDCKsfdFliytp-f-6lFRTe2uCBzMpeICK7NJR-ZzqJ5MU/s1600/141223Collection_of_TOCs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfI9syXmFeT6WojlBfomQ8vmopBBxyi8aWVe1DdqxwKmyupeOB2i6mkV4TWk81Ok41TUcIQPTlGyGtg6NBPlaIl24XizE9jLjDCKsfdFliytp-f-6lFRTe2uCBzMpeICK7NJR-ZzqJ5MU/s1600/141223Collection_of_TOCs.jpg" height="199" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">picture from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_operating_company">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_operating_company</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Instead of buying
these companies out, it waits for the end of each contract, then
awards the new operating contract to a publicly owned company –
thus turning the trains back into a public service instead of the
cash cow they've been for the private operators.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">Test bed - East Coast
Main Line</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Of course, cash cows
don't always cough up, and when franchisee National Express East
Coast found that they couldn't fulfil their contract and show a
profit, they walked away (<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14087578" target="_blank">very cheaply</a>!) from their expensively
negotiated franchise. To keep the trains running, a public company
East Coast Main Line was created to fill the breach. They filled it
very successfully from 2009 to date, increasing passenger numbers and
revenue, and cutting the net subsidy to a mere 1% (the industry
average is 32%, and a lot of that leaves the country!)
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Even so, the current
government has insisted on returning the route to the private sector.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">Public Opinion</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Very positive. <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/news/2014/05/11/why-do-people-support-rail-nationalisation/" target="_blank">A YouGov survey</a>
shows overall backing of three-to-one; even Tory voters were evenly
divided. It's not unreasonable to think that Bristolians' opinions
won't be much different.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">Party policies</span></span>.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
MPs in this
parliament aren't as enthusiastic as the general public, according to
<a href="https://www.ipsos-mori.com/newsevents/blogs/thepoliticswire/1555/What-next-for-Rail-MPs-views-on-rail-franchising.aspx" target="_blank">a recent Ipsos-MORI survey</a>
– as you'd expect given the make-up of the House. But in practice,
few parties have a clear-cut policy - just Conservatives who are
ideologically against, while Greens are strongly committed in favour. </div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
SNP have made positive
noises, but where would that leave their funding from Brian Souter of
Stagecoach? LibDem conference agreed that public bodies could enter
the franchise bidding against the private sector – though, as
<a href="http://www.transport-network.co.uk/Christian-Wolmar-on-rail-nationalisation/10773" target="_blank">Christian Wolmar points out</a>,
the franchise bidding system is hugely expensive and wasteful.
Labour, while famously once espousing the common ownership of the
means of production, distribution and exchange, now seems frightened
of any formal endorsement of even having anyone but the private
sector run the country's train services. That's in contrast with
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-30344443" target="_blank">Labour's position in the Welsh Assembly</a>, where
they're looking at setting up a non-profit arms length company to run
the Wales and Borders services, when the franchise enjoyed by Arriva
(Deutsche Bahn) ends in 2018. That's a proposal backed by Plaid
Cymru in the Wesh Assembly, but dismissed by the Welsh Tories as
'Marxist'!</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
As for UKIP, who knows? Maybe, if he still reads this blog, Mike Frost could tell us?<br />
<br />
On January 9<sup>th</sup>,
the Railways Bill could be killed stone dead, or it could trigger a
sea change in which passenger train services can run primarily for
the benefit of the public. That depends on which MPs can find the
time to be there to vote, and how they balance the pressures from
their party whips, their constituents, and their consciences. We'll
see.<br />
<br />
<i>[Added Jan 9:]</i> <i> There was no time for
the second reading today in the House of Commons, so it's been put back
to February 27. Meanwhile, not much enlightenment from local MPs about
their voting intention. Just Kerry McCarthy, who seems to be saying NO
- she wants to keep the franchise bidding market going, but to allow a
publicly owned company to join the bidders. No word from Stephen
Williams, while Dawn Primorolo still pretends her deputy speaker's role
demands that she express no opinion on anything parliamentary!</i><br />
</div>
<a name='more'></a>Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-32972005586651156512014-12-06T22:10:00.000+00:002014-12-06T22:10:41.284+00:00The Rendles of BedminsterUntil a couple of weeks ago, Stockwood Pete had never heard of Thomas
Rendle VC, whose bravery a hundred years ago was being honoured at a <a href="http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Second-memorial-stone-laid-Bristol-WW1-Victoria/story-24571427-detail/story.html" target="_blank">ceremony in St John's churchyard</a>, Bedminster.<br />
<br />
But
I had heard of his younger cousin Ellen who lived just two doors
further down Victoria Place. I actually met her once – and later
married her grandaughter. So reading the family name in the 'Post'
reports gave us both special reason to find out more.<br />
<br />
While
Thomas and Ellen were Bristol-born, his father, her mother, and their
five siblings had all been born in mid-Devon, and brought to Bedminster by their
mother when she was prematurely widowed. Other Rendles had already made
the move, part of the mass escape from the market failures and
grinding rural poverty of Victorian England that forced so many to
migrate into the growing industrial cities.<br />
<br />
Thomas's
career, through reform school at Kingswood (where he learned his
musicianship) to the army, through South Africa where he met his wife,
and on into the horror of the First World War will be well documented
elsewhere (though I'll add some links at the foot of this piece). Here
I'll stick to a couple of side-stories that have been turned up in the
course of the research, and offer an insight into Bristol around the end
of the Victorian era.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">Wiliam Rendle</span></b> <br />
<br />
William Rendle would, had he survived childhood, have been Thomas's uncle. Instead
he was, literally, cut down at the age of ten.<br />
<br />
His
widowed mother had remarried in Bedminster when William was just seven.
Her new husband was Richard Davis, blind from birth, who eked out a
living on the streets playing a harmonium – a sort of reed organ.
William was in the habit of being Richard's eyes, helping him – and the
harmonium – around the city.<br />
<br />
In the darkness of an
early evening in January 1882, the two of them were making their way
down Captain Carey's Lane, off Old Market Street. You won't find it
now, as it's become part of the Temple Way underpass, but it shows up
very clearly on the excellent <a href="http://maps.bristol.gov.uk/knowyourplace/" target="_blank">“Know Your Place” website</a>.
Captain Carey's Lane was narrow, but it was much used by the carters
who shifted goods to and from the railway goods yard on Midland Road.<br />
<br />
That
evening, as the harmonium was being trundled down the lane, William
leading and Richard behind, two horse-drawn carts were making their way
in the opposite direction. There should have been room enough to pass –
but the impatient driver of the second cart attempted to overtake. <br />
<br />
It
was never clear whether he had control of his horses, or heard
William's warning shouts, or even saw the child. The cart hit the
harmonium, crushing William against the wall. <br />
<br />
The boy
was carried into a neighbouring warehouse and from there to the
Infirmary, but he died within minutes of arriving. The distraught
driver of the cart briefly disappeared from the scene.<br />
<br />
At
the inquest, the evidence emerged that many of the rules of cartage
were rarely observed, and that the driver had been all too aware of what
he'd done, though he claimed to know nothing about it till later. <br />
<br />
A
verdict of accidental death was returned. Several of the jury remarked
that at present the street was very dangerous as a thoroughfare.
