Autumn 2008 Shrewsbury Friends of the Earth Newsletter

8/9/2019 Autumn 2008 Shrewsbury Friends of the Earth Newsletter

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ShrewsburyFriends ofthe Earth

Newsletter Autumn 2008

For meetings and contacts, see back page

Val Oldaker reports that we held a successfulfundraiser in the Square in June, (see photo) andattended the Green Day in July, at the WildlifeCentre. Catering at this event raised 80! Wehave attracted some new members, and now

have so many at our monthly meetings thatsometimes some of us have to sit on thewindowsills! Welcome to you all.

FoEs national campaign to limit Climate Changeis coming to a head MPs will vote in theAutumn on exactly what the new Bill shouldcontain. FoE is pressing for mandatory,measurable, annual targets for CO2 reduction.Our local MP, Daniel Kawczynski supports ourviews. He is also, he says 100% against GMtechnology and will never vote for it.http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/news/c

ommittee_stage_12636.htmlThe EU is debating the use of biofuels in vehicles,and is proposing to set percentages for theirinclusion. FoE argues that the current rush forbiofuels is exacerbating deforestation and causingfood price rises. Some biofuels are better thanothers waste cooking oil, for instance, is OK.The problem comes when, with our distortedworld view, we pay more for producing fuel cropsthan food. If you want to support this campaign,write to one of the MEPs. For more details visitthe FoE website:

http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/biodiversity/case_studies/agrofuels_index.html This year is the 30th anniversary of Fritz

Schumachers death (Small is Beautiful). Theannual Conference of the Schumacher Society isto be held in Bristol on October 11th. Speakersinclude Jonathon Porritt, Rob Hopkins, AndrewSimms, Eugenie Harvey and others. Details on

0117 903 1081 or www.schumacher.org.uk. Thetheme is Is it really possible to live better byconsuming less?

Shropshire Master Composters have just trainedanother 20 volunteers encouraging people tocompost is a practical way to reduce landfill, andoften starts the greening process. If you wouldlike to train, contact Sue Jelleyman on 01743210713 or see www.shropshirecomposters.co.uk

The County Council has started a Low CarbonNetwork, to put the various groups in touch with

each other. It is surprising how many groupsthere are.http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/sustainability.nsf/open/A71DD106FE03129A8025744F0050D906

Shrewsbury FoE local new s

In Town W ithout My Car Day

On 22nd September, there will be a promotion in theSquare to celebrate In Town Without My Car Day

which is part of European Mobility Week 2008. Therewill be promotions on the Park & Ride all week, a

bike clinic from Doctor Bike and several stallsincluding FoE promoting sustainable transport.

Blackberry Fair

This event, celebrating real markets andcombining a farmers market, artisansbazaar and a green fair with music and

art, takes place in Whitchurch on

Saturday 4th October between 8 30 a.m.until 6 00 p.m.


2/6Shrewsbury FoE News Autumn 2008 Page 2 of 6

Mirian W alton, secretary of Safe WasteShropshire and member of Shrewsbury FoE,writes about a silent and deadly neighbour.

On Sunday 20 July, Safe Waste Shropshire organised atrip to Chineham, near Basingstoke to meet residentsliving in the shadow of Veolia's flagship incinerator.

The visit came about as a result of conversationsbetween Chris Tomblin, the Chair of Chineham ParishCouncil and Mirian after Veolia had complained in theShrewsbury Chronicle about Safe Waste Shropshireswebsite photograph of the Chineham incineratorproducing smoke.

Chineham incinerator is very similar in capacity andpurpose to the proposed incinerator for Battlefield,North Shrewsbury. Veolia Environmental Services, theoperator, has for some time been organising trips forShropshires elected representatives, press andmembers of their Community Liaison Group to lookround the Chineham incinerator. These visits,

essentially sales pitches, have included pleasantlunches but no contact with residents.

We invited all the County Councillors to join us as webelieved that it would be an ideal opportunity for themto hear views and opinions of the local people mostaffected by the incinerator. The majority ignored theinvitation, despite many of them claiming to want tobe better-informed of the issues.

