Branch Line 2007/4 November 2007

Download printer friendly versions of this issue of Branch Line (PDF):     Best quality ,    small file for dial up users



Tesco campaign takes off

LocalShopLocal

1500 residents say NO so far

Residents have turned out in force to back Havant FOE's campaign opposing a massive expansion of Tesco store in Solent Road. Friends of the Earth has teamed up with local residents groups and small business associations to form the Local Shops Local Campaign (LSLC). Meanwhile, Tesco itself has turned on the pressure and offered Havant Council hundreds of thousand of pounds for new pavements and the diversion of a bus service to pull people into their new store if it goes ahead.

But top retail analysts DTZ have told the council to throw out the application. They agree with LSLC's view that the new super store will turn the existing town centre into a disaster with still more shops closing. In fact most businesses within a a 10 minute drive of Solent Road are likely to suffer if Tesco gets its way.

Petitions organised by FOE members have so far gathered 1500 names and more will follow. Over 5000 leaflets have been delivered to homes throughout the area Havant Council has also received 250 emails and letters and say that they are running almost 5:1 against the application. Councillors are due to discuss the application at a meeting in the Civic Centre of the Development Control Committee on 29th of November.

Havant FOE Coordinator, Sue Holt, will make a deputation on behalf of the group at 5pm

Tony Juniper moves on

Tony Juniper

The FOE's Executive Director has announced that he will be moving on next year. Juniper, 47, has led FOE since 2003 although his association with it goes back a lot further. He has played a pivotal part in many national and international campaigns. These include opposing illegal logging of hard woods in the Amazon, Palm Oil in Indonesia and more recently the Big Ask Campaign in the UK which led to the publication of the Climate Bill this year.

An ornithologist, Juniper has written books on parrots and macaws as well as many articles. His energy, knowledge and passion has helped FOE become one the most effective NGO's in the UK.

Bus

Better deal for public transport urged

FOE groups from throughout Hampshire converged on Winchester last month to hammer out a new charter for public transport in the county. The meeting followed a motion proposed by Fareham and New Forest FOE groups to FOE's National Conference in September.

Buses

Half a million pounds has been scythed off Hampshire's £6 million bus budget leading to service cuts and reductions. Bus use remains flat as fares rise making even short trips unaffordable for some.

Rail

FOE campaigners in the Test Valley are fighting hard to halt the withdrawal of the train service between Romsey and Salisbury while the present direct service linking Havant with Reading is likely to stop.

The FOE welcomed the new combined ticketing schemes and the new bike storage facilities at Havant Station

Waste Matters in Hampshire

Ray Cobbett

Last year Hampshire generated about 835,000 tonnes of household waste- about half a ton for every person.

Recycling rates vary from district to district with star performers Fareham, Eastleigh and East Hants in the high thirties and Pompey and Winchester in the low twenties. The wooden spoon went to Basingstoke with just under 20% but, overall, Hampshire, excluding the cities, comes in at around 36%, one of the highest in England.

Nationally we produced just over 29 million tonnes-enough to fill the Albert Hall every hour- and achieved a recycling/composting rate of 31%, up 4% on the previous year. Of this waste to landfill decreased to 16.9m tonnes but it still represents well over half the total tonnage. Greece, Ireland and the UK head the bad boys league in the old EU with Denmark, Austria and Holland getting gold stars.

The government's reaction is to introduce a landfill tax and trading scheme together with more incinerators including energy from waste plants and now, possibly, pay to throw.

In Hampshire 170,000 tonnes,of mostly edible food fills up to 20% of our dustbins space. About a fifth of the carbon we produce is linked to food production and food waste produces methane, more harmful than carbon. Hampshire's three incinerators process along with anaerobic digestion about half of the waste stream with 30% being recycled and rest to landfill.

The mantra is REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE.

Hooked as we are on consumption it's unlikely we will will REDUCE . The link between individual life styles and planet impact is still barely understood at most levels. GDP drives all, new homes, roads, industry, jobs. Waste stream growth and GDP go hand in hand. . How do we combine economic growth with sustainability? Nobody knows.

REUSE, the second element of the mantra is probably the most practical but more work is needed to bring about a revolution in design thinking The evil of built-in obsolescence has a powerful hold on marketing people. Upgrades are now next to godliness in computers, mobile phones and a whole lot more. We need also to grow a whole new generation of repair persons to replace the urge to buy a new one when it's broke. Most of all we've got do something about that most over used word in fashion, namely, 'new'.

This brings us to RECYCLE. There's a finely balanced argument about whether it costs more or less to recycle versus to burn or bury. Wastewatch has worked out that making a plastic bottle from recycled material takes 8 times less energy than making it from new polymer and recycling just one bottle saves the same amount of power required for 20 minutes of TV.

The growth of the Freecycle network has been remarkable with over 4000 groups across the world and 450 in the UK. The future starts to look as if we will move to whole life costing and personal carbon allowances leading to price and social rationing as the world discards the idea of unlimited personal consumption. Virtual shopping will grow with innovation in the way goods are distributed to homes. More emphasis on home composting and state of the art recycling at source.

Extended Producer Responsibility ( EPR) a cradle to cradle process, makes it a seller's problem. WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) regulations are in place requiring companies to offer a take back service for time expired kit. Early signs of new thinking that will decide whether homo sapiens can avoid becoming the world's sixth major extinction.

Sue's Column

'Say No To A Bigger Tesco' has taken us on the streets with our stall and petitions as well as 5000 leaflets, constant letter-writing to keep up the media exposure. The table was barely on the ground before queues started to form, all impatient to sign, 1400 so far. I wish all our petitioning were that easy, but this proves the strength of feeling out there on this issue.

By the way, you have up to 29th November to write in and 255 have to date. On the same day the council meets at 5.00 pm. So please come along, inside or outside, as a demonstration of our feelings.

Our summer stalls, at the Emsworth Show, Park Wood and Havant Fete, the Conference at Reading University and an enlightening talk by Portsmouth Water Company kept us all busy, The focus on the Big Ask is still on influencing the Draft Climate Change Bill. We gained a few new members too so we must be doing something right.

Please contact me if you have any contributions. ( Tel 02 39278 09 43)

I look forward to seeing you all at our Christmas Social,the Winter Solstice celebration on Weds 19th December, at Nineveh, 11 The Pallant, Havant ( next to Waitrose), from 7.00 pm onwards. Please come along , bring friends and a little food and drink if possible, but lots of good cheer,and it'll be a great evening as usual.

Diary

Diary