Just another death in Victorian Bristol.<br />
….....................................<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw7iYDwdKRuVsJThJGXgZKxA5xQloDr9e2l_PNFN1Ai27VghtaF8kredtM9iSGUFayp4qz0EiSDCuPKEb9Tn1OxbKZiLH96cWV1fxKAuDDv6ssvYWQZe2Pn55Wu3eZiWNkmRmmdek_57o/s1600/141206boothrescue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw7iYDwdKRuVsJThJGXgZKxA5xQloDr9e2l_PNFN1Ai27VghtaF8kredtM9iSGUFayp4qz0EiSDCuPKEb9Tn1OxbKZiLH96cWV1fxKAuDDv6ssvYWQZe2Pn55Wu3eZiWNkmRmmdek_57o/s1600/141206boothrescue.jpg" height="163" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /><span style="color: blue;"><b>Education, Education, Migration</b></span><br />
<br />
Life was indeed hard for the children of the poor. Thomas Edward Rendle VC, living in Bedminster with three younger sisters and two brothers, had lost his mother in 1898 when he was just 14.<br />
<br />
Not long afterwards he was ordered to be detained at the Kingswood Reformatory. Over a century later, S.Glos council is, for some reason, reluctant to release the school records for inspection at the Bristol Record Office, so it's not clear why he was sent there. One thing's for sure; the motherless family was pretty chaotic and its members would have to live on their wits.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNBW7D7TUsdwuW4iAT2WiY6kMSYXPARkdhm6iwHPh4e0b12WRWHba0xFD921CHbkWDbm1cDUuKTGVR0Sq2M_ZtO2QMCC-Svm24Ne7C0vbbRqOmendBWkdjE2lbDGj2EZiakgYgtRwbIz0/s1600/141206boothtraining.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNBW7D7TUsdwuW4iAT2WiY6kMSYXPARkdhm6iwHPh4e0b12WRWHba0xFD921CHbkWDbm1cDUuKTGVR0Sq2M_ZtO2QMCC-Svm24Ne7C0vbbRqOmendBWkdjE2lbDGj2EZiakgYgtRwbIz0/s1600/141206boothtraining.jpg" height="101" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
His younger sister Lottie was likewise sent to a reformatory school, in distant Exeter. Later she returned to Bristol and married an Exeter man at St Mary Redcliffe in 1908, going on to live back in Exeter and later to emigrate to Canada.<br />
<br />
A younger sister, Elizabeth, was brought before the courts in 1899. The record shows that her offence was to be 'found wandering', and the court, in its wisdom, ordered that she be detained for four years at the Carlton House Industrial School for Girls, on St Michaels Hill.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWu_M0KKQ4yyF3WR6xaYZVAihELPO-wJDFssG-hs-rCLh8j72MEzTO9JdI4j9OD7vFAPBKaU_DH9YPz0ETwX06jQrmLidGfscLIhlemuuIVUIG2BDZ-je1doNzDk2I8aZ8Yc9sPWHSFAo/s1600/141206boothfarmcolony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWu_M0KKQ4yyF3WR6xaYZVAihELPO-wJDFssG-hs-rCLh8j72MEzTO9JdI4j9OD7vFAPBKaU_DH9YPz0ETwX06jQrmLidGfscLIhlemuuIVUIG2BDZ-je1doNzDk2I8aZ8Yc9sPWHSFAo/s1600/141206boothfarmcolony.jpg" height="55" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Another sister, Maud, was sent to live with her married aunt's family in Coventry, but in 1904 was sent (along with the two younger brothers) to Canada by the Bristol Emigration Society to a very uncertain future. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLqSU4uK4Rc-Gg-Yn0kW5S2z3f28o8K_0YAq3e_To9yUWR-VSeRCoGivR0TRd1Wx7FQeUqU5EZdVhyphenhyphenSWLK7SJmAxQmI-ocxUmEAeB-9SwZO4qh7GTkBS84_yWdr5-GQsZzkHpT4vcsQu8/s1600/141206boothoverseas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLqSU4uK4Rc-Gg-Yn0kW5S2z3f28o8K_0YAq3e_To9yUWR-VSeRCoGivR0TRd1Wx7FQeUqU5EZdVhyphenhyphenSWLK7SJmAxQmI-ocxUmEAeB-9SwZO4qh7GTkBS84_yWdr5-GQsZzkHpT4vcsQu8/s1600/141206boothoverseas.jpg" height="156" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
All six children, then, were 'rescued' by the social reforms that were all too slowly supplanting the workhouse. The powers of those rescuers, who seemed to have little or no accountability, over the children now seem unbelievable; but they continued for a long time afterwards; even now charities like Fairbridge and Barnados are having to live with the shame of exporting children to the colonies as indentured labour, while knowingly hiding from them the fact they still had parents in Britain. <br />
<br />
I wonder if that's what happened to the younger Rendles.<br />
<br />
<i>Credits:</i><br />
Bristol Record Office for the news reports of William Rendle's death, and the Carlton House school registers – and help in using the archive.<br />
Bristol Libraries for free access to Ancestry records. FindmyPast (subscription) for censuses, news searches, and online reprints<br />
General Booth of the Salvation Army for the pictures above – they're details from the frontispiece of his 'Darkest England and the Way Out', published in 1890.<br />
No thanks to South Glos council, who've still not even acknowledged a request for access to the Kingswood Reformatory archive. Why?<br />
<br />
More on Thomas Rendle VC: try<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=687024774746489&id=563556147093353" target="_blank">Great War VCs</a> – a comprehensive description and CV, plus the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.439887809403977.99913.129190540473707&type=3" target="_blank">pictures</a> to go with it<br />
Excerpt from <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0vpsBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA274&lpg=PA274&dq=%22carlton+house%22+%22industrial+school%22&source=bl&ots=CvZd8fUpH2&sig=QqQibwd6h4KX8Xr2cVNL60PqvS8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v2N6VOKxD7OV7AbbsoDYAw&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=%22carlton%20house%22%20%22industrial%20school%22&f=false" target="_blank">Victoria Crosses on the Western Front</a> – including more about Thomas's siblings.Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-68396496617787122732014-11-05T11:06:00.000+00:002014-11-05T16:46:45.428+00:00Hydrogenesis – or hydrostasis? Remember, this is Bristol<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Stasis, n. a state of inactivity in which no progress is made.</i> </span></span></div>
<div class="western">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Hydrostasis: dead in the water</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj827ZNh8UTiDaBMusrLNe33idiAcQTJQg9LPVHcHe8co3uDsX47HRhCBnr75yA6obH5knD3k0ZJddtoInUNU9GWU9xPG87XUKKmOQBlCw7sNrVyXSMPP3nk0ChUWVVq3dSkKkIOTFRvz4/s1600/141105hydrogenesis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj827ZNh8UTiDaBMusrLNe33idiAcQTJQg9LPVHcHe8co3uDsX47HRhCBnr75yA6obH5knD3k0ZJddtoInUNU9GWU9xPG87XUKKmOQBlCw7sNrVyXSMPP3nk0ChUWVVq3dSkKkIOTFRvz4/s1600/141105hydrogenesis.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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</span></span>
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<div class="western">
<span style="background-color: blue;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue;">Let's start by looking beyond the harbour walls at the big wide world. (Feel free to skip this bit if you're already convinced of the need for hydrogen fuel)</span></span></span></span></i></span></div>
<div class="western">
<br /></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The IPCC has just published yet another, ever more certain warning of man-made climate change bringing “severe, pervasive, and irreversible damage” to our world unless we stop emitting carbon. </span></span></i></span></span></div>
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<div class="western">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But how to get by without it?
Britain's winds have managed to keep the lights on recently, with turbines even outperforming the baseload 5GW provided by the eight working reactors (of fifteen total) of the national stockpile of </span></span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">nuclear power stations. </span></span></i></span></span></div>
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<div class="western">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The CPRE in the southwest was dismissive. “It doesn’t matter how many wind turbines are built, if you don’t have wind you don’t have power” </span></span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="western">
<br /></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Which is true, of course. Fair enough, the more turbines there are, the more likely it is that some will be producing energy, but you wouldn't want to rely totally on their output at any given time. And so far as I know, no-one pretends that you could.
<b> </b></span></span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="western">
<br /></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>That variability of supply is not just a problem wind energy.</b> While consumer demand varies, it's hard to find any (non-carbon) fuel that can respond to that changing demand. Gas and (up to a point) coal and biomass power stations are quite demand-responsive; wind is anything but. Same goes for wave energy and the other generating sources that are equally ineffective at tracking the changing demand.</span></span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="western">
<br /></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">At the other end of the scale, nuclear energy provides fairly predictable outputs that bear little relationship to what consumers actually need at the time they need it.