The first call was at the incinerator itself. We were allaghast at the sheer size of the plant which lookedincongruous in its rural setting(see below). Typicalcomments from the Shropshire party were Its sougly! and Imagine how this would look fromHaughmond Hill!

We then adjourned to the community centre to eat ourpacked lunches (no Veolia free lunch for us!) and learnsome interesting facts from the Chineham residentsand their elected representatives:

During the planning stage the developers hadpromised that the Chineham plant would generateelectricity and provide local community heating. Sofar the plant only produces electricity. It is thoughtto be very unlikely that any form of community

heating will ever be realised other than in the formof global warming!

The Council pays a gate fee of 70 / ton for wastegoing into the plant which if multiplied by 90,000tons /year gives a total of 6,300,000/yr. In otherwords, this is a mini power station where theoperator gets paidvery good money to take infuel!

The waste-derived fuel produces steam togenerate electricity which is then sold to thenational grid and the income/profit goes to theoperator, Veolia. It is estimated that the incomefor this electricity was between 3 to 4 million per

annum before the recent rise in prices. The waste which goes into the plant is supposed to

be non-recyclable material. However, residentshave discovered that items such as Calor gasbottles, an engine block and batteries, givingoff harmful chemicals when burned, typically find

their way into this incinerator. CurrentGovernment legislation does not require incineratoroperators to monitor for the most harmfulemissions - tiny particulates of deadly chemicals.

As with other areas with energy from wasteplants, the targets for recycling have been set atunambitious levels to keep the incinerator fed. In

Shropshire, with two incinerators potentially vyingfor our waste what are our recycling figures(currently rising) going to look like?

A Chineham resident, an oncologist with aprofessional insight into the likely adverse healtheffects of the incinerator, was a leadingcampaigner against the development and it was hisphotograph we used on Safe Waste Shropshireswebsite. He has since moved his family awayfrom the area.

After the construction of the incinerator a farmerliving within one mile of the plant has reported thathis insurance premium has risen astronomically.

Basingstoke Borough Council and local parishcouncils opposed the incinerator planningapplication on behalf of their residents to no avail,despite there being a large amount of technicalevidence against its construction and what wouldbe the likely health and financial effects. Thecampaign was unable to raise the large amount ofmoney needed for a Judicial Review, which in otherparts of the country has resulted in incineratorproposals being withdrawn.

Chris Tomblin wished us all better luck with ourcampaign than they had had in Chineham and hopedthat we would not find ourselves living with such a

Silent and deadly neighbour.

Safe Waste in Shropshire, affiliated to UK-WIN willcontinue to inform people about safer alternatives toincineration. We will also continue to highlight thehidden costs of the proposed Battlefield incinerator toour health, our pockets and our democraticprocesses.

Friends of the Earth has just produced anotherexcellent briefing document on Private FinanceInitiative projects and how to circumvent them.Battlefield incinerator is a crucial part of the SCCs PFIdeal with Veolia. The document spells out that

planning for an incinerator, mostly in secret, startsabout at least 4 years before the planning applicationgoes in. That this happened in Shropshire, despite thestipulations of the Waste Local Plan (see above) hasbeen confirmed by councillors.

Safe Waste Shropshire

Chineham



Freedom of Information RequestsIn early June, a member of Safe Waste in Shropshiresubmitted a Freedom of Information request to SCCunder the Environmental Information Regulations(EIR). This was to ascertain how SCC had managed tocircumvent the Waste Local Plan in respect ofincineration at Battlefield which had been expresslyruled out in the Plan. The council, after much delay,

finally produced some documentation, most of itirrelevant to the request and heavily redacted(blacked-out). Campaigners are planning to submitother FoI requests in the near future on other public-interest issues such as the contents of the actual wastecontract still not published despite official promises.

