Paul Robinson's blog

What happens if the Gilberdyke Tip operators walk away from the site?

2012-02-02T08:14:00.003Z

In view of the Environment Agency issuing the enforcement notice against the Gilberdyke Tip owners City Plant Ltd. it raises the question as to what happens if the Directors decide in view of the action, to fold the company or walk away from the site?

This has concerned me for a while and is something I have raised on a number of occasions after the scenario was first mentioned by residents. After some investigation, answers from City Plant Ltd. and input from the Environment Agency (EA), it would seem that if the City Plant Ltd. Directors were to walk away from the site or folded the company for whatever reason, there is financial provision of up to £1.2 million for the tip to be capped off, restored and maintained as required - but is it adequate, and if not is there an asset value to the tip?

The basis of the provision is found in the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 [SI 2007 3538] with reference to Waste Management licensing and pollution prevention and control regimes from 6th April 2008.

The owner or applicant for an Environmental Permit (EP) must be able to provide adequate financial provision to meet the obligations of the permit. Some of these sites can include landfill with aftercare costs for a period of up to sixty years after closure.

Part of the solution can include a security bond, which provides an indemnity for the amount specified by the EA as 'financial provision'. The bond is not required if the client has sufficient 'upfront' funds. In the case of the Gilberdyke Landfill site approximately £650,000 is invested in a FillSecure bond, which has the potential to generate income to cover costs of approximately £1.2million. The FillSecure solution has been approved by the Environment Agency for ‘general application, and consists of a funding arrangement suitable for the cost effective management of financial provisions as required under EP permits to satisfy the long-term aftercare requirement, as well as operational and restoration costs’.

It is my understanding that unless this ‘financial provision’ had been put in place December’s transfer of the Environmental Permit from the previous owner to City Plant Ltd would not have taken place or been ratified by the Environment Agency. It has been confirmed that the Agency took the opportunity to revise the ‘financial provision’ to regularise the costs and to ensure that due to the changes in the site infrastructure and environmental requirements/guidance, any after care costs would be covered.

I am confident that in the event something does happen with City Plant Ltd, monies are available to the Environment Agency from this fund for the tip to be capped off, restored and maintained BUT is this amount of ‘financial provision’ based on the conditions of the EA permit, and since the height of the tip is way over, and in breach of the approved height limits as detailed in the permit, therefore is this provision now adequate?

The tip itself may not have a physical asset value but the methane gas caught within and being constantly produced for a significant number of years to come certainly does have a value, especially if it can be used to power electric generators to produce clean renewable energy like we see at other landfill sites. It is therefore reassuring that not only is there a significant bond in place, there appears to be a very saleable asset which should ensure the tips long term future care and maintenance.

Gilberdyke landfill site ordered to stop taking waste

2012-01-31T18:00:00.017Z

Today the Environment Agency issued a notice to stop any more waste entering the Gilberdyke Landfill site; this as a result of the operator City Plant Ltd still not complying with its environmental permit. As from 13th February 2012, waste cannot be brought on to the site until the level of waste in the landfill has been reduced to those set out in the permit.

The operator will also have to demonstrate to the Environment Agency that there is sufficient capacity left in the site to start taking in waste, once the level has been reduced. They will then have three months to reduce the site to the agreed levels.

A decision has not yet been made about City Plant Ltd.’s application to increase the annual tonnage limits on the permit from 70,000 tons per annum to 200,000 tons.

The visual height of the landfill is the responsibility of East Riding of Yorkshire Council as the local planning authority, and just last week the Council has took the first step to enforce a height reduction on the site, by formally requesting from the tip operators a timescale for bringing the height to the permitted level. A response is required by 2nd February 2012. Unfortunately at around the same time City Plant Ltd submitted a scoping request to the Council to regularise the height of the tip at its present level, this serves to delay the process.

I have little sympathy for City Plant Ltd – they have put the local communities through the mincer with foul smells, dust, mud, litter and intolerable amounts of HGV movements. The Company has played the system, by cynically and deliberately tipping quantities of waste far in excess of allowed annual quantities and at heights above double what is permitted - then submitting a retrospective requests to the EA to increase the annual tonnage and a scoping request/planning application to the ERYC to increase the tip height. But as with most things – what goes around comes around.

Although this is not the end of the matter, the Environment Agency has demonstrated it has the teeth and is prepared to use them. It is now up to City Plant Ltd, they have to come up with a realistic and acceptable plan or they will tip no more after 13th February 2012.

Environment Agency regulatory officer Matthew Woollin said: “It’s important that we control the amount of waste at the site because we issue the permit based on a set figure to protect the environment. We understand the community’s concerns and we are working hard to resolve this issue.”

To get to this stage has taken a great deal of patient work by a number of people over what seems like an eternity, and I know that residents have complained that nothing had been happening, but today we see the result. Many thanks go to Newport Parish Council and Chairman Roy Hunt in particular, residents of both Newport and Gilberdyke who never gave up the fight, and the local EA officers who have made this important step possible.

City Plant Ltd has two months to appeal against the Environment Agency notice.

Proud to be elected as the Chair of the new Goole & Howdenshire ‘Community Partnership’

2012-01-28T12:27:00.009Z

This week I was delighted to be elected as the unpaid Chair of the new ‘Community Partnership’ for the Goole, Howdenshire, Snaith, Airmyn, Rawcliffe and Marshland area. Representatives from all the Town and Parish Councils, and those from the partner organisations including the Police, Fire Service, Health and the Voluntary Sector) were entitled to vote.