Solar has the advantages - and disadvantages - of both these extremes, while tidal needs big-scale civil engineering to even approach demand responsiveness. </span></span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="western">
<br /></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The big problem isn't finding renewable energy sources – it's finding ways to store the energy produced for where and when it's needed.
That's where hydrogen comes in.</span></span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="western">
<br /></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Back in Bristol a couple of weeks ago, while yet another trainload of Hinckley Point's radioactive waste was trundling through the city towards an uncertain future in Cumbria, a bunch of councillors at City Hall were discussing our innovative, but stalled, project involving hydrogen fuel. </span></span></div>
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<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I think hydrogen is brilliant. As an energy store, it's just like coal, gas, and oil, available when needed. But unlike them it's emission-free, it's freely available anywhere there's water (no geopolitical energy security worries there, then). Put it in a fuel cell, and all you get out is energy and water, with a conversion efficiency way above orthodox engines, and no climate change, no radioactive waste, no <a href="http://www.bristol247.com/channel/news-comment/comment/tony-dyer/air-pollution-is-bristols-invisible-killer/" target="_blank">killer local air pollution</a>. And you can make it at the times when power plants of every kind aren't having to meet immediate consumer demand. </span></span></div>
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<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Hydrogenesis</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqgh73yJqEsoukPg6pxokcuq3IyRkMI-S5APsMvLwS1yyKGxgg0A8ohjVBiYsDAgwytLPtreD13ddL6WyZ2Lr-m29-owNPVa9xVcl-hAm1ZeLZINVTdsQdLhyphenhyphennY7hl8SByOWXIobOBEo/s1600/141105hydrogenesiscloseup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqgh73yJqEsoukPg6pxokcuq3IyRkMI-S5APsMvLwS1yyKGxgg0A8ohjVBiYsDAgwytLPtreD13ddL6WyZ2Lr-m29-owNPVa9xVcl-hAm1ZeLZINVTdsQdLhyphenhyphennY7hl8SByOWXIobOBEo/s1600/141105hydrogenesiscloseup.jpg" height="30" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We've had just such a hydrogen system here in Bristol over the last couple of years. Hydrogenesis, the specially designed and built harbour ferry, wasn't a totally new technology, but it did require the enthusiasm and cooperation of the council, local designers and businesses, and at least one major corporation, each putting up some of the cash. That was the difficult bit – and it happened. It worked. Apparently there's even an official report to say so (though it's defeated my efforts to find it) </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But now Hydrogenesis is moored up without any role, without any known future, in the harbour. It's life support machine, the hydrogen fuelling station has been removed at the end of its hire term. </span></span></div>
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<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The councillors, in the shape of the 'Place' Scrutiny Commission, couldn't find much cause for optimism. Bristol might have introduced the the UK's first fuel-cell powered ferry, there might be every reason to think the initial investment had succeeded in showing it worked, but the human part of the whole project cannot get its act together. </span></span></div>
<div class="western">
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<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There's serious ill-will between rival ferry companies, certain councillors, and the mayor – so much that co-operation seems impossible. And without that co-operation, the whole project, the whole investment by all the parties, becomes a failure, a waste of money, a waste of a huge opportunity to kick start decarbonisation of local transport. </span></span></div>
<div class="western">
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<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">What it needs is a commitment to a permanent hydrogen source; the £10k-a-month temporary unit served its purpose but clearly isn't a long term solution. </span></span></div>
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<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Over in Swindon, Honda have just <a href="http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/honda-opens-new-hydrogen-filling-station-swindon" target="_blank">commissioned a commercial scale filling station</a> where solar energy is used to separate the H2 from the O, and deliver it to vehicles. So it's perfectly possible. </span></span></div>
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<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In Bristol, a harbourside production unit (why not at the Feeder Road basin,. in the TQ Enterprise Zone?) could provide not just for working craft like Hydrogenesis but for road vehicles too. Powered, perhaps, by renewable electricity from the Avonmouth wind turbines, from the tidal flows of the Avon, or the solar panels that will doubtless cover the new Arena. </span></span></div>
<div class="western">
<br /></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There's national funding on offer too, if the bid's right. Last month <a href="http://www.itm-power.com/news-item/government-funding-to-help-prepare-the-uk-for-the-arrival-of-hydrogen-fcevs/" target="_blank">£11 million was allocated</a> toward setting up as many as 15 hydrogen refuelling stations and for public sector fuel-cell powered vehicles. </span></span></div>
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<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The <a href="https://www.bristol.gov.uk/committee/2014/sc/sc048/1023_14.pdf" target="_blank">brief report</a> before 'Place' scrutiny did mention looking for funding – but it looked half-hearted and unconvincing. With the different parties only too ready to slag each other off (and there was some of that at the scrutiny meeting), it leaves the feeling that this terrific opportunity (the sort of thing that's essential if we're to respond to the threat of climate change) will be lost because the egos involved couldn't bring themselves to co-operate. </span></span></div>
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<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">George, do something.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-59834429131421460922014-10-14T11:34:00.000+01:002014-10-21T11:15:08.961+01:00Food Colouring – without the E numbers<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-rOJv2fWOQiz1EGl5-7_ANySoOXkaPC7JBFVZLRBAWC9e-VBqv3byjv8KUumKIec7qPVa0ktbOYSoEi14y9H1YJ236upbWNjTBjTCQdf4qqWvVx6CoOYjP-kfLhhzWcqyu1Y468yTQy0/s1600/141014saladblue.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-rOJv2fWOQiz1EGl5-7_ANySoOXkaPC7JBFVZLRBAWC9e-VBqv3byjv8KUumKIec7qPVa0ktbOYSoEi14y9H1YJ236upbWNjTBjTCQdf4qqWvVx6CoOYjP-kfLhhzWcqyu1Y468yTQy0/s1600/141014saladblue.JPG" height="248" width="320" /></a></div>
<pre class="western" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">L</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">unch. </span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The blue was produced from tubers bought at January's 'Potato Day' at the Southville Centre</span></span></pre>
<pre class="western" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> (the 2015 repeat is on 11<sup>th</sup> January). </span></span></pre>
<pre class="western" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> It's a heritage variety called 'salad blue' and I'm told it also produces excellent blue chips. </span></span></pre>
<pre class="western" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One to invest in again?</span></span>
</pre>
<pre class="western" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDMX-aeF9-eIj_yoPMeIEmbnOy9hkJDc3C9ILNFpwkN6jsiI-CIJJLemjWKXd-fqZYC9RbBwSkqW_vM12xhVyn20cguF16ZfNxWdHue6yadc3u2p1oNA7yVjQtUTkyzGF-LfWQSpzPhHY/s1600/141014incarainbow.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDMX-aeF9-eIj_yoPMeIEmbnOy9hkJDc3C9ILNFpwkN6jsiI-CIJJLemjWKXd-fqZYC9RbBwSkqW_vM12xhVyn20cguF16ZfNxWdHue6yadc3u2p1oNA7yVjQtUTkyzGF-LfWQSpzPhHY/s1600/141014incarainbow.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<pre class="western" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Just harvested, this is 'Inca Rainbow' which came from another of this year's seed swaps</span></span></pre>
<pre class="western" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>
<pre class="western" style="text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">[Added 21/10/14]</span></span></i></pre>
<pre class="western" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>
<pre class="western" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Appetising, eh?</span></span></pre>
<pre class="western" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_o7vi-969WYzN_23X3XE7etY6yUUhhw1rI-S4OOSdDyAXzMDiOi86MHMZ73z86Q8BTEpBK7sHnAj9fnIDtL2Yc7Qs3QxOgwLDQbFZ6zGdUm8oQ5aAIV9e7Sqau0o15z9jOP75tnvO6q4/s1600/141014bluechips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_o7vi-969WYzN_23X3XE7etY6yUUhhw1rI-S4OOSdDyAXzMDiOi86MHMZ73z86Q8BTEpBK7sHnAj9fnIDtL2Yc7Qs3QxOgwLDQbFZ6zGdUm8oQ5aAIV9e7Sqau0o15z9jOP75tnvO6q4/s1600/141014bluechips.jpg" height="294" width="320" /></a></div>
<pre class="western" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>
<pre class="western" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>
Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-58857573291468227992014-06-28T18:00:00.000+01:002014-06-28T18:00:47.603+01:00An undeserved rescue for HorseWorld ?
