The Reading Green Party

Response To Dee Park planned developments

The Green Party want all new buildings to be over and above the 20% CO2 reduction through energy measures, as this is a flagship development for the Borough and will be built to last beyond 2050, when we are supposed to have reduced CO2 by 60% according to the government. So as a major scheme it should all be required to be at least ecohomes 'excellent' and a proportion should be "zero carbon", not just comply with the current local/national planning rules. This would probably have to be achieved by high-energy-performance homes plus a renewable district heating scheme

There is a great danger that this added to other developments in Reading to increase the population of the town will increase the strain on resources without allowing increased provision for resources like public transport/water supply secondary schools. It would be far better to encourage people to use existing buildings more across the country, rather than the short term policy of building at greater density and over the land to meet trends in demand.

Regards Adrian Windisch, Reading Green Party

15 September 2008 - 10:24pm | login or register to post comments

Events Coming Up This Weekend

Caversham Festival - Saturday 13 September, 10:30 - 16.30
The festival which takes place in Lower Caversham at Westfield Park, on the corner of Gosbrook Road and Westfield Road. There will be lots of activities going on plus attendance by community groups, and there is usually some really good grub on offer at the various refreshment areas.

Sue Ryder Charity Ride - Sunday 14 September, 09:00 - 12:00
Saddle up for a choice of two fun, circular, Cycle Touring Club approved routes around The Chilterns. Starting and finishing at Sue Ryder Care - Nettlebed Hospice, there is a 10 mile route suitable for families or leisure cyclists and a 30 mile route aimed at the keen cyclist.
All participants can enjoy entertainment and refreshments or even bring their own picnic to enjoy in the hospice gardens after completing their chosen route.

You can register before or on the day. Advanced registration costs £10 for adults and £5 for under 16s. Entry on the day will be £20 for adults and £10 for under 16s.

http://www.suerydercare.org/events.php/157/ride_for_ryder_henley

10 September 2008 - 10:58pm | login or register to post comments

White's trash August 2008

One month to go! That's right Sam and I have been watching our waste for 11 months. You may have noticed that the 'binometer' hasn't moved much recently. This is because after an initial jump after moving from a bin the size of a shoebox to one the size of a medium kitchen bin we found that the - mostly plastic packaging - rubbish would by its nature expand to fill the available space, but that you could always fit "one more bean in the can" or wrapper in the bin. So the kitchen bin is still full to the top, and I'd guess again that we're still at a third of a wheely bin.

A trick we've found to get round accumulating too much packaging waste when buying pasta – which we can't buy loose and reuse our plastic containers – is to buy spaghetti, which 'stacks' well and therefore comes with very little air in the bag and so less packaging than the equivalent weight of pasta shapes. Unfortunately although this helps us with our bin challenge it's not going to make much of a dent in those waste mountains!

The biggest waste of 'waste' recently in Reading must have been at the Reading Festival. I wonder how many beer cups were thrown away over the weekend? The festival could easily do a deposit on each cup which if high enough would ensure that they were returned to be washed and reused or recycled – if made from an appropriate material.

Then there are all the old tents, wellies and chairs that are left behind when the festival goers vacate their pitches. I heard from a contact that as usual there were tons of perfectly good items that had been left. Credit to the organisers who got a firm to collect a portion of the items, but there was still a sizeable quantity left which last I heard were probably going to end up in landfill as the clean-up company were soon to arrive...maybe next year local organisations could be contacted in advance.

10 September 2008 - 8:43pm | login or register to post comments

Car Free Day for Reading 22/09/2008

Reading is having a Car-Free Day on Monday the 22nd September.

It takes some effort, but it is possible to use public transport, cycle or walk. Lets try and make a difference on this one day and see what effect it has.

9 September 2008 - 11:11pm | login or register to post comments

News From Conference

What an amazing conference its been. The highlight was Caroline Lucas MEP becoming the new Leader, and the media coverage this got. She was on the evening news Saturday night and the Andrew Marr show Sunday morning.