Many will recall I was the first Chair of the Goole and Howdenshire Local Action Team (LAT), which was the first LAT in the East Riding, and widely acknowledged as being one of the most effective. I was very proud of what the public service partners and the voluntary sector achieved by working together during my tenure as Chairman, but we were just getting started, and there is so much still to do.

The Community Partnership is a continuation of the previous Local Action Team (LAT), but also brings together under the same umbrella the previous Police and Partners Community Forums and the 3 Neighbourhood Action Teams which operated in the area. The Partnership’s role will be in local problem-solving, addressing issues of concern to local communities, as well as crime reduction and liaison between the police and the public.

The Community Partnerships will fulfil this function by :

1) Focussing on local problem-solving and adopting a multi-agency approach to solve local problems in their communities.

2) Providing a first point-of-contact for town and parish councils, and partners, for the full range of issues relating to the local area and providing the necessary linkages with partner services relevant to issues within that locality.

3) Providing ‘triage’ or ‘initial signposting’ to the appropriate partner service provider for requests for service or complaints and retaining those which are appropriate for consideration by the Community Partnership where multi-agency involvement is required. Other issues will be referred directly to Ward Members or partner services.

4) Representing and engaging with local communities while communicating LSP priorities, and developing objectives and priorities tuned to their localities.

5) Acting as an enabler linking local communities with LSP action groups and partners.

6) Working in partnership with the Police to identify crime and safety concerns and agreeing local priorities and contribute towards a reduction in recorded crime and anti-social behaviour.

7) Using a problem-solving approach to crime reduction by developing positive activities and projects that improve the local community, act as deterrents or diversionary activities to potential offenders.

8) Improving engagement and relationships with town and parish councils, engendering a local flavour and the opportunity for the greater development of local relationships and special local knowledge.

9) Working with town and parish councils to support bids for the pilot Parish Grant scheme, and carry out initial vetting and administration of the allocation of funds.

10) Taking the lead in engagement events in their localities and undertaking other public consultation as requested by the LSP Board or Council to increase local participation for a range of issues involving partners to benefit the local community by improving their quality of life and well-being, or where the LSP Board wish to use the opportunity to visit local communities.

11) Supporting parish plans, community profiles and contributing to cluster parish outcomes that are best achieved at a multi-parish level.

12) Providing a platform through which local people can have a voice on decisions which affect them and help resolve local community problems.

13) Involving communities in the planning, development, delivery and quality of local public services.

I believe in allowing town and parish councils and community groups to have more say in things that happen locally, have more powers to deliver services if they wish, and have more input on how money is spent in their villages.

To take forward the Community Partnership will require a great deal of innovation and forward thinking. I feel the members of the team have the skills, drive and enthusiasm to make it work well, and I relish the chance to once again lead the group of public sector and voluntary sector partners, to consolidate what we already have – and to work closely with the town and parish councils, and community groups to build something very good for our area.

So lots of work to do with no payment whatsoever!

Beagle Farm plans thrown out at appeal

2012-01-26T20:14:00.008Z

The Robinson's have a beagle called 'Lou' (pictured above), she is a great friend and very much part of the family.

I am therefore very pleased that a company breeding beagle dogs for animal experiments has lost its case at appeal. The US Company B & K Universal was originally refused permission to expand its facilities at Grimston in the East Riding of Yorkshire by the Council's Planning Committee. This after it sparked public outcry, many letters and emails, and increased security at County Hall on the day of the meeting.

The Company which had been seeking consent to breed up to 2,000 beagles at a time for experiments, has now been told by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles that its application has been rejected.

Great News!

Have Your Say On Gilberdyke, Newport, North Cave & Eastrington to Hull and Goole Bus Changes

2012-01-23T11:43:00.010Z

A number of people have contacted me regarding the changes to the 155 bus that runs between Goole and Hull announced by East Yorkshire Motor Services, proposed to take effect from 6th February 2012.

The operator says alterations between Goole, South Cave, Gilberdyke, Brough, Hull and York will mean faster journey times and new links.

EYMS consulted hundreds of passengers last year who called for more express buses to Hull and services to Market Weighton and York. After reviewing passenger feedback, EYMS has decided to make changes to the X55 and 155 services to and from Hull and introduce a new service to York, a link to Castle Hill Hospital and extra express buses.

The proposed new 155 bus timetable to run from 6th Feb 2012 can be found here

EYMS is holding drop-in events where passengers can find out more at:

* Brough Morrisons, today, 10am to 2pm.
* Howden Co-Operative, Wednesday, 10am to noon.
* Gilberdyke Memorial Hall car park, Wednesday, 12.30pm to 2.30pm.
* Goole Boothferry Road, Thursday, 10am to 2pm.
* South Cave Town Hall, Saturday, 10am to noon.
* Elloughton EYMS Depot, Saturday, 12.30pm to 2.30pm.
* North Cave Village Hall, Sunday, 1pm to 3pm.

Unfair Sutton Bridge weight limit saga is coming to an end

2012-01-21T16:39:00.005Z

The long running saga of the Sutton Bridge temporary weight limit is coming to an end. It has been confirmed that the weight limit on the bridge is to expire on Saturday 10th March 2012 and an order has been placed to remove the weight restriction signs, this is planned to take place on the following Monday, 12th March 2012.

