31 October 2020
The Friends of the Earth site which presents how well your own council is performing against 4 key indicators: transport, renewable energy, waste re-used, recycled or composted, and housing. At the time of writing Stafford does not score well. Only 2% of commuter journeys are made by public transport, cycling or walking; only 4% of our energy is renewable whereas some similar councils have over 50%; waste, re-used, recycled or composted is around 50% and only about 38% of the housing stock is well insulated.
28 October 2020
In September, the United Nations Biodiversity Summit was launched under the theme of, ‘Urgent Action for Biodiversity for Sustainable development’. World leaders pledged to clamp down on the destruction of nature on earth. Signatories to the, ‘Leaders Pledge for Nature’, have committed their countries to put wildlife and climate central to their post pandemic recovery. Boris Johnson urged leaders to turn the words to action, ‘We must act now, right now. We cannot afford to dither and delay because biodiversity loss is happening today’. One of Boris Johnson’s former ministers once said of the Prime Minister’s promises “Get it in writing, then get a lawyer to look at it”. This Prime Minister doesn’t have a good track record of delivering on his promises, whether on Covid-19, climate or anything else. Nor does his party.
26 October 2020
‘Purpose is an incredible alarm clock’. That’s a phrase I’ve heard a few times in my life; it’s never been attributed to anyone in particular, yet it doesn’t make it any less meaningful or ‘true’. We live in a time where now has never felt more late, and our trees and natural spaces are ringing with purpose. The Wildlife Trusts is urging members of the public to back our principles and add their own views to the consultation, found at this link (https://action.wildlifetrusts.org/page/66900/action/1) , before it closes on the 29th of October.
24 October 2020
It can’t have escaped anyone’s notice that development continues apace and the Proposed Government Planning Reform intends to introduce further changes to the current planning system which will significantly reduce the ability of local people to influence planning as decision making becomes more centralised. The Stafford and Stone Green Party has submitted its response to the consultation @communities.com which closed on the 1st Oct after a very short consultation period.
10 October 2020
-Government changes to planning system -Borough Council plan for a ‘Climate Change and Green Recovery Strategy’ -Empty houses in Castletown -Petition re weight of lorries on Doxey (Road) -School buses not running -Problems with contractors on Castle View Estate
04 October 2020
In the first ‘State of Nature Report’ in 2013, Sir David Attenborough said that the report provided all of us with a stark warning that; ‘far more species are declining than increasing in the UK, including many of our most treasured species. Alarmingly, a large number of them are threatened with extinction. The causes are varied, but most are ultimately due to the way we are using our land and seas and their natural resources, often with little regard for the wildlife with which we share them. The impact on plants and animals has been profound’.
03 October 2020
According to Theo Clarke, ‘The UK has played a world leading role in tackling climate change and the transition to clean growth’. It is interesting to note that, according to, TheyWorkForYou.com, our MP voted against the bill to eliminate the substantial majority of emission from transport by 2030.
06 September 2020
At the second full council meeting of last year Tony Pearce, our Stafford Borough Green Councillor put forward a motion on the reduction of single use plastic. Council meetings will resume in November, I for one will be submitting a question regarding the progress that has been made towards the reduction of the use of plastic and what targets in place to ensure that year upon year single use plastic is reduced and the percent of plastic collected for recycling is increasing.
30 August 2020
I have been fortunate that, despite not being a member of any political group on the Council, having a good relationship with the Labour Group and its leader, Aidan Godfrey, has enabled me to put forward a motion at each of the Council meetings. I have also been fortunate in being a member of the Planning Committee which is one of the few committees that actually takes decisions and is not run on Party lines. From the time when Covid reared its head, there have been no full Council meetings, apart from one online one which was only held in order that they could say we had had a meeting and therefore we would not all be disqualified for not attending a meeting within six months. It is clear that meetings can be held online, as have the Planning Committee meetings, so there is no excuse for not holding them.
20 February 2020
George Eustace is the newly appointed Secretary of State for the Environment. At one time he was climate change adviser to David Cameron and advised him to totally dispense with offshore wind farms. About the same time, 106 Conservative MPs, including Matt Hancock, Priti Patel, Stephen Barclay and Jacob Rees-Mogg, wrote to David Cameron asking him to scrap the subsidies for onshore wind farms, which he did. They are now all senior ministers.
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