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| Newsletter | August 2000 |
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big business + rotten borough = corrupt planning process
When rotten boroughs get into bed with big business we have a corrupt planning process. That does not mean we should lie down and let them walk all over us. Too many planning battles are lost because there is no local reaction or campaigners come into the picture too late in the day.
Fighting unwanted development is hard work, a very steep learning curve has to be scaled very rapidly. At the end of the process, whether the battle has been won or not, a lot of experience has been gained, lessons learnt. Hardened campaigners are now networking, putting their skills at the service of others. Several web sites have been established to help share this hard won experience and to provide help and advice on planning.
Chapter 7 of Local Agenda 21 calls for 'access to land for all households through environmentally sound planning'. Something Rushmoor LA21 officer is noticeably silent on. Or did we miss hear his call for the airfield to be handed back to the local community as common land? The Land Is Ours is campaigning on Chapter 7. [see BVEJ newsletter #0002 July 2000 for our comments on the dismal failure of LA21 in Rushmoor, especially when compared with neighbouring local authorities]
Loaded as they are in favour of developers, two-thirds of Planning Inquiries are decided in favour of local communities. Even where a development is not stopped, it can often be restrained, or its damaging effects limited. Could this be what Tory leader John Debenham was thinking of when he said 'I would not wish to embarrass my colleagues with a second Public Inquiry.'
The Spring 2000 issue of Corporate Watch (#10) featured Planning and Development.
The TAG planning application for development of Farnborough Airfield is due to be placed before a special planning committee that will meet at 7 pm on 30 August 2000. The agenda should be available from 25 August 2000. It is unheard of for any Rushmoor meeting to take place in August and it looks like Rushmoor are using the summer holidays to once again pull a fast one. The date falls within the period a legal challenge may be mounted against the Local Plan. Objectors have 6 weeks from posting of Notice of Adoption of Local Plan (see Surrey-Hants Star 3 August 2000 for notice). To approve the TAG application before this period has expired would be to use a dodgy Local Plan open to challenge (as would any decision on TAG). The date may thus change. Please double check with Rushmoor. 16 August has been earmarked for a site visit.
Please make every effort to attend the planning meeting to ensure that councillors are aware of the strength of opposition to TAG's plans. Please lobby your councillors hard before the meeting.
If you have not lodged an objection, or have further points to add, please send these immediately to Rushmoor Head of Planning Keith Holland.
The current commercial flying by TAG is unlawful. No planning consent has ever been granted for the current operation. Rushmoor are aware that it is an unlawful activity having received legal advice to that effect. To date Rushmoor has refused to serve an enforcement notice. Aircraft using the airfield lack adequate insurance cover in the event of a crash. Third party insurance is not obligatory.
John Prescott as Secretary of State for the Environment has been asked to call-in the Local Plan and grant a second public inquiry. [see BVEJ urgent action #0004 14 July 2000, BVEJ briefing #001 7 July 2000]
Just say no to TAG. You know it makes sense.
I hope you can come back to this country one day and see the people when they are not frightened. Burma will be here for many years, so tell your friends to visit us later. Visiting now is tantamount to condoning the regime. -- Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's democratically elected leader
Lonely Planet are publishers of naff travel guides for the trendy independent traveller. In what can only be seen as an act of gross insensitivity they have produced a guide to Burma.
Burma is little more than one gigantic prison camp. It is run by a bunch of military thugs who go under the name SLORC. Holiday resorts are built by forced labour reminiscent of the days of Japanese occupation. The democratically elected opposition in Burma have called for a boycott of Burma until such time as democracy is restored.
Both the Burma Campaign and Tourism Concern are calling for a boycott of Lonely Planet's goods until they withdraw their latest guide. Lonely Planet has hit back saying they made a donation of £4,500 to the Burma Relief Centre in Thailand, which supports Burmese refugees fleeing the regime. But when Pippa Curwen, the director of the Relief Centre, found out the donation was being used as a publicity stunt she returned every single penny of their money telling Lonely Planet where they could stuff their donation.
Africa is a popular destination for the eco-tourist, who conveniently turns a blind eye to the squalor and the land evictions that have taken place to make way for the feather-bedded tourist. Tourist dollars force up the price of local produce pricing local people out of the market. 24-hour supply of water to tourist resorts means village water supplies dry up. Airlines to transfer tourists to these exotic location are the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases.
Survival International has stated that tourism is not the benign alternative to logging, mining. World Bank figures show that 55% of the tourist dollar is repatriated to the West.
Regrettably another all too popular destination for Brits is Turkey. Turkey, ranked fourth in Amnesty International's Top 10 of repressive regimes, is another country to boycott. Every tourist dollar spent in Turkey goes to prop up a corrupt regime, to continue the genocide against the Kurds and illegal occupation of Kurdistan, the illegal occupation of northern Cyprus, to buy weapons from the West including purchases from such favourites as BAE Systems.
What better way to kick off the Guildford Green Festival 2000 than with a Farmers Market. A little confusing for those of us used to a market in Guildford as this one is held in the High Street, not North Street as are the markets on Friday/Saturday. If we go back far enough, to the turn of the century, both streets were used, with pens for the animals.
The July Market was lucky as the preceding days were cold, wet and windy, the day of the market was warm and sunny. A range of stalls selling drinks, fruit, jam, honey, soap, baskets, meat, fish, plants, bread, eggs, cheese but compared with the Waverley Market at Milford the Guildford market has too few stalls and not enough basic produce. It is a little too much like a WI craft market. The present market is a trial only to get around the local bye-laws, which odd, for a market town, do not permit a market. If we want a regular market in Guildford, and it has to be at least once a month, then we have to lobby Guildford Borough Council hard to change the local bye-laws and establish a regular local market. It has taken a lot of hard lobbying locally to get this far.
But at least Guildford has a Farmers Market, something Farnborough lacks. All Farnborough gets is an unwanted French Market.
Farmers Markets are a great idea, they recycle money within the local economy, reconnect town with country, consumers with producers, cut out big business that rips-off producer and consumer alike.
The first of the new Farmers Markets was at Bath in the Autumn of 1997. By the start of 2000 there were over 200 Farmers Markets operating across the country. Unfortunately some local authorities are slower at catching on than others, but then for them it is a novelty providing a service to the public.
For many farmers, a local Farmers Market has been the difference between survival and bankruptcy. Farmers Markets have also brought life back into many ailing town centres.
The Guildford Farmers Market follows the example set by the highly successful Farmers Market at Milford. The next Guildford Farmers Market will be on Tuesday 26 September 2000, 11.30-3.30.
Last year the highlight of the Green Festival was the Ambient Green Picnic held on Shalford Common down by the river. It was missed this year and we hope to see it back next year. The Ambient Picnic was cancelled this year because the Guildford Philharmonic (who have a concert the night before the Picnic) refused to share the staging costs. Last year the Philharmonic went over-budget and have decided this year to have a 'tribute-band' instead on the Sunday to pay off the debt.
If the Arab owners of Farnborough town centre have their way all the vacant shops in the town centre, and there are a lot of them, will all be boarded up. This will make the town centre look even more derelict than it actually is, drive away more custom, forcing more local traders into bankruptcy.
There has been no problem of vandalism of the empty shops. The first local traders were aware of these plans was when a small minority were notified as interested parties by Rushmoor. There had been no consultation with the traders, not even the courtesy of informing them.
The planning application contains no details. Rushmoor have failed to display public notices, failed to notify those affected. Were this application to be granted as it stands there would be more than sufficient grounds for referral to the ombudsman on gross maladministration.
At a Rushmoor planing meeting (9 August 2000) thick-as-two-short-planks councillors gave the go-ahead to erect hoardings. Misleading advice was given to the meeting by council officials. Councillors were led to believe that as the Farnborough Business and Community Panel was unanimous in recommending erection of hoardings it must have widespread support. Something of a misnomer this committee represents neither the local community or local traders. Local traders who have attempted to obtain copies of minutes have been denied copies, local traders who have attempted to attend meetings have been denied entry. No attempt was made by the committee to consult local traders.
The old post office is to be demolished and four retail units and 24 flats built on the spot. The retail units will extend into Queensmead as far out as the canopy overhanging the existing shop fronts. The retail units will also extend laterally out into the space that separates the old post office from the Pizza Hut. The flower beds and public phones will go leaving a ten foot wide muggers alley (which will no doubt degenerate into a urinal or worse). At the rear and down the side of the sports centre dedicated car parking spaces will take over the flower beds and green shrubbery. The developers consider the trees they will destroy to be of no value. Privatisation of public space, in this case the public highway, is not acceptable. It is also contrary to government policy which requires any development to include open space. The height of the residential units will be double that of the existing residential units, towering over the adjacent flats denying them privacy and sunlight and casting them into permanent gloom. If this same pattern is repeated the length of Queensmead it will have no sunlight and be turned into a cold, damp, gloomy canyon. Lloyds TSB have lodged a strong objection due to the nuisance and inconvenience they and their customers will suffer.
The car park at the end of Queensmead is to be built over with a cinema/bar complex. So far Farnborough has been spared the late night yob culture floating on booze that now dominates many town centres. Anyone wishing to see what it will be like should visit Fleet or Guildford on a Friday or Saturday night.
Sainsbury's have bought the old Solartron site. If Sainsbury's relocate to this site it will be the final death blow for the town centre.
According to a feature by the BBC, the Arab owners of the town centre specialise in buying up derelict town centres (Farnborough is one of the better ones), obtaining grants (ie our money) to tart them up, then selling them on at a vast profit.