This will mean the HGV movements will once again be equalised between all communities, rather than Bubwith, Foggathorpe and Holme on Spalding Moor having to bear more than their fair share as we have seen since the weight limit was imposed to allow maintenance of the bridge.

Congratulations to all residents and the three Parish Councils for their tenacity and hard work to ensure this unfair situation is shortly to be resolved. Please see past blogpost here for full story

Coriolis Energy tries to move goalposts on Spaldington Wind Farm access

2012-01-17T14:34:00.009Z

Spaldington Airfield Wind Farm developers Falck Renewables and their agents Coriolis Energy are looking to move the ‘goalposts’ after the Planning Inspector granted them planning consent for a 5 turbine wind farm just outside the Howdenshire village of Spaldington, by submitting a planning application to change the previously approved access to the site. (detail shown on map above)

One of the accusations levelled at Coriolis Energy in the past has been their lack of engagement with local people, and we see that they have not learnt from previous experiences in Spaldington, as we yet again see a planning application with little or no consultation with nearby residents.

The original agreed access route to the site for all "normal" HGV traffic and the abnormal loads (crane & turbine parts) was from Howden along the A614 to the Spaldington Lane junction at Ivy House Farm (water tower), along the whole length of Spaldington Lane to the Boothferry Golf Club and then up the B1228 (Bubwith Road) to the CFS/ITS entrance.

The revised plans now show a change in the route with a new access being created directly off Spaldington Lane, which will have some benefits for one property, plus of course the Golf Club (the owner of which is also one of the landowners on which the turbines are to be constructed), who if the plans are approved, will see very few HGV movements connected with the construction. But interestingly the planned new access is now adjacent to Sandwood House, this being the property of the recent Chairman of the STOP anti-wind farm group who has obviously no interest in the wind farm.

This smacks of being a rather suspicious tactic employed by the developer and the landowner, to minimise the impact that construction traffic will have on the Golf Club. On speaking to a number of Spaldington residents, they think it is nothing more than a cynical ploy to bully and punish the STOP group for standing up to them.

Having studied the hard copy of the application it appears that it is only one property that will be adversely affected by the new access. Almost everyone else would face the same level of construction disruption that ERYC Highways and the Inspector have already found to be acceptable. There will be an increase in the total of HGV journeys to construct the new access road, but I assume this will be relatively small. With the wind farm already approved I think it is likely that ERYC will, unfortunately, look favourably on this application for a new entrance on Spaldington Lane. But having said that there seems to be no reason why the access cannot be moved further away from the boundary with Sandwood House, and I would urge Coriolis Energy to go back to the drawing board and amend their plans accordingly.

Tip Operators Look To Heap More Misery On Gilberdyke & Newport Residents

2012-01-15T20:40:00.012Z

At present City Plant Ltd, the owners and operators of the Gilberdyke Landfill Site have a licence that allows them to input about 70,000 tonnes of waste per annum into the tip. They have recently applied for a licence that, if approved, would almost triple this level to 200,000 tonnes.

I have serious concerns regarding the potential for over filling this site especially when it is clear the height limit has already been exceeded by a considerable amount. I would like to see this tip filled to the approved height and capacity, capped with clay, and appropriately landscaped as soon as possible.

I would therefore urge the Environment Agency to consider the following arguments for rejecting the application:

Currently, waste being deposited at the site is being tipped at heights that are above the limits allowed by both the Environment Agency (EA) and East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC).

It is widely felt that the environmental impact we have seen from moving the waste around the site has a significantly negative effect on the amenity of Newport due to the increase in gases escaping from the waste. I want, as soon as possible, for the site to move to a situation where waste is deposited, left in situ and capped at the correct height. To achieve this will involve waste being moved from its present location above the approved height down to a compliant level, and accept this will generate further smells in the short term. It seems to me that until the height limits are adhered to, it would make more sense to stop the input of further waste onto this site rather than allow an almost three-fold increase.

Whilst it is understood that the EA and ERYC are separate organisations, the EA are aware that the planning application made in March last year stated very clearly that the void, or remaining capacity of the site, was then 104,000 tonnes. From the vehicle counts carried out by residents and the average weight carried by the lorries, it is reasonable to estimate that between 60 and 70 vehicles per day (5 days per week) visit the site carrying an average of between 15 and 20 tonnes (this is a City Plant Ltd estimate). This would suggest that since April between 180,000 and 280,000 tonnes of material have been deposited already. Thus, either the site already has more material deposited than it can hold or the 104,000 tonne figure was inaccurate.

Given the doubt about the remaining capacity of the tip, surely any application to increase waste inputs can only be established after a thorough survey has been carried out to determine any remaining capacity. Again, the threat to the amenity of the villages of Gilberdyke and Newport if it transpires that thousands of tonnes of waste have, at a later date, to be removed from the site, must weigh against the application

I am confident that the EA and ERYC will work together, and this expectation is shared by residents, to ensure that neither organisations’ actions leads to a situation whereby an approval from one authority could negatively impact a condition imposed by the other. Whilst some might understand that the EA works to different rules, the general public is less understanding and would see as bizarre a situation occurring whereby the EA sanction higher levels of tipping on a site that may already be overfull from a planning perspective.

The EA is currently in a position where there are two breaches of permit notices outstanding and there are other problems that they are aware of. Unfortunately, the EA transferred the environmental permit to City Plant Ltd when the EA were aware that the site was in breach of permit. Having lost that opportunity to insist that the site be made compliant before transferring the licence, there is now a second opportunity to withhold approval of this application until the site is made compliant.

