Sikh Federation urges a Green vote - and another good poll figure is reported

Very encouraging developments for Green campaigners today.

Sikh federation urges Sikhs to vote Green:

http://rosso-verde.blogspot.com/2009/05/sikh-federation-says-vote-green.html

Greens at 9% in the polls (Guardian/ICM), very close to UKIP, BNP struggling to feature at all:

http://charlie-boltons-southville-blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-poll-puts-greens-on-9.html

The intention to close St Peter's Hospice in Knowle

Two excellent letters appeared in Friday's local paper, making a great case for keeping St Peter's Hospice as an extremely valuable local community service in St Agnes Avenue, Knowle. I fully support the case made by the day hospice volunteers and will be writing, as they suggest in their letters, to express my feelings and will copy in local councillors and MP. I've copied the first of the letters below:

We refer to your recent article regarding the future plans for St Peter's Hospice.
As volunteers at the Day Hospice, we were all amazed to receive individual letters advising of the intended closure of this valuable facility in September.

We were all dismayed at this announcement, withdrawing such a valuable service to the very community which has given its overwhelming support to the hospice over the past 30 years since its founding at the Knowle site.

The people of South Bristol have taken this charity to their hearts during that time. Many local individuals and businesses alike feel this to be their charity.

The withdrawal of this facility is considered by many to be just a first step towards the total withdrawal of the hospice in South Bristol.

We, the volunteers, see at first-hand the huge benefit which the day hospice has provided to the people who have needed it most. Many of these people find even the short journey to the hospice to be quite arduous and to expect them to travel to Brentry will, for many, be a journey too far.
Many of these are also carers and the extra time spent travelling not only affects them but their loved ones at home.

The day hospice works at Knowle because the patients are able to see a specialised doctor without an appointment, talk to nurses about the worries and troubles they have in dealing with their medical condition without time limit.

Many find talking to others in a similar circumstance of benefit. Whilst this service might be undertaken by community nursing, not as many patients would receive this support as at present. Many more would need to be referred to their own GPs.

Whilst we are told to accept change, there is a difference between change and withdrawal. We have no doubt that a properly orchestrated appeal to cover the costs of the necessary repair work to the fabric of the building in Knowle would have been supported by the people of South Bristol.

Yet again, another valuable service in South Bristol will have been lost forever. Not withstanding the suggestion that a new facility will ultimately be built in the Hengrove Park area, the closure of the Knowle site may see the withdrawal of a large number of the hospice's existing supporters on this side of the city.

Day Hospice Volunteers.

Petition calling for a general election now - please sign!!

People need and deserve and vote on which MPs should stay in the House of Commons. Please sign this petition urging the PM to call a general election now!

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/GoToCountryNow/

Bring the UK Parliament into the twenty first century

The MPs' expenses controversy has seriously undermined the public's faith in the current political process and its politicians. Its no surprise that people have lost faith in the present system and many of the MPs in it. I agree with the sentiments expressed by Gerald Gannaway from Knowle Park (Feedback: MPs expenses scandal, Bristol Evening Post, May 21).

Something that makes it even worse is that the more recent political bodies set up, the London, Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies and the Scottish Parliament, have always operated under much more strict rules. It’s utterly appalling that the UK Parliament has not at least matched the processes and standards they can see elsewhere in the country.

Yes we need to ensure that the system is cleansed of MPs who don’t know right from wrong when making expense claims and that a completely open, transparent, independently verified system is put in place – but we also need to take the chance to make root and branch democratic reforms to bring our out of date UK Parliament into the twenty first century.

These ideas (and more!) should be on the table: a written constitution so we all know where we stand; decentralization of power to give more influence to local communities and regions; electoral reform so that all votes count; a Bill of Rights; laws to enable Citizens Initiatives following a local or regional referendum; a system with rules to facilitate the recall of MPs and Councillors between elections, if enough of their constituents want it; 4 year fixed term parliaments; a fully elected second chamber to replace the House of Lords…

With elections to the European Parliament and local councils coming up on June 4th many very people are wondering whether it's worth bothering to vote at all. This worries me. If the turnout is really low it makes it easier for the BNP to win a seat. So to voters who cannot bear the thought of voting Labour, Conservative or Lib-Dem, I’d say what about voting Green!! Not only will this help Green Party MEPs and Councillors get elected, it is also a positive vote for both the present and the future, including deep reform of the system.

As was said in the recent Green election broadcast - if you don't want things to continue as they are, if you think fairness, integrity and the environment belong in politics then vote Green.

Yes to cleaning up politics - but lets get deep reform of the political system too!

Radio 4 – 21 May 2009, 8:40am, transcript of interview about cleaning up politics and deep reform of the political system.

(JN – interviewer James Naughtie)
(CL - Caroline Lucas, Green Party leader, MEP for the South East and Parliamentary Candidate in Brighton)

JN – "You, of course are not in the House of Commons."

CL – "Not yet"

JN – "Let’s not go there at the moment. Looking at it, from the
outside, do you think we going to get deeper reform than simply
cleaning up expenses and allowances?"

CL – "I certainly hope we do. I do believe that there really is a once
in a generation opportunity here … that there is so much anger, not
just about the expenses issue, but about the way that’s symbolic of a
Parliamentary system that is pretty rotten. If you look at how
unrepresentative the people are who supposedly represent us in
Westminster, the very few numbers of women, the very few numbers of
ethnic minorities, if you look at the way that there are so many safe
seats where people just don’t think it’s worth voting anymore. There’s
an interesting correlation between those in those very safe seats, and
those who are most likely to be abusing the system. Basically, they
have felt very complacent. We need to shake that up."

JN – "Then you’re making an argument for electoral reform."

CL – "Absolutely. We need to have a much fairer voting system, some
sort of system of proportional representation, where the people in
Westminster will look more like the people that actually elect them,
not just men in grey suits, doing things behind closed doors, that
people don’t understand, and when they do understand, they feel very
very angry.

JN – "We’ve been here before. The argument about PR has been going on
for, a very long time, let’s say, 25 years in the public context.
There has never been sufficient weight of opinion in the House of
Commons really to get it on the formal agenda. What makes you think it
will happen now?"