Philip Pool brings us up-to-date on cyclingdevelopments - Impatient Shrewsbury cyclists,fretting at the pace at which things improve, willhave been heartened at two news items. Firstwas the success of Sustrans Lottery bid lastautumn, which brings us million to fill in thegap in provision for cyclists that is centered onSmithfield Road. Then in June came the award ofCycling Town status for Shrewsbury, a coup forthe team at the County Council, bringing1.5million. Over three years, with extramatching funding, the aim is to spend over4million. (SCCs recent annual cycling spend hasbeen 214,000, so its quite a honey pot).

So, impatient cyclists now wonder, whatshappening? Well, hopefully, lots of planning first.Sustrans found coping with its paperwork for its72 projects a challenge, but things are buzzingnow. Consultants are looking hard at key

junctions, from Frankwell island, through

Smithfield Road, and out to Castle Foregate. Thisis a tough nut to crack and expectations are high.So my fingers are firmly crossed.

As for the Cycling Town project, this is what itaims to do by 2011 -

Overall cycling levels will have doubled, with12% of journeys to school and 10% of work

journeys being made by bicycle. More local people will have taken up cycling

for utility and leisure purposes. Every school in the town and over 50

workplaces will have benefited from intensiveBikeit style promotion. 70% of schoolchildren will benefit from Bikeability cycletraining.

We will have expanded our cycle network byover a third (15km) with a key focus onimproving routes to work and schools.

Strategic routes will offer priority for cyclistsat side road junctions.

Routes will be signed showing cycling times.The town centre will be much more accessibleby bike and have reduced traffic levels.

Shrewsbury will be recognised as a keycycling destination for sport and leisure; acycle centre offering cycle hire, information,repairs and storage will have opened in thetown centre.

Perhaps impatient cyclists may not have too longto wait for the lights to turn a paler shade ofgreen.

Other motoring concerns in Shrewsbury

As many of you may be aware there have been anumber of calls for a review of parkingenforcement in Shropshire. The current agencyagreement is for two years ending on the 20 thNovember 2008 and can be extended. ShropshireCounty Council has agreed to extend the existing

agency agreement until 31

st

March 2009 whenthe service will transfer to the new ShropshireCouncil. With the end of the current agreementthere is an opportunity to review the service toensure it meets stakeholders requirements andis fit for purpose.

The Joint Parking Advisory group, a group ofelected councillors from around Shropshire, havedetermined that an extensive consultationexercise should be undertaken to help inform thedecision-making on the future operation of thisservice. Andy Goldsmith, Shrewsbury andAtcham Borough Council Assistant CouncilManager is leading on this exercise. The closingdate for the consultation is the 19th September.The form can be completed on paper orelectronically and is available by following thelinks on the Have Your Say area of Shrewsburyand Atcham Borough Councils websitewww.shrewsbury.gov.uk.

Shrewsbury cyclists moving up a gear

Cycling in London has risen by 83 per cent since

2000. Yet the number of cyclists killed or seriouslyinjured on the road in the capital has fallen by a thirdin the last decade. (The Economist, 26th April 2008)



Green Guide

An updated Shrewsbury Green Guide for 08/09 will be appearing somewhere near you in mid-October,timed to coincide with Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council joining the Shropshire WastePartnership, in advance of the formation of a Unitary Authority for Shropshire. Veolia EnvironmentalServices collect and dispose of Shropshire's waste on behalf of Shropshire Waste Partnership.

Last year's funding came from the National Lottery and the Borough Council, this year it is comingfrom the Borough Council, from Shropshire Community Recycling Ltd (formerly the SCR Network),from public donations and Veolia are financing an extra 1,000 copies to be distributed at their outlets.Judy Coleridge says that it has been exciting and encouraging to see how many new movements,changes, developments ideas and websites have appeared over this year. Contributions to the guidecome mainly from active FoE members, plus very useful help from James Thompson, Recycling andSustainability Officer with the Borough Council. As this is going to be an updated edition, we have nospare pages, so we are using a smaller font! We will make sure the launch is publicised, and thatlibraries, wholefood shops and the usual venues are well stocked in an effort to save postage!

