The EU Referendum Question

I am writing this on the day the Green Party launches its GREENS FOR A BETTER EUROPE campaign.

The Green Party believes that Europe could be a much better force for good if there are various reforms.  But how much will the voters be able to qualify their answer in the referendum? It would seem not at all.

According to the Guardian the referendum question is:

 “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?” 

Voters can choose between two responses:

    Remain a member of the European Union.
    Leave the European Union.

The somewhat wordy question is designed to avoid any confusion if, for example, voters do not know whether the UK is already a member of the EU. It also avoids the positive connotations of a “yes” answer. The Electoral Commission was criticised by some experts for allowing a yes/no question in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

Nowhere can we say that we would like to stay in, but seek various reforms.
Nowhere does it say that we dis/believe David Cameron got a good deal for the UK or that we support his views of Europe.
Nowhere does it say what the alternative will be.

There are 5 main alternatives according to the Economist:

• to join the European Economic Area, a solution adopted by all but one of the European Free-Trade Association (EFTA) states that did not join the EU. But the EEA now consists of just one small country, Norway, and two tiddlers, Iceland and Liechtenstein
• to try to emulate Switzerland, the remaining EFTA country. It is not in the EEA but instead has a string of over 20 major and 100 minor bilateral agreements with the EU
• to seek to establish a customs union with the EU, as Turkey has done, or at least to strike a deep and comprehensive free-trade agreement
• simply to rely on normal World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules for access to the EU market
• preferred by most Eurosceptics, is to negotiate a special deal for Britain alone that retains free trade with the EU but avoids the disadvantages of the other models, but it would be extremly hard or even impossible to negotiate this in an atmosphere, post-Brexit, that would hardly be a warm 

 So without declaring what the alternative will be, the Referendum question falls far short of clarity.

Stay or leave?

 At the last Cotswold Green Party meetng on 20th February it was unanimously decided that we would campaign to stay in the EU although, as with the rest of the Green Party, for vastly different reasons to David Cameron.

Over a few blogs I am going to give my views on the Europe situation for what its worth and would love others to chip in with their ideas so as to engender a good debate.

Firstly - why on earth are we having this referendum anyway? It was something David Cameron promised in the run-up to the last general election when he felt the conservatives were losing ground to UKIP and he needed to placate some tory right wingers. So a political decision and nothing to do with being in the interests of the country.
 
Secondly - David Cameron has said that he has negotiated a better deal so that Britain retains its sovereignty. Yet  -

• He willingly lets our big companies be sold to foreign enterprises eg Cadburys to Kraft
• Lets what remains of our steel industry (although admittedly already in foreign ownership) fall foul to cheap Chinese imports
• He sells off our utilities and doesn't mind if water companies are owned by foreigners even though infrastructure is at the heart of our country
• He can surrender energy independence to China and France (nuclear power) while cutting subsidies to home grown sustainable energy companies
• He encourages NHS contracts go to overseas companies
• He sits by while London is treated as an investment centre for foreign millionaires, raising the price of property so that British people cannot afford to live there.

Would anyone like to comment on these 2 points? Just click in the Comment Button.

TTIP - Hidden News

I recently got an email from the campaigning organisation SumOfUs about an event that I cannot find reported in the British main stream press.

Basically in early February German judges dealt a blow to EU-US free trade agreement talks after declaring a proposed arbitration court illegal. I googled this and found this article .

 'The European Commission last September proposed setting up an investment tribunal court that would allow firms to challenge government decisions as part of its larger Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Critics says the new court, which is intended to replace a much loathed investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system, will pressure governments into clawing back consumer protection rights and environmental standards in favour of corporate interest.

Earlier this week, the German Association of Magistrates, a Berlin-based judicial umbrella organisation, said it "sees neither a legal basis nor a need for such a court".'

I googled some more and found an article on theecologist.org .'The proposed new court would: have no legal basis; supplant the sovereignty of member states; and usurp the role of national courts.'

The TTIP talks, which have been largely held in secret since 2013, aim to remove non-tariff barriers to trade. The 12th round of talks will be held in Brussels on 22 February.