Since the Arabs took over we have seen the town centre virtually emptied of traders, turned into a ghost town. Those traders left are having a tough time. Residential tenants are also being harassed to force them out of their homes. Soon the town will be cleared and ready for demolition.
Once again big business is walking roughshod over the local community. Who should Rushmoor be putting first, an Arab-owned company or the local community? A (mis)management committee exists for the town centre. The public are excluded from its deliberations as are local traders. It is dominated by big business working hand-in-glove with Rushmoor to screw the local community.
Much of what is being planned for the town centre is contrary to the Local Plan as well as not being in the interest of the local community. Rushmoor, who are working hand-in-glove with the Arabs to the detriment of the local community, should be challenged. There are also very good grounds to call for a public inquiry.
Congratulations are due to the parents, teachers, governors and kids who have acted together to save local Farnborough primary schools from amalgamation and closure. They fought a determined campaign against Hampshire County Council, who had already in secret made up their mind, and won.
Congratulations too are due to the local Farnborough News/Mail for printing the leaked report and having the guts to stand up to the bully boys from county hall. Councillors queued up to condemn the paper for printing the story.
It is time councillors woke up to the fact that public duty means they are there to serve the public, not an opportunity to get their snouts in the trough.
The kids will have learnt the most important lesson of their life. Local politicians and their officials are there to serve us, not the other way around. By acting together and presenting a united front these pompous two-faced asses can always be defeated.
People power wins once again.
Although no one else is convinced of their worth, Hampshire County Councillors are convinced of their own worth and to prove it have just awarded themselves a basic £10,000 a year allowance (special allowances will be on top of this). The leader will get a £35,000 annual allowance. Last year the average allowance was £4,468. The councillors justify this gravy train on account of their extra responsibilities. This at a time when they are constantly whinging that more and more is being taken over by central government and Portsmouth and Southampton are Unitary Authorities.
Local residents living near Farnborough Station have, at least temporary, stopped a mobile phone mast from being made operational at Farnborough Station.
If Councillor John Marsh thinks low-level non-ionising radiation is not a problem, then we suggest he reads some of the latest research and international studies. Or has the use of a mobile phone addled his brain?
Much as we feared, the Vodaphone mast in North Camp has still not been removed. [see BVEJ newsletter #0001 June 2000]
Blot on the Horizon or Health Threat?, published by Friends of the Earth Scotland is an excellent primer for anyone fighting mobile phone masts.
I will have failed if in five year's time there are not many more people using public transport and far fewer journeys by car. It's a tall order, but I urge you to hold me to it. -- John Prescott
A lot of hype, a lot of money, but not a lot to get over-excited about. £60 billion to public transport is good news, £60 billion to roads is extremely bad news. In total £180 billion to be spent on transport schemes over the next ten years.
Money spent on removing traffic congestion and bottlenecks on the roads does not solve the problem. All it does is shift the traffic to some place else. More roads equals more traffic. This is to go back to the bad old days of the '80s when we had massive road building programmes. It looks like we will once again see mass roads protests.
The road expenditure will include 360 miles of road widening and 100 new bypasses. One of the worst schemes is at Salisbury where the likely bypass route goes through the East Harnham Meadows SSSI and the River Avon Valley.
Expenditure on public transport, especially on rail and tube is long overdue. In parts of the rail network there is a need to remove bottlenecks to improve network capacity. Parts of the branch network needs more trains. 2-3 trains a day discourages, not encourages rail travel. Locally, through Farnborough we used to see trains 12 coaches long, now we have four overcrowded coaches. Action needs to be taken at Guildford Station to clamp down on the drunken yobs who are running riot every Friday and Saturday night, discouraging decent folk using the trains. We need more tube trains. On the Swedish system in Stockholm, another train will be pulling in before passengers disgorged from the previous train have left the platform. What we don't want to see is expenditure on the public network going straight into private pockets.
In London, large road-hogging cars are mysteriously acquiring virtually impossible to remove stickers saying 'Global warming. Stop these outsize vehicles!' Ken Livingstone is proposing an access charge for Central London of £5 per car per day.
The decision by Surrey Heath Council to spend over £3/4 million on cars for their own staff is a bloody disgrace. The money would have been better spent giving every household in Surrey Heath a Network Rail Card for discounted off-peak rail travel.
The first Dump the Pump day, 1 August 2000, has proved to be a pathetic failure. The Tories, it was they who introduced the fuel tax escalator Labour who scrapped it, have yet to explain how they will reduce road traffic, meet Kyoto commitments on greenhouse gas reductions, what they will tax if they are to cut fuel tax and maintain the same revenue stream.
In the past 25 years the cost of motoring has not risen in real terms. The government raises £23 billion per year from road transport taxes, but even the government's own figures show that the true cost of road transport (deaths, health, environment, congestion, etc) is £42 billion a year. In the same period bus fares have increased by 87%, rail fares by 53%, on the other hand air fares have decreased by at least 30%. Road transport contributes up to 24% of Britain's carbon dioxide emissions, air travel is the fastest growing contributor. Both contribute to climate change.
Motorists should stop whinging about fuel prices. If they want to save money don't use the car. Try walking, cycling, using public transport. Most car journeys are short journeys where car use is not necessary. If the true cost of motoring was to be covered, fuel prices would be considerably higher than they are today.
To coincide with future Dump the Pump days BVEJ are launching Dump the Car day. On Dump the Car day just leave the car at home, don't use the car.
The UK has been heavily criticised for its human rights record at home and abroad.
The UN has criticised the UK for its human rights record at home. In particular it singled out the UK for its harassment of journalists trying to out the truth.
Amnesty International has criticised the UK for its human rights record abroad. Commercial expediency takes precedence over human rights. The UK is quite happy to criticise Burma, Sudan, Iran and Iraq, countries with which the UK has no trading links, but is only too happy to turn a blind eye to human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and China.
Premises are not to be entered by the forces of authority or the state to deter or diminish, inhibit or stifle the exercise of an individual's right to free speech or the press of its freedom to investigate and inform ... -- Lord Justice Judge
Inconvenient or embarrassing revelations, whether for the security services or for the public authorities, should not be suppressed. -- Lord Justice Judge
Unless there are compelling reasons of national security, the public is entitled to know the facts and, as the eyes and ears of the public, journalist are entitled to investigate and report the facts ... -- Lord Justice Judge
The Appeal Court has ruled in favour of The Observer and The Guardian newspapers and said they do not have to hand over information relating to ex-MI5 agent David Shayler. The Appeal Court judges were unusually forthright in their condemnation of the government.
Th action against the two newspapers was clearly intended to intimidate. One of the items requested was original copies of e-mails sent by Shayler, copies of which had been sent to many people, including Jack Straw.
In their ruling the Appeal Court Judges said it was not necessary to refer to European Human Rights legislation, such protection was already afforded under English law.
Following the Appeal Court victory another ex-MI5 agent, Jestyn Thirkell-White, has crawled out of the woodwork and supported much of what Shayler has been saying.
Robin Cook has accused David Shayler of being a fantasist. Could this be the same Robin Cook who believes there is an 'ethical foreign policy'?
The Data Protection Registrar has ordered MI5 and MI6 to open up their files to the public. For the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall we will have the same rights as the people of the old Soviet Bloc to see what the security services have on us.
The Official Secrets Act may either be drastically reformed or scrapped. The UN in their highly critical report on UK human rights, in particular the harassment of journalists and the prevention of free speech called for sweeping reforms of the security services and noted that the act 'is used to stifle legitimate debate and to penalise writers and journalists who refuse to reveal their sources'. Tony Blair and Jack Straw from the comfort of Opposition Benches opposed the Official Secrets Act when it passed through the Commons in 1989.
The (non)Freedom of Information Bill being hustled through parliament by Jack Boot Straw will result in less access to government information than we have now.
Friends of the Earth were able to take the government to the High Court to attempt to force release of an environmental impact assessment of the Ilisu Dam. This would not be possible under the (non)Freedom of Information Bill as ministers will have the power to decide what information may be released.
As if we did not already have enough legislation to curb civil liberties either on the statute books or being hustled through parliament the government has hastily added the Football Disorder Bill.
On the word of a police officer you may be dragged off a train, boat or plane and prevented from travelling abroad, reversing the norm of innocent until proven guilty. You may well be able to prove your innocence but a bit late once you have missed your train, boat or plane.
When Ann Widdicombe starts protesting that our civil liberties are under threat then we know something must be seriously amiss.
Will the powers conferred by the legislation be restricted to football hooligans, we doubt it. The 55th Annual General Meeting of the IMF/World Bank will take place in Prague 26/28 September 2000. Mass protests are expected on the streets, the next Seattle. Poland is already gearing itself up for the biggest crackdown since the Communist era when it clamped down on Solidarity. Will the authorities be able to resist the temptation to haul protesters on their way to Prague off trains, boats and planes?
For Euro 2000 the Dutch passed harsh laws under the guise of prevention of hooliganism. This included a 'collective responsibility' law. Whereas before it had been necessary for the police to prove individual involvement in public order situations, now to be charged and sentenced, it is simply enough to be 'in association with those who disturb the public order.'
GM foods have been removed from the supermarket shelves, in the US acreage devoted to GM crops is now decreasing as farmers fail to find markets for their mutant crops, also in the US consumers are finally waking up to the dangers of GM and saying no to GM food, in the UK trial crops are being trashed. All though is not good news. The GM food has to go somewhere and it is being fed into animal feed, we also have the problems of GM cotton.
