|
|
From the Newsletter- January 2005 |
Quo Vadis, City Council?
Skating in Castle Park
Is Mr Scrooge skating on thin ice?
Ah, ice skating and the peals of happy laughter of skating children, and the screams of adults also skating but falling over!
But where's this? Castle Park, in the open air.
A wonderful idea at first sight, but, hang on, isn't there now a majority agreement -- Bush and his cronies apart -- that we have a Global Warming crisis on our hands? That energy has to be saved, and heat loss to the atmosphere should be minimised? So what is this insanity in Bristol -- and other excited cities -- of wasting loads of energy creating the very conditions that our mishandling of this, our only world, probably cannot provide naturally anymore, such as low temperatures...... snow...... and ice?
Polyvinyl suicide (PVS, not PVC)
The two articles in the last newsletter co-incided, as you know, with the unbelievable decision by Planning Committee to approve the replacement of timber windows in the Baltic Wharf development with PVCu ones -- and woodgrained to add insult to injury! Yet as my own article pointed out there is in the Council's own Sustainability Policy, a severe caution against the use of PVC unless there are no alternatives. In this case, with timber out of the question, why not anodised aluminium, or even "old fashioned" steel (which also complies with all regulations). A bit of interdepartmental co-ordination might have avoided this -- or just some old fashioned commonsense.
Street Clutter
Long time readers will know how many years (seems like centuries) my Amenity and Trees Group have been trying to combat the tide of street clutter/scrap iron --with little success. Well at last English Heritage has launched a national campaign to "SAVE OUR STREETS". With their excellent booklet was an audit for the reader to fill in about the state of their street and send to their local councillor. I had asked for 560 copies to be issued with this newsletter for full membership participation. Clearly unsuccessful. But I shall try again for the next edition.
Mobile Phone Masts
Meantime there was a recent planning application for a mobile phone mast at the top of glorious Henbury Hill (question; how many mobile phone users prefer the mast to be "elsewhere", and where is "elsewhere"?). The Planning Applications Group has objected to this, suggesting it ought to be combined with a street lamp. And co-incidentally, the 2nd November Cabinet received a report by Neighbourhood and Housing Services suggesting that very thing.
Hope on the horizon (or on the hill) at last?
Alan Elkan
Convenor: Amenity and Trees Group
Tel: 924 3775 email: alan@fortytwo88.demon.co.uk
Back to 'Cuttings' page