There have been positive responses to the post about developing the Mytholm Works site as a cooperative, intensive urban food production project. Nick Green, the Chair of Incredible Edible Growing Ltd commented,
“Sounds exciting for such a prominent site – community share offer, growing centre with architectural growhouse and an eco hotel and local food outlet.”
Action For Rail together with the TUC Going to Work are campaigning to place the West Coast railway line in public ownership. They are asking people to write to their MP about this.
Action For Rail photo
The state has successfully run the East Coast main line as a public service for the last two years, following the failure of two private franchises. Now the West Coast franchise is in a mess and costing the taxpayer £40m.
Going to Work says:
“The Department for Transport has announced a review into the details of the West Coast franchise and a further general review into the future of franchising. But the Secretary of State has made clear that public ownership will not even be considered as an option.
The government will be extending Virgin’s current franchise up to a year and then holding not one but two further franchise bidding rounds for West Coast, all in order to keep the service in private hands.”
They urge people to write to their MP supporting the West Coast mainline return to public ownership.
Given rising food prices and increasing food shortages, we need to grow more food and make sure it’s affordable. So maybe using Mytholm Works for intensive urban farming, including aquaponics, would be a better use of the site than building a supermarket? This idea came up at the recent Friends of Mytholm public meeting.
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Hebden Bridge residents and Calderdale Council both want Natural England to make sure that uplands management reduces the risk of flooding in the Upper Calder Valley.
In a submission to Natural England’s Uplands Review, more than 90 Hebden Bridge Residents have asked Natural England to urgently review the terms of the Walshaw Moor Estate Environmental Stewardship Agreement (ESA). The residents say that the ESA doesn’t take proper account of local people’s needs for upland management that will reduce the risk of flooding in the Upper Calder Valley, and as a result, the £2.5m that the ESA will pay to Walshaw Moor Estate over the next ten years “represents exceptionally poor value for public money.”
The upstairs room at Stubbing Wharf pub was full when Friends of Mytholm gathered at Sunday lunchtime to discuss the Belmont Homes and Setbray Properties proposal to build a car park, hotel and small supermarket on the Mytholm Works site, opposite the pub.
Friends of Mytholm meeting
Friends of Mytholm – a group of local residents concerned at the impact of the proposed development of the former Mytholm Works site in Hebden Bridge – invite local residents, businesses, residents of Mytholm Meadows sheltered accommodation; teachers and parents of children who attend the local primary school to a Buffet Lunch & Discussion upstairs at the Stubbing Wharf pub (wheelchair and pram access from tow path) at 12 noon, Sunday 14th October 2012. Followed by a site visit.
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After six months of investigation, the RSPB has decided that Natural England has failed in its duties to enforce wildlife and habitat protection laws on Walshaw Moor Estate, and has asked the European Commission to step in.
Mike Clarke, RSPB chief executive, said
“The decision to lodge this complaint has not been taken lightly, but this is a vitally important issue which centres on the Government’s statutory duty to protect our natural environment.”
Caroline Lucas MP, who is a member of the Environmental Audit Committee, has emailed to say:
“Thank you for your email and comments about the Environmental Audit Committee’s wildlife crime inquiry. I am sorry that you did not feel the investigation was sufficiently rigorous and am happy to pass on your feedback to the Chair. I appreciate you getting in touch and sharing your concerns.”
I’m off to the NUJ Annual Delegate Meeting tomorrow, on behalf of Calderdale NUJ Branch. Times are tough for journalists and the NUJ, as for other working people and trade unions. It’s important to stick together, stand up for our rights as citizens, workers and human beings – as well as the environment’s rights – and figure out how to effectively resist this oppressive, unjust government.
It’ll be interesting to see if there are many other hyperlocal online journalists there, as well as traditional reporters. I’ll be looking out for people who write about environmental, climate and social justice stories too.
Fuel poverty is rising, but between 2009 and 2013 the Coalition government cut funding to help people in fuel poverty by 26%, and also cut the budget for energy efficiency measures for the fuel poor in England by 44%. (Information from Energy Bill Revolution campaign report.)
Graphic from Fact File:Families and Fuel Poverty, by ACE & Energy Bill Revolution