If it transpires that the current annual waste input level to the site has already been exceeded, surely all tipping should be stopped until such time as a new licence is issued – This would certainly focus the minds.

Should anyone also like to object to (or support) this application to increase the amount of waste that can be tipped on the site, letters of emails can be sent to the following:

Matthew Woollin
Environment Agency (Willerby)
1 Viking Close
Great Gutter Lane (East)
Willerby
Hull
HU10 6DE
e-mail: matthew.woollin@environment-agency.gov.uk

Appalling Gilberdyke Tip Problems Given Oxygen Of Publicity

2012-01-10T08:40:00.011Z

The appalling problems with the Gilberdyke Tip were well and truly brought out into the open yesterday, when we saw the East Riding Mail, Radio Humberside, KCFM, and both local TV News programmes namely Look North and Calendar running the story, which first appeared in the Goole Times last week.

Many thanks to Kevin Clifford, Parish Council Chairman Roy Hunt, and all those who took part in Dave Burns' phone in on Radio Humberside yesterday morning which can be found on the BBC iplayer here (my contribution is at 2hrs 6mins in)

The East Riding Mail is running the story again today and can be found here

I hope the fact that the media are running this story so powerfully yesterday and today will give the required impetus to influence the decision makers into action.

The Onward March Of The Machines

2012-01-07T11:37:00.009Z

People recently travelling along the M18 will not have failed to notice the massive wind turbine towers soaring over Thorne and Moorends – these bladeless monsters are remarkably reminiscent of those large aggressive robotic beasts, terrifying people and attacking communities in the film ‘War of the Worlds’.

Fully functional tri-bladed monsters have already advanced to our western border, where they stand over and intimidate the good people of Airmyn from the far side of the River Ouse, this stealthy advance to our border allowed and approved of by our neighbours.

Somewhat larger second generation monster turbines are already on their way to invade Howdenshire from the south, they plan to march into Sixpennywood, between Gilberdyke and Howden and cast their long shadows over Balkholme, this invasion was approved by the previous government’s appointed Planning Inspector against both the will of the people, and ERYC Planning Committee.

Shortly after we will see a further approved invasion, this time from the north east as the tri-bladed monsters make their way down from the Wolds to settle menacingly above Sancton, spoiling the much valued view of the hills, and no doubt paving the way for further invasions from the north.

It may be that before this advance from the north east is fully realised, we see an approved outpost established just outside Holme upon Spalding Moor, as two huge humming tri-bladed monster centurions are erected to guard the Gallymoor landfill site.

Needless to say a powerful and well-funded invasion on the southern front was halted by a courageous rear-guard stance by the village of Spaldington, who last year went into battle against not one, but two wind farm companies seeking to build giant wind turbines at each side of their small village. To fight this battle the community raised in excess of £80,000 to enable a courageous leader, Barrister Tina Douglas & her team of expert witnesses to be employed, and under this leadership, true grit, fortitude and the British bull-dog spirit shone through, and by putting together a fantastic case at the public enquiry, the result was that one wind farm application was thrown out by the Planning Inspector and the other conditioned in such a way that the turbines will not be able to operate at full capacity because of noise. It was an honour and a privilege to charge over the hill into battle alongside those brave Spaldington warriors.

One would have thought the Spaldington warriors had gone through enough and deserved a break, to lick their wounds, take time to reflect and to recoup their financial losses, but alas warfare is never like that. I received notice just before Christmas that more invaders from the south were on the march, this time planning to bypass Spaldington and group at a place further north towards Holme upon Spalding Moor and Foggathorpe. A letter from RWE npower renewables informed me that they had recently started to investigate the potential for wind farm development on land North of Spaldington around Gribthorpe and Arglam, and that they would be submitting a planning application to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council for an anemometer mast.

The company acknowledges that it is aware of the recent ‘Battle of Spaldington’ and has learnt from it. They have studied those applications, and they are giving careful thought to how their proposals would fit with the consented wind farm. They also state that they are taking into account the reasons for refusal for the Spaldington Common wind farm to ensure they can work with the community and key stake holders to design a wind farm that is suitable for the area. They then purport to recognise the importance and sensitivity of the recent decisions…. Is this the action of a desperate enemy trying to lull us into a false sense of security one wonders? But they will ignore at their peril the fact that the ‘Spaldington Warriors’ are only resting, rebuilding and rearming for any future challenge.

We should also not forget the threat from Goole Fields, for there is also a great army of huge tri-bladed monsters ready and waiting to be amassed south of the River Ouse, and stacked in rows to intimidate us from over the water.

But as in that great ‘Terminator’ movie franchise, the forces for good have been able to capture and reprogram not just one, but two of the tri-bladed machines, adopted and renamed by the Children of Howden, and now working for the good of Howdenshire as they stand proudly over the water treatment works at Loftsome Bridge. With each turn of their mighty blades the water we drink is pumped and purified.

The largest of the tri-bladed machines are to be placed off our coastline, which will hopefully serve to protect and guard us from any 'further advances' emanating from the EU.

My message is, we have to be vigilant, we have the knowhow gained from the ‘Battle of Spaldington’ and we have the determination - but we also have the confidence that the monsters have a lifespan of only 25 years and we can outlive them – just like we can outlive the career of the Climate Change Minister!

Are those lights from a 'piste machine' on a ski slope or just Gilberdyke's Landfill Mountain?