CL – "Because we are in completely unprecedented times. You spent the
last 24 hours talking about how amazing it is that the Speaker has
been forced out. Never done before in 300 years. We really do have an
enormous opportunity here. There’s that lovely phrase from the chief
of staff of the White House, "Don’t waste a crisis." This is a very
big crisis, but don’t waste it. We don’t need to just deal with the
expenses system, awful though that is. We really need a root and
branch transformation of our Parliament, so people can feel proud
about it again, so that public life is something honourable again – it
certainly isn’t today - so the whole parliamentary system is alive
again. Parliament shouldn’t just be something that happens behind
closed doors in Westminister. Politics needs to be much more vibrant,
much more alive. This is a real opportunity to do that.

Abandoning the mainstream parties? Vote for the positive, ethical Greens not the hateful BNP.

I’m urging people who intend to abandon the mainstream parties in June’s local and euro elections, and there are understandably many of them, to choose the positive, ethical alternative the Greens offer, not to avoid voting and not to vote for the BNP. I agree strongly with letter writer Liban Obsiye that we need better politicians, but not the BNP.

Plenty of talk about the BNP at the moment. They are getting a lot of frequent, fairly casual mentions in the media as an alternative to the mainstream parties. Their campaign launch received a lot of coverage time on the telly. I’ve seen their party broadcast and on Tues I received their euro election leaflet through my door despite the fact that some Bristol posties have refused to deliver them (and according to reports have forced a change in the attitude of their managers, who have now agreed to allow them to refuse!).

The BNP leaflet got an instant and angry response from my daughter, who has just finished studying IGCSE History including the rise of Fascism and Nazism in the 1920s/30s and the Second World War, who wrote about her feelings here. She is right that the BNP references to images of the Second World War on their leaflet are very odd indeed given that we fought that war to stop the Nazis and Fascists – a description that fits the BNP very well, see here. (Interestingly UKIP also link to the Second World War in their leaflet, using a large picture of Winston Churchill). She is right to draw parallels between BNP tactics and Hitler’s use of scapegoats, economic hard times and failures in the political system to appeal for voter support. Hitler combined violence and bullying with the appearance of moderation as and when it suited him.

Strange that the West Country is simultaneously hosting the Anne Frank exhibition in Bristol Cathedral whilst also giving a platform for the nazi BNP at the Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution in Queen Square this Friday (jointly organised by the BRLSI and, rather ironically given the BNP’s nature, pressure group Unlock Democracy). The Anne Frank exhibition wants to 'help us deal with intolerance and discrimination' – the BNP, a party full of hate, has a constitution that wont even allow black or Asian people to join them! The South West Greens lead Euro election candidate Cllr Ricky Knight has refused to share a platform with the BNP at the Bath meeting. He will be present outside the venue giving out leaflets explaining his Green position and answering any questions in an impromptu ‘people’s hustings’. He has written the following about the meeting:

Unlock Democracy, Bath, criticises the Greens, Labour and Lib-Dems for refusing to debate with the British National Party. On this occasion, it is the Greens and the other parties who should be doing the criticising.

The BNP continue to use tactics and espouse ideas that cannot be construed as being "democratic". A simple example is their use of leaflets identifying a trade unionist, printing his address, phone number and distributing leaflets designed to arouse hostility towards him.

In addition, the BNP constitutionally will not permit Black or Asian British people to become members. They even refuse to accept the fact that they are British.

I am sure that if the BNP membership exclusion extended to Jewish members, homosexuals and people with disabilities, it might become more obvious why the Greens have adopted, in informal agreement with regional Labour and Lib-Dem lead candidates, a policy not to share a platform with a political party whose views on many serious issues we find abhorrent, unethical and indefensible.

We can see from history how a ‘democratic’ party, once elected, was able to perpetrate the Holocaust. I am particularly disappointed that a respected organisation as Unlock Democracy, Bath, with such an honourable record of promoting the reform of our own electoral system, should then choose to ignore these warning signs and attempt to give the oxygen of publicity to a group whose cornerstone policies are the antithesis of the democratic process.

Government incompetence over car emissions forecasts

Not only do we have Government and political system incompetence in running the economy, or in making decisions over what to do about MPs expenses (to put it very kindly), we also have official incompetence in pollution forecasting - a very important part environmental decision making.

This report from FT.com shows that the Government's Highway's Agency, part of the Dept of Transport, thought new roads schemes since 2002 would produce an extra 11,240 tonnes of carbon emissions. The actual increase turned out to be 21,870 tonnes - this is clearly a whapping inaccuracy not just an underestimate, given that its almost twice as much!

Conclusion: their method is rubbish and they dont know how to work out what carbon emissions will be. How can we have decent trust in any official estimates of carbon emissions that will result from major developments, local or national, eg road traffic due to expanding Heathrow or building a South Bristol ring road??

The next Speaker of the House of Commons will/wont be...

They wont be giving Yosser Hughes the job no matter how desperate he is. They wont give me the job. The current Speaker Michael Martin has just announced he is leaving the job, obviously he's out (!!). So who will the next Speaker be? The Liberal Democrat's former leader Sir Menzies Campbell MP perhaps? Sir George Young MP from the Tory benches? My MP Kerry McCarthy has mentioned John Bercow...



Its pretty unlikely to be another Labour MP, especially the likes of Dennis Skinner. It wont be anyone with a radical stance eg Nicholas Winterton and others on the radical right wing - unlike Campbell and Young they wont get too much cross-party consensus. It wont be anyone tainted by the expenses scandal - they should be resigning along with Speaker Martin.






Suggestions as to who it wont be/should be (MPs and non-MPs) and who it might be are welcome...

Eastville's Green candidate promises to pilot a 'petition for recall' system if elected

I've been arguing that voters should have the ability to petition for the recall of elected reps such as MPs and Councillors here on my MP Kerry MCarthy's blog. Unsurprisingly she is not in favour of the idea!! I think its very important to empower voters between elections, giving them the ability, under certain circumstances (such as the current expenses scandal), to force a resignation - apparently she thinks such a system would be open to abuse (interesting word to use, given the current circumstances of many MPs)!! As part of the debate I pledged as follows:

I'm very happy to give a guarantee to Eastville's voters that if I'm elected I would resign if it was shown that large numbers of my constituents felt I had breached Nolan's Seven Principles of Public Life for instance. Many MPs have breached these - they should resign!!