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">It
looks like HorseWorld's bodged up attempt to sell off its visitor
centre site in Whitchurch for development may not be totally dead –
in spite of being <a href="http://stockwoodpete.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/horseworld-fails-to-convince.html" target="_blank">turned down by BaNES</a> councillors last November</span>.</span></span></span></div>
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<br />
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<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">HorseWorld's
MD and the charity's trustees used the whole costly fiasco as an
excuse to close the popular visitor centre in February. It now lies
idle, the income it generated is lost, and the charity admits to
being in all sorts of financial difficulty.</span></span><br /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ8PcMV82znc5waIvTH8JxFXW8kpAmuq25ZBeYJq-N48NAu8y_M3aZQzu81yelDu95g7h2UnHjpQ-DRYO-EySYYVI5T-Km6ikiQfAoX2IGE9RJpOiNaMOha6ml_BcOmNVLHBKxMP5Hj5I/s1600/140628Horseworldvcentre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ8PcMV82znc5waIvTH8JxFXW8kpAmuq25ZBeYJq-N48NAu8y_M3aZQzu81yelDu95g7h2UnHjpQ-DRYO-EySYYVI5T-Km6ikiQfAoX2IGE9RJpOiNaMOha6ml_BcOmNVLHBKxMP5Hj5I/s1600/140628Horseworldvcentre.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
perpetrators may yet be rescued from the hole they dug themselves
into. On 10<sup>th</sup> July BaNES will likely adopt a new 'Core
Strategy' that takes the Visitor Centre land out of Green Belt and
turns it into a development plot, providing up to 200 houses. See <a href="http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/sitedocuments/Planning-and-Building-Control/Planning-Policy/Core-Strategy/cs_diagrams_annex_to_schedule_of_mm.pdf" target="_blank">p.12 of this</a> for a location map. The land was offered, under pressure to up the
housebuilding land allocations, as a sacrifice to Mr Pickles, and has
been gratefully accepted by his Inspector.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">What
next? It looks like going through.... so expect HorseWorld to make
the most of the instant leap in land value by selling the land to one of the big
developers. Perhaps to someone like Barratts, who are already turning the other side of the narrow rat-run Sleep Lane into an extension of clone village Britain</span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">What
HorseWorld would do with the windfall is anybody's guess. Would
they revisit their expensively prepared scheme for a new Visitor
Centre / Arena, with its dodgy business plan and its reliance on
added road traffic? Would they give their MD a performance-linked
pay rise? Would they go back to basics and do what the charity is
supposed to do?</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Only
one thing's for sure. 200 new houses here will not provide
affordable homes for those who really need them. </span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<br /><br />
</div>
Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-21699602583216259942014-06-20T18:55:00.001+01:002014-06-20T19:03:08.772+01:00Little local difficulties<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">For
most of us, this was the first sighting of The Man from Stoke Bishop in
Hengrove. At centre stage, too, as it turned out to be his turn to
chair the Neighbourhood Partnership meeting on Wednesday.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It
didn't start well. After inviting the other councillors to
introduce themselves to those residents who'd bothered to turn up in
the lecture hall of the Oasis Academy, Mike Frost took his own
turn.... “I'm Councillor Mike Frost, the newly elected UKIP
councillor for Hengrove....” To add a bit of emphasis, he then
asked those present to raise their hands if they'd voted for him –
and looked a bit crestfallen at the minimalist response. Evidently UKIP
voters are rare among those who actually take part in local
democracy.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It
could only get better after that embarrassing intro, and it did,
mostly because Cllr Frost generally deferred to the more experienced
officers who really run the show in these parts.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There
were a couple more fireworks in the box, though. </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><u>The
threat of a new bus stop</u></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Not
just any old bus stop. This one, proposed for Fortfield Road, will
not merely inconvenience those living nearby. Peeping toms (well,
you know what bus passengers are like) will threaten privacy, walls
will collapse under their weight, vandalism and rowdyism will be
rife, road accidents will rocket, and civilisation as we know it will
come to an abrupt end. ( Somehow Stockwood Pete hadn't realised
this when he<a href="http://stockwoodpete.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/bus-miscellanea.html" target="_blank"> blogged about it</a>
over a year ago.)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Most
of the residents present had come simply to alert us to this threat,
so that we could act now to make sure it doesn't happen. And the
newly elected UKIP councillor for Hengrove made no secret whose side
he was on. He brought the topic straight to the top of the agenda
from its lowly spot in 'Any Other Business'</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
objectors were quickly reassured that the whole issue will be
revisited, this time with extensive consultation through a couple of
widely advertised drop-in sessions. That wasn't enough for the
objectors, though. After they'd offered some pretty broad ranging
contributions from the floor, the newly elected UKIP councillor for
Hengrove closed the discussion and moved to the next agenda item.
Cue a mass exodus by most of the objectors, loudly complaining they'd
not been listened to. The newly elected UKIP councillor for
Hengrove looked perplexed. You could tell he's not been around for
long.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><u>The
threat of a public forum</u></span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It
was Stockwood Pete who lit the blue touch paper on the second
firework. And did he really, as Stockwood Cllr Jay Jethwa claimed,
twist her words? Or was he untwisting them when he said that at the
last NP she'd rejected suggestions (broadly supported by the
Hengrove councillors and most others present) to open up a new
dialogue between councillors and residents. Whichever was true,
neither was mentioned in the draft Minutes, so they could not be a
true record.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Stockwood
has long stood out as a ward where the councillors take pains avoid
any kind of public forum where they can be held to account. And
this new threat to their cosy position was a suggestion, put to the
last NP meeting, that “we have a spot in the ward forum
meetings...... in which councillors can report back on their
activities and deal with any related questions from the floor?”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Whatever
the truth of how she responded at the last meeting, this time Cllr
Jethwa was unequivocal. She has NOT turned down the suggestion, and
she told us so.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So
maybe.... just maybe.... our next ward forum might see our
Stockwood councillors tell us for the first time what they get up to
at City Hall. They might even let us ask them about it. Watch this
space.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-25126339213647863872014-04-30T00:52:00.000+01:002014-04-30T00:53:57.907+01:00Ballot Paper shockers – UKIPWars in Bris, while Stockwood's guaranteed two non-resident councillors<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Instead
of standing in the council election for Stockwood (of which more
below) I'm the Green Party candidate in Brislington East this time
round. It looks like being a colourful election, because there's
another of those bizarre UKIP 'misunderstandings'. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">One
Phil Collins has been busy putting his 'independent' leaflet out,
complete with the union flag, explaining that he's a UKIP member and
intends to form a UKIP branch in the ward. But he's not just up
against the usual electoral suspects, including me and the sitting
councillor Mike Wollacott. There's also an 'official' UKIP
candidate, John Langley, competing with him for whatever
anti-European, anti immigrant votes the ward can muster. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
clash might be partly explained by <a href="http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/UKIP-Bristol-branch-chairman-Phillip-Collins/story-18324422-detail/story.html" target="_blank">this news item</a>
from last year. Collins used to be UKIP's branch chairman, but like
so many of their spokesmen he was embarrassingly candid with his
anti-immigrant opinions, so they dropped him. Or did they? A
footnote to the Post story, added in an unusually sober style by
regular 'Post' commenter/ranter UKIPBristol, said the ban had been
withdrawn by the local UKIP branch. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">You
have to wonder whether they've managed to sort it out over the last
year. Looks like they've not. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In
Stockwood, May's ballot paper is looking remarkably different, with
new faces – including Issica Baron for the Greens – filling the
list. Except, that is, for long-time Tory councillor David Morris,
who – much to many people's suprise – has decided to run for
another term in spite of poor health. If David should be
re-elected, we'll continue, as we have done for ten years and more,
to have a couple of councillors who (presumably) quietly get on with
whatever ward casework is required, but otherwise don't keep us
informed, refuse to expose themselves to public debate, and who
unfailingly vote with the Tory group on the council. You get what
you vote for. Or what you fail to vote against</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">One
reason I've abandoned another stab at the Stockwood seat is that
history shows I may well fail yet again. In itself that would be
bearable - but by standing down I won't have to worry that the
elected local councillors won't in future find cause to hamper and
delay my every attempt to get improvements in the ward, in case I
should turn it to electoral advantage. Such is the tribalism of
party politics. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
hope that if elected in Bris E , I wouldn't fall into the same trap.