GM is being used in animal feed, and getting into the human food chains via the back door. We have to say no. We can say no by avoiding animal products, by only buying organic, and by telling the supermarkets that we expect GM to be eliminated from all parts of the food chain including animal feed. [see BVEJ newsletter #0001 June 2000 for a list of supermarkets]
Located in Alton, BOCM Pauls are the largest manufacturer of animal feed in the UK and a major user of GM crops. Last June direct action and site occupation shut the plant down for the day. The protest was peaceful and following negotiations with the police all protesters were allowed to leave with no arrests taking place. There is likely to be further action in the future to shut BOCM Pauls down permanently.
Large acreage is devoted to GM cotton. Although we do not eat cotton, cotton does find its way into the human food chain via the use of cotton 'waste' in animal feed and medicines (Boots has admitted the use of cotton derivatives in its medicines). Allergy sufferers often have to avoid man-made fibres and can only wear natural fibres. They may find they have problems with GM cotton. Better labelling is required to enable informed choices to be made. Demand GM-free cotton in your clothes. Organic cotton is cool!
Protesters dressed as pirates raided the head office and research facilities of Molecular Nature. They also went bioprospecting in the gardens of the company directors and helped themselves to plants.
Chiapas is an area of rich biological diversity in Mexico. Molecular Nature has been engaged in biopiracy in the region, sampling genetic material which they hope to patent. When a Molecular Nature director complained that the pirates did not have an appointment and invited them to leave, the pirates retorted that the indigenous people of Chiapas felt the same way.
Farnborough International 2000 is finally over. The airshow is more than two weeks of hell for local residents, or fancy air displays. It is the world's major venue where arms are sold to repressive regimes - countries like Indonesia, Turkey. Officials from these countries were invited guests at our expense.
On the last day of the airshow CAAT mounted an Alternative Airshow. On a strip of grass near the Queens Roundabout CAAT mounted a display which showed what the airshow is really about. Campaigners handed out leaflets to aviation enthusiasts attending the airshow and answered questions. Several Kurds who know all too well what it is to suffer at the hands of a repressive regime promoted the Ilisu Dam campaign.
People passing by the information stand were very supportive of CAAT and the campaign against the arms trade. They were also supportive of the local campaign against a Farnborough Business Airport.
The day was a model of co-operation between police and campaigners. No black-clad camera wielding police intent on intimidating protesters, in fact no police presence at all. A pleasant contrast with the heavy handed approach of Surrey Police at Chertsey and the Met Police on Docklands for the DSEi arms fair last autumn. A nice touch was a senior police officer who dropped by early afternoon and complimented the arms campaigners for their good behaviour.
It is a sad reflection of the local campaign against the airfield, especially that run by BVFoE, that a bunch of outsiders can mount a bigger protest at what is going on at the airfield than we can mount locally. Only one person from BVFoE bothered to turn up and show solidarity. Several weeks ago CAAT tried to offer support on the local airfield campaign, support that would have brought in other groups. An offer that BVFoE rejected.
It is a sad reflection on local churches who failed to mobilise their congregations to support the CAAT protest. It is a sad reflection on The Triangle bookshop in North Camp who failed to mount a window display highlighting the evils of the arms trade. Local Christians have failed to understand the message of Christianity.
We nominate Tory Councillor Nigel Baines for this month's award of Hypocrite of the Month.
Nigel Baines was spotted manning a Fair Trade stall at last month's BAE Systems sponsored Aldershot Green Day. This is the same Nigel Baines who supports expansion of the airfield, who puts the interests of an Arab-owned multinational company before the interests of the local community.
Were Nigel Baines to practice joined-up thinking he would be able to work out that the multinational companies who will be the main beneficiaries of the airport, who will use the airport as a tool to run their global empires, are the same multinational companies who are working against fair trade, who are destroying the environment, widening the gap between rich and poor and basically screwing the Third World.
Recently released government statistics show that 25% of households are now connected to the net, a 50% increase on a year ago.
The figures also show a worrying disparity between those on the net. The figures are tilted towards the south east, and towards the wealthier households. We are in danger of creating a digital underclass, those who have immediate access to information and those who do not. A divide that will only serve to strengthen and reinforce the existing poverty gap.
A handful of people are working hard against the corrosive influence of big business and rotten boroughs. We therefore view with alarm the antics at a local campaigning group as the planet needs all the friends it can find.
A leading light in the group decided to have a passionate sexual affair. Part of the 'fun' was destroy the other person. Neither have been active since.
Another leading light in the group has sabotaged at least one of their campaigns.
We understand that the group is now under investigation by head office and may be closed down. The head of the group has been aware for some months of the problems but has failed to act in a decisive manner.
The group has become a laughing stock and is fast losing all credibility. We urge prompt action, in particular the person who has been sabotaging their campaigns should be kicked out of the group. Failing that the group should be wound up as it is giving everyone a bad name. The planet needs all the friends it can get.
Lunchtime, Thursday 29 June 2000, the day Rushmoor council rubber-stamped the TAG-driven changes to the Local Plan, a local resident delivered a legal opinion to the council offices from Robin Purchas QC.
Robin Purchas QC is the leading authority on planning law, he is the authority who Michael Bedford (the barrister acting for Rushmoor) cited. Robin Purchas QC drew up what are known as the Drexfine Principles, the benchmark against which are decided the grounds for calling further Public Inquiries. The local resident who delivered the opinion is himself an acknowledged authority on planning. [see BVEJ briefing #001 7 July 2000]
In the view of Michael Bedford there were a number of grounds for calling a Public Inquiry, against, that of delay. In his presentation to the planning committee Richard Short identified several planning decisions that may be affected by delay (one of which was passed only a few days later). Robin Purchas dismissed all bar the delay to TAG's planning application as irrelevant. Against the delay to TAG we have to weigh public safety and the several new issues that have arisen post-inquiry, none of which have been subject to independent scrutiny. The opinion of Robin Purchas was that in ignoring the grounds for calling a Public Inquiry the council would be acting unlawfully.
In the circumstances, where there is acknowledged to be new evidence such that new issues have arisen in respect of this discrete but publicly important consideration of public safety and the airfield, it is difficult to see why there should not properly be a further inquiry ... The failure of the Committee to consider these material considerations was in my opinion unlawful and as such open to challenge.
The Borough Solicitor in great panic contacted Michael Bedford and between the two of them and in great haste they cobbled together something to put before Council that evening. In the opinion of Michael Lawther (Borough Solicitor), Purchas was wrong on every point. Who are we to believe, the Borough Solicitor or a leading authority on planning law? We think we will stick with Robin Purchas QC.
The Borough Solicitor has repeatedly claimed that the Local Plan has to be adopted in its entirety or not at all, to not adopt would hinder the progress of planning decisions within the borough. Robin Purchas QC and our own local resident planning expert dispute this. As does Patrick Kirby and Sue Jenkins, both competent lawyers. We note that outline permission has already been granted to Slough Estates (only days after the planning meeting that proposed immediate adoption of the Local Plan). The Slough Estates application (for development of the old factory site) was one of those it was claimed would be affected, ie subject to delay. We also note that the Secretary of State has 'reserve power to call in all or part of a plan at any time before its adoption.' [DETR, Local Plans and Unitary Development Plans: A Guide to Procedures, DETR, 1999]
The decision to adopt the modified Local Plan is not the only dodgy decision by Rushmoor Borough Council.
Prior to the calling of the special council meeting (14 March 2000) the Council sought legal advice, at our expense, to see if they could get away with what they had planned, which was to throw out crucial recommendations from the Planning Inspector on safety. They were given a presentation by leading environmental lawyer Susan Ring that to go down the route they were proposing they were opening themselves up to being surcharged and possible legal action. The notice for this special council meeting, called to modify the Local Plan, was placed in the local library two days after the meeting had taken place.
The current commercial flying by TAG is unlawful. No planning consent has ever been granted for the current operation. Rushmoor are aware that it is an unlawful activity having received legal advice to that effect. To date Rushmoor has refused to serve an enforcement notice.
Post the council meeting that voted to adopt the Local Plan with reference to delay Borough Solicitor Michael Lawther has claimed 'I do not recall the advice ... being given by officers in particular it was not agreed that all major planning applications would be "put on hold".' As this is contrary to the recollection of those at the meetings, contrary to the impression given by those councillors who spoke in favour of immediate adoption, contrary to the recommendations and legal advice given at the planning meeting, it can only be concluded that either Lawther has a very defective memory or misleading advice has been given. Lawther has also tried to claim that post-adoption 'there is no procedure for objection'. Again misleading advice. The Secretary of State can be asked to call-in the Local Plan and a legal challenge can be mounted in the High Court by aggrieved parties.
Once again a big question mark has to be placed against the activities of the Borough Solicitor. [see BVEJ newsletter #0001 June 2000, BVEJ newsletter #0002 July 2000]
Were there to be a crash as a consequence of unlawful actions and maladministration by the councillors, the councillors and senior officers would be open to civil action and criminal prosecution.
There are more than sufficient grounds for a complaint of maladministration to be placed before the Local Authority Ombudsman.
UK defence projects are over budget and behind time. The overspend is currently running at £3 billion. Many of the projects are so overdue that by the time the equipment comes into service it is obsolete. It can take 14 years from the ordering of a piece of equipment to it coming into service.