More of us need to wake up to what is going on behind closed doors. As this blog has said before, we must use social media to spread awareness as major newspaper players see TTIP as a good thing. TTIP will affect all of us adversely.

Stroud Supports Junior Doctors

Here is Philip Booth talking to James Beecher of Stroud Against The Cuts and Cllr Sarah Lunnon (Green Party) after Saturdays’ demonstration of support for junior doctors. The demo saw members of the public and Green and Labour District councillors join the march and listen to speakers. See this 2minute film: http://stroudcommunity.tv/junior-doctors/

Plus there is a link to a second film with James talking about next steps for the campaign locally.

Community R4C in Stroud

On Saturday I met Jojo Mehta who was with Community R4C in Stroud High Street talking to folk about their hopes for dealing with our waste. Here's a minute film updating on that and the incinerator: http://stroudcommunity.tv/community-r4c/

Fundraising Art Auction for Refugee Aid Stroud

An exhibition and auction of artwork kindly donated from local artists in aid of Refugee Aid Stroud. Buy some affordable art and your money will go a long way to help the current humanitarian crisis. This amazing live art auction will take place  on 27th February 2016 at 6pm in the Old Millets Shop, 20 High Street, Stroud. See 2 min film with details at: http://stroudcommunity.tv/auction-refugee/

STAND against Oldbury: latest newsletter

Here's STAND's latest newsletter with plans for thge Fukishima Commemoration and an update on that site - plus news from Belgium.

 www.standagainstoldbury.org

Wrong technology, wrong place, better ways to power our future

March 11th Commemoration of Fukushima nuclear accident

As in previous years, we will meet at Lydney docks to join together to remember this event and take time to think of those people who were told, like us, that Nuclear Power is safe, but who are still evacuated from their homes and suffering health consequences 5 years on. Meet at the standing stones at Lydney Docks at 6.00pm on March 11th. There will be speakers and music. Please join us to sing and talk and throw flowers into the water (See film of 2014 here and Molly Scott Cato in Strasburg last year here).

Fukushima update

As we come up to the fifth anniversary of the meltdown of the three nuclear reactors in Fukushima, Japan, the situation there just moves further out of control.
 Fukushima Port was found to have Strontium90 levels of 1,000 Bq/l (becquerels per litre) this last June, up from 700 a few months before. The US sets the “safe” limit in water at 0.3 Bq/L. Strontium90 is known as the 'bone-seeker' isotope. Its presence in bones can cause bone cancer, cancer of nearby tissues, and leukemia. Additionally, ionizing radiation levels of 9 Sv/h (sieverts per hour) were found on the ground outside reactor 2. This would give you a lethal dose in 30 minutes.

Tepco, who own the plant, plan to begin freezing an ice wall around the plant by the end of the year, hoping this will stop the 400 tons of water a day currently flowing into the plant mixing with the radioactive fuel and then moving out into the Pacific Ocean (Bloomberg, 10/10/15). They have tried to do this before and failed. A 30 metre deep steel wall that they have just finished along the sea edge has begun leaning due to the pressure of ground water behind it.

In order to cut the long-term cost of the existing Fukushima Daiichi evacuation burden, evacuees' re-housing subsidies are being cut and they are being told that they can return home, some to still radioactive areas that cannot be successfully decontaminated. Less than 15% of evacuees questioned said that they wanted to return to their former homes, most of which have become ghost towns, with no shops, schools or other resources.

Mushrooms measuring 14,290 Bq/k were being sold - the safety limit in Japan is 100 Bq/k. (Fukushima Diary, 23/11/15). These mushrooms were twice as radioactive as mushrooms grown in the same spot last year. Thyroid cancers have risen to 230 times the normal rate in Fukushima prefecture.

Belgian reactors

Belgium has just restarted two ancient and cracked nuclear power plants that could unleash another nuclear disaster right in the heart of Europe. One of the aging reactors suffered a fire and explosion weeks ago and Belgium’s own nuclear safety chief called for checks after discovering 16,000 cracks! Neighbouring countries are raising the safety alarm and people in Holland and Germany have been out on the streets protesting. Such a serious radioactive risk in a highly populated area affects us all across Europe.