But it's a big factor in taking my name off the Stockwood ballot
paper. And I'm confident I could represent Brislington East every
bit as well as Stockwood.</span></span></div>
Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-15451912903765673692014-04-20T01:02:00.001+01:002014-04-20T23:33:35.365+01:00May 22nd – sovereignty, democracy, or corporate dictatorship. You choose. <div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Way
back, when the internet was young, the 34 countries of the OECD
(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) was
secretively planning a bid to shift the balance of power away from
states (which, at least in theory, act in the interests of their
people) toward corporations (acting solely in the interests of their
owners) . It was called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multilateral_Agreement_on_Investment" target="_blank">Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI)</a>.
Nominally in the cause of promoting economic growth, it set out to
'protect' foreign direct investment from interference from elected
governments.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
internet killed the MAI. A copy of the draft text was leaked and
people realised what it could mean. Although the mainstream media
largely ignored it, the word spread around the world (I remember
setting up pages on the North-East Green Party website describing
what local impacts it could have). Eventually the resistance grew so
strong that the French government listened to what the people were
saying. France withdrew from the OECD negotiations, and no longer
having a consensus there the whole project was dropped.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Until
now, that is.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">They're
at it again – and this time it's the USA and Europe making the
running. MAI v.2 comes packaged within the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_Trade_and_Investment_Partnership" target="_blank">Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)</a>.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Most
of the mainstream commentary on the TTIP has been on breaking down
tariff barriers to open up markets and encourage economic growth.
It's fairly uncritical, disregarding even the loss of discretion for
individual states to regulate on, for instance, safety, gm foods and
organisms, financial services regulation, or environmental
improvements. Such things are dismissed in the treaty as
impediments to t</span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">he
<i>'</i></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>supreme,
inalienable fundamental freedom'</i> to pursue economic competition</span><span style="font-size: small;">.<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
Outside the specialist press and the internet, there's been very
little discussion about the provisions that encourage FDI (foreign
direct investment) by giving investors more confidence in being able
to produce what they like where they like and how they like without any risk that the
public authorities might get in the way.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thus,
for instance, EDF could make a legal claim against the British
government if its profits from Hinkley B were threatened by new
safety or environmental regulation. Most of the train operating
companies, major bus companies, and airlines could do the same thing.
Tobacco companies could challenge legislation requiring plain
packaging on cigarettes (in fact Philip Morris are already doing
exactly that in a <a href="http://aftinet.org.au/cms/node/519" target="_blank">bizarre legal challenge</a> designed to bypass
Australian national law using the 1993 Hong Kong/Australia Investment
Treaty)</span></span>
</span><br />
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Crucially,
such cases would be not be decided in a domestic court under British
law, or even a European Court under European law; they would be heard
by an international court set up solely for this purpose, passing
judgment solely on the basis of compliance (or not) with the terms of
the TTIP. The public good has damn all to do with it.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/thematicnote.do?id=2052000&l=en" target="_blank">European Parliament's consent will be required</a>
before TTIP is ratified. They want to do that within a couple of
years, so it'll be down to the MEPs we elect on May 22nd.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
really <b>don't</b> know (though I could make an informed guess) how Tory,
Labour, or LibDem MEPs would vote. </span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I<b> do</b> know* how the Greens would
vote. </span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">And I <b>should</b> know how UKIP ought to vote (if they turn up),
given the importance they attach to national sovereignty. But I
suspect they'd not object to this handover of power from elected governments, whether local, national, or European, to international corporatism.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>* best summed up in <a href="http://www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk/DocumentStore/TTIP%20FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">this report</a> from the two UK Green MEPs we already have</i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-90033537165906395342014-04-16T18:49:00.000+01:002014-04-16T18:56:05.310+01:00Election Fever grips Stockwood<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVm5QqwkUeRLi2ZaM2J69w57r_Yw9qC9eaV8sRdlO9myb9DbP1wHQsomotAQ7iLbtx0-DMXUbbZtI8CnrQlJOESTpIqUi6X9VlY4pbuDQxXJejg8jvJdWLnXb-IsUlgNoFNgHw-oKyXaE/s1600/140416electionfeverblog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVm5QqwkUeRLi2ZaM2J69w57r_Yw9qC9eaV8sRdlO9myb9DbP1wHQsomotAQ7iLbtx0-DMXUbbZtI8CnrQlJOESTpIqUi6X9VlY4pbuDQxXJejg8jvJdWLnXb-IsUlgNoFNgHw-oKyXaE/s1600/140416electionfeverblog.jpg" height="224" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black;">Yes,
there's are elections coming up. Three of them. I'm a candidate in one. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black;">But this time it's not in hope of representing Stockwood on the council, let
alone becoming a Euro-MP. This one's for the ultimate in
localisation, the Hengrove Stockwood and Whitchurch Neighbourhood
Partnership.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black;">Up
to four residents can be elected, with voting open to all who live in
the ward. Last chance to vote will be on the afternoon of Thursday
29<sup>th</sup> May at the Library (2.30 till 4), but the ballot box
appears before that at the Ward Forum (Christ the Servant church, 7
till 8 on Thursday 8<sup>th</sup> May). That one's a bit special,
because <span style="color: #990000;">we'll also see whether our two city councillors will, for the
first time ever, take up the challenge to 'report back' to residents
on their activities at City Hall</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black;">There's
more information (and probably nomination papers) at the Library, or
<a href="http://www.bristol.gov.uk/page/council-and-democracy/stockwood-hengrove-and-whitchurch-neighbourhood-partnership" target="_blank">online here</a></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black;">Meanwhile,
here's my candidate's Statement. The electoral suicide note is at
the end!</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="color: black;">As a
Stockwood resident of ten years standing, I joined the Neighbourhood
Partnership when it was created, initially representing Friends of
Stockwood Open Spaces, later as a 'resident' member. In both roles
I think I have influenced the Partnership for the better, though I
believe there's still plenty of room for improvement. Slowly (too
slowly), the NP is moving toward being more democratic, more
representative, and more influential, but it needs members who are
ready to challenge the status quo as I have done in the past.</span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>
</i></span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i></i></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>
</i></span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="color: black;">I'm
proud to say that I've taken a significant part in most NP backed
initiatives, not least establishing priorities on new open space
amenities, (including suggesting the seats on the Showering Road path
and the new bridge across the Saltwell Valley brook), taking part in
community litter-picks, making the Stockwood Local Food Festival
happen, and bringing the outdoor table tennis table to the shopping
square. I've had a part, too, in proposing and improving public
transport services. If re-elected, I aim to continue on the same
lines. One priority is getting a community notice board at the
shops.</span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>
</i></span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i></i></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>
</i></span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="color: black;">I
bring a generally 'green' approach to the Partnership. So (boy
racers please note) if the Partnership is asked to take a view on the
<a href="http://stockwoodpete.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/twenty-is-plenty-provincial-tour-starts.html" target="_blank">ward's speed limits being brought down to 20mph</a>, I shall argue that
greater safety and lower noise pollution outweigh any journey time
losses.</span></i></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-11919184455959817142014-03-19T10:58:00.000+00:002014-03-21T21:09:29.281+00:00Twenty is Plenty – the provincial tour starts<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">The
roll-out of 20mph zones continues apace. And why not? In Stockwood,
we're part of the 'Outer South' area where it's planned to go 20mph
within twelve months. With the exception of chosen suburban
arteries, of course. For Stockwood, that means Stockwood Lane,
Sturminster Road/Craydon Road, and most of West Town Lane. <a href="http://www.bristol20mph.co.uk/sites/default/files/images/Phase%206%20excluded%20treatment.pdf" target="_blank">The map's here</a></span></span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Cue
all the same arguments. Time lost? Pollution caused? Fuel consumption?