Excessive disposal

The average person in the UK throws out their body weight in rubbish every 3 months. Most of this couldbe reprocessed but instead it is often sent to incinerators or landfill.

Unfortunately, in the UK we only recycle around a quarter of our rubbish. Switzerland, the Netherlands andGermany recycle around 60% of their household waste and Flanders in Belgium manages over 70% so whycan't we?

Rea Valley Environmental Network

ReaVEN is a local environmental group, formed to assist and support like-minded people andorganisations that live, work or have connections with the Rea Valley, southwest of Shrewsbury. Themain aims of ReaVEN are to debate and take action on sustainability issues by holding meetings,sharing information and organising projects.

The first public meeting will take place in the Callow Room at Minsterley Parish Hall at 7 30 p.m. onThursday 2nd October. Everyone is welcome to come along to this meeting to discover what othercommunities across Britain are achieving and how we can work together locally. We will be able todiscuss future projects for ReaVEN, make useful contacts and discover what we can do for the benefitof our community and economy. There will also be a short talk by Elaine Brook from Herefordshire

Greenlinks and light refreshments will be served. To contact ReaVEN please telephone 01743 792790or [email protected]

Americans drove11bn fewer miles

in March 2008than in March

2007. (USDepartment ofTransportation)



On Saturday the 27th September we shall beholding a stall in the Market Hall to give awayfree cotton bags for life. As part of our campaignto encourage people to stop using plastic bags wewere able to secure funding from JamesThompson, (Recycling and Sustainability Officer)

and Jean Wigley, (Assets and Markets Officer)both from Shrewsbury and Atcham BoroughCouncil, to enable us to buy 2,000 sustainablyproduced, reusable cotton bags. We are fortunateto have Clever Baggers in Welshpool from whomwe could buy the bags and who were supportiveof us as a local organisation, offering us agenerous discount on our order, enabling us tobuy more bags to give away to customers in theMarket.

Our stall in the market will be the culmination of

a year of work in the Market Hall. We have heldinformation stalls, showed the Breaking Wavesvideo and spoken to stall holders and customersabout the problems of plastic in the environment.Many stall holders have been positive about our

campaign and will now be able to offer customersa bag that further supports our work.If you are interested in helping on the stall on the27th please e-mail Bex [email protected] orcome along on the day.

Plastic Bags Am nesty at Friends of the Earth stall in the Mark et Hall

Dave Green reports that despite rising cost estimatesfor the North West Relief Road, the County Council arestill pushing ahead with plans for the road. However,there is growing acceptance that the chances of

getting the scheme funded are not good and that thelink with flood defences will be difficult to achieve

The latest cost estimate is just under 100m, aphenomenal sum, including some work on SmithfieldRoad to reduce it to 2 lanes. The plans for SmithfieldRoad appear very optimistic considering that trafficlevels are only forecast to drop by 16% from currentlevels. Even if this is achieved it's difficult to see how alane could be removed without increasing congestion.

The next step is for the scheme to be discussed by theRegional Transport Partnership (RTP) in October. Davefeels that it is unlikely that such an expensive scheme

with little contribution to regional priorities and no helpfor reducing carbon emissions will get their support.Unfortunately only 2 of the RTP members turned up fora site visit recently, during which the RTPrepresentatives were driven twice through

town without any delays at all.

The recommendation from the RTP will then go to theDepartment for Transport who will decide next summer

whether to approve the scheme. If they say yes thenfurther public consultation will take place. Davewonders how much notice will be taken of publicopinion when Government money is on the table.

Meanwhile the Environment Agency is continuing tolook at how the NWRR could link with flood defences.This is proving difficult and would be unlikely to receivefunding under current guidelines but further studiescontinue. It seems difficult enough to get oneGovernment department to finance a scheme but thechances of getting two departments to agree thefinancing at the same time seems impossible. The onegood thing is that it may delay the road even further

and Dave is convinced the longer this saga goes on theless chance there is that the road will ever get built,it's unfortunate that so much money and energy hasbeen spent along the way.