Its also been productive in other ways. I went to a fascinating fringe on the energy use of buildings, chaired a workshop on a green construction motion, started a green construction group and helped shape Green Party policy. Also there were votes for the National Executive , leader and deputy leader, and some Committee Positions.

Rob White took up the cause of Gurkha rights, they are unfairly discriminated against at the moment. For people that have put their life on the line this is indeed shabby treatment. Thanks to Rob we now have an emergency motion calling for them to be treated more fairly.

We had a productive South East Confederation meeting, where lots of people volunteered to help in the campaigning to come for next years Euro election. Caroline is now Leader, target MP candidate in Brighton and Hove as well as number one on the Euro list. The fate of the party is in her hands, and she has proved herself a safe pair of hands.

9 September 2008 - 12:11am | login or register to post comments

Back from conference

Just got back from a great conference. It was a bit stressful at first, running round organising the Gurkha settlement rights emergency motion, but I felt a lot calmer after getting that passed - with almost unanimous support.

Talked to various members, MEPs and councillors and really feel as though I've learned a lot. Now back in Reading to apply it: to help increase our number of MEPs, get Caroline Lucas elected as the first Green MP and me as Reading's first Green councillor.

8 September 2008 - 11:30am | login or register to post comments

No to cross campus route and ring road!

We've setup a Facebook group to oppose the recent planning application for new roads through the Whiteknights campus - which are unnecessary and will diminish the quality of the environment.

http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=25611233369

Please sign up, spread the word and oppose the planning application with a quick email.

Seems like the uni is trying to sneak this through while students are away!

4 September 2008 - 9:58pm | login or register to post comments

Kennet Valley Park

My response to the Governments consultation:
In the SE Plan consideration is given to 7,500 dwellings – Kennet Valley Park to be built in ‘South West Reading north of the M4’ to be added to West Berkshire’s housing allocation to 2026.
The West Berkshire Council has responsibility for enabling the provision of new affordable housing. 10,500 houses are to be built in the district by 2026.
But we oppose the planned development of an additional 7,500 dwellings to be built in ‘H1b Greater Reading and H1b West Berkshire’.
We strongly disagree with the CPRE (Campaign for Rural England) – who make a shocking announcement to the panel of inspectors to include Kennet Meadows as a Strategic Development Area.
We believe that the Government adhere to the advice already given by Defra and the Environment Agency: i.e. reject the planning application as it increases the flood risk to thousands of properties in Reading.
The reason Reading has been so well protected from flooding in the past is due to the protection of this area (the Kennet Meadows).
Also there are contaminated landfills underlying the site which will either have to be capped or relocated. Disturbing these could potentially contaminate the water for the area.
The local infrastructure which is already straining will not be able to cope with increased traffic levels.
The Kennet Meadows is an area of important wildlife, including heritage sites and protected rare birds.
The Kennet valley is already used for recreation, but could be made into a nature park for educational and leisure purposes.

17 August 2008 - 5:27am | login or register to post comments

Carry on climate camping

Last year I had wanted to go to the Climate Camp (www.climatecamp.org.uk) at Heathrow, but wasn't confident enough in my watering system to leave my 200 tomato plants in pots alone for more than a day. This year with only two plants I thought I'd go down for the weekend, and I wasn't disappointed.

According to the camp's website, "The Camp is a place for anyone who wants to take action on climate change; for anyone who’s fed up with empty government rhetoric and corporate spin; for anyone who’s worried that the small steps they’re taking aren’t enough to match the scale of the problem; and for anyone who’s worried about our future and wants to do something about it."

A short train and bus trip with a little walking got me to the area on Friday. The police were searching people on the way in - rather disturbingly wearing rubber gloves - but the search wasn't as intimate as I feared and I was soon on the site. A friendly welcome greeted me and with a nice warm meal inside me - cooked by one of the sites many kitchens - I was directed to the Oxford and Thames Valley neighbourhood to pitch my tent.