Unenforcibility? Er.... safety, even?</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">The
Roadshow promoting all this will reach Stockwood Library on 12<sup>th</sup>
April, but we won't get the chance to hear from, and comment to,
council officers until they come along to our Ward Forum on 8<sup>th</sup>
May – just six days after this 'informal consultation' closes!</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Me,
I'd go for a blanket 20mph for the ward. Here's why.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">I
fully accept the case for 20mph speed limits in residential streets.
No argument there. Criminally irresponsible not do it, really.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">As for
the three Stockwood exceptions, what they have in common is that
they're all rat runs.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9BCLmQMKEUFlxaud0m9YbSXAFDuUiqDTORVOZ8lwZy_n-Lo66pq8Xo3XlLkgeQ3a4WeonAiqdA_ep1YLQ8yKBPaCZlrq8L7MHWkousMxDTqvIML3YO7PwHpwuanuGrCjzwfRKtHnrkqY/s1600/140319stockwoodlane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9BCLmQMKEUFlxaud0m9YbSXAFDuUiqDTORVOZ8lwZy_n-Lo66pq8Xo3XlLkgeQ3a4WeonAiqdA_ep1YLQ8yKBPaCZlrq8L7MHWkousMxDTqvIML3YO7PwHpwuanuGrCjzwfRKtHnrkqY/s1600/140319stockwoodlane.jpg" height="231" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Stockwood
Lane has long been used as a de facto outer ring road by those
heading between Wells Road and the Bath Road P&R, or on to the
Ring Road at Hicks Gate. This traffic will increase in future as
commuter parking becomes more difficult in the inner areas .
Stockwood Lane wasn't built for this, and has become a barrier to
pedestrians from the east side wanting reach the
buses/schools/shops/health centre on the west side, though there's no
single crossing point . All the more reason, then to limit the
speeds to 20mph</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_bBT8fun5oAIZYcGvU3RakGvK0jiQcPs5GP2JOGlvfwtym2OuoqXs_uoqlE-ZCsHeq7I3mAppxlNZoNwZ_A9IaSRvgm-3lNQ2dzJaqKkm5LBstrNc-9V9BhlNKZMnR-uOaAD2M421bPQ/s1600/140319sturminstercraydon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_bBT8fun5oAIZYcGvU3RakGvK0jiQcPs5GP2JOGlvfwtym2OuoqXs_uoqlE-ZCsHeq7I3mAppxlNZoNwZ_A9IaSRvgm-3lNQ2dzJaqKkm5LBstrNc-9V9BhlNKZMnR-uOaAD2M421bPQ/s1600/140319sturminstercraydon.jpg" height="176" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Sturminster
Road/Craydon seems like a simple uncluttered thoroughfare. But it
too acts as a rat run – witness the number of heavy lorries using
it. Like Stockwood Lane, it's hard to cross because it carries a
lot of traffic, and at some points – like the bend where
Sturminster Road morphs into Craydon Road – sight lines are poor
and traffic is fast. Yet children from the west side of the road
must cross to get to school; pensioners must cross to reach bus
stops.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj6okAojnQBiUDikq5NLcgi_l7PcvNiFJWoYknJAxDY7xRl85y3dDj8rsKgCcVmUqS_FkRHlijSLojNhHb7JhW_gLoaBmFqVwI7WVNaTyav3rLr1IoCK1Lw5vrEJ71UE2RAMvL1F4Fyuo/s1600/140309westtownlane2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj6okAojnQBiUDikq5NLcgi_l7PcvNiFJWoYknJAxDY7xRl85y3dDj8rsKgCcVmUqS_FkRHlijSLojNhHb7JhW_gLoaBmFqVwI7WVNaTyav3rLr1IoCK1Lw5vrEJ71UE2RAMvL1F4Fyuo/s1600/140309westtownlane2.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">West
Town Lane is the longest established east-west route between Bath
Road and Wells Road, and although Callington Road was built to take
the traffic off it, plenty still uses West Town Lane as a through
route. That is likely to increase significantly once the South
Bristol link turns Callington Road into a de facto South Bristol Ring
Road, putting more pressure on West Town Lane as an alternative rat
run. The 20mph plans recognise this in part by retaining the
present (though advisory) restriction outside West Town Lane School –
but that's hardly enough even now to discourage the through traffic.
Better to 20mph the full Bath Road – Wells Road link.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">If all
three of the above 'spine' roads are embraced by the 20mph
restriction, Stockwood becomes 20mph throughout. That not only makes
it safer all round, it discourages through traffic and it removes the
confusion caused to drivers who must otherwise constantly adjust to
different speed limits.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-14082729235504917642014-02-28T22:24:00.003+00:002014-02-28T23:06:26.433+00:00Whatever isn't happening at Temple Meads?<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Charlie
Bolton's current <a href="http://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/epetition_core/community/petition/2624" target="_blank">petition (please sign it!)</a> </span>calling
for direct bus links through Bedminster to Temple Meads, prompts a
review of where we've got to on the need for a multimodal transport
hub at the city's main station instead of the tinpot links that we have now.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On
Tuesday, Bristol's<a href="https://www.bristol.gov.uk/committee/2014/ua/agenda/0304_1800_ua000.html" target="_blank"> Cabinet is poised</a> to give the nod
to spending £21 million on improving transport access to, and
within, the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone around the station.
Well, Tuesday's Mardi Gras, isn't it? Spend it now, and pay back
later..... from the expected business rates raised in the Zone.