North W est Relief Road - plans drag on whilst estimates reach 100m

In 2007, the average piece of chewing gumcost 3p to buy, but 10p to remove from apavement. (The Guardian, 3rd May 2008)

China became a net importer of coal in January2007. (Agence France-Presse)

In 2007, YouTube consumed as much bandwidth asthe entire internet did in 2000.

(New York Times, 13th March 2008)

There are 121 postcode areas in Britain. Theonly one of these areas without a Tesco is now

Harrogate. (Daily Telegraph)



Contacts:E-Mail:

Val: [email protected] us you r E-Mail address!

Or Visit: www.shrewsfoe.org.uk*

See also: www.foe.co.uk

Val Oldaker Co-ordinator49, Cleveland St, SY2 5DN

260971

Dave Green NWRR 360055

Philip Pool Transport, Walks & Talks 367968

Judy Coleridge Waste, Walks & Talks 364157

John Rice Treasurer 792790

Judith Rice Newsletter 792790Sue Fisher Membership Secretary

37 Sunnybank Rd SY2 6RG358449

MONTHLY MEETINGS - business and social

Our monthly business me etings will norma lly ta ke p lac e on the 1st Mond ay of the month a t 7 30 p.m. at

Marches Energy Age nc y, next to the Ga teway. However, plea se ring to c onfirm this with one o f our

memb ers abo ve a s this may vary. For example, the next business meeting w ill be held on Mond ay 29thSep tem ber bec ause a numb er of the g roup wish to hear Rob Hop kins talk at Bishop s Ca stle on 6th

October.

In future, our business me et ings will sta rt a t 7 30 p.m. and a im to finish by 9 00 p .m. whe n the group will

adjourn to the Wood ma n p ub lic house a t 32, Coton Hill to con tinue discussing issues of interest in a more

informal way. If you do no t wish to c om e to the mo re formal business mee ting, please do feel welcom e to

join us a t the p ub a fter 9 p .m.

On the o ther hand , if you c anno t ma ke the ea rlier meeting b ut wo uld like send us information or

c ommen ts for the a gend a , do p lease ema il us in ad vanc e of the mee ting

.loo king forwa rd to m eeting more o f you a t our soc ial get tog ether.

MembershipSue Fisher, our Membership Secretary writes: The local Shrewsbury Friends of the Earth group has a

healthy number of members but we are always interested in reaching more people so do encourage yourfriends to join. The majority of our members prefer to receive information by email. This is veryconvenient for the group as it saves both FoE resources and forests as long as you dont print it off or,worse still, print it off on one side of the paper. It would be great when you change your e-address if youcould remember to let us know and if you dont currently receive your newsletter electronically, pleaseconsider this option.

However, it is interesting that, when it comes to renewing membership, snail mail usually produces abetter response, presumably because there is something tangible to remind us. We have been asked aboutstanding orders as a method of paying, this is not currently available, but is being actively pursued. Themembership year runs from Jan to Dec.Many thanks for supporting your local FOE Group.

W ant To Join? If youre not a member already and would like to join please send 8 (6 concessions) or22 for three years to Sue, thank you. Extra donations are always very welcome.National FoE Subscriptionsare completely separate to local group subs. If youre a national member you should receive the EarthMatters magazine, if not then we strongly urge you to join. Do so by going towww.foe.co.ukor ringing020 7490 1555.

This newsletter was assembled by Judith Rice, layout by Mike Richardson

During his first year in office, Gordon Brown introduced2,823 lawsmore than any previous prime minister inthe same period. (Sunday Telegraph, 5th July 2008)

Shell's dividend last year was $8bn. (The Times, 1st May2008)

There are an estimated 10,000 trillionants on earthroughly 1.6m ants foreach person. Their combined weight

is equivalent to the weight of theentire human population. (MSN)

Autumn 2008 Shrewsbury Friends of the Earth Newsletter

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