Nuclear map of Europe

We were sent a map recently with details of all the working Nuclear Power stations in Europe, showing their age, output, predicted life-span, etc, and thought you might find it interesting and informative. It can be seen on the home page of the STAND website.

Stroud Food Surplus Café

Recently there has been a lot in the press about how supermarkets throw away mounds of food waste. Between them, Asda, Co-operative Food, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose – accounting for around 87% of the UK grocery market – were responsible for the disposal of 200,000 tonnes of food in 2013. This just doesn't make sense when so many people are being forced to visit Food Banks.

Stroud Food Surplus Café aims to help redress the imbalance in our food system by reclaiming surplus food and transforming it into delicious healthy meals for all.

On Valentine's Day they are holding a  truly romantic Valentines Best Before Bistro at The Socialight on Sunday, 14th February at 6pm, on a Pay As You Feel Basis.

All money raised will be reinvested in the project and go towards intercepting food from local supermarkets, restaurants, and shops in Stroud and the Five Valleys in the future.

The entire 4 course meal will be created from suplus food that would have otherwise have been thrown into landfill, so settle down for a lovely romantic meal whilst feeding #belliesnotbins - vegetarian, vegan and meat options will be catered for.

You have an option to dine communally or at your own private table. As with all of our events - children are welcome. And as it's Valentine's Day, alcohol will be available for purchase.

Use the form to register your place. Registration is required for entry. Spaces are limited, so please be sure to reserve now!

38 degrees currently have a petition to make supermarkets give all unsold food to charity which you may like to sign.

Supermarkets, however,  contributed to just 1.3% of all food waste in the UK in 2013. We all need to waste less food ourselves.

Further reading:
http://saynotofoodwaste.org/what-can-you-do/supermarkets/

http://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/global-food-waste/
 

Film Show on Fracking

Wednesday 3rd February 7pm to 9pm, Cirencester Organic Farm Shop

 

Frack Free Cotswolds have organised a showing of this 'disturbing film on the potential impact of proposed local fracking in the Bath area.'

To include: DASH FOR GAS .

Please come along to the Organic Farm Shop, Burford Road, Cirencester, GL7 5HF.

Refreshments available.

Cotswold Green Party Meeting - 23rd January

The meeting will start at 11am in the side room of The Crown pub in Cirencester (on the corner of Black Jack Street and West Market Place).

The main discussion will be on the hugely relevant topic of 'FLOODING'.

All Green Party members are welcome. 
 

'Taxation is the fee that we pay for living in a civilised society'

A local Green Activist recently wrote a letter to the Wilts and Glos Standard about the proposed 2300 house development in Cirencester on Lord Bathurst's land - here is the text:

Dear Sir,

Thanks to Private Eye magazine (http://www.private-eye.co.uk/registry), we are able to see the considerable extent of 'our' countryside that is owned by Lord Bathurst's off-shore trust in the Bahamas, a means by which the noble lord will avoid paying tax on profits accrued from sales of the 2300-odd houses in his Chesterton development. His response to the revelation of his tax-dodging was that it is a small amount when spread across the whole country. If it's such a small amount, why doesn't he pay it?  And, in case you’re thinking that we’d be depriving him of the results of his sweated labour, this is capital gains tax on land that’s valuable solely because it’s close to Ciren. All he has had to do is wait!

While being reluctant to pay tax, like the rest of us have to, the Bathursts are not so reluctant to collect the Single Farm Payments under the Common Agricultural Policy - check the payments made to Cirencester Park Farms at http://www.cap-payments.defra.gov.uk/download.aspx - and presumably they are quite happy to receive Housing Benefit payments from the UK government for any of their tenants who have the misfortune to be unemployed... Similarly, the Bathursts are dependent on state schools and universities to educate the people they employ, dependent on the publicly-financed Fire Brigade if there are fires in their properties and on the public road system for conveying their goods and purchases to and from their markets....