There were workshops and talks on in the afternoon - and they had been all week - for the 2000 or so visitors to the site and campers. They covered the issues surrounding climate change from vegan cake baking and climate science through to the role of banks in the fossil fuel economy and how to plan successful direct action. I went to a catch up meeting about the mass action on Saturday for people who had just arrived. We heard about how different groups were going to attempt to close down Kingsnorth power station for the afternoon to protest over plans to replacement it with the first new coal power station in the UK in over 30 years - a step backwards in tackling climate change. The groups ranged from the 'fluffy' Orange Block which was a kids carnival to Kingsnorth, to the ambitious Blue Block, Rebel Raft Regatta who planned to get there by water. Having decided to go on the carnival I went to bed as we had an early start.

I never sleep particularly well when camping, and this definitely wasn't helped by the over enthusiastic police helicopter flying over in the night on a number of occasions! But soon enough the morning came. After a quick breakfast and 'eco-wash' – which turned out to be a bowl of water – I was ready. The carnival was lively with music, a dragon and lots of people from the camp and local villages. It ended with a rally outside the gate. Other groups succeeded in getting into the power station, disrupting its operation, and raising awareness of the issues. In my opinion the day was a success. But as the saying goes, we may have won the battle but not yet the war. The government and power company E.ON are still pushing for a new Kingsnorth coal power station and others across the UK. It will be a hard campaign to stop them and press for a focus on renewables but I feel it is well and truly off to a good start. I'll definitely be going to the next climate camp and I'd recommend that other people interested in taking action on climate change do so too.

12 August 2008 - 7:10pm | login or register to post comments

The real nappy is back

Back in 'the day' disposable nappies were designed to be used occasionally alongside real ones for situations where it was difficult to use them. Over the years the convenience of the disposables have made them the nappy of choice for most parents. Now, they account for upwards of 4% of waste that is landfilled or incinerated. That's over 1.5 million tonnes a year across England - almost a tonne per child altogether!

But the real nappy is back. Made of washable materials ranging from cotton to bamboo, they are an easy to use, practical alternative to disposables; they are cheaper and reduce rubbish going to landfill. What's more some of my friends who use them say there's not a safety pin in sight with real nappies these days and they are really simple to use.

For a few years now, the council have been running a real nappy project called Ready Wraps (www.reading2020.org.uk/readywraps) through which parents can get £30 cash back on real nappies and find information on the subject. This means you can kit out your baby in real nappies for as little as £50. Even when you add in the cost of washing real nappies at home the total cost only goes up to £210. The same amount of money would only buy around 30 weeks' worth of disposables. Considering children are in nappies for around 130 weeks you can make a good saving - even without re-using your real nappies on another child!

While researching for this article I also came across a 2006 council press release for the Lodge Nursery at Southcote Children's Centre which was using real nappies for children there. Parents are given a freshly-laundered real nappy to take home when they pick up their child, which the child can wear when she or he arrives at the nursery next day. The scheme helps introduce more parents to the benefits of real nappies and environmentally friendly disposables, whilst showing how simple changing the nappies can be. Are there any other Nurseries out there doing this?

What prompted me to write this column though was learning that some maternity wards in Scotland use real nappies - such as at the Ayrshire Arran Hospital. A quick chat to the Royal Berks revealed that they use disposable nappies on the wards and they pay to throw away their waste. So the hospital may be able to save money by using real nappies. More importantly it could help show mums and dads how easy to use real nappies are and reduce the 3 billion nappies that end up being landfilled or incinerated in the UK each year.

11 August 2008 - 3:16pm | login or register to post comments

Kennet Valley Park

While Reading Labour Party announced that they were celebrating the end of Kennet Valley Park, it turns out that there is a 12 week consultation period in which to let them know that you agree with the excellent recommendation made a week ago. People should WRITE to the RSS Team, Government of the South East. 1 Walnut Tree Close, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 4GA email rss@gose.gsi.gov.uk)
www.kennetvalleypark.com/

There is a meeting in Burfield Village Hall Thurs 7pm to discuss it.

