Number 10′s response to the ecotown petition

I’ve just recieved the email link to Number 10′s response to the petition initiated by BARD on the Number 10 website.  This website was launched with much joy and gusto to allow the people to communicate directly with the driving forces of New Labour.  It was billed as a way to have the feelings of the general public heard and responded to.  Instead it has become a joke, between the humorous petitions to have Spandau Ballet’s “Gold” replace “God save the Queen” as the national anthem the real petitions have been fobbed off with responses that appear to have been written by office interns on a Friday afternoon.

So for your consideration, here is the text of the petition:

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to stop consideration of possible Eco-town at Long Marston near Stratford-upon-Avon.”

Details of Petition:

“The site of the former Number 1 Engineers Supply Depot [ Army ] and adjoining land at Long Marston has been submitted as a possible site for a new Government Eco-town by St Modwyn and The Bird Group.By mid-February 2008 the Government are to choose 10 sites out of 50 to 60 submitted. There is considerable opposition locally as this is presently within a peaceful corner of South Warwickshire, where the need for such a new town is generally considered neither necessary nor desirable. Most importantly, the infrastructure for a new town does not exist and the site is served by one B- class road and country lanes only. A new town with a minimum population of 13,000 [ half the size of Stratford-upon-Avon ] will bring traffic chaos to Stratford,an important tourist town, with only two very limited crossings over the River Avon. I therefore petition the Prime Minister to confer urgently with Hazel Blears MP to whom letters opposing the proposals have been sent.”

To which Number 10 has responded:

On 4 November 2008 the Department for Communities and Local Government launched the second stage of the eco-towns consultation programme and published a Draft Eco-Towns Planning Policy Statement (PPS), Sustainability Appraisal (SA) and Impact Assessment. In the accompanying press notice, the Housing Minister outlined the shortlist of locations with the potential to be an eco-town.  Middle Quinton was included in this list.  The consultation closed on 30 April 2009.

The Government recognises the strength and depth of feeling that proposals for new housing development generate. All representations received as part of the current consultation will be considered, alongside location assessments, before Government publishes the final PPS and list of locations with the potential to be an eco-town later this year.

No final decisions on sites have been taken. It is not expected that all locations will be endorsed. The PPS will set the toughest ever green standards required of new development in the UK and proposals will need to demonstrate their potential to meet them if they are to be short-listed. The Sustainability Appraisal chapter on Middle Quinton identifies a number of issues which would need to be addressed were the proposal to go forward.

A financial viability study of the eco-towns programme prepared with input from external advisors was published on 5 March 2009.  All documents can be viewed at www.direct.gov.uk/ecotowns

Now I believe you can read that as a condescending pat on the head, “Well done for writing a petition, it doesn’t change anything though”.

Now I’m hoping the sudden abandonment of the post by Hazel “Communities, who listens to them?” Blears from Browns rapidly shrinking cabinet means that we’ll see a more logical pair of hands at the helm of rural redevelopment in the near future.  However, I’m realistic enough to understand that with things as bad as they are right now for Brown and the Labour party, they might just keep steering into the crash just to see how much worse things can get!

Jaqui Smith and the ID cards fiasco

David Blunkett, the man who came up with Labour’s terrible ID card scheme, has admitted it is a mistake (See previous post) but even this is not enough to convince Jaqui Smith to stop wasting the tax payers money.  Then again, why should she since she isn’t exactly known for fiscal good behaviour!  Her reasoning for the cards hasn’t improved either:

“With an identity card, people will be able to prove their identity quickly and conveniently while helping to protect themselves against identity fraud.

“ID cards will deliver real benefits to everyone, including increased protection against criminals, illegal immigrants and terrorists.”

The Telegraph – ID cards cheme to be launched in Manchester

Yes, by storing all your critical data on a government database you’ll be safer from identity fraud as long as they don’t leave your details on a train, or in a taxi, or let them be stolen from unsecured offices.  Forgetting the government’s crap security record just ask yourself “How exactly does an extra copy of my data being stored make me more secure?”  It won’t stop your credit cards being cloned, or your bank account hacked (the most common forms of identity theft), it won’t stop identity fraud at all, but it will make money for the chosen commercial partners and the government whilst introducing another layer of middle management beurocracy to Great Britain.