Bristol Greens local election campaign launch boosted by the polls - 34% considering voting Green and 11% intending to vote Green across whole country

Things are moving - many voters are seeking a positive alternative to the current mainstream parties who have brought economic chaos, environmental decline and greedy MPs.

Bristol Greens held their local election campaign launch at lunchtime today, on Castle Park's threatened green space. They announced the 10 point policy plan (below), a full slate of candidates in every ward and the fact that a YouGov has found that 34% of people either will or are considering voting Green on June 4th, in addition to a poll in the Sunday Express which showed that currently 11% of voters have already decided to vote Green in the Euro elections!!


Get serious about transport: put Bristol’s councillors on the bus!

We want the council to start seriously pursuing the creation of a transport authority for Bristol. Parking privileges for councillors should be revoked to concentrate their minds on finding practical solutions to Bristol’s transport problems, such as better buses, trams and the expansion and improvement of the local rail network.

Think global, act local

Wherever we’re elected, Greens promote local shops, post offices, schools, parks, better high streets, keeping jobs within communities, local food and more allotments. People should be able to walk to their local library or swimming pool.

It’s time for a Green New Deal – starting here in Bristol

Bristol should be leading the way investing in green jobs and green businesses. Investing more in domestic energy efficiency, for example, would fight climate change, keep homes warmer, bring in significant extra funding from government and help everyone save money.

Twenty is plenty

Support for 20mph zones across all the city’s dangerous roads is growing. This is something we’ve fought for, for many years, and we’re finally being listened to. We will also carry on our campaign to make pavements for people not for parked cars.

Green space is not a waste

The council must be made to stick to its green space strategy, and stop selling off so much green space – be it inner city spaces like Castle Park or greenbelt land.

Do the “little” things right

We would take action to make streets cleaner and improve waste and recycling collections, increase the number of street trees, deal with dog mess and poor quality graffiti and all the other things that have such an effect on the quality of life in our city.

No to putting social services into exploiting private sector hands

The LibDems lost in 2007 because they refused to back down over their plans to privatise home care. Labour won but privatised most of it anyway. Both should be ashamed of themselves. We need a policy that values the vital work done by Bristol’s home carers.

Education policy should be for our children, not for accountants

We are appalled by the council’s policy of saving money by closing some schools while making big schools even bigger. The Green Party believes in education on a human scale: all children, including pre-school, should be able to be educated in their local community.

Get climate serious – no more greenwash

Bristol should adopt a target of cutting citywide carbon emissions by at least 40% by 2020. But to be genuinely serious about stopping runaway climate change, action needs to be taken more quickly, with at least 25% cut by 2015. Time is running short.

We need a progressive voice in Bristol politics

In today’s tough economic climate, it is more important than ever to stand up for what we believe in. Every Green vote reminds the LibDem/Lab/Con parties that there is an alternative to their clogged roads, defunct economy, and overcrowded schools. Our councillors will work hard to focus attention on the topics that really matter: a sustainable economy, public services, quality of life, and the future of the planet.

Bristol Civic Society help protect Knowle's Friendship Inn from Tesco plans

That the Bristol Civic Society have applied to English Heritage to have The Friendship Inn protected as a listed building is great news. If successful it is a very big obstacle in the way of Tesco’s plans to build a car park over the pub garden followed by converting the building into an Express store. I’m personally uncertain whether it could stop plans altogether, though local Cllr Gary Hopkins is reported as saying it will. I hope he is right.

The story says Tesco has an option to buy the pub. This is of course true but flatly contradicts a letter I and other locals have from Tesco which says that they recently purchased it – this is not true, but Tesco have never, to my knowledge, publicly corrected their error! Tesco Corporate Affairs Manager Juliette Bishop is I note happy to talk to the press but has failed to respond to communications from local people directly affected.

The whole situation has and continues to be rather bizarre. The council’s planning officers and councillors sitting on the planning committee have told campaigners who’ve been working hard from the start to oppose the plans, myself included, that they can only consider Tesco’s application as a car park for a pub – even though its common knowledge that Tesco plan an Express store, bringing many disadvantages to this part of Knowle in addition to those of a car park alone.

Early on I asked the council officer in charge of the case if any trees would be lost (no drawing had been made public at this stage). I was given a categoric no, trees would not be lost. Clearly an error as the larger mature trees in the garden would have been given the chop due to the location of the car park inside the garden walls.

Its bizarre that council officers, including those with planning and transport ‘expertise’, recommended that the planning committee accept the original plans submitted by Tesco for a car park. Officers had apparently visited the spot and regarded the design as safe and appropriate – but after a site visit by councillors and strong representations from many locals, this design was thrown out as unsafe and inappropriate. This inevitably cuts one’s belief in the abilities of some officers, yet these same officers have been given the task of dealing with Tesco’s revised car park plans.

Things may be looking up though. Revised plans have not been released for public view and comment yet because officers had some issues with them (I presume they sent them back with suggested changes??). Its good news too that Cllr Hopkins reports he has gained officer assurances that objectors will have 21 days to give their views on any revised proposals. I will be taking the opportunity to again point out that building any car park on the pub garden, aiding the set up of a Tesco Express in place of the pub, would worsen road safety, add to light, noise and air pollution, damage wildlife and weaken the diversity of the local economy.

Enable the recall of any MP or Councillor - make them accountable between elections!!

The MPs expenses controversy shows that we need some way of holding our elected representatives to account between elections. I'd like to draw your attention to the longstanding Green Party policy of enabling elected representatives on all bodies to be recalled if enough of their constituents want it. Here's a copy of the policy wording from the Manifesto for a Sustainable Society:

'Government at all levels should be accountable to electors between elections and accordingly necessary legislative steps will be taken to provide for a prescribed percentage of any representative's electors to be able to petition for the recall of any elected person, and rules will be made for the conduct of such recall petitions.'

More Green policies on Public Adminsitration and Government here.

Euro election launch: positive, clean politics; plans for 1 million new jobs in green industries

Every party seems to be launching election campaigns at the moment! Here's a link to the BBC's coverage of todays Green Party Euro election campaign launch.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8050021.stm

It features an excellent statement from leader Caroline Lucas showing how our economic and environmental problems need to be tackled together - after all there is no economy without an environment is there!