2012-01-03T18:47:00.011Z

I heard an interesting comment from a Gilberdyke resident over the weekend, “I feel like I’m on a skiing holiday, when every evening I look across to see a piste machine battering the ski slopes of the mountain over there.”

Needless to say he was referring to the lights from the machinery working on the Gilberdyke Tip, which has grown to such heights to be frankly laughable, if it was not so serious.

I recently chaired a difficult meeting of the Tip Liaison Committee when it was confirmed that the tip has recently changed hands and is now both owned and operated by City Plant Ltd, it was also established that the operators had deliberately breached the planning conditions by tipping at considerable heights above the permitted 8.0m level, with the reality being that the company have actually tipped to a level which has effectively doubled the permitted height, and they had recently breached the Environment Agency permit regarding mud on the roads surrounding the site. But most worryingly, due to ‘misunderstandings during the planning process’ the community was now faced with a further two years tipping to fill or perhaps overfill the site rather than the one year envisaged.

The City Plant Ltd consultant, Kevin Wanlass, was asked when the levels of the tip would be reduced to the permitted height; I was very disturbed to have my fears confirmed that instead of reducing the tip height to the permitted 8m level, the operators are likely to submit a planning application to maintain the existing levels. I view this as a disgraceful, deliberate and cynical ploy on the part of City Plant Ltd, and I will be consulting with the East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) to take appropriate action to make the height of the tip compliant as soon as possible.

I made it quite clear that I was not happy for anything other than the permitted heights to be met on the site and it was highly unlikely that anything other than this would be supported by the local community.

Fellow community representative and Newport Parish Council Chairman Roy Hunt and I also raised the issue of mud on the roads from the tip, namely Newport’s Leatherdog Lane and Thimblehall Lane, and the many complaints received. It was confirmed that many calls of complaint had been received by the ERYC, the Environment Agency and the Parish Council; it was interesting that one of the tip representatives said it was only muddy on one day; this was robustly challenged and contradicted by Roy Hunt, who confirmed that he’d witnessed and had photographs of mud on a number of consecutive days.

I find the mud on the road to be totally unacceptable, and subsequent to the meeting rode along the roads, and witnessed the crude attempts at wheel washing by the operators. I raised this issue again with the Environment Agency the following week and demanded action. It was later confirmed that on 20th December an enforcement notice on City Plant Ltd was issued for a breach of the permit conditions relating to mud. Failure to comply with the notice by the end of January will be an offence, which I am hoping will spur City Plant Ltd into installing proper facilities as soon as possible to stop the mud leaving the site rather than trying to clean the roads with road-sweepers afterwards. It seems incredible that this site was allowed to continue to operate after the previous facilities were removed with the obvious impact on road users, particularly during wet weather.

The operators have installed gas collection equipment on the tip, including a new gas flare at the site entrance, although very welcome as this should reduce some of the foul stink emanating from the site, the gas flare was installed without planning consent.

Clarification was also sought regarding lorries NOT using the site weighbridge, it was alleged by City Plant Ltd. that all lorries entering the site to tip waste passed over the weighbridge, although lorries bringing material to the site for engineering operations would not as they were not delivering waste. Further clarification was sought on this by the community representatives because of multiple claims that lorries were seen entering and leaving the site without passing over the weighbridge either on entry or exit.

It was established that any complaints from residents about the operation of the tip should be made to the Environment Agency by telephone on 0800 807060.

The issue of site working outside the permitted hours of operation was also raised. I stated that it would be a lot better for the local community if the company could let people know what was happening on the site and what measures they were being taken to resolve any problems. A pro-active as opposed to a re-active approach should be promoted. The Council Planning Officer said that the operators should let the local Council know if they were planning on doing any work outside the parameters of the planning permission. This could then be shared with community representatives and agreement reached before the activity took place.

A Happy & Successful New Year to all readers

2011-12-31T09:41:00.013Z

Once again, many thanks to all of you for taking the time to read my blog this past year. It has been an interesting year for me as a blogger, with an increased readership and an all-time high for hits on one day in November – the day after I was hauled before the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Standards Committee over comments made by others on the blog.

To see the story rocket around cyberspace and be re-posted on so many blogs and websites, including by Tim Montgomerie on conservativehome, and to read all the comments, emails and messages of support, meant that the minimal censure the Committee imposed became somewhat meaningless. The wider debate in the media clearly indicated that freedom of speech will not be stifled.

The wonder of Google means that many of my old blogposts still get regular hits, and the increased use of Facebook and Twitter (follow me at #paul12clear) has resulted in many more re-postings.

2011 has been a really good year for me personally, with many ups - but surprisingly few downs. Amongst other achievements, I have managed to get the new company website up and running – and, yes, it has its own blog which can be found here.

One of the year’s highlights was being re-elected to represent Howdenshire in May’s local elections. The fantastic numbers of votes I received from all the parishes (including the Gilberdyke Parish Council election) that make up Howdenshire, vindicated the stance I had taken on a number of issues. These ranged from wind farms, landfill sites, affordable housing and flood relief, to senior Council employee early retirement packages. The election saw an increase in the Conservative majority and brought some really good new councillors to County Hall. The age profile of councillors was brought a little more into line with the area demographics with the election of the youthful duo of Josh Newlove (Labour) and Bradley Birmingham (Conservative) both of whom are in their twenties.