Now to her second quote “real benefits”, really?  How will an ID card stop me from getting mugged?  Does it double up as a weapon to protect me from criminals?  Will it flash a big red light and sound an alarm when a hoodie steals my wallet? Or will it just be a huge boon to purse snatchers and muggers who will now have not just my cash and credit cards, but also my name and address, my biometric data, and my ID card???  Am I meant to believe terrorists will not fly in to Britain as tourists because they won’t have ID cards?  Or that home grown threats won’t launch attacks because they have ID cards?  The 7/7 bombers carried ID, they wanted it to be known who they were, so how does this card make us any safer?

Realistically biometric passports are a better answer, especially since the US and other nations expect them at ports and places of entry.  Everyone can apply for a passport, either British or their home country and they are an internationally accepted form of identification.  If they are too easy to copy then update them to make it more difficult, don’t just give us another piece of pointless plastic… Didn’t we move to photo-driving licences to have them act as ID as in America?  Why did they stop being effective?

Forget doubts over Gordon Brown’s leadership, can we have questions raised about Jaqui Smith’s competance?

Hazel Blears, no Mags!

Even the BBC were impressed with Hazel Blears turn of phrase;

So when Hazel Blears said “YouTube if you want to”, but traditional methods were best, she both coined a catchy phrase and risked publicly contradicting her boss.

BBC News – What is Hazel Blears up to?

However, she quite obviously did not “coin a catchy phrase” she just played upon the words of Margaret Thatcher in her famous quote:

“To those waiting with bated breath for that favorite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only this to say, ‘You turn if you want; the lady’s not for turning.’”

- Margaret Thatcher

Now poor Hazel is facing a bit of a problem, when in the one breath she denounces Gordon Brown’s YouTube policy announcement, and in the next breath she claims to support her dear leader 100%.  Sounds like a u-turn to me, even if it isn’t on YouTube!  Thirty years on from when Thatcher came to power following a winter of discontent and a decade of Labour mismanagement leaving the county with 2 million plus unemploted it seems like Hazel picked her words a touch poorly.  Here we are again in economic turmoil, with a conflicted Labour government lacking clear leadership, scrabbling at policies and u-turning so quickly that they must be getting dizzy.  Unemployment is nearing record levels, and the next general election seems pretty predictable at this stage…

So Hazel, nice to see you know your political history, but don’t expect too much from misquoting Maggie! “YouTube if you want to; the lady’s not for tubing” doesn’t have the same ring to it, makes you sound like a failed extreme sports competitor!

Oh, and while you criticise the PM’s YouTube message, don’t forget your own political career is hanging on the debacle of the Eco Towns!

You may want to compare the current Government’s performance to that of Maragert Thatcher’s starting 30 years ago.  Wonder what songs they’ll put to the Blair/Brown years?  BBC News Photomontage

Messing with time

The stupidity of the incumbent British Government knows no bounds, and today they’ve made two great leaps towards further idiocy!

First off, a quick pet peve of mine.  Speed doesn’t kill, reckless driving kills.  Even the government’s own statistics show that excessive speed plays an active part in less than 5% of injury causing accidents (See here for details and DfT facts).  So, lets slow down all our A roads shall we: The Telegraph – A-road speed limits to be reduced to 50mph Wow, they’l cut a third of road deaths by changing a rule that according to their own data only impacts one twentieth of accidents.  I’m pretty sure 5% is less than 33.3%! Could it be that Gordon Brown and the Labour massive are actually just realising that all the speed camera revenue is dropping as people figure where the cameras are, but by randomly changing speed limits around the country they can create some more revenue!  I hear the pennies jingling!

Next up, TIME!