MPs expenses and Nolan's Seven Principles of Public Life

Its all over the news that MPs are writing cheques to give back money they now think they should not have claimed on expenses etc. They certainly should pay back money. We'll still be left with the many MPs who showed themselves incapable of telling right from wrong when putting in expenses claims though. Yes the pay and expenses system needs to be changed (MPs should not be setting their own pay and expenses) but the lets also get rid of the MPs (and MEPs) devoid of scruples, oblivious to or contemptuous of what is right or honorable.

The 'Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life was set up in 1994 as a result of public concern about the financial probity of holders of public office. It was concerned with standards in public life generally and particularly where public funds were involved.' (details here). Many MPs have very clearly not stood by Nolan's Seven Principles of Public Life:

Selflessness

Holders of public office should take decisions solely in terms of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends.

Integrity

Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might influence them in the performance of their official duties.

Objectivity

In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit.

Accountability

Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

Openness

Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.

Honesty

Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest.

Leadership

Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/12/mps-pay-back-expenses

Message from Green Party leader Caroline Lucas on expenses row, grabbing MPs, extremism and positive alternatives

From Dr Caroline Lucas MEP, Leader, The Green Party

Harriet Harman (Times, 9.5.09) says the expenses row is creating "an anti-politics mood" amongst the public. But is it politics the public are against, or the behaviour of some self-serving Labour and Conservative politicians?

We shouldn't let her fudge the issue of exactly who it is that the public are angry at. And it's not about the the system, it's about the choices those MPs made to grab as much as they thought they'd get away with on a technicality.

Nor is it an excuse that we're not as bad as some other countries. Nor is there something inherently corrupting about politics - becoming an elected politician, entering a parliamentary expenses system, does not mean you'll automatically be infected with snout-in-trough disease.

But what is almost beyond belief is the way Ms Harman is using the supposed "anti-politics mood" to stir up fear of the BNP, for the sole purpose of frightening disillusioned Labour voters into voting Labour as a lesser evil. (Actually the best tactical vote in a regional list election is more likely to be a Green vote anyway, to ensure the Greens stay ahead of the BNP and deny them the final seat in the region.)

With an election in three weeks it's appalling that most of the talk is about apathy, cynicism and how anger at the government will feed far-right extremism. It really is time to look at the positive choices facing the electorate. Britain needs a new vision, and this week the Green Party will offer one as we launch our European election manifesto.

The elections of 4th June might yet signal a desire for positive change - a fairer economy, proper regulation of the banks, a real Green New Deal to create a million jobs to tackle the recession and the climate crisis. I think you'll find that voters looking for a progressive party in which to place their trust may well look to the Green Party when they cast their votes on June 4th.

Yours sincerely
Dr Caroline Lucas MEP
Leader, The Green Party
1a Waterlow Road N19 5NJ
020 7561 0282

Green Party Euro Election Broadcast

Green Party Euro Election Broadcast had its first showing today. The local election broadcast will be shown during the week commencing 18 May.

Big biomass power station for Bristol...

I'll be keeping an eye on the online debate about the proposed '...£200 million "green" power station at Avonmouth...', adding to initial comments I've already made, as appropriate.


If the figures in this report on the local newspaper website are right then this biomass power station would produce much more electricity than the hopefully now dead proposal for mass incinerating Bristol's domestic waste - and minus the big disadvantages!


Bringing in most of the biomass fuel by ship is pretty efficient too.


The potential contribution to building a sustainable society from biomass is good - if the details are planned properly and the exact technology properly assessed.


They say the fuels used will be sustainably sourced, which is great (though I'd like to see the figures on this to check the claim). Hopefully the fuel would be UK sourced too.


Ideally it would be a combined heat and power station (CHP), twice as efficient because 'waste' heat from electricity production is put to good use, though I doubt that the earmarked location is right for doing this.

Contesting Eastville Ward in Bristol’s local elections: Vote Vowles, Green Party, on June 4

I’ve received confirmation that my nomination as the Green Party candidate for the Eastville ward has been accepted. I will therefore be contesting the Eastville seat and want to say why people should vote for me and what I will work for if elected.

I’ve been active on protecting and enhancing Eastville’s green spaces – having been heavily involved in the (ongoing) campaign to prevent the ‘cycle house’ development encroaching onto the Bristol to Bath Railway Path, opposing the sell off and/or leasing of publicly owned land there, and having presented a petition to the council opposing their policy of flogging parks and green spaces.

I’ve also pressured for increased safety, and reduced air pollution and noise nuisance from roads, especially the busiest roads like those leading to the M32 (and the motorway itself) eg through speed reduction, having put proposals to council consultations on noise and walking.

In both previous elections and in continuous campaigning between elections I’ve been working to:

*Get safe residential roads, with a 20mph limit, to protect our kids. This would help in creating the much better cycling and pedestrian provision we need.

*Achieve quality learning for all children - no to large, impersonal education factories. Education for sustainable living should be a central feature.

*Encourage and support home and allotment grown food, widen fresh, local, healthy, organic and ethical food availability

*Protect, enhance and if possible increase Bristol’s open, green, natural spaces – no to inappropriate developments.

*Retain and improve locally available facilities, services, and jobs, giving local people and communities the biggest say over them

*Put people before profit - no to the privatization of local/public services

*Promote local energy saving and the renewable micro-generation of energy

*Create a Transport Authority for Greater Bristol, sort out Bristol’s buses/trains – we need far better and cheaper public transport

*Get much more investment in cutting people’s fuel bills and in local public transport - cut Bristol’s carbon emissions significantly each year and generate loads of local jobs.

*Achieve higher land, air, water and environmental quality.

*Bring abandoned land and buildings quickly into good use, stop ‘grot spots’ growing

*Get government, councils, businesses and individuals acting on their responsibility to be environmentally-friendly

*Achieve respect for and the enabling of broad based public participation in community life (see the list of 21 suggestions I’ve submitted to Bristol City Council’s Sustainable Communities Act process)

I’ve lived in Bristol, on the edge of the Bristol East constituency, for over 40 years. For over 20 years I have campaigned as a Green here. I was Parliamentary Candidate for Bristol South in 1987 and 2001 and have fought many local elections, last time in Knowle where I live. As well as being a founder-member of Bristol South Green Party I formed and now coordinate Sustainable Knowle – my neighbourhood Transition group. I've a long history of continuous activity/campaigning both party political and otherwise, including raising and presenting petitions, putting questions and making statements to the council and contributing to consultations.