30 July 2008 - 10:30pm | login or register to post comments

Needle Hotline

Recently a needle was found in the Oxford Road Community Garden, near Reading West Station. I had heard that the council ran a needle hotline, to encourage people to get them disposed of safely rather than risk touching them themselves. So I called the needle hotline, to find its just the Reading Council telephone. They told me it would cost £50 to remove it! I told them that was a disastrous policy, but they insisted that it was the case for needles found on private land.

I contacted my three councillors about it, two of them responded, one of them wrote to a third councilor, Paul Gittings.

I suggest anyone who thinks this policy is wrong to also write to their Cllrs about it, it seems to me to be inviting people to take needless risks.

6 July 2008 - 12:47am | login or register to post comments

Viruses, computer waste and WEEE

A little known fact about me is that I used to be a software engineer. As anyone with a practical skill or two knows, you often get roped into having a 'quick look' for a friend. With my computing skills this translates into helping install software and fix computers. Recently peoples' main gripe seems to be that their computers are running very slowly and they're not sure why. I've gone round for a 'quick look' and I've found the cause of the majority of peoples' problems to be the over-enthusiastic, resource hungry, virus checkers and the other related security software that props up Microsoft Windows.

There are various ways to cope with the problem of resource hungry security software. You can change it to one of the less demanding brands - I've found the AVG free version reasonable in the past - you can change to a more secure operating system and remove the need for a demanding virus checker - I use Ubuntu which a type of Linux and a free alternative to Windows - you can add or replace components such as more memory or a faster processor, or lastly you could use it as an excuse to buy a better computer. Worryingly a lot of people that I've talked to are going for this last option, creating literally mountains of unwanted computer waste. To put a number on it, DEFRA (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) estimates that each year we throw away 1.2 million tonnes of electronic waste.

As responsible citizens I'm sure you're all aware of the interestingly named WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive, which is the European Parliament's attempt to make sure that these computers - and other electronic goods - are recovered, re-used and recycled rather than being landfilled. In Reading this relies on you knowing this and not chucking them into your black bin. Instead you should take them down to the tip on Island Road and put them in the WEEE section. Unfortunately not everyone knows about WEEE, or has transport to move heavy computer equipment to the tip. So many computers go in the black bin and end up being landfilled or in the near future sent to Slough for incineration. For glass bottles we have bottle banks, so for WEEE, how about some WEEE banks? These would enable people to recycle electronic goods more locally than the tip and would advertise themselves if placed visibly around Reading.

ENDS

Notes for the editor

1. For more information, please contact Rob White on 07985 923938.

30 June 2008 - 8:10pm | login or register to post comments

Eco congregations

I did an eco congregation inspection of Caversham Heights Methodist Church at the weekend to decide if the would get the award and join the other 100 eco congregations around the country - www.ecocongregation.org. In their own words:

"Eco-Congregation is an ecumenical programme helping churches make the link between environmental issues and Christian faith, and respond in practical action in the church, in the lives of individuals, and in the local and global community."

The inspection consisted of the other assessor Joanna, and I, doing a bit of reading up on what the Church had been up to, followed by a tour and a question and answer section. It was great to see the action taken and hear their plans for the future.

This scheme seems like a good way to engage congregations on environmental and development issues and take action locally. I can't say whether they got the award or not as it hasn't been announced yet, so you'll have to watch the local press.

I know of some other churches in Reading that are both taking part in the process and thinking about it and it would be good to see more - so if you get a chance spread the word. The scheme would also seem adaptable to other faiths. So maybe at some point in the future we'll see an eco mosque scheme?

17 June 2008 - 8:48am | login or register to post comments

Congratulations and commiserations

Congratulations and commiserations. These seems to be the words I hear a lot at the moment. Congratulations for raising our vote by over 300 in Park and getting a great second place. Commiserations for not getting the extra 20 votes which would have resulted in the first Green councillor in Reading. At the count obviously it was very disappointing to get so close. Unfortunately with the next locals not till 2010 we remain two years away from our next opportunity. But as Churchill - I think - said politics is the long game. We'll have a bit of a rest, but will be back on the streets door-knocking, delivering newsletters and campaigning in June.

8 May 2008 - 9:37pm | login or register to post comments