The medium range Trigat, a portable anti-tank rocket, should have come into service in December 1995. The earliest it is likely to be in service is 2005. By then it will be a worthless piece of junk as tanks will be too fast and too heavily armoured. Matra BAe are responsible for this expensive scrap.
During the RAF 'humanitarian' bombing of Serbia and Kosovo only 2/3 of laser-guided 'smart' munitions hit their intended targets, for conventional 1,000 lb bombs this figure drops to a mere 2%.
Based within DERA, the Defence Diversification Agency was established to demilitarise the UK economy, to aid the transfer from military to civilian production. So far DDA has met with little success. DDA has an annual budget of £1.5 million which is minuscule compared with defence budgets. Money that subsidises arms exports should instead go to DDA. Early Day Motion 181: Defence Diversification Agency, welcomes the government's support for defence diversification, notes the establishment of DDA, and calls for the agency to be transferred to DTI. Has your MP signed EDM 181?
The restrictions on arms exports and the issuing of export licences is riddled with loopholes which Robin Cook has been only too happy to exploit with arms exports to repressive regimes. MPs are calling for greater transparency and for MPs to have the final say. Deals where weapons are manufactured abroad by third parties are not covered at all (eg BAE Systems licences its weapons to be manufactured in Turkey). Nor are deals where intermediaries arrange for arms shipments (eg UK broker sells weapons from Bulgaria to Rwanda).
EDM 391 calls for a tightening of export conditions (no sales to repressive regimes or where arms will be used for external aggression) and greater transparency. Has your MP signed EDM 391? If not, why not? Please also ask your MP to call for controls on overseas production and sales through intermediaries.
We need to break the power of the World Bank over developing countries, as the divestment movement helped break the power of the Apartheid regime over South Africa; this is why we support the boycott of World Bank bonds. -- Dennis Brutus, Patron, Jubilee 2000 South Africa
The World Bank or International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) as it is formally known is in the business of development, or at least that is what the bank's PR machine would have us believe. In practice, in partnership with the IMF and of late the WTO, its mission is to bring Third World economies into the global economy, to open up their economies to Western business. It does so through local Third World elites.
The poor of the world need small human scale projects. The World Bank funds large mega-bucks mega-scale projects. A past favourite has been large-scale dam projects, though even the World Bank won't touch the Ilisu Dam which the UK government is minded to fund. A typical World Bank project causes widespread environmental damage. The only beneficiaries are local elites, lackeys of the West.
Many of these projects are white elephants. Of no use to anyone other than the local elites who cream off a large share into offshore bank accounts and western companies who construct, service and manage the projects.
The World Bank would argue that the only route to development is through economic growth, through the process of globalisation. By a process of 'trickle down', the crumbs fall off the rich man's table and feed the poor. The Bank's own figures show this not to be the case. From the 1960s to the present day was a period of rapid economic growth (as shown through a rise in GNP). During that period inequalities have grown. The rich have got richer, the poor poorer. The process is accelerating. 20% of the world's population consumes 86% of the world's resources, 80% of the world's population accounts for 14% of global consumption. Inequality has got worse between countries, inequality has got worse within countries.
The World Bank has been a disaster for human rights, social justice and the environment.
The Western China Poverty Reduction Project is a transmigration program of around 58,000 Chinese into the environmentally fragile Qinghai region of Chinese occupied Tibet, or ethnic cleansing under another name. If the Bank goes ahead with this project it will be in breach of its own environmental and social policies.
The World Bank has just provided ExxonMobil and Chevron with millions in support for a 600-mile pipeline that will carry oil from Chad to the coast of Cameroon. The pipeline will likely cause severe, irreversible environmental damage as it cuts through indigenous villages, hundreds of miles of rainforest, and several wildlife sanctuaries. We already have more oil in known reserves than we can ever possibly burn without triggering major climatic catastrophes.
The World Bank is financing several large coal-fired power stations in China. This at a time when the Kyoto agreement should be leading to a decrease in CO2 emissions.
The World bank is providing $1 million for a 'land bank' in Brazil that will subvert genuine land reform.
In eastern India the World Bank is financing a project that will involve the construction of 400 open cast coal mines. The mines will devastate an are known as the Thousand Tigers Ecosystem, home to around 1,500 tigers (1/4 of the world population). 170,000 sq km of forest will be destroyed. Local tribal communities are being kicked off their land.
The World Bank is the largest funder of 'development' projects. To avoid public accountability around 80% of its funding is raised in the private market. This is done through triple-A rated IBRD Bonds or World Bank Bonds as they are sometimes known. IBRD Bonds are the Bank's Achilles heel. Their AAA rating makes them very attractive to financial institutions. Equally they often form part of the portfolio of universities, churches, local government, trade unions and pension funds. Bankrupt the World Bank Campaign is calling on all these bodies to pull out of IBRD Bonds. By denying the Bank funds it can no longer finance its damaging projects.
Please write to the World Bank President James Wolfensohn (with copies to Gordon Brown MP) asking that he cease funding the above and similar programmes (far too many to list here).
James D. Wolfensohn
President
World Bank
1818 H Street NW
Washington, DC 20433
tel 202-458-0110
fax 202-477-2967
Please write to your bank, pension fund, trade union, educational establishment etc asking that they disinvest from IBRD Bonds.
Literally as we finished writing this article the World Bank announced it would not be funding the China-Tibet transmigration programme. For once the Bank has heeded public opinion, people power counts. We now need the Bank to listen on its many other disastrous projects. The transmigration programme may still go ahead as China is threatening to fund the programme itself.
Barclays Bank had plans for bumping up the charges for cash machine withdrawals, widespread rural branch closures. Meanwhile the boss of Barclays saw his salary quadruple. Barclays reported half yearly profits double for the first half of the year. Other banks, never too slow in ripping off their customers were only too happy to follow Barclays. People power has forced all the banks to back down, there will now be no charges on cash withdrawals, though many are delaying the change to no charges until 1 January 2001.
Following the Paddington rail crash, Railtrack executives decided they needed a pat on the back and awarded themselves massive pay rises and bonuses. Chief executive Gerald Corbett did symbolically waive his bonus leaving him with a meagre £398,000. Not so the other directors. Safety director Rod Muttram was only too happy to accept a £25,000 bonus for services to the travelling public. Four other directors grabbed between £32,000 and £37,000 in bonuses each. Finance director Steve Marshall grabbed a £37,000 bonus even though he had only worked 4 months. There are two executive committees involving 7 out of the 11 directors to decide executive pay. By contrast only one committee on which sits 3 directors to determine safety. [Private Eye, 30 June 2000]
At the 11th hour the police pulled out of facing a case which would've demonstrated illegal police practices. In recent years there have been a number of publicised incidents of the police passing information about campaigners to private companies. It's clear that their claim to be impartial defenders of the public is a hollow one. This collusion reveals the political role of the police in ensuring the wheels of big business keep turning. This case has forced the Met to warn all London police officers against such practices. -- Helen Morris and Dave Steel, McLibel Two
As reported in the last newsletter (BVEJ newsletter #0002 July 2000) have-a-go hero French peasant farmers leader Jose Bove and nine other French peasant farmers were on trial accused of trashing a McDonald's in the French town of Millau last August. They face a possible hefty fine and five years in prison, though unlikely as the prosecutor is only asking for a week.
The court case began in a carnival atmosphere as thousands of protesters flocked to the town, streets were festooned with banners, a free rock concert on the Saturday attracted an estimated 45,000 party-goers and the municipal council joined in the fun by distributing 45 kg of free condoms. The presiding judge, an ex-communist, allowed his court to be used for a debate on global trade. Judgement on the case is not expected until later in the summer. The defendants have said they will appeal any sentence.
McDonald's in Albi, south west France, centre of the Cathar revolt, have found themselves in the dock. Remi Millet was fired last January for giving away five free cheeseburgers to a homeless woman. His case was being heard last month before an Industrial Tribunal.
The High Court has ordered the Metropolitan Police to pay Helen Morris and Dave Steel (the McLibel Two) damages of £10,000 following the police (including Special Branch) handing over confidential information, some of which was false, to a private detective hired by McDonald's. In Court a Metropolitan Chief Superintendent admitted the McDonald's detective was in fact an ex-cop who would rely on his contacts to obtain confidential material on Helen and Dave.
The outbreak of nvCJD (human form of BSE, Mad Cow Disease) in Leicestershire has been linked with the consumption by children and young people of cheap processed beef. School nurses are calling for burger exclusion zones to be established around schools.
Burger King has introduced a 'loyalty card' aimed at teenagers to encourage consumption of their junk food. Like a deadly disease it is expected to quickly spread to other burger joints.
It is possible to say no. Residents Against McDonald's (RAM) have fought a long campaign against McDonald's. December 1998 local residents in Hinchley Wood, Surrey, moved caravans on to the car park of their old local pub which had been closed and the land leased to McDonald's. The residents aim was to occupy the site and stop it from being turned into a new McDonald's. After 18 months and a 24hr-a-day continuous occupation and campaigning, McDonald's threw in the towel and handed back the lease on the pub to the original owners. McDonald's have been increasingly targeting pubs as sites for new burger joints. The reason being that instead of having to get brand new planning consent, all they have to apply for is a change of use. RAM have been trying to change the planning laws and the Government have announced a review.
Never satisfied, McDonald's have global expansion plans. They plan to open on average five McDonald's a day worldwide over the next few years. Don't say we didn't warn you.
McDonald's have seen their share price drop by 20%.