Can Lord Bathurst please be reminded that taxation is the fee that we pay for living in a civilised society and that the more you own, the more support you require from that society? That just because you happen to have been born in the right place at the right time, you are not absolved from paying these fees?  And just because tax-dodging is legal, it doesn't mean it's moral.
 
                Yours sincerely,               
                R W Irving.
                Green Party

The Standard actually took this on board and interviewed Bob.  See the article.

Stroud District Council first to go carbon neutral

Image by Russ

At a meeting of its environment committee held last night, councillors endorsed a report stating that Stroud District Council has become a carbon neutral council. It is thought to be the first council in Europe to announce that the carbon dioxide emissions from its operations have been outweighed by the reduction in emissions from energy efficiency measures and renewable energy installations it has put in place. The announcement comes just a week after the historic agreement on climate change was reached at the UN Climate Change Conference, in Paris.



Wow!! I was part of a group as a new councillor back in 2006 when we first started talking about this....initially that naive part of me thinking we'd do it in a few of years...then realising that actually there was alot of work involved - not least convincing other councillors that this was a road to take.  Indeed I remember jeers and laughter when I suggested in Council Chamber spending £10 million on renewables and energy efficiency measures for our council housing....well that only made us more determined and task groups, committee reports and many conversations later we moved slowly in the right direction.....before I stood down we were able to put aside £12 million for two years and a further £3 million for following three years. Now some of that has changed but this announcement is great news....yes loads more work to be done but we are building understanding and more in the District to continue to grow this.

The announcements re solar subsidies are deeply depressing - meanwhile the Tory government make commitments to massively subsidise nuclear power dinosaur technology - it makes no sense at all.

Anyway here's Green Party's Councillor Simon Pickering, chair of the committee, in his press release regarding Stroud: “This is a tremendous achievement, which has been delivered through a multi-pronged strategy focused on households, businesses and community buildings, as well as reducing the council’s own operational emissions. We have brought in over £36m investment into county allowing us to create jobs, cut heating bills and, of course, reduce carbon emissions. It’s been a win-win approach to tackling climate change, helping households and stimulating the local economy. Carbon offsetting is a long-established and accepted practice and is usually something associated with multi-national companies. Quite often they’ll do something such as plant trees in another part of the world to offset their carbon footprint. From our perspective we’ve been able to make hands-on improvements in our immediate environment.”

And more of the Stroud District Council press release: The council’s environmental audit for 2014/15 has revealed that its estimated CO2 emissions from its operations of 2,925 tonnes have been outweighed by the 3,275.6 tonnes saved by its environmental initiatives. As part of keeping its own house in order, council buildings have seen significant solar panel arrays installed, lighting upgrades, and insulation and air tightness improvements. On top of these has been a programme of behavioural change encouraging staff to become more energy efficient. Village and community halls have also received funding to make them environmentally friendly and businesses across the district have also taken part in initiatives to help them reduce their emissions.

However, the greatest contribution by far comes from the council’s work with households which has contributed to 75% of the carbon savings. The council was instrumental in setting up and supporting the Gloucestershire Warm and Well Partnership. Working with Severn Wye Energy Agency, its advice and support to households on energy efficiency projects saved 2,468.6 tonnes of CO2.  It has helped thousands of households across the district with support and guided them to funding initiatives towards energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy measures such as ground source heat pumps, air source heat pumps, solar panels and solar heating. At the same time the council has been instrumental in establishing a network of registered installers to carry out installations to ensure that supply could meet the demand for work.

UK Goes to War Again Based on Tory Misinformation Campaign

Check out Green Party comment on the Stroud District Green Party website: https://stroud.greenparty.org.uk/news/2015/12/03/syria-bombing-vote/

Stroud District & Cotswold Green Party members rock up to the Climate March

3 coaches from Stroud, with a pick up at Cirencester, headed for the Climate Demo in London on 29th November. One of our Stroud protestors was a penguin, a climate migrant who presumably had first hand experience of global warming. (I expect he did by the end of the day after a march in a fluffy suit anyway!)