The election result was tempered a little by the ERYC Council Leader’s decision to remove me from my previously held position as Chairman of the Goole and Howdenshire Local Action Team, and from the Council’s Planning Committee. The level of support I subsequently received from the public was very humbling and sometimes came from unexpected quarters. I’m really enjoying my role as a backbencher, but people keep reminding me of that famous quote of Arnold Schwarzenegger – “I’ll be back!” - Who knows?

If I could give an award to the community of the year it would be to Spaldington, who went into battle against not one, but two wind farm companies seeking to build giant wind turbines at each side of their village. This community raised in excess of £80,000, employed their own barrister and expert witnesses, and showed true teamwork in putting together a fantastic case at the public enquiry, with the result that one wind farm application was thrown out by the planning inspector and the other conditioned in such a way that the turbines will not be able to operate at full capacity because of noise. It has been an honour and a privilege to work with the people of Spaldington.

A close second would be Gilberdyke, where we have seen a great example of the community taking responsibility for themselves in the construction of the flood relief culvert. This, coupled with the snow clearing efforts at the end of the previous year, shows that localism is alive and kicking here and in many other East Riding villages. The Government’s Localism Act should enable more power, decision making and spending to cascade down to the local level – I for one will be pushing for this to happen in Howdenshire over the next year.

One of my most satisfying experiences was in my role as a governor at Howden Secondary School and Technology College. As a part of ‘Team Howden’ we pulled the school out of special measures in record time and the pupils achieved their best ever exam results at the end of the year. I have every confidence that the momentum will continue and that this year will be even better.

I’ve also enjoyed doing a number of fundraising activities, including the Humber Bridge Midnight Walk (dressed as Elvis!) and speaking about my ‘African Odyssey’ to a number of groups. I had received many requests to talk on this subject and this was the year I finally bit the bullet. I look forward to doing more talks next year, beginning with the W I in February.

In conclusion, I will continue to engage with the community and champion free speech via my blog and other social networking media, or by ‘Witchcraft’ (as some of my colleagues would have it), and who knows - we may see a couple of other ERYC Councillors blogging in the coming year?

It has been a pleasure to represent Howdenshire, and East Riding residents during 2011 and I will do my utmost to speak up for, and fight their causes during 2012.

I wish you all a very Happy and Successful New Year

Democracy prevails in Gilberdyke - but at what cost?

2011-12-18T20:11:00.015Z

I don't normally allow posts by others on my blog, but Gilberdyke Parish Council Chairman Nick Norris (pictured) has asked me to post the following on his behalf regarding this past week's Gilberdyke Parish Council by-election.

Congratulations to Chris Newsome on winning the Gilberdyke Parish Council by-election and I look forward to working with him in the future.

Needless to say Gilberdyke taxpayers have had to stump up some £3,000 to pay for this by-election, an election called by just 10 Council tax payers as is the minimum required. The 10 in this case were family and neighbours of Mike Whitley, the losing candidate of the two who stood for the election and someone who has form when it comes to using £1,000’s of taxpayer’s money to further his own agenda.

The Gilberdyke Parish Councillors were democratically elected in May of this year; Mr Whitley failed in his quest to be elected by a considerable margin at that election. Due to one of the Councillors having to step down on health grounds a vacancy arose, and the decision of the 10 in calling the by-election after just 7 months means the taxpayer is saddled with having to pay for two elections in the one year.

I fully agree with the democratic process and everyone’s right to call for an election, and for anyone to put their name forward and be able to lay their case before the electorate. What I do not condone is the actions of a person, whose family and friends calling an election which resulted in that person receiving so little support - namely 83 votes out of a possible 2,557* and much, much fewer then he polled in the May election. This, when Chris Newsome was prepared to be co-opted onto the Parish Council at no cost to the taxpayer before the election was called.

I also have real problems with Mr Whitley when in his by-election literature it states that those Gilberdyke Parish Councillors elected in May, had somehow prevented a fair election at that time. I am tempted to ask for this disingenuous and offensive statement to be investigated, but to what end? For him to be reprimanded or censured after a lengthy investigation, costing and ultimately wasting even more taxpayer’s money.

I take the view that this by-election result shows conclusively that the Gilberdyke electorate has seen through Mr Whitley’s wild accusations, and seen his actions in delaying the flood relief work for what they were – the pursuit of a personal agenda that has resulted in increased costs and wasted time. They have also seen through his frivolous vexatious complaints about Parish Councillors, and particularly our ward Councillor Paul Robinson to the ERYC Standards Committee, they’ve seen through his threats, his complaints to the police, his letters in the press and statements on his website.

The Parish Council now has the opportunity to move forward on many important projects, and hopefully will not have to spend time on defending itself against the constant barrage of complaint and question from Mr Whitley as it as in the past. But unfortunately he will not be totally absent from our thoughts as we have to find some £3,000 from next year’s budget to pay for this by-election, so we will not be able to do as much as we’d planned.

The only reason that I have taken the time to compose this letter is that prior to the election result even being announced, Mr Whitley while standing alongside me actually said to another person present, ‘To be honest I didn’t think I had a chance of winning’. This admittance only confirmed to me that he was well aware that every single person within the Parish of Gilberdyke would have to pay for this election however he didn’t really care about the result.

Finally I would like to thank the people of Gilberdyke for sending out a clear message to Mr Whitley that enough is enough.

