Good biofuel, bad biofuel...

Last week, I was in the press for having written to Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary, about my concerns over the re-application for a biofuel plant at Avonmouth. With so much going on to try to prevent that plant, which will burn palm oil ( a renewable, but not environmentally sustainable fuel) from being established in Bristol, it is easy to just think of biomass as a bad thing.

So it was really refreshing to be able to visit Blaise Nurseries with Charles Hendry, Minister for Energy and Climate Change and Henbury's Councillor, Chris Windows. At Blaise Nurseries, they put waste wood products in boilers which generates energy. The wood comes from cast-offs from manufacturing ( with strict quality control) and from waste from woodland management; all genuinely sustainable, renewable sources, and turning waste into a source of energy.

There are also a lot of side-benefits: an expansion in woodland planting and woodland managing - which in turn demands new skills and new jobs. Lots of people talk about how climate change can be an opportunity for renewable technology, and how the South West is so well placed to take advantage of this, but it really becomes an exciting and tangible concept when you visit somewhere like Blaise Nurseries. 

We are way behind Europe when it comes to doing this - but it shows that it really can be done and become a mainstream way of generating energy, and of course, we can learn from the mistakes made by our European neighbours without having to make them ourselves! 

Residents turn out in force for Shire's public meeting

When I stood up amongst the crowd who had been refused entry to a meeting about the future of the Daisy Field and Lamplighters land, back in June, I pledged to get them a full public meeting to really discuss the issue.

Under the Council's Parks and Green Spaces Strategy, the Daisy Field and Lamplighters Land are amongst plots of land identified as of potential 'low value' to the community, and susceptible for being sold off for housing.

Three months, a petition, a 'write-to-the-council-campaign' and a Big Picnic later, the council officers responsible came to address a packed public meeting, chaired by Avonmouth's new Councillor, Siobhan Kennedy-Hall.

It is a very good thing we did get this meeting: The level of information, sound argument and strength of feeling displayed by residents at the meeting was impressive. The amount of 'new information' that the council officers gained by listening to residents, many of whom have lived in Shirehampton for many years, was significant.

We got some pledges of action by the council, and Cllr. Kennedy-Hall is following that up. Most importantly, council officers were exposed directly to the thoughts and feelings of the general public.

The decision has yet to go to consultation - but hopefully the campaign will have started early enough to prevent the Daisy Field and Lamplighters land from even appearing in the consultation document.

We have been determined to sort this out before the consultation process because residents sadly now have little faith that they are able to sway any decision that has gone to consultation - they fought to save their swimming pool, and the Robin Cousins Centre - to no avail. Let's hope this campaign, having got in early, is more successful.

And you can still do your bit!

1. By signing the petition

2. Writing to the council: Send your letter, with specific comments on why the Daisy Field and Lamplighters should not be built on, to:

Rob McGovern
Area Green Space Plan Project Officer
Bristol Parks
Colston 33
Colston Avenue
Bristol, BS1 4UA

The sun shines on Shire's Big Picnic

At 11.55am, things were looking a bit ropey. The sky was threatening rain, and the only sign of anyone coming to Shire's Big Picnic was a mum with a pushchair some way off, and a dog walker.

But I needn't have worried. Pretty soon, local residents were flooding down to the Lamplighters land in Shirehampton to unfurl their picnic rugs for a peaceful demonstration against the Council's possible plans, under their Parks and Green Spaces Strategy, to put The Daisy Field and Lamplighters Land up for building development.

Over 250 people turned up to Shire's Big Picnic, which is a formidable demonstration of just how much this land is valued by the people in Shirehampton. And sitting there on the grass beside the river, it is easy to see why. This land is one of Bristol's beauty spots. For most cities, this area would be the jewel in their crown. It would be madness to build over it.

It was also very good to see people of all ages sitting down together as a community. Shire's Big Picnic demonstrated that although good facilities for play are important, with just a picnic rug, a bit of food and the company of your friends, family and neighbours, a wonderful day can be had by all.

Lots of people have said to me that Shire's Big Picnic should become an annual event. I am hoping that our campaigning will safeguard this land so Shire's Big Picnic can become a stapel part of the local calendar for many years to come.

If you would like to do your bit to protect the Daisy Field and Lamplighters Land from building development, please sign Cllr. Siobhan Kennedy-Hall's petition HERE

Giving the public the real say on the future of Shire's green spaces

Last night I was at a meeting discussing the future of Shirehampton's Daisy Field and part of the Lamplighters land under the Council's Parks and Green Spaces Strategy. That's the strategy whereby areas of land are identified as 'low value', sold off for housing, in order to enhance remaining areas.

The hoards of people pictured here, however, are not the meeting. They are members of the public who were unable to get into the meeting - and to whom an unfortunate council officer gave an impromptu talk and took questions.

For a full version of what happened, read my Daily Mail blog HERE

But in short the whole thing has ignited great public anger -

1. Because asking the people of Shirehampton to sell off the green space they have left in order to 'enhance' the rest with things like sports facilities and a swimming pool, when there is the scar of the demolished old pool, and the mausoleum of the derelict Robin Cousins centre down the road seems to many absurd to the point of being insulting.

2. Trying to alleviate the public's concern about democratic procedure by asking the public to wait until the formal public consultation to put forward their views does not help: People in Shirehampton have objected in the strongest possible terms to so many decisions about their community to apparently no avail, that , as one lady put it, people wonder "What kind of public objection would it take to change decisions under consultation?"

3. In all the opinion gaining exercises the Council is conducting as to what people in Shirehampton want done with their green space, the overwhelming and simple answer is "Please, please just leave it alone! but reopen our closed facilities and maintain our land better". That's the answer. But it doesn't seem to be sinking in...

If you feel strongly about this issue, you can sign a petition online against the designation of The Daisy Field and Lamplighters land as 'low value' by clicking HERE.

Green but getting lost? Not anymore!

Can I recommend an amazing website I was told about the other day?

http://bristolstreets.co.uk/

What does it do? It untangles all those hundreds of confusing bus route documents and rail timetables, park and ride locations etc; This is your one-stop-shop for getting around the city by public transport.

I've not seen anything like this before. So simple. So effective!
A brilliant idea, bookmark it now and tell all your friends!

All very happy and smiley on the bus, here. But little did I know I was going in completely the wrong direction... I should have looked at, yes, http://bristolstreets.co.uk/ !

The sun always shines on Chooseday

Well, it did today, anyway. This morning, on a gloriously sunny day, I hopped on the bus into the centre of town, to support the launch of Chooseday.

Chooseday was the brain child of a team including Joshua Hart and Chris Sunderland (pictured here with me). The idea is simple: On Tuesday ( see what they've done?! Chooseday?!) leave your car at home. Do something different to help the environment.

I think the idea is a winner. There are few things more depressing for an aspirant Green than standing at the bottom of the mountain of the 'Green Ideal', in a state of repentant despair because you suspect you will never ascend to the saintly heights of those who have thrown away the car keys, live in a solar-powered eco-hut, eat nothing but the produce of their back garden, and power their carbon-light lives by their own waste products. And the product of that kind of despair born of a sense of hopeless inadequacy, is to feel that you are an irredeemable Green-sinner and not to do anything green at all.

But Chooseday doesn't ask too much. It only asks that you change your way of life in some small but significant way, one day a week. It's ok, say the organisers of Chooseday, if you have to use your car occasionally. ( Not ideal, but don't get het up about it.) Just do what you can each Tuesday. And if everyone does the same, we will all see just how much difference a collective effort can make. Imagine a Bristol of no cars, just one day a week. Great things start with small steps. So go to their website and learn how you can help make a difference.