Rushmoor Lib-Dem councillor John Starling has found himself once again gagged and sent from the room. This time a planning application for the destruction of trees in the TAG flight path was being discussed. As John Starling had previously, as a private citizen, expressed a concern over trees he was deemed to have a 'vested interest'. [see BVEJ newsletter #0002 July 2000]
If Phosmet is proven to have caused BSE, the worldwide use of organophosphates (OPs) could be put into jeopardy, costing the chemical industry billions. The government know more than they're letting on. They've stuck to the scrapie theory to placate people and give the impression they've got it under control. -- Mark Purdey, Dairy Farmer
If the government are found liable for BSE - by enforcing organophosphate treatment - the pay-out could break the economy. -- Tom King, Purdey's MP
According to leading expert Professor Roy Anderson, the outbreak of nvCJD (human form of BSE, Mad Cow Disease) in Leicestershire may be the start of a major epidemic. As yet we do not fully understand how BSE spreads between members of the same species or jumps across species.
From his own observations West Country dairy farmer Mark Purdey believes there may be a causal link between organophosphate treatment and BSE. MAFF has dismissed his findings out of hand, protection of a mega-bucks industry is more important than dead bodies.
If MAFF took no notice, others did. His house has mysteriously burnt down, and a barn collapsed onto his science library. He's been shot at, his telephone lines cut. Strangers, with in depth knowledge of his movements appear on his farm, freak his wife out and tail him when he travels. The solicitor who was acting for Purdey died when his car went inexplicably out of control. Purdey's vet (who said this theory should be taken seriously) was killed in what the local rag described as: Mystery vet death riddle, when his car was 'magnetised' into the front of an oncoming lorry on a clear straight road.
Purdey's experiences have uncanny echoes of Rachel Carson (driven to her death by the chemical industry) and Karen Silkwood (killed by the nuclear industry). And the experience of these two is not unique. Alice Stewart, who discovered the link between radiation and cancer was discredited, and scientists who aligned themselves with her had their cars rammed off the road. In 1978 four children belonging to anti-herbicide activist Carol Van Strum were killed in a house fire in Five Rivers, USA. More recently Professor Arpad Pusztai (a scientist of international renown) has had his career destroyed and his reputation smeared for daring to reveal the dangers to rats' immune system from eating genetically modified potatoes (and the need for long-term research on all genetically modified food).
Organophosphates are currently getting a great deal of bad press. A class action is being taken by farm workers damaged by OP sheep dips. Organophosphates may be linked to Gulf War Syndrome. Other possible causes of Gulf War Syndrome include, burning of petrochemical plants in Kuwait, damage to Iraq's CBW plants, the cocktail of drugs combatants were forced to take, the use of depleted uranium on the battlefield.
Organophosphates are closely related to nerve agents. Which is how Saddam Hussein was able to get away with the construction of CBW plants, notwithstanding that the West supplied the raw ingredients, constructed the plants and was happy to turn a blind eye so long as the output was only used on Iran and the Kurds.
No one but a madman would have expected to have fed diseased animal parts to non-meat eaters and not expect to get problems. We have not learnt any lessons. GM contamination of the countryside is allowed to go ahead even though we haven't a clue as to the consequences.
Not the Nine O'Clock News once had a sketch where a black man was arrested for being 'in possession of dark curly hair' and 'being black while driving a car'. In a case of life imitating art Delroy Lindo was arrested for 'sucking his teeth'. Delroy Lindo was arrested for this heinous crime when he noted the numbers of two officers dealing with a car incident. When Lindo refused to stop 'sucking his teeth', he was arrested, handcuffed, and bundled into a police car. He was then held for five hours. Just in case it would seem that the Met has it in for Lindo we would note that he has so far been charged with 18 offences by the Met, some serious, some mind bogglingly trivial. All cases have either collapsed, been abandoned, or the police version of events has not stood up in court. [Private Eye 1006]
Police have asked the Crown Prosecution Service to consider whether a shop window display constitutes a breach of the peace under a statute dating back to 1361. The offending window display contains cuttings taken from Private Eye and the local press. The cuttings feature Durham City Council, and the shop just happens to be located in Durham. The police involvement follows complaints from unnamed council officials. [Private Eye 1006]
When I was a kid, the company kindly delivered a heap of fine asbestos dust for our school grounds. It was soft, nice for us to play long jump and high jump. I would be surprised if any of my class mates are still alive today. -- Schalk Lube
This is a landmark judgement that strengthens the case against multinational companies operating double standards on health and safety of their workers or protection of the environment. -- Action for Southern Africa
Last month, the House of Lords granted former South African miners leave to sue Cape plc in the British courts.
Despite international sanctions and the known dangers of asbestos dust, Cape plc mined and milled asbestos in apartheid South Africa up until 1979. As a consequence, thousands of people who lived or worked in these areas have contracted asbestosis or mesothelioma. Among the 3,000 claimants, all of whom are very poor, there are also more than 300 dependants of those who have died. Cape plc wanted the case heard in South Africa, but lawyers acting for the plaintiffs argued otherwise:
The decision to expose their staff to fatal illnesses was made in Britain. The resulting profits flowed to Britain. Yet the company is saying the trial should be heard in a country where it has no assets which can be seized if the judge finds against it.
The South African legal system is not up to handling the case and the compensation awarded would have been lower.
The dangers of asbestos have been known for a long time. In Britain the first asbestos regulations came into force in 1931, and in the 1960s, the asbestos exported by Cape from South Africa even carried warning stickers. South African miners were not even issued with protective clothing.
Audrey van Schalkwyk, a senior nurse, describes the conditions under which the miners worked:
I was born in Koegas in 1946 and I grew up there. Many of us children worked because our parents on the mine did not have anyone to look after us, so they took us along. My father would go into the mine in a locomotive with headlights. They would bring the asbestos rock out in coco pans and we, the mothers and children, would break it up with our hands and with hammers, getting the fibres out and sorting the different grades. From there, it would be taken to the mill.
Cape are reported to have paid £30 million in out-of-court settlements for its workers at British factories. For its South African miners it has tried to argue that the levels of fibre found naturally in asbestos-rich areas of South Africa could have caused illness and there is no way of proving that mining operations contributed to people's ill-health.
The Law Lords' ruling establishes a precedent big business will not like. They can now be sued in British courts for damage they cause abroad.
ACTSA 0207 833 3133 28 Penton Street London N1 9SA actsa@geo2.poptel.org.uk
Set-aside is an EU scam that helps line farmers pockets at our expense for doing nothing.
In an attempt to reduce the EU food mountains (we pay to produce unwanted produce, we then pay to store it, we then pay to dump it on Third World countries, and in the process destroy their agricultural sector) farmers are paid to set aside 10% of their arable land. They usually set aside the least productive part of their farm, and boost the output of the rest of the farm with a cocktail of chemicals. The set-aside is doused in chemicals to keep it dead.
Organic fully integrated farms have set-aside as part of the farm management. It is part of the traditional rotation cycle. The set-aside land will be used for growing a red clover mix. This will be later ploughed in as a green mulch. The fertility and structure of the soil is improved.
The Ilisu Dam was from the outset conceived and planned in contravention of international standards, and it still does not comply. -- International Development Select Committee
Tell Tony Blair not to go ahead with this. -- Abdul Kusen, Mayor of Hasankeyf
We are astonished that the Foreign Office did not raise any questions about the proposed Ilisu Dam and its effect on the human rights of those living in the region. -- International Development Select Committee
Last year Trade Secretary Stephen Byers announced that he was 'minded' to hand over £200 million of taxpayers money to underwrite Balfour Beatty's participation in the construction of the Ilisu Dam.
The Ilisu Dam is mired in blood. It is part of the Turkish government's programme of genocide against the Kurds. It will destroy the heartland of Turkish occupied Kurdistan, has been condemned by human rights groups and environmentalist, is likely to trigger the next Middle East War.
Human Rights 25,000 Kurds will be forcibly evicted from their homes, to join the 3 million already made homeless by the Turks. Many families have already been evicted at gunpoint, their homes and villages razed to the ground. No consultation has taken place, there is no agreed resettlement programme. Turkey is a pariah state, repeatedly condemned for its human rights violations. The Council of Europe has accused Turkey of 'repeated and serious human rights violations' and reported that it could see 'no significant progress of limiting torture, disappearances and extrajudicial killings.'
Cultural Destruction The ancient city of Hasankeyf will be destroyed. A city with a continuous history stretching back at least 10,000 years. In 1978, the Turkish Government's Department of Culture gave the town 'complete archaeological protection'.
Environmental Destruction Downstream will be deprived of seasonal floods, an important part of the traditional agricultural cycle. Upstream the dam will trap untreated sewage, leading to the spread of disease and providing a reservoir for mosquitoes to breed.
Soft Energy Paths Alternatives exist were Turkey to pursue a soft energy path. Modernisation of the power distribution system would alone recover more energy, at lower cost, than the dam could deliver. Other options such as solar energy could be pursued.
Middle East War The Ilisu Dam will enable Turkey to control the water to Iraq and Syria. Turkey has previously threatened to withhold water. Syria has already complained that Turkey is in breach of International Law. Iraq and Syria would be more than justified in launching an attack on Turkey. Turkey is a Nato member. An attack on Turkey would be an attack on Nato, dragging the UK into the next Middle East War.
One of the reasons the UK is 'minded' to support the Ilisu Dam is the lucrative arms market that beckons in Turkey. Turkey plans to spend $31 billion on military equipment over the next eight years, last year military spending amounted to 5.7% of GNP. That Turkey is a repressive regime is of little consequence, in 1998 the UK granted arms export licences for 30 of the world's most oppressive regimes.