*Number of Gilberdyke voters at 1st December 2010

Nick Norris

Chairman, Gilberdyke Parish Council

November sees record high for Blog readers

2011-12-09T08:12:00.003Z

Many thanks to all my blog readers for achieving the 2nd highest number of hits in a single month during November, the highest ever on a single day on 10th November, plus the highest number of 1st time visitors in any given month - Why you may ask? My altercation with the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Standards Committee over allowing third party comments on here…

Many thanks once again for all your support!

Gilberdyke Flood Relief Work Restarts After Delays

2011-12-07T18:19:00.009Z

After all the delays, frustrations and the waiting, construction of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council funded second and third phases of the new Gilberdyke surface water drainage system is underway and should be complete within a few weeks. This £85k to £90k investment includes a 300mm diameter culvert which will connect the previously flooded properties on Westbrook Close and Westbrook Road to the new 900mm diameter culvert, funded by Gilberdyke Parish Council as phase one of the overall scheme. This first phase was completed some months ago by the same contractors and performed as designed during the heavy rainfall experienced on August 3rd this year - which offered some peace of mind for the residents flooded in June 2007.

Once complete this new drainage scheme will take a significant amount of surface water out of the village during heavy rainfall, reducing the pressure on the Yorkshire Water system, and existing surface water systems (which have also been improved by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, the Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board and Network Rail), therefore almost all Gilberdyke and Sandholme residents will benefit from a reduced flood risk in the future.

Although the conventional wisdom is that this type of work is best not done in the winter, but the on-going delays resulting from the mischief making from a very small number of residents have left the Council and their contractors with little option but to push on regardless.

I know that the delays experienced on the first phase did cost the Gilberdyke taxpayer more financially, and has had a knock on effect - but we are very lucky that this section was up and running before the rains seen in August.

Credit for this should be given not just to the Parish Council and the Flood Action Group, but also the Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board, the East Riding of Yorkshire Council Land Drainage section, the consultants Mason Clark Associates, and the contractors L & K Warkup – all of whom had to put up with so much, but prevailed.

I hope that fewer problems are experienced on the second and third phases and the work is completed as soon as possible.

No respite for Spaldington as yet another wind farm planned

2011-12-04T10:19:00.011Z

Many will be aware that the Howdenshire village of Spaldington has for this past two and a half years been fighting off two wind farm companies each wanting to construct overly large wind turbines close to the village. One application was granted consent recently at appeal but the other was dismissed....

One would have thought the residents had gone through enough and could do with a break, take time to reflect and time to recoup their financial losses.

I was therefore staggered this weekend to receive a letter from RWE npower renewables informing me that they had recently started to investigate the potential for wind farm development on land near Spaldington, and that they would be submitting a planning application to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council next week for an anemometer mast.

The letter acknowledges that the company is aware of the recent appeal decisions on the Spaldington Airfield and Spaldington Common Schemes and have studied those applications, and they are giving careful thought to how their proposals would fit with the consented wind farm. They also state that they are taking into account the reasons for refusal for the Spaldington Common wind farm to ensure they can work with the community and key stake holders to design a wind farm that is suitable for the area. They then purport to recognise the importance and sensitivity of the recent decisions…. Is this some sort of sick joke?

The community of Spaldington is still trying to recover from the imposition of one wind farm next to their village, having failed in their gallant attempt to fend off two wind farm developers at the same time, despite the village funding their own team of expert witnesses and a barrister at the recent Public Inquiry. So before the dust has settled, before those residents have the chance to reflect on what has been a difficult and costly year for them, we have another wind farm company putting forward plans for an alternative site next to their village.

My message to RWE npower renewables is simple, this may well turn out to be a wind farm in the right place, but where is the sensitivity you talk about in your letter, could you not wait until the residents of Spaldington had been given the time to reflect on their difficult year over the Christmas period? Your actions are akin to fighting over a dead man’s estate before the funeral has been held – you should be ashamed!

Am I a victim of 'Double Standards'?

2011-12-02T18:30:00.006Z

Regular readers of this Blog will be aware of my most recent run-in with the Standards Board - the body who believe in principled local politics, which was set up at your expense to champion and promote high standards of conduct amongst our local politicians - but when is a politician a politician?

After a lengthy and protracted investigation by a highly paid consultant- for which you the taxpayer have to pick up the tab, I was cleared of all of the plethora of spurious and salacious allegations made by the complainant, Mr Mike Whitley, apart from one point for which I received the most insignificant sanction possible, a ‘censure’.

The points at issue appear to be that my blog is somehow considered an ‘official blog’ (as detailed in the Committee’s determination) and through it I conduct ‘the business of the council’ - and whether the Councillors code of conduct can be applied to those of you who comment on posts that I publish. It is clear and obvious that the answer is no in each case with some serious implications for free speech and the rule of law arising from the judgement.

You might have thought that the decision would be the end of it, but no. The details of the case have to be published in a local newspaper. So yesterday, the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Monitoring Officer published a notice detailing the findings. This included all the discredited allegations made against me.

In making his complaints Mr Whitley attempted to hide behind anonymity but was not allowed to do so – given that ruling, it is inconsistent that the complainant’s name was withheld from the notice. This means that the details of the unfounded accusations are laid bare for everyone to see but not the name of the person making them.

In many situations this would be perfectly acceptable but one of the reasons Mr Whitley was not allowed to hide his involvement is his habitual use of the Standards Board. He has made two other unsubstantiated and thoroughly discredited allegations against me and many separate complaints against other members of Gilberdyke Parish Council – all of which had to be investigated at taxpayer’s cost before being thrown out. He also made complaints about me to the Police which were without foundation and also dismissed. Not forgetting a complaint to the Police against the contractors installing the new culvert in Gilberdyke - they were accused of fly tipping the excavated soil at the side of the dyke! The motives for all this I cannot comment on.