Same formula as the Arena.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This
transport spend includes:</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">straightening
out Temple Gate/Temple Circus. At £11 million, this takes up the
bulk of the cash. As it will leave a smaller road footprint, some
development land should be released too.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A
bit more (£6 million) goes toward access to the Arena site, 'to make
the site more attractive to potential development', presumably the
offices/apartments that are required to offset some of the Arena
costs.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The
remaining £4m chunk goes to 'improved cycling and walking
infrastructure on key routes in and through the TQEZ, sustainably
linking residents with job opportunities'. This appears to include
some unexpected but welcome projects like (at last) a cycle route
along the Callington Road Link and, odder still, the Conham Riverside
bike route.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">But
it doesn't include a multi-modal transport hub</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A
Temple Meads public transport hub has surfaced occasionally in the
politicians' rhetoric for years. Only the Greens have made it a priority. But now that the
high spending, low benefit prestige projects - especially the Arena
and the Metrobus - have been pushed through, can't we look at
something that really would bring about a step-change in the quality
of the city's public transport network?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Despite
all the half-promises, NEVER has the Bristol administration come up
with a clear proposal, or even an outline brief, for what an
interchange should provide.</span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So
let me float one....</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>The
Objective</u>:</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Overall,
to make travel quicker and easier for all.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In
particular, to provide a public transport system that is good enough
to tempt significant numbers to choose not to use cars – thus
freeing up road space for all travellers</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>The
problem</u>:</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Every
journey by public transport involves waiting time – and many trips
involve transfer time from one mode or route to another. By and
large, these things are done under sufferance. They're not a good
use of time, and bus stops or station platforms are none too
welcoming. There's the weather; often the darkness and insecurity;
the doubt about when or whether a bus will turn up; and for many
ongoing trips, a walk between the relevant stops and the doubt about
which is the best one to use.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuE7e4nVef1QH5FPj-y12Q0PXhy5a5argliw58MWFHEEbZF_yMfi87akJF193K1naKNMmDJpX5A5Cd2kp4opE2Thh9hww1H-8Fkzvmf93_CoTolscyBUXSrPskWvrKPpftQue9CpWOYsY/s1600/120427BTMbusstop.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuE7e4nVef1QH5FPj-y12Q0PXhy5a5argliw58MWFHEEbZF_yMfi87akJF193K1naKNMmDJpX5A5Cd2kp4opE2Thh9hww1H-8Fkzvmf93_CoTolscyBUXSrPskWvrKPpftQue9CpWOYsY/s1600/120427BTMbusstop.jpg" height="238" width="320" /></a></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Of
course these discomforts aren't the only downside of using public
transport, but together they're a very big one – and until they're
alleviated public transport is going to be second choice to the car
for most of those travellers who have the choice.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>The Answer</u>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">That's
where an interchange comes in, because it tackles all these problems
head on. It cuts journey times by much more, and for many more travellers, than any Metrobus route could hope for. And it does it efficiently, comfortably, and safely.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Here
I float my own idea about what the minimum on offer at the TM Hub
should be:</span><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Public
transport (bus, train, or ferry) to </span><u><span style="font-weight: normal;">all</span></u><span style="font-weight: normal;">
parts of Bristol, daytime and evening.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A
single covered, enclosed, waiting area with seating, within one
minute of bus pick-up, three minutes of trains or ferry</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Real
time information displays for all services</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Ticket
sales (all modes) before boarding</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Good
access on foot or by bike, with traffic-free signed access toward
Arena, Bedminster, Brunel Mile, Castle Park, Railway path, St
Philips cycleway</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Toilets</span></span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span>Those
are absolute minima; highly desirable additions would be:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">Public
transport to outlying areas, not just those served by rail, eg
Clevedon, Thornbury, Wells/Radstock.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">
</span></li>
<li><div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Retail,
refreshments and other amenity on-site</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">bike
hire and storage</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Left
luggage</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Wi-fi
</span></span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">a
dedicated and very frequent service to the Centre and Broadmead</span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>Would
it work</u>?</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Who
knows... the psychological bond between driver and car is very hard
to break. But an interchange of this quality would certainly do the
job to an order many times better than any other single project.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>Is
it do-able</u>?</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4XcMtuNo2cZssNGwxim_0yZS8Hdff3eNHrp1qIfZpAJOAv45BWyjasv6EbhqxyLmxxHL7I20jmpZIed6mdPjGKk0p0bAX1diKhx1RybmCvtQMhyqDLd7HyL0wvPh5WZ1tHuhdxwrkwOk/s1600/t_meads_cpark.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4XcMtuNo2cZssNGwxim_0yZS8Hdff3eNHrp1qIfZpAJOAv45BWyjasv6EbhqxyLmxxHL7I20jmpZIed6mdPjGKk0p0bAX1diKhx1RybmCvtQMhyqDLd7HyL0wvPh5WZ1tHuhdxwrkwOk/s1600/t_meads_cpark.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The
space is there. Plot 6, alongside the Old Station, is ideally
placed (though rail electrification looks like it will need two
further tracks, either adjoining or through it). There's also the
cleared space around Bristol and Exeter House, and (less viable)
around the derelict shell of the Royal Mail building. All of these,
individually or in combination, have the potential to provide a real
hub. All are that rare thing in a city centre, undeveloped sites.
And all are part of the Enterprise Zone, enabling a joined-up
development plan that can – if the will is there - provide
joined-up transport.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>Who's
involved</u>?</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Principally,
the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (self-appointed
business reps and local authority nominees, including our own dear
Mayor), along with Network Rail. The HCA own part of the land, too.
Note that redevelopment of the station itself will be a Network Rail
task; it will be major, involving new public access beneath the
station, and a new concourse. Although all these bodies have public
responsibilities, the public themselves are not a party to the plans.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>Will
they do it</u>?</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The
broad intention is enshrined in the official planning frameworks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The <a href="http://www.bristol.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/planning_and_building_regulations/planning_policy/local_development_framework/Bristol%20Central%20Area%20Plan.pdf" target="_blank">Central Area Plan</a>
(p40) promises:</span></div>
<div class="western" style="text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>The
development of sites adjacent to Temple Meads Station will be
expected to deliver improved public transport interchange facilities
and new and enhanced walking / cycle routes as part of the
development of Bristol Temple Quarter. </b></span></i></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">7.14
The precise location and type of interchange facilities that will
be sought will be explored in more detail in the Spatial Framework
being prepared for Bristol Temple Quarter. It is likely however
that the development of the sites adjoining the station to the
north will be required to accommodate this enhanced interchange
function. Facilities will need to be fully accessible. “</span></i> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.bristoltemplequarter.com/assets/articles/Spatial%20framework%20preview%20.pdf" target="_blank">The Spatial Framework</a>
that excerpt refers to is (as customary in such documents) quite
flowery in its description (p35):</span><br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">A
21</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><sup>st</sup></span><span style="text-decoration: none;">
Century transport interchange at the heart of a regenerated mixed use
quarter. A destination, where people can meet their travelling
needs, move easily and conveniently between transport modes and
connect with the city centre and surrounding neighbourhoods.</span></span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">And
in the West of England's </span><a href="http://www.westofenglandlep.co.uk/transport-and-infrastructure/transport-investment" target="_blank">'GVA of Major Transport Schemes'</a><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"> commissioned from Atkins, there's the advice (p35):</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">“......
given the large numbers of people commuting in future to Temple
Quarter, a step change in the capacity of bus provision to the area
will be required. This will require new services, with high
frequencies and high levels of capacity, to address the access
requirements of the area. Failure to deliver major improvements to
bus access will substantially constrain the ability to unlock the
development potential of the Enterprise Zone. “</span></span></span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">The
'<a href="http://www.bristoltemplequarter.com/assets/articles/Simplified%20Planning%20Leaflet.pdf" target="_blank">Simplified Planning Document</a>'</span><span style="text-decoration: none;">
sums it all up</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"> (p2)</span></span>:</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
<i>'<b>At
the heart of the zone will be a transformed multi-modal interchange
at Temple Meads</b>'</i></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><i> </i> </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">You'd
think from all this that a major transport interchange at Temple Meads is
a done deal.</span></span>
</span></div>
<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">You'd
think it would go into the Enterprise Zone's infrastructure from the
start, to be ready for the incoming workers. </span></span>
</span></div>
<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span></span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">And
you'd think that even before employers move in, the demand is
there from the city's rail and bus passengers wanting a seamless
journey.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><i><span style="color: red;">So
how come it's missing from the Cabinet's agenda on Tuesday?</span> </i></span></span></b></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
</span>Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-70294369244462537722014-02-24T17:35:00.000+00:002015-01-12T23:38:36.738+00:00The Man in Space: down to earth with a bump.<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Another day, another
bog standard unimaginative bid to pack in a few semis on a brownfield
site.</span></span><br />
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOL9OZI54EXNm1GjiuZ_EMetEzuo-8lF63w2EKWy3Hok_fJ796RLd5JYKrw1wiCHxVWI9Kkho28IApxOOHj69PhVi_gwR8JSi8GlZBAsD0EjQsD17QN1csXIqzaavuVPfZx0DYKUD2BpE/s1600/140224maninspace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOL9OZI54EXNm1GjiuZ_EMetEzuo-8lF63w2EKWy3Hok_fJ796RLd5JYKrw1wiCHxVWI9Kkho28IApxOOHj69PhVi_gwR8JSi8GlZBAsD0EjQsD17QN1csXIqzaavuVPfZx0DYKUD2BpE/s1600/140224maninspace.jpg" height="150" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This one's where the
Man in Space pub now stands, closed and forlorn,
in Stockwood, near a parade of run-down shops. This is no depressed
area, though... like most of the Stockwood 'plateau', the immediate
area is filled with decent, privately owned semis. In fact the
developer is at pains to assure us that this “<span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>proposal
is not for high density apartments. It is for 14 family sized homes
with parking and garden.</i>“ Four pairs of semis, plus two 'triple'
units, according to the indicative plans. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Much like the rest of the
neighbourhood, then, except that on this one garages won't come as
part of the package; it looks like the front 'gardens' will be paved
over instead. There's a playpark over the road, and the bus stops
for a frequent service to town (3 or 4 miles) are under two hundred
metres away. The pub will be gone, though!</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">All in all an
unremarkable development. If it goes ahead, Stockwood will be more
Stockwood still. The development won't provide local employment, it
won't reduce the need to travel, it won't provide any new amenity.