The House of Commons International Development Select Committee last month published a hard-hitting report which slammed the Government for Trade Secretary Stephen Byers being 'minded' to use £200 million of taxpayers money to underwrite Balfour Beatty as prime contractor for the Ilisu Dam. The report follows one published by the Trade and Industry Select Committee earlier in the year which was equally hard hitting. Both committees have supported everything that campaigners have been saying about the dam.
As we completed this piece we heard rumours that ministers may pull the plug on Balfour Beatty. If correct we welcome their action, but in the meantime we must keep up the pressure. If ministers refuse to underwrite Balfour Beatty they will pull out. If Balfour Beatty pulls out the consortium is likely to collapse. Our colleagues in other countries need to step up the pressure.
TAG and MoD are trying to pull a fast one. MoD are attempting to use their reserve powers, Land Powers (Defence) Act (1958), to cut down trees in the flight path at the eastern end of Farnborough Airfield, ie within residential Farnborough. This is an area very approximately bounded by Church Road East and Canterbury Road, and an undetermined distance the other side of Farnborough College of Technology. Virtually all the trees in the college grounds will be destroyed. [see aerial map held by Rushmoor]
MoD are effectively trail blazing for TAG. TAG lacks these reserve powers. It is incumbent upon the MoD to show that it is in the national interest to destroy these trees, otherwise MoD is abusing its powers.
A number of questions are raised. If it is now unsafe, ie the trees are an obstruction, then when did it become unsafe? For what type of aircraft? Are we now talking of heavier aircraft? TAG has finally admitted it wants to bring in heavier aircraft and is already saying it will not accept the weight limit of 50 tonnes set in the modified Local Plan, this was even before the ink had dried and the modified Local Plan had been formally adopted.
TAG keep saying their operation is safe. Contrary to the NATS report which shows residential Farnborough at risk for movements in excess of 10,000. Like Goebbels, TAG believe that if a lie is repeated often enough it will be believed. TAG have yet to produce a safety report.
TAG claim they will adhere to the flight path, any offending aircraft will be barred. We have yet to see any evidence of this. Aircraft regularly fail to keep to the specified flight path, they come in at a 2.0 degree glide angle, not the specified 3.5 degree. We are not aware of any aircraft barred from Farnborough. At the Church Crookham meeting last year, TAG were forced to admit that they did not have the equipment to monitor compliance with the specified incoming flight path.
TAG regularly breach their current licence agreement which places a weight limit of 35 tonnes.
TAG have said their flights will be 60 feet higher when flying over Farnborough. This then begs the question: why is it necessary to destroy the trees?
MoD are obliged to demonstrate the need to destroy the trees. If they fail to give a satisfactory account and their action is challenged, a Public Inquiry has to be called to examine their action. Apart from forcing MoD/TAG out in the open to explain their actions, a public inquiry would add a delay of anything up to a year. Any landowner can and should say no to the MoD request to lop or destroy trees. This will force a public inquiry leading to a delay of at least a year.
Many, though not all, of the trees are protected by TPOs, but TPOs can be overridden where the works are 'in compliance with any obligations imposed by or under an Act of Parliament or so far as may be necessary for the preservation or abatement of a nuisance.' The Borough Solicitor is of the opinion that the trees have grown into the flight path and therefore constitute a 'legal nuisance'. It would have to be shown that the trees are an obstruction, and that the obstruction forms a 'legal nuisance'. If the trees are an obstruction it would imply the airfield operation was unsafe, if so, why has the operation been allowed to continue?
At a Rushmoor planing meeting (9 August 2000) thick-as-two-short-planks councillors gave the go-ahead to cut down trees on the public highway, and to waive the protection given by TPOs. Misleading advice was given to the meeting by council officials. Councillors have agreed to monitor the situation, ie they will sit back and watch our trees being destroyed.
As the councillors failed to understand the situation we will explain it for them as simply as we possibly can. Any landowner can say no. A public inquiry then has to be held which will hold up the situation for anything up to a year. The inquiry may say yes or no. There is no point in cutting down any of the trees until all the trees can be cut down. A public inquiry forces MoD to demonstrate that they have a case. Currently MoD say they wish to cut down the trees, then Rushmoor relies on MoD for advice. If the situation is not safe, ie trees are being cut down for safety reasons, then restrictions must be imposed on flying. By analogy if HSE determine part of the rail network to be unsafe restrictions are imposed until such time as the situation is made safe. Until the TAG application is passed there is no requirement to cut down trees. It is then for CAA to issue a licence and possibly attach conditions, one of which may be the cutting down of trees projecting into the flight plane. Until such time there is no requirement to destroy any trees.
MoD estimate 135 affected trees of which 50 may be felled, 83 have TPOs, 11 are on the public highway. An aerial map is available from Rushmoor showing the affected trees. Destroying the trees will not only destroy a visual amenity and wildlife habitat, it will also remove noise screening. Where landowners have agreed, destruction of trees has already begun.
It is planned to start destroying trees on the public highway from 15 August 2000. Only direct action will protect these trees. If local people want to protect these trees they will have to physically obstruct the tree destroyers either by encircling the trees or occupying the trees.
Direct action is the only protection left for the trees at the western end of the runway - beside the Basingstoke Canal and beyond on the heathland.
The June meeting of BVFoE was cancelled. Members were told nothing was going on. The biggest thing happening in the area is expansion of Farnborough Airfield. In June Rushmoor planning committee and the full council met to rubber-stamp the adoption of the modified Local Plan which gives the go-ahead for airfield expansion. BVFoE were noticeable by their absence.
At the start of the BVFoE July meeting only two people were present - Rick Kimber and John Wall.
Rick Kimber controls everything which happens in BVFoE including their airfield campaign. Since the end of last year the campaign has been a disaster. Trashing of the web site (since restored) did not help.
John Wall is a pro-airfield expansion Tory councillor. He is one of those councillors who we can never be sure which orifice he is speaking out of. An example of his wisdom can be seen in a series of letters he wrote to the local press post-May local elections attacking Patrick Kirby, part of the Tory attack on Patrick Kirby. Patrick Kirby has been targeted by the Tories as he is one of the few councillors who speaks and acts on behalf of the local community, an alien concept to most councillors.
As owners of the airfield site and wishing to see a continuation of the Farnborough Airshow, MoD are one of the key players behind airfield expansion. Both Rick Kimber and John Wall work at the MoD defence agency DERA.
As we are all only too aware we have a very skewed planning system. Want to build a major airport that puts local residents lives at risk, no problem, we will even change the Local Plan to accommodate you. Want to demolish the town centre, no problem, we will even help to drive out all the local businesses, especially those troublesome small traders.
Want to run a small holding researching the future use of plants. What, not part of big business, not carrying out GM-crop trials. Are well that's a different story, sorry we can't help you. You want what, planning permission. You have got to be joking.
Plants For a Future (PFAF) have just spent three years fighting their local council for planning permission to build a major plant research and visitors centre. The research centre will carry out research into potentially useful plants and investigate alternatives to monoculture growing techniques, such as woodland gardens, permaculture and the use of perennial plants. PFAF hope the land will eventually become the site of an eco-village with sustainably designed housing.
The Field, Penpol, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0NG www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/
If you have never been to this part of Cornwall it is well worth a visit. Upstream there are ruins from the pre-industrial revolution and some interesting palatial spreads in the hands of the NT. Downstream, Fowey (pronounced to rhyme with toy) is a lovely little coastal town. There are marvellous walks along the coast, also along the river by crossing the River Fowey on the car ferry and back on the passenger ferry. In the locality is an old hill fort, which is literally invisible even from the adjacent road across the hedge, but from the hill fort there are magnificent views of the surrounding countryside. Between Fowey and Lostwithiel, the tidal stretch, the river is lovely and quiet. Daphne du Maurier lived near by and the area features heavily in her novels.
Accessible by train so no need to jet halfway across the world to some exotic location.
It is an important issue. I think it is terrible that this is going on and the protests are just a way of making sure people are aware of what is happening a few miles from where they live. -- Charlotte Green
In scenes very reminiscent of the GM crop trashing at Watlington in Oxfordshire last summer, 300 protesters held a picnic and rally at Nether Compton, then marched on a 50-acre site of GM maize and wondered all over the field. Overhead, a police helicopter, and a large contingent of police standing by. Several protesters were dressed as Grim Reapers carrying huge scythes. [see front page of The Independent 17 July 2000 for a brilliant picture]
The 50-acre site at Over Compton, near Sherborne, Dorset, was the only trial in the south west. East Dorset District Council is to look into the planning regulations surrounding the tests at Over Compton.
Richard Caborn is the government minister with immediate responsibility for the credit agency that is trying to give Balfour Beatty £200 million of our money to build the Ilisu Dam. An agency slammed by the International Development Select Committee (see BVEJ communique #0001 12 July 2000). Parliamentary private secretary to Caborn is Labour MP Ben Chapman. Chapman is chairman of the Commons All-Party Turkey group, funded from Istanbul. The source of funding, Istanbul-based Foreign Economic Relations Board, lobbies on behalf of the Turkish business community and is lobbying hard in support of the dam.
Tory MP Tony Baldry is secretary to the Commons All-Party Turkey group. Baldry has close links to the construction industry, including Balfour Beatty. Baldry is an associate director of the Building and Property Group, which is in a joint venture with Balfour Beatty to build UCL hospital in London with private funding.