Grouping under the Stroud District Banner, manfully held aloft by 2 strapping Green Party members who fought valiantly to keep the banner flying despite large gusts of wind, we found ourselves fairly near the front of the march. The advertised departure time was 12.00, but we actually started slowly edging forward at about 1 o'clock after some rousing speeches relayed to us by a bank of speakers held aloft by a fire engine. There were speakers from the nursing and firefighting unions - both groups being at the forefront of dealing with climate change as natural disasters occur ever more frequently.  Fashion Designer Vivienne Westwood exhorted us to 'Be Specific' in our fights although some of her facts and figures were a bit dodgey. Jeremy Corbyn got a rapturous reception and Green MP Caroline Lucas delivered the last speech to fire us up on the march.
 
What was most striking was the number of different groups coming together - Greenpeace with their huge cardboard polar bears, Frack Free Lancashire, Cafod, petition group Avaaz, Friends of the Earth to name but a few. There were the obligatory drummers and a band complete with saxophone.  Young and old marched in peace and the policemen at the side of the road must have had little to do. Those inside the barred gates of Downing Street looked especially fierce with their guns, but otherwise I did not see any riot police.

 

At the end of the March there more banks of speakers held aloft and this time some big screens to show what was happening on stage. There were people from the Arctic and Pacific islands bearing witness to how climate change was affecting them. Francesca Martinez, the stand up comedian who describes herself as 'wobbly' (cerebral palsy) gave an impassioned speech. Performance poet Kate Tempest was invigorating and wildly cheered by the crowd.  Everyone had the same message - climate change must be taken seriously NOW.

Official estimates say 50,000 marched. I could find little press coverage the next day except for a few photos, but I am told it was on TV on the Sunday.

Historic moment as local plan adopted for Stroud district

Ruscombe Valley now better protected

At a meeting held last night at Ebley Mill, councillors adopted the Stroud District Local Plan, a strategic housing and employment plan which will shape the district’s future for decades to come. Stroud District is the first council in Gloucestershire to have an up-to-date local plan in place and will allow us to plan where development should take place rather than fight off speculative applications where it shouldn’t.

In recent years councils across the country have found it difficult to defend against large housing applications in areas they did not consider suitable, when they have not had a local plan in place. The Government knew this when they changed the rules around planning - effectively creating almost a free-for-all for developers. They knew over half of Councils don't have a Local Plan and due to the way the process is set up cannot speed them any quicker.

The Stroud District Local  Plan, which encourages at least 11,400 homes to be built over the 25-year period between 2006 and 2031, identifies how many homes should be built and their locations. The number includes over 7,700 homes which have already been built or have planning permission and 4,200 homes to be developed on sites identified in the plan.  On average, 470 homes need to be built each year over the next 16 years to accommodate the expected needs of the district. It also supports the development of 58 hectares of employment land over the plan period to meet local job forecasts and identifies a range of new sites to meet business needs. Again the framework for this is all set by Government.

Planning inspector, Steven Pratt, who approved the council’s plan before it was passed to councillors to adopt, confirmed that it showed a seven year supply of housing land, meaning that the council would be right to prevent further uncontrolled development in rural areas. He also supported the council’s strategy of concentrated growth in towns, which will see valuable infrastructure and community facilities accompany any major development.

The Green Party's Councillor Simon Pickering, chair of the Stroud District Council Environment Committee said: ‘Adoption of the plan is great news allowing us to plan effectively for future growth. The draft plan involved some difficult choices, meaning that not everyone was going to be happy with the outcome. Now that it has met the demands of the government and been approved it’s time to get behind it and make the best out of the housing and employment opportunities it will bring forth.”

Clearly there has been much compromise to make this happen - this is clearly not all what Greens have wanted! Do look back through this blog to see earlier reports and submissions as part of the Local Plan process. The locations and numbers of future housing development within the plan are as follows:

Location and Number of Homes

Hunts Grove Extension 750

North East Cam 450

Sharpness 300

Stroud Valleys 450

West of Stonehouse 1,350

Council Housing Programme 150

Dispersal / windfall 750

Total allocations and windfall 4,200



The Stroud District Local Plan can be viewed at www.stroud.gov.uk/localplan