The Telegraph – Putting clocks forward two hours in summer ‘would save hundreds of lives’

Yes, not happy with ruining Great Britain PLC. they’ve decided to target time now.  As you know all time is calculated from the Prime Meridian in Greenwich, England. So the crazy scheme is to have Britain operate between 1 and 2 hrs ahead of the Prime Meridian, again to save lives!!!  As the official report claimed:

A move to “double summertime” would also yield benefits including energy savings from lighter evenings, more opportunities for sport and leisure and a boost to British business from being permanently aligned with other western European nations.

So let me show you the times that the sun rises and sets at:

	GMT Sunrise	GMT Sunset	Current Rules Sunrise	Current Rules Sunset	Nu Labour Wacky Time Sunrise	Nu Labour Wacky Time Sunset
Dec 21st 2008	08:03	15:52	08:03	15:52	09:03	16:52
June 21st 2009	04:42	21:20	05:42(bst)	22:20(bst)	06:42	23:20

As you can see the change for the average worker (assumed to be working from 9am to 5pm and commuting between 7am and 7pm) is no difference whatsoever.  Light changes very little during their main travel times, and in the winter they still commute in the dark.

However, for schoolchildren the journey to school (leaving 8am in class at 9am) is much worse in the winter, with them arriving at school in darkness!  Oh, and don’t forget that the chances of alcohol fueled violence on the streets of a Friday or Saturday night will go up in the summer as it stays light enough to cause mayhem into the wee small hours with this brilliant plan.

How idiotic is this?  They admit themselves that:

“There would be a particular impact on northern Scotland resulting from the darker mornings,” it says. There could also be “negative impacts” on areas such as agriculture and the construction industry.

What? So you can accept creating more stressful and dangerous working conditions for two major industries and a large number of people living in the north, but not worry because you’ll be okay in your state funded second homes in London!  Who cares that real people are inconvenienced by your stupidity!

At a time when Gordon Brown’s lousy Government is struggling to look like it has half a brain in the entire cabinet it is reports like this that make you wonder how crazy they really are!

unfair, illogical and unreasonable

Those three words were used by John Steele QC to describe the Gordon Brown’s “eco-town” policy.  As I long time supporter of the BARD Campaign I read with interest the latest stumbling block for New Labour’s forced destruction of rural communities:

The Telegraph – Gordon Brown’s controversial eco-town plan could be unlawful, according to top QCs

Unfortunately, as so frequently happens, the Government has ignored the sensible advice from learned independent bodies and has come out on the offensive. As can be seen in the words of Cllr Margaret Eaton, Chairman of the Local Government Association, who said:

“Eco-towns can help the country tackle the twin challenges of the housing shortage and climate change.

“We need to build more homes that are environmentally sound, in areas with good transport links and alongside the public services which are needed to create places where people want to live.”

This is a brilliant example of “Do what we say or you’re an evil, elitest, environment hater” which handily completely ignores that fact that most of tehse proposed “Eco-towns” do not have good transport links (actually know the local Stratford area or see the BARD Campaign for further details) and have limited employment opportunities locally, whilst developing sites which are currently brown/green-belt land and rural communities.  I’m no urban planner, but no easy transport, no jobs, and the destruction of rural habitats doesn’t sound that “ECO” to me!

Don’t forget that so far the Government has spent more than £3 million on the eco-town suicide mission, without a single home being built (The Telegraph – Eco-towns bill soars to more than £3 million before a house is built).  With over a third of that money being spent on PR exercise and websites to try and con the public into believing this is a valuable plan!

Earlier this year Labour’s own back-benchers strongly criticised Hazel Blear’s inappropriately named Department for Communities and Local Government, stating that it lacked the skills necissary to put vital policies into operation!  They went so far as to say that:

“The eco-town programme, even if successful, will make no huge contribution to the very significant problem of housing supply which is, rightly, one of the department’s top priorities.” – BBC News – MPs criticise housing department

So with that condemnation rining in their ears it is time for you to add your own voice.  The deadline for “Middle Quinton” has been extended to the end of this month (BBC News – More time for eco-town plan views) so write to your MP, and visit the BARD Campaign website to find how else you can get involved!

See also:

• Building.co.uk – Future unclear for eco-towns as financial troubles hit half
• Financial Times (Westminster blog) – RIP Eco-towns