Balfour Beatty has been invited to address the Commons All-Party Turkey group, none of the groups opposed to the Ilisu Dam have been invited to address the group.
New Labour were swept to power on a tide of Tory sleaze, Pergau Dam aid-for-arms scandal and the arms-to-Iraq scandal. Balfour Beatty were major Tory party donors.
No sooner had New Labour won the last election than Balfour Beatty executive Martin Print was seconded to the Department of Trade and Industry's 'innovation unit'. Two other Balfour Beatty staff, Colin Ostler and Alastair Kennedy, have accompanied construction minister Nick Raynsford on jaunts to Jordan, Egypt and the Philippines.
Sir Malcolm Bates, architect of the private finance initiative (PFI, otherwise known as corporate welfare) and one of Blair's cronies, was chosen by the government this year as the ideal man to chair London Transport. Until his appointment he was a director of BICC, the parent company of Balfour Beatty.
Balfour Beatty's political lobbying is conducted by GJW Government Relations, which employs Karl Milner (former adviser to Gordon Brown), and Roger Sharp (who previously worked in Labour's 'business unit'). GJW is one of Labour's most loyal sponsors, and has regularly booked tables at the party's 'gala fund-raising dinners'.
[sources: Private Eye, Corporate Watch and The Observer]
Up until the end of last year BVFoE were running a fairly successful airfield campaign. They had garnered a lot of support locally, Rushmoor and TAG were on the back foot. Rushmoor were sufficiently worried that they persuaded TAG to run a propaganda offensive, an offensive that was so badly run that it blew up in their face. Councillors were running around complaining of BVFoE whipped up anti-TAG hysteria.
Since the end of last year the BVFoE airfield campaign has collapsed. Local support, especially key supporters, has been alienated, though we put this down to the activities of one person rather than the group as a whole.
A couple of dumb demos were held that gave the false impression that there was little support for airfield opposition and led to a hardening of attitudes at Rushmoor. Up until then the officials were at least prepared to listen. The BVFoE web site was trashed by a member of the group (since restored, though no attempt has been made to remove the offending member). No attempt was made to alert either their own members or the public to the special council meeting that modified the local plan, the consultation process, or the planning meeting and council meeting that agreed to adopt the modified Local Plan. The local community are now left with an uphill battle to call a second Public Inquiry and to stop the TAG planning application. It remains to be seen what BVFoE will do now.
BVFoE cannot even claim a success on the GM issue. They were carried along as a piece of flotsam on the tide of public opinion. Hampshire County Council were one of the last to agree to remove GM from school meals. One member of the group worked very hard on GM, with no thanks or support from the rest of the group. Her only real help came from outside.
FoE run very successful training sessions on campaigning, though we note you can't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. The airfield is the most important issue BVFoE will ever have to work on and so far they have failed. They seem happiest playing at campaigning with silly little demos more suited to a play school.
Twyford Down, Manchester Airport saw mass mobilisation of people. At Newbury the local FoE group performed miracles in grinding the construction of the Bypass to a halt, costs escalated and the entire government road building programme collapsed for a decade. In terms of mobilising large-scale opposition to the development of Farnborough Airfield, in spite of promising beginnings, BVFoE have achieved nothing. In many ways worse than nothing as they have succeeded in alienating a lot of support and fragmenting the opposition.
If we were asked for our advice, and we note that we haven't been, we would suggest that BVFoE spends more time on real campaigning, takes the trouble to learn about the issues so they know what they are talking about, less on social events, pub quizzes, barbecues (incredibly polluting and carcinogenic), bike rides. Don't arbitrarily cancel or postpone meetings and activities without telling anyone, the group is not there to satisfy the ego of one person or to service the needs of a small clique. Network with other campaigning groups so you learn how its done and lever up your efforts. Pull out of the liaison meetings with Hants CC and other Hampshire FoE groups as this is merely time wasting. Above all we would wish them success for the future as the area needs hardened campaigners who know what they are doing, well run and fought campaigns. Environmental injustices will not stop unless we are all out there working hard to stop them.
The definition of a terrorist has just got a little wider, as if it wasn't wide enough already. It now includes 'action designed to interfere with an electronic system', which in plain English means hackers.
The Terrorism Bill in a nutshell will be used to target, harass and imprison dissidents, exiles, solidarity groups, activists and protesters, or in other words anyone who engages in activities the Government and big business don't like. Which if you're reading this subversive literature it probably means you. [see BVEJ newsletter #0002 July 2000, SchNEWS 242]
The Terrorism Bill received Royal Assent last month and will come into force next year. For some likely scenarios of how the Terrorism Act (2000) will restrict the right to protest and impinge on civil liberties and human rights see Big Issue 397. More info in next month's BVEJ newsletter.
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill gained Royal Assent last month and will become law in October. More info in next month's BVEJ newsletter.
Last year FoE identified the A325, Farnborough main road, as one of the worst polluted roads in southern England outside of London. Mark Reed (Rushmoor Environmental Health) agreed. He would have had difficulty doing otherwise as FoE were citing official government data. Mark Reed also added that Rushmoor was unlikely to meet its government targets for air quality. This was without the added load of TAG, Slough Estates.
A year on, Mark Reed now disagrees. Rushmoor have carried out their own air quality monitoring. Having not seen the methodology used by Rushmoor we can only note that air quality varies throughout the day, is influenced by weather patterns. Has Rushmoor massaged the figures?
Mark Reed has been very careful with his words. He does not say the situation on the A325 is good, rather:
... pollution levels are typical for a busy urban road ... Traffic flows, the main reason affecting pollution levels, are by no means unique compared with similar roads in the south-east.
To know that our pollution levels are no worse then elsewhere is hardly good news or reassuring. In fact breaches of air quality standards for nitrogen oxides are possible alongside the M3 and on the A325 north of Farnborough Gate.
In responding to objectors to the modified Local Plan, Rushmoor stated:
The only area where air quality impact is likely to be significant will be where the flight path causes emissions to coincide with already elevated pollutant levels associated with traffic on the A325, ie near to Farnborough College.
FCoT, in their objection to the TAG planning application have raised their concerns re air quality.
Rushmoor are relying on TAG's projected figures. TAG are using assumptions that don't stand up, models that are 20 years out of date.
Rick Kimber (BVFoE) has added his two pennies worth by claiming: 'If companies set up green transport schemes, like those proposed by DERA and Nokia, then things may improve.'
This is nonsense. The best these so-called 'green' transport schemes can hope to achieve is a slow down in the rate of deterioration of air quality. They will not improve things. We note without comment that Kimber works at DERA.
The problem we face in the borough is the sheer scale of development - Nokia, DERA, Slough Estates, TAG - and the associated problems of traffic growth. As Mark Reed correctly notes 'but in the end people still like to use their cars.' People like Rick Kimber, who, when others walk or cycle to BVFoE meetings, turns up in a car.
The solution is sustainable development within the borough. Any permitted development should bring about an improvement in the quality of life: less traffic, less pollution. It is perfectly possible for any new development within the borough to be self-sufficient in energy use, to minimise waste and resource use. This should be part of the planning consent.
Any operation of the airfield will, possibly, have noise monitoring in place. It should also have air quality monitoring. If permitted levels are exceeded, especially if the levels on the A325 exceed air quality standards, there should be an immediate shut down of the airfield until levels subside. Rushmoor has the power to declare an Air Action Zone and take enforcement measures. What is lacking is the political will.
Kerosene (aviation fuel) is regularly dumped over Farnborough.
For an example of how things should be done take a look at the Waverley site on air quality.
A few months back the then Mayor Tory clown David Clifford launched an attack in the Surrey-Hants Star on a local resident. What heinous crime had the resident committed to justify the attack? Well not a lot actually. He had written a fair and accurate guide to Aldershot.
In his ranting and raving Mayor Clifford also bemoaned the fact that Rushmoor had no guides of its own to the local area. Well now it appears they have. We took a look. What did we find? Well not a lot actually.
To coincide with the G8 Okinawa 2000 summit (21-23 July 2000) vigils were held across the world. G8 has yet to keep its promise from last year of dropping Third World Debt for the world's poorest countries. IMF/World Bank debt repayment programmes and structural adjustment programmes are major causes of poverty and environmental destruction. In the Blackwater Valley the only event we were aware of was the Aldershot so-called 'Green' Day sponsored by BAE Systems.
We find it astonishing that any green group would consider, let alone attend, a green day sponsored by BAE Systems. Aside from the reputation of BAE Systems as one of the least ethical companies operating in the UK, the company is the major backer of TAG's plans to develop and expand the airfield, the most damaging environmental project in the Blackwater Valley. It only goes to show what an up hill struggle we have in this area.
BVFoE were one of those groups considering attending this event (even though they are campaigning against the airfield). At their July meeting they were given a presentation by Les Murrell (Rushmoor LA21 officer and BVFoE member). The gist of the presentation by Les was that there was nothing wrong in accepting money from BAE Systems, and that it was better to engage in dialogue. We would be interested in learning from Les the extent of this dialogue with BAE Systems and what he can point to as an achievement. We would point out that a far clearer message would have been sent to both BAE Systems and Rushmoor by a mass boycott of the sponsored event.
We await a reply from Les, but in the meantime we are sure he would like to hear your views on the topic. 01252 398538 lmurrell@rushmoor.gov.uk
We wonder who Les will seek sponsorship from next year: Monsanto, Phillip Morris, Nestle, Balfour Beatty .....