It could - if the planning conditions are right - include some
solar panels and even some better land drainage than the present use
provides, but it's unlikely to give more than a nod to such
progressive ideas. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">But it would be
utterly amazing if it included such innovative (though proven)
standards as
<a href="http://www.passivhaus.org.uk/standard.jsp?id=122" target="_blank">Passivhaus</a> , though
many of us believe this must be the norm if we're to take climate
change seriously. And it won't touch the demand for affordable
housing in a market that virtually excludes low earners. Nor will
begin to recognise that more cars are bad news... we might expect a
good 20 to 30 extra just from this 'infill' development, even though
shops, library, health centre, school, and public transport are all
an easy flat walk away. The notion of a 'car-free', or even low
car-dependency development, won't come into the planning process.</span></span><br />
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Why not? We know
about climate change. We know about homelessness and
unaffordability. We know traffic on our roads is expected to
increase 30% by 2030 if we go on as we are.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>
</div>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's mad to just
carry on as before. Small sites like the Man in Space are the big
opportunity, the low hanging fruit, that can lead the change.
Leaving it to the speculative market delivers only the bland, the
unadventurous, and a quick and easy profit, with all the real costs
externalised.</span></span></div>
Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-342131175699042082014-02-23T00:08:00.001+00:002014-02-24T17:38:30.596+00:00Ideology and the Chancellor<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><i>“there are people
in the green movement who oppose the use of civil nuclear power for
ideological reasons, if you like, when it is by definition a green
source of energy generation”</i></span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGEe6bn2MhA6qUw9J4Wz7_bJeK4e2w3eYZZHZICCsBCI7Gntld9lNkrwsWYYEFTE79vp5MTY-_xlk1EkXnYjomJeCEYgGgcObRHNG1BSzWSWc1g96cYaDuLQ8tiktcK961MOV8a2Mbp8o/s1600/140222osborne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGEe6bn2MhA6qUw9J4Wz7_bJeK4e2w3eYZZHZICCsBCI7Gntld9lNkrwsWYYEFTE79vp5MTY-_xlk1EkXnYjomJeCEYgGgcObRHNG1BSzWSWc1g96cYaDuLQ8tiktcK961MOV8a2Mbp8o/s1600/140222osborne.jpg" height="183" width="200" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UK_Government_urges_business_to_boost_vaccines_effort.jpg?uselang=en-gb" target="_blank">photo credit</a></span></span></i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></span></span>That's George
Osborne, February 2014 in<a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/george-osborne-says-fracking-nuclear-3167529#ixzz2tuNwk9PJ" target="_blank"> a speech</a> that also described fracking as a
'green' technology that will reduce UK carbon emissions.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">George, even apart
from your attempt to rebrand 'green' to include nuclear power
stations, you haven't a clue what you're talking about. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Why do you presume
that ideology drives the opposition? Can't you even recognise that
there is a real, evidence-based argument out there. The only
'ideology' here is the principle that we should leave this
planet in as good, or better condition as we found it. Assuming (ok, it's a bold assumption) that you go along with that, what
further ideology have you identified that opposes civil nuclear
power, as matter of principle and belief, as a 'world view', rather
than as a rational position? </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Remember,</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">from the start
nuclear power has been inextricably linked with nuclear warfare (the
unthinkable)</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">sixty years on, we
still don't know what to do with the waste – or how generations to
come will cope with the poisonous legacy we leave</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We've had more than
enough of our own costly accidents, but worldwide there have been big
scale disasters with huge health and economic impacts.</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Every stage of the
nuclear cycle from mine to waste dump is fraught with risk, both
natural and man-made, to life.</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(this one ought to
appeal to you, George) you can't insure a nuclear power station –
the cost/risk factor is untenable.</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The timescales for
bringing new nuclear on line make it largely irrelevant to the urgent
need for greenhouse gas reduction.</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">'New generation'
nuclear relies on foreign direct investment, limiting essential
regulation</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While you promote
nuclear, you're cutting back on energy conservation (the green
levies)</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While you promote
nuclear, you're taking funding away from renewable energy
development.</span></span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You're subsidising
foreign investors from the public purse. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Any or all these
things make for a reasoned case to reject nuclear power as an energy
source. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's you, George, that's the ideologue. We know that you're guided by
more than one – the economic ideologies of exponential growth, the
supremacy of the market, and the 'hidden hand' that will turn
personal greed and ambition into a public 'good'. You certainly have
a right wing 'small government' ideology. All these beliefs clearly
guide your management of the national economy. Even your acceptance
of man-made global warming is expressed as a 'belief (“I'm someone
who believes climate change is happening, that it's caused by human
beings”), not simply as an acceptance of the scientific consensus. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You've not bothered to look at the whole picture, the whole balance
of energy supply sources and consumption and how they serve the long
term public interest. </span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Maybe that's because you let your economic
ideology, right or wrong, dictate your whole approach.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>[Added 23/2/2014]</i> <span style="color: blue;"> Forgive me for singling you out, George. The other lot are doing their best to follow your bad example. Caroline Flint, shadow energy secretary, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/23/labour-edf-nuclear-power-deal-hinkley?CMP=twt_gu" target="_blank">seems to think</a> the subsidy for Hinkley C is acceptable - and </span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> that nuclear is renewable energy</span>!</span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150854159364820604.post-22478509031432359242014-02-10T11:10:00.002+00:002014-02-24T17:39:49.355+00:00The weather that dare not speak its name<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.05cm; margin-top: 0.05cm;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZ9S1bPtgEcjVEb-Q2EZE2eW9hWvzwFMjfwJLlIcqA2VKimSHuCIuDxWjl5RmAnJroYTWk5TiFu_hqLhIhPDsxGD3AdrnWXGxTzsvHNnkexz1fSPpm_fVePVYAgDTAHEuzSOvV7R6VTE/s1600/140210floods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZ9S1bPtgEcjVEb-Q2EZE2eW9hWvzwFMjfwJLlIcqA2VKimSHuCIuDxWjl5RmAnJroYTWk5TiFu_hqLhIhPDsxGD3AdrnWXGxTzsvHNnkexz1fSPpm_fVePVYAgDTAHEuzSOvV7R6VTE/s1600/140210floods.jpg" height="121" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">That
homophobic UKIP councillor in Henley-on-Thames
may have had his own ideas about what's caused the ever-more-frequent
extremes of weather. True, there is something apocalyptic about the floods and the storms
that encourages that kind of irrational response . As I write,
every rail link between Devon and Cornwall and the mainland has been broken by the high seas or the unending rain – and even the urban areas of
Torbay and Plymouth aren't going to reconnected to the rest of the country anytime soon.
Who'd'a' thunk such a thing could happen?</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="color: black;">The
rational explanation for the 'weather' is equally apocalyptic. It
only gets mentioned in passing, though - and then only apologetically, anticipating a backlash. Climate Change – a
reality, and<a href="http://greenerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/is-flooding-on-somerset-levels-down-to.html" target="_blank"> very probably a key contributory cause</a> of our
unprecedented extreme weather – scarcely dare speak its name in polite
society. It's much too discomfiting. Following the abject failure
of the world's politicians to tackle the causes, they now seem
equally reluctant to acknowledge, let alone respond to, the effects
that are already upon us. And we've barely started yet. It's
going to get worse, far worse.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Yet
right now, all we see is a localised blame game being played out
among the politicians (who seem blind to the overriding science).
And a grossly incompetent global warming sceptic (ie. 'Do Nothing'
advocate) is still allowed to remain in post as Environment Secretary.</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="color: black;">Meanwhile,
I see that back in 2011, his predecessor Lord Henley (what is it
about Henley?) <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26068375" target="_blank">dismissed the £100 million cost</a> of restoring an
alternative rail link to Plymouth as “far too
expensive”.</span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="color: black;">Hell,
you could build an Arena for that.</span></i></span></span></div>
Pete Goodwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07115478143080295370noreply@blogger.com0