I’ve worked from home as an Associate Lecturer in Environment (environmental decision making and environmental technology) with the Open University for the last ten years, having been a science teacher for fifteen years and a research and development technologist in the polymer industry for six years. I have had several years’ experience as a UNISON steward and NASUWT rep. and have been a governor in three schools. (full biography here)

Please vote Vowles, Green Party, in Eastville on June 4th 2009 !

http://www.bristolgreenparty.org.uk/

Unite Against Fascism - Bristol

Greens will be supporting and taking part in tomorrow's Unite against Fascism Cavalcade:

CAVALCADE

The cavalcade will motor through the Bristol area, assembling at 10 am at Morrisons Car Park, Fishponds joining the March at Castle Park, central Bristol.

MARCH
The March through the City Centre will assemble at Castle Park at 12 noon to the Fountains.

RALLY
The rally will be held at the fountains opposite the Hippodrome at 2pm with speakers and music.
BRING YOUR CARS, BIKES and LORRIES !
BRING YOUR WHISTLES, MUSIC AND VOICES !
BRING YOUR BANNERS ,POSTERS AND PLACARDS !

Event Supported by SW TUC,FBU, PCS, CWU, UNITE, NUJ, UNISON, NUT, Searchlight, Hope Not Hate,Make your Vote Count and several political organisations and communitygroups.

See the Unite Against Fascism - Bristol group on Facebook.

The life of Pete Taylor

Sad news has reached me of the death of Easton green activist and great bloke Pete Taylor. I got to know Pete through Green Party campaigning many years back and had contact with him again recently through campaigning on protecting the Bristol to Bath Railway Path environment.

There are some fantastic tributes to Pete here:

http://bristolcars.blogspot.com/2009/05/pete-taylor.html

E-petition for 20mph default speed on Bristol's residential roads is now live - please sign!!

From the 20's Plenty For Bristol Campaign:

The E-Petition to Bristol City Council "Reduce the speed limit to 20mph
where people live and work" is now live at the link below. Please
add your names and publicise it widely !

Petition link(s): http://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/view/20splenty

The petitioner asks Bristol City Council to adopt 20mph as the default
speed limit for residential and urban roads.

A 20 MPH BRISTOL: WHY?

Most of us want to live in a quiet, pleasant street. A safe street in
which children can play out alone; a friendly street in which you can
meet your neighbours.

No one wants to live in a hostile street that you cannot walk across
thanks to a fast-moving traffic; a noisy street that is an occasional
race track.

We call for Bristol to bring traffic speeds down to 20 miles per hour
across the city, as part of a wider vision for creating the kind of
streets in which we really want to live.

LIVING STREETS

Communities grow where the streets belong to people, not just to
vehicles. City streets can and should be lively, vibrant places which
everyone can enjoy. Streets should be places in which you can hear
yourself speak above the constant noise from vehicles; in which you can
safely walk or cycle with your children.

Our streets should not be grim thoroughfares serving only fast-moving
vehicles. Our streets should include everyone and allow a range of uses.
Our streets should be a truly shared space in which shoppers and
residents, pedestrians and cyclists, young and old, do not take a second
place to people in cars.

Reducing vehicle speeds is the single most important factor in creating
living streets. There is strong and growing evidence to support a
maximum speed limit of 20 mph in our towns and cities. The government
supports the introduction of 20 mph, and the Conservatives now support
20 mph 'in all urban areas'.

We believe that the benefits of 20 mph should be felt throughout
Bristol, in the streets where we live, shop and stroll.

DRIVER PSYCHOLOGY

At 20 mph, drivers make eye contact with and engage with the people in
the street they are passing through. This contact really matters: people
in the street know they've been seen. It also makes drivers less
inclined to bully their way along 'their' road, and more inclined to
share the space.

At speeds over 30 mph, drivers begin to become disassociated from the
area they are passing through - treating it principally as a traffic
thoroughfare for getting quickly from A to B, rather than a space for
people to enjoy.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IN YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD?

The 2003-04 British Crime Survey asked the public what they perceive to
be the worst 'anti-social behaviour' problems where they live. By far
the biggest problems related to the effects of motor traffic - 43%
reported fast traffic as a 'fairly big' or 'very big' problem, and 31%
felt the same about cars parked inconveniently or illegally.

SOME FACTS ABOUT ROAD TRAFFIC SPEEDS:

Perhaps the most surprising fact about reducing speeds from 30 mph to 20
mph is that vehicles get across cities quicker the slower they go.
According to transport planners, in a city where the limits are 20 mph
not 30 mph, there is less need for traffic signals and the queuing that
traffic lights cause. Slow-moving cars require fewer controls and allow
a more efficient city. There's little sense in speeding from one queue
to the next as we do at the moment. Slower speeds make it easy for motor
vehicles to merge with ease, for cycles to co-exist with motor vehicles,
and for pedestrians to cross roads.

DID YOUR KNOW?

. Hit by a car at 40 mph, a pedestrian has an 85 per cent chance of
being killed while at 20 mph the risk falls to 5 per cent.
(Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety)

. When traffic is slowed down to 20 mph, there is a 70 per cent drop in
accidents to child pedestrians. (Transport Research Laboratory)

. Children from disadvantaged families are five times more likely to be
killed on the roads than the better off. (Department for Transport)

. Children's deaths and injuries could be reduced by 67 per cent if 20
mph were the speed limit on residential roads. (Health Development
Agency)

. The proportion of children walking to primary school in Britain has
fallen from 61 per cent in 1993 to 53 per cent in 2003, with an increase
from 30 per cent to 39 per cent in the numbers driven to school over the
same period. (National Travel Survey)

FIND OUT MORE at the websites for 20's Plenty for Bristol and 20's
Plenty for Us:

http://www.20splentyforbristol.org.uk and
http://www.20splentyforus.org.uk

Steve Kinsella
20's Plenty for Bristol
tel 01934 838624 mobile 07810 285175

Views sought on the use and protection of Green Belt land around Bristol & Bath

Passing this on:

Views sought on the use and protection of Green Belt land around Bristol & Bath

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) is seeking views on use of Green Belt land in England. This is your chance to help shape the future of the countryside where you live, work or visit.