Readers will be aware that Mr Whitley is a failed political opponent of mine, and the complaint was made in the run up to the May 2011 elections. Are these the actions of a concerned citizen or a political campaign using the taxpayer to fund a cynical attempt to gain some sort of electoral advantage? It’s not for me to decide.

These facts could not be tested as a part of my defence. Political exchanges between Councillors are considered to be ‘Rough and Tumble’- all part of the process. However this does not apply to candidates who are treated as any other member of the public. There are no standards applied to those would-be politicians seeking office.

So in a nutshell I cannot allow you as my blog readers to express your moderate opinions - but an unelected candidate can make wild, unsubstantiated accusations against me, and my fellow Parish Councillors including such things as embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, hiding money and siphoning off money, and make so many vexatious complaints to the Standards Committee and the Police. All of which are time consuming and costly to investigate – but when these accusations are found to be untrue the complainants name is kept out of the public domain – DOUBLE STANDARDS perhaps?

Pubs, Punters and Price Fixing

2011-11-19T17:31:00.006Z

I heard someone say recently, "Pubs are like churches - not used all the time but there when you need them and both sadly suffering from falling rolls".

Often we hear about the ‘drinking culture’ in this country – true perhaps, but we shouldn’t necessarily be ashamed of that. This week, I had the great pleasure of listening to Lee Le Clerq from the Beer and Pub Association, who got me thinking about this.

I, for one, think alcohol is OK. Pubs and drink bring enormous enjoyment and benefits to individuals, communities and society as a whole.

What is not OK is the bad behaviour that too frequently accompanies alcohol consumption, serving alcohol to children or drinking to the extent that it causes physical or mental damage.

Alcohol has a dark side and its impact on individual health, family stability and our streets are all too apparent. However, let’s not lose sight of the fact that around 90% of the adult population drinks alcohol and most of us do know how to behave ourselves. Most licensees don’t sell alcohol to kids and thankfully most of us will not be burdened by alcohol-related illness.

The decline of the Local Pub

The government’s 1989 Beer Orders were introduced to reduce the apparent monopoly big brewing companies exercised in the pub sector. Today, the largest pub companies own many more pubs than the biggest national brewery estates back in 1990 – so large monopolies have in fact been replaced with larger ones.

The vast majority of these premises are tenanted or leased so while the pub company will own the freehold, the licensee is often committed to certain supply agreements in return for a low cost entry to the trade; the pub is run as an independent small business with the licensee responsible for its operation.

We then saw the introduction of the smoking ban in pubs, something I have serious issues with. I would have much preferred air quality legislation to force pubs to install appropriate extraction and filtration to maintain acceptable standards.

In addition, I don’t think a year has passed since the Licensing Act came in when we have not seen yet more laws, and dozens of regulations and restrictions primarily aimed at the pub trade. So much legislation in fact, that the government has found it necessary to run three separate series of road shows touring the country to explain the powers within the legislation.

Would minimum pricing help the pub industry?

The issue of minimum pricing is something largely driven by the public health lobby. A modelling study, carried out by Sheffield University in 2008, claimed that a 50p per unit minimum price would bring about a 6.9% reduction in overall alcohol consumption. This would, they predicted, lead to 97,700 less hospital admissions per year and the saving of around 3000 lives.

Since 2008, overall alcohol consumption (without minimum pricing) has dropped by more than 6.9%. As a nation we are now drinking 13% less than the peak in 2004 and yet – according to the health lobby - we are not seeing any such savings in lives or hospital admissions. On the contrary, these continue to rise. Of course there is a link between price and consumption but the link between national consumption levels and health is not as simple and clear cut as the Sheffield model suggested. They are currently revisiting their studies at the request of the Scottish Parliament and it will be interesting to see what they have to say this time around.

So, would a 50p unit price suddenly make the pub a significantly more attractive option than drinking at home? I suggest not.

Let’s consider 80p a unit, favoured by some members of the Scottish Labour Party. A pint of beer in packaged form in a supermarket would cost £1.60, still considerably cheaper than the same quantity in a pub. However, the cheapest bottle of spirit on a supermarket shelf would be priced at £24. The implication here is that at this price why anyone would buy blended whisky, when for very little more one could buy a 10 or 15 year old single malt? This would almost certainly signal the end of the Scotch whisky industry as it exists today, as the ‘wee dram’ became an elite beverage, only for the wealthy.

We’re told that sensible, moderate drinkers would be unaffected by minimum pricing but the evidence does not appear to support this. Would this reduce the consumption by heavy or dependent drinkers? Perhaps they would just spend a greater proportion of their income on drink, and as for deterring under-age drinkers a great many rarely pay for the alcohol they consume anyway.

Indeed, minimum pricing could be counter-productive by leading to an increase in the production and consumption of ‘moonshine’. Illegally produced alcohol is incredibly dangerous, sometimes containing levels of methanol high enough to cause instant blindness. What will be the cost to the NHS when those who want to drink turn to illegally produced alcohol, because they do not have the means to buy it legally, either in pubs or from shops?

The EU may have something to say if the Scottish Parliament tries to bring in minimum pricing, as there are indications that it would be illegal under UK legislation, namely the 1998 Competition