In all fairness to Les, we feel it only fair to add that if LA21 was properly funded in Rushmoor he would not have to go cap in hand to big business.
But all is not doom and gloom. BAE Systems were barred from displaying their support of the event, it would have destroyed the street cred of the event, not a BAE Systems logo in sight. At the 11th hour, members of BVFoE looked to their consciences and decided to boycott the 'green' day. Unfortunately other groups, who we can only describe as hypocrites, failed to show the same degree of integrity.
The international arms trade is financed by huge loans, often secured and underwritten by the taxpayer. Money is diverted from social and environmental programmes (schools, hospitals, public transport, land reform, reafforestation etc). It is the leading cause of Third World Debt. War and the repayment of debt is the leading cause of Third World poverty and environmental destruction.
BAE Systems contributed £3,000 in sponsorship to the Aldershot 'Green' Day, one of the many events they are now sponsoring in Rushmoor. The UK is one of the world's top arms dealers, exporting £5 billion of weapons annually.
[see BVEJ newsletter #0002 July 2000 for our comments on LA21 in Rushmoor]
Tibet, like northern Cyprus, is a country under illegal occupation by a repressive regime.
As part of their programme of ethnic cleansing the Chinese are wanting to move 58,000 Chinese peasants into the environmentally fragile Qinghai region of Chinese occupied Tibet. Following the refusal of the World Bank to provide funding it remains to be seen if the Chinese will provide the funding themselves.
CNPC/PetroChina has plans to develop the Tsaidam Basin in north-eastern Tibet. An area that is home to indigenous Tibetan and Mongolian nomads. Gas reserves are estimated at 250 million cubic meters. China's past record bodes ill for this fragile environment and the people who inhabit it. BP Amoco is a major shareholder in PetroChina.
Would you like to see 18 tonnes of burning aviation fuel dumped on your children's heads? ... We're not talking of a disaster like Lockerbie: we're talking of another Aberfan - or another Titanic. And that is not an exaggeration! -- air safety expert John Sturgeon addressing a public meeting in Farnborough last year
In the week leading up to the Farnborough Airshow there were two air crashes. In India a Boeing 737 crashed on the approach about a mile from the runway on a town. At least 50 people were killed. The Foreign Office warned its own diplomats not to use the airline but did not make the warning public. A Russian military helicopter crashed on takeoff outside St Petersburg.
On the second day of the Airshow Air France Concorde AF4590 en-route to New York with flames hundreds of feet long shooting from its left bank of engines crashed on takeoff from Charles de Gaulle outside Paris, narrowly missing the town of Gonesse. All 109 passengers and crew were killed, plus five people on the ground. Number 2 engine which had earlier developed a fault suffered a catastrophic failure and caught fire as the plane was taking off. The speed was such that the pilot had no choice other than to continue the take off. The pilot tried to gain altitude but failed. The Concorde was carrying over 25,000 gallons of aviation fuel when it crashed. Eye witness accounts described the crash as a 'mini-atomic bomb'. It took 400 firefighters two hours to put out the flames leaving nothing left but a blackened hulk. It wasn't until the smoke had cleared that it was possible to see that the hotel into which the Concorde had crashed had been completely destroyed.
The impact of the Concorde crash reverberated around the world. Both France and Germany were in a state of shock. At the Airshow it was business as normal. As a precautionary measure Air France has grounded all its Concordes indefinitely until the cause of the crash is known. For BA it is business as usual. In the UK greed rules OK!
As campaigners against expansion of flying at Farnborough have been saying for some time, the majority of crashes take place during landing or takeoff. This puts residential Farnborough in the crash zone.
Farnborough Airfield is unusual in that it has a residential area atop of a hill at the end of the runway. With the exception of the old Hong Kong Airport this makes Farnborough unique.
The Mayor of Gonesse has been campaigning for a limit on flights from Charles de Gaulle. Had it not been for the action of the Concorde pilot in banking hard to the right, the stricken plane would have crashed on Gonesse. The day before the Concorde crash, Andrew Lloyd, Rushmoor Chief Executive, together with a Boeing executive, was at the airshow singing the praises of the Boeing Business Jet (modified Boeing 737). When asked by the BBC about the concerns of Farnborough residents over safety Lloyd dismissed their concerns as irrelevant.
22 December 1999, a Korean Air cargo plane crashed on takeoff from Stansted narrowly missing a farmhouse on the edge of Hatfield Forest. Had it taken off from Farnborough there would have been nothing for it to miss. The plane was carrying depleted uranium as a counter weight. The area is now contaminated with depleted uranium.
2 May 2000, a Learjet en-route from Farnborough to Nice, experienced engine trouble and was forced into an emergency landing at Lyons. The jet came in at very low altitude and crashed short of the runway, killing pilot and co-pilot. Had the journey been reversed, the Learjet would not have made the airfield on its low altitude approach as it would have ploughed into residential Farnborough killing or seriously injuring far more than two people. Learjets, regularly used at Farnborough, have a reputation for being difficult to handle.
Balfour Beatty
Balfour Beatty is a construction company owned by BICC. At the last company AGM it was decided to rename the parent company Balfour Beatty. The AGM was disrupted by campaigners opposed to the Ilisu Dam and finally had to be abandoned in disarray.
Balfour Beatty, like Tarmac, was a major donor to Tory party coffers. In the early 1990s, Balfour Beatty, together with Tarmac, won 49% of Tory road-building contracts.
Railtrack has been criticised for the poor quality of its track. Balfour Beatty is one of the companies responsible for track construction.
Balfour Beatty was one of five UK companies involved in the construction of the infamous Jubilee Line extension. On completion, at the end of 1999, the project was 60% over budget - £3 billion instead of the original estimate of £1.8 billion, 19 months late.
The latest project completed by Balfour Beatty in the UK was the Cardiff Bay Barrage - a 1.1 km dam flooded tidal mudflats with a 500-acre freshwater lake. Local people, FoE and even the European Commission have criticised the project for its impact on the environment. The mudflats flooded by the dam were important habitat for birds, including the threatened redshank and dunlin.
Last year the Environment Agency named Balfour Beatty as one of the UK's top twenty polluting companies on its 'list of shame'.
February 1999, Balfour Beatty was fined a record £1.2 million over health and safety breaches during its construction of a new rail link to Heathrow Airport. The fine was the highest ever won by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for incidents involving no loss of life. The judge called the incident 'one of the worst civil engineering disasters in the United Kingdom in the last quarter of a century. It is a matter of chance whether death or any serious injury resulted from these very serious breaches.' Balfour Beatty was one of two companies contracted to construct tunnels for the £550 million Heathrow rail link. One of the tunnels collapsed crushing the Underground Piccadilly Line and leaving a crater that dragged down car parks and shook buildings (October 1994). The cancellation of flights alone cost British Airways around £50 million.
One month later, March 1999, Balfour Beatty was again fined by the HSE this time £500,000 for health and safety breaches that caused a train to derail between Witham and Kelvedon (1997). The judge in this case said: 'A very substantial risk to the public was caused.'
In 1993, Balfour Beatty was fined £17,500 by the HSE for breaching safety rules at its Derbyshire foundry, where a worker was crushed to death.
The most serious incidents occurred during the construction of the Channel Tunnel. Balfour Beatty was one of five UK companies contracted to build the tunnel. All five were found guilty of failing to ensure the safety of seven workers who were killed during the construction period. Each of the contractors was fined between £40,000 and £125,000. In one case the prosecution claimed that the breaches were a continuing danger which the contractors had done nothing to prevent. Commenting on the circumstances surrounding the death of a 26-year-old worker, the judge said: 'The failure in this case is one of the worst this court has heard about in the past years. This accident happened because the safety procedures in place were not properly supervised and carried out.'
Last October, 30 Falkirk residents awoke one morning to find their gardens had collapsed into the Forth and Clyde Canal where Balfour Beatty was rebuilding a lock. This summer Balfour Beatty whilst working on Birmingham's new Bull Ring project cut through a water main flooding the adjacent New Street Station, which shorted a 25 kV overhead cable leading to the cancellation of 425 trains and transport chaos across the Midlands and beyond which took three days to clear.
Balfour Beatty was the contractor behind the Pergau Dam in Malaysia. This aid-for-arms scandal, together with arms-to-Iraq and Tory sleaze were what brought down the last Conservative government. The dam, now under construction, is destroying rainforest, displacing people, and aiding the spread of disease.
Balfour Beatty are the prime contractor behind the Ilisu Dam for which it is looking to the UK taxpayer to underwrite its participation to the sum of £200 million. The Ilisu Dam is a human rights disaster, an environmental disaster and likely to trigger the next Middle East War. The project has been criticised by human rights groups, environmentalists and two UK Parliamentary Select Committees.
In the 1980s Balfour Beatty built a dam in Sri Lanka which seemingly has an irreparable leak.
Balfour Beatty are involved in the Public Finance Initiative. PFI is the scam whereby public money is used to pay many times over the odds for public projects built/operated by private companies. London's new University College Hospital was a Balfour Beatty PFI scam. Both the Treasury and the BMA have said the project does not offer best value for money.
Balfour Beatty are currently on trial in Lesotho for bribery and corruption. In the US the FBI raided Balfour Beatty for fraud.
The World Bank maintains a list of dodgy companies it won't do business with, and for the World Bank to say no they must be dodgy. 35 out of the 54 companies on the list are British. We wonder how long it will be before Balfour Beatty are added to the list.
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