Green Belt is rural land around cities that is protected from excessive housing and other development, thus preventing urban sprawl. Around 13% of land in England is estimated to be in one of the fourteen Green Belt areas. The land is protected by planning and development policies.

Some professional groups and developers say that Green Belts are no longer needed, but a MORI poll for CPRE in 2005 found that 84% of people in England believe that Green Belt land should remain open and undeveloped, and that building on it should not be allowed.

CPRE’s Green Belt survey is launched in April 2009. Through this survey we aim to find out how people in Bristol & Bath, London and Merseyside would like to see the Green Belt used in the future, such as for farming, woodland, or recreation. We would particularly welcome the views of (a) people from inner-city areas and (b) landowners or managers based in Green Belt areas.

The information will be analysed and reported back in local media in the autumn. CPRE will use the information nationally to influence a current Government study on the use of land across England, and locally in our work with local authorities on the future planning of how we use the Green Belt.

http://www.cpre.org.uk/campaigns/planning/green-belts/green-belts-green-belts-for-a-greener-future-survey

Local contacts (particularly if you can help to distribute survey information more widely):

• Bristol: Alison Belshaw, Sustain: alison@sustainweb.org, tel: 01225 787919

• London: Suzanne Natelson, Sustain: suzanne@sustainweb.org tel: 020 7837 1228

• Merseyside: Allan Nickson, Myerscough College: anickson@myerscough.ac.uk; tel: 01995 642222

Please circulate the links to as many contacts as possible. If the information is going in to a newsletter or being sent to a large email group please let me know approximately how many people it has been circulated to. If you would like a copy of the survey that could be printed off for completion please contact me.

Many thanks,

Alison Belshaw
Eat Somerset Project Officer

Going green: rational not religious

Just been reading about the efforts of an author to get his book Green Messiah published (see the online story 'Is being green the new religion?'). A new religion based on environmentalism and giving up democracy both sound highly undesirable to me!! How socially sustainable could it be??

No, the basis of change and progress is questioning not faith. Making democratic choices based on evidence and reason is fundamental to a society that is able to sustain itself long term. Electing representatives to take decisions for our communities/society and participating in decision making between elections is a vital aspect of sustainability.

The best available social, economic and environmental evidence indicates we should go green. The case for building a sustainable society is therefore a rational one.

http://vowlesthegreen.blogspot.com/search?q=evidence

Anne Frank (and you) exhibition in Bristol: lessons from history about fascism, and more...

http://www.annefrankbristol.org.uk/ for details of this exhibition. Lots of lessons for us to learn from history.

Amongst other things the exhibition wants to 'help us deal with intolerance and discrimination' so I'm sure it will be a big hit with the British National Party!!

Tesco submit revised plans to build car park over Friendship Inn garden

Tesco just dont give up when they want it all their own way. I'm told that they have submitted revised plans for building a car park over the Friendship Inn pub garden. This means that the planning committee will look again at the issue, possibly as early as 3 June. They were stopped from getting their way in January and again in April but here we go again...

There are some uncertainties here at present. We have elections in June which means the make-up of the planning committee handling this may change (will they really be meeting on 3 June, as currently scheduled, with elections on 4 June??). I've not seen the revised plans and have not received a letter from the council yet detailing the planning committee meeting that will consider them.

Not surprised about a revised plan being submitted by Tesco. Its what the planning committee meeting on 1 April ended up deciding they would enable, at literally the last minute. Labour Cllr Sean Beynon, currently the planning committee Chair, was very keen on the original plan, supported by unelected officers (!) even though every other councillor thought it was very poor. My feeling is that he and officers manipulated the committee meeting of 1 Apr into deferring the decision subject to Tesco revising the design rather than refusing permission (nothing to stop Tesco submitting a revsied plan even if they were refused planning permission first time though).

Several councillors trashed the car park design (going against officer opinion, who advised very badly) and expressed the view that this was entirely the wrong place for a car park after their site visit on 1 Apr. I will be reminding the committee of this and outlining all the reasons why: road safety; noise; air pollution and local health; climate change and congestion
issues...

The Breast Cancer site: click on 'donating a mammogram' for free

Passing this message on from Jean.

A favour to ask, it only takes a minute....

Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on 'donating a mammogram' for free (pink window in the middle).

This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising..

Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know.

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

AGAIN, PLEASE TELL 10 FRIENDS TO TELL 10

Tony Juniper and Sir Jonathon Porritt call on people to vote Green

Former Director of Friends of the Earth Tony Juniper and Chair of the Sustainable Development Commission Sir Jonathon Porritt call for people to vote Green in Euro and local elections this June. Very influential support indeed.

Sustainable Communities Act suggestion scheme: various proposals submitted

I've been going back over my blog and listing the various changes I've proposed or implied. Originally I intended to go through the entire site (over 500 posts to date), list all suggestions and submit them to Bristol City Council via their Sustainable Communities Act online form.

I found that after going through about 60 posts I'd already listed 21 suggestions, that it was taking a very long time and that the list could become very long!! I settled on submitting the first 21 (below) today. I have not had time to discuss the suggestions with friends/colleagues much and have had very little time to test them against the list of criteria they have to conform to.

When I went to the council briefing on use of the Sustainable Communities Act in March I found that many hurdles had been placed in the way of suggestions: 1. very little time was available for communities to organise and to formulate them (deadline 1 May !!) 2. guidance on the nature of suggestions was very limited 3.suggestions submitted have to jump through officer, local panel, local councillor committee, local Cabinet and Local Government Association hoops before they even get to the Secretary of State who has the final decision on implementation.

All of which makes you wonder how much genuinely local stuff will be left!! Local and central government do not respect the spirit and intention of the Act ie to empower local communities. Any guesses as to how far through the process my suggestions will go??

* A default speed limit of 20mph on all UK residential roads to be introduced in place of the current 30mph.

* Monthly, local and central government supported and advertised 'lights out' campaign to limit wasteful lighting and encourage energy saving.

*Carbon budgets to be allocated to all individuals/households/businesses and trading in carbon allocations facilitated.

*House building targets to be set by local authorities in conjunction with local communities as a replacement for imposition by regional/central government.

*Submission of 'before and after' biodiversity and eco-footprint data to be a compulsory part of all planning applications - the data to be a statutory consideration for planning committees.

*A code of conduct for all elected representatives at all levels (along with their key public officials), based on the Nolan reports 7 principles for standards in public life to be a part of the constitution of all local and central government bodies.

*Government to assess all technologies according to at least its: technical capabilities and limitations; environmental impacts now and into the future; cost-effectiveness now and into the future; employment impacts now and into the future; before supporting in any way.

*All major population centres to have integrated transport authoritiies, with a majority from the general public on the committees running them.

*Local, regional and national government to review all communications according to Plain English standards.

*The status of general public contributions to planning committee proceedings to be raised to equal that of council officers eg in terms of time allocated and facilities available for presentation and committee proceedings to facilitate two-way interaction between officers, councillors and the general public via a question and answer session(s).

*Government to publish a general welfare or wellbeing index, calculated by factoring in the external costs and benefits of achieving economic growth, alongside GDP figures (councils or another suitable agency to publish equivalent local figures).

*Potential loss of local community facilities to be assessed via the quantified total costs and benefits of any change, that is the social and environmental costs and benefits as well as economic.

*Developments permitted on any greenfield site to be required to fully compensate for the total ecological footprint caused.

*Transport policy and practice locally and nationally to be reviewed to ensure that walking and cycling are prioritised above and before motorised transport in principle and in practice.

*Empty houses and other properties that could be used to house people to be promptly brought into good use before building on green (or even brown) land.

*Government to allow immigration that equals emigration, achieving a net zero increase.

*Planning committees to be given a broader range of statutory considerations to apply to planning applications to decrease the likelihood that granting or refusing planning permission goes against the rational problem solving process.

*All public consultations conducted by all levels of government to be tested against a set of ‘fairness, openness and balance’ criteria before embarked upon.

*Transport costs to be directly related to the total costs of travel by factoring in external costs and benefits, fuel/tickets/fares to be adjusted accordingly.

*Those currently required to annually publish financial accounts to be required to publish social and environmental accounts alongside.

*Councils to annually publish their total ecological footprint, established via a standardised method.

Corn starch bag introduction: poor environmental decision making

Councillor Gary Hopkins introduction of corn starch plastic bags free to all households that want them is a waste of £100,000 per year of our council taxes and is poor environmental decision making. I sympathise with many of the sentiments expressed by letter writers Bernard Seward, Ambrose Porter and Malcolm Leslie (Feedback: Corn Starch Bags, Post, April 28).

It makes little economic sense to have the council bearing the cost of introducing a manufactured bio-plastic bag into a recycling system where the vast majority of Bristol's public are already managing perfectly well wrapping their food waste in a free, otherwise waste, product. They use newspaper, other waste paper or empty cereal packets etc.

Its makes little environmental sense either, as the bags increase the total environmental impact of the recycling system itself. Even if the bags in isolation are carbon neutral, the farming of the corn to get the starch and the manufacturing and transport of the bags certainly are not. Additionally, land used to grow corn for the bags is land that could be growing food for people! Land may even be cleared to grow the corn, at a cost to wildlife.

Its worrying that environmental decisions like this aren't approached rationally ie by gathering full information and assessing it before deciding. Greens have persistently requested that data on total bag environmental impact should be gathered before their possible introduction. No attempt was made at getting even broad estimates. Poor and incorrect responses were given to questions. One council official claimed, with no supporting evidence whatsoever, that because the bags were made from biomass (material from living origins) they were carbon neutral -mahogany doors are made from biomass but no-one would suggest that its carbon neutral to cut down and process rainforest trees to get them!!

The idea of the bags is to get more people recycling food scraps, cutting council waste costs and cutting environmental impacts. However, since the total environmental impact of bag introduction has not been established we will not be able to calculate whether any environmental gains made from increased recycling fully compensate for the environmental cost of making the bags. Even if they did its a very inefficient and expensive way to cut impacts - £100,000 per year more for energy saving, getting people out of cars and onto bikes or getting people to grow some of their own food, can easily be shown as far better options. Less chance of 'green' publicity and kudos for Cllr Hopkins with these options perhaps?? Or is this all much more about saving money alone??

How not to use modern technology in political campaigning

Are you more likely to vote Lib Dem or Labour after seeing their performance in the clips below? Scary stuff.

Government is missing key climate, energy and transport targets

Gordon Brown's actions do not match his words of promise. The UK Govt will fail to meet its climate change target because of continued reliance on coal and gas power stations, according to Cambridge Econometrics. It will also miss by a 'wide margin' its target for developing renewable energy, according to the UK Energy and Environment Report. The UK Energy Research Centre finds that the UK lags behind other countries in terms of sustainable travel like walking, cycling, car sharing. These things are hardly unconnected are they!!

Further information/background: here

Stop climate change, switch to green power: animation

The Budget: this Green is underwhelmed

Greens have been calling for significant investment in the green economy, action on poverty and inequality, a real attempt to sort out the debt ridden money system, a switch to eco-taxation...and are distinctly underwhelmed by the budget - it's a massive missed opportunity. Alistair Darling failed to produce a budget that will address entwined economic and environmental problems thus missing out on massive job creation in emerging industries (see Green New Deal). Failing to invest properly in: energy efficiency; solar energy; wind and biomass energy; upgrading the electricity grid; in rail and bus travel; and in new skills training will cost us dear economically, socially, and environmentally.

A year ago borrowing this year was supposed to be £38 billion but by the autumn it was £118 billion, and today £175 billion is needed. The Chancellor persists with the same economic goals as before. The unprecedented borrowing figures illustrate well the folly of building public finances that rely on growth. We need to replace growth at any cost as the primary goal with stability, security and sustainability (more).

Previous posts illustrate how we already seriously lag behind other countries in the "greenness" of our green stimulus plan (if indeed it merits this description at all). We need a stimulus orders of magnitude higher than we have or we will never meet tough emissions targets or maximise job creation potential. The Government proposes £1bn on climate change including £435m for energy efficiency, £525m on offshore wind - far too little and needs to build up to be 10 to 15 times as much.

The Government trumpetted its budgeting of carbon emissions. Greens produced a carbon budget two years ago! 10% annual cuts are what the evidence says we need, not 1-2%. Money for carbon capture and storage demonstration projects is putting money into an untried technology which if it can prove itself is likely to arrive too late. Good sense tells us we need things that are tried and tested now, like insulation, wind, solar (more here). Government incentives to get more oil from the North Sea announced in the budget are bizarre when we want to cut carbon!!

The Government's own sustainability advisors, the Sustainable Development Commission, proposed a £30bn investment package very similar to the Green Party's Budget proposals (see yesterday's post for details of various recent Sustainable Development Commission reports). They calculated that this would create 800,000 jobs.

The budget outlined a £2000 subsidy for a new car if a car over ten years old is scrapped. This doesn’t actually help the environment or job creation that much, given the carbon cost of manufacturing the car. Ideally we'd build cars to last longer - designing them to be refitted and improved over time would reduce the associated energy and significantly increase the amount of labour involved, by comparison with new manufacture. The budget proposal will create relatively few jobs and a far cheaper and more effective way to cut carbon and help everyone is to invest properly in rail and bus travel and in promoting car clubs (more on transport here).

The budegt often simply did not go far enough. It included £1.7Bn extra help for jobseekers, but only £250m for training. Help with finding a job is no good if there are no jobs to find. Training though is a productive activity for anyone, especially unemployed people when jobs are short. £500m was allocated on new homes - not enough. Only £100m on council houses.

Darling announced a cut in public sector pensions. Average public sector pension is only £3000, reflecting poor pay. Greens want to see better pensions for all, and the foundation is a better state pension which should be set at £165 a week in the party's view.

Higher rate tax relief on pensions removed for those above £150,000 is a welcome development as it matches current Green policy. Introducing a 50% tax rate for incomes above £150,000 is also welcome but I'd only consider this a start - we really need to go much further, bring in genuine eco-taxation, introduce further tax bands on the super-wealthy and take low earners out of tax altogether.

Sustainability and tomorrows Budget

Three excellent posts on the blog of Sustainable Development Commission Chairman Jonathon Porritt. All relate closely to tomorrow's budget and I recommend looking over each of them:

Government and the low carbon economy

Sustainability on the political agenda

Prosperity without growth

Save Our Green Spaces and Green Belt, Bristol

Read about this excellent film in yesterday's local paper, found it and watched it. The save the green belt message is expressed very movingly and powerfully in it. Please watch it. Tell your friends, family and colleagues to watch it. Do as the film asks and contact your MP, Councillor, Council and Government asking them to make designating land as green belt actually mean it is protected and conserved for generations to come - this land use planning concept is supposed to be used to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas.
More information: http://www.saveourgreenspaces.org/

The stated objectives of green belt policy are to:

*Protect natural or semi natural environments
*Improve air quality within urban areas
*Ensure that urban dwellers have access to countryside, with consequent educational and recreational opportunities, and

*Protect the unique character of rural communities which might otherwise be absorbed by expanding suburbs.

The green belt has many benefits for people:

*Walking, camping, and biking areas close to the cities and towns
*Habitat for wild plants, animals and wildlife
*Cleaner air and water
*Better land use of areas within the bordering cities. (wikipedia)

Vowles backs Eddy's call for pool closures to be reassessed

Its welcome news that Jubilee Swimming Pool will remain open (along with Bishopsworth Pool) for a bit longer than originally anticipated (‘Delight at pools remaining open’, Post, April 15). I’m altogether opposed to Jubilee’s planned closure and regret that this reprieve, due to delays to work on the new Hengrove Park pool, is being looked on as merely temporary. I agree with Councillor Richard Eddy’s when he said ‘With this extra time I think their fate should be reassessed.’

Closing Jubilee and other pools may put people off going for swim, a very healthy physical activity, just when we are supposed to be trying harder to encourage it. It may be those who find it most awkward to travel further that are most put off, such as the elderly or families with young children.

Replacing a short, no cost, sustainable walk to the local pool with an unsustainable and more expensive car trip is not good in these times of all times. Swimmers in Knowle would have to travel further to swim after the closure, adding to air pollution and climate change.

I believe all local councillors should work harder to stand up for locally available facilities and feel very let down that Jubilee has apparently been given up on by some. I want the council to work hard to get a more rounded, balanced, less purely financial, greener and more democratic decision made on Jubilee Pool and other local pools. Other local community services and facilities should be similarly looked upon.

I would like to see them reverse the closure decision and go back to the idea of reviewing the situation once the new leisure centre at Hengrove Park opens. I don’t agree with a decision taken on purely financial grounds. Any review should not only be a financial audit but should also be a social and environmental audit, examining the total impact of closure and of alternatives to it. This should be combined with completely open discussions on what it would take to keep Jubilee Pool open with all its users and other interested parties locally. I feel people who really believed in fighting for local facilities would be strongly arguing for this within Bristol's Cabinet.

Zero Carbon Future

Nice accurate, brief and concise video on how to build a zero carbon future, cutting imported energy, becoming much less wasteful, investing in renewable energy massively, from the Centre for Alternative Technology.

Zero Carbon Britain from Zero Carbon Britain on Vimeo.

Going for a good walk...

Get Walking Day ’09, which aims to enable people to see the physical, mental, environmental and social benefits of walking is now being promoted by the Ramblers, Britain’s walking charity. They are inviting everyone in the south west and elsewhere to a free walking festival over the Bank Holiday weekend of 30 May and 1 June. A whole series of short walks (less than 5 miles) has been organised in many towns, cities and country areas, many of which have associated refreshments and special events. Further details from:
http://www.ramblers.org.uk/campaigns/GWD.

Consider the massive benefits of walking. It can be done at no cost or might even save you money spent on petrol or bus fares, brilliant given the economic downturn. It can easily be fitted into a daily routine and in periods of leisure and is available to the vast majority of us with no need for particularly special equipment or instruction.

It helps keep body and mind fit and healthy: exercising the heart and lungs; reducing body fat by efficiently burning calories; helping to improve bone density; increasing muscle tone; boosting metabolism; easing anxiety and stress; raising energy levels; improving sleep. It can help prevent illness if done regularly: reducing the risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer, osteoporosis and arthritis.

Its environmentally beneficial, helping us use our cars less, reducing carbon emissions which contribute to climate change – and given that half of all journeys are two miles or less it can often, with a bit of planning, be practical.

It increases contact between people and enhances the vitality of our communities and so is socially beneficial. Get your friends and family to join in - it can be a lot of fun!

For more information call the Ramblers press office 0207 339 8531/32 or 07801 749 385 (out of hours), press@ramblers.org.uk, http://www.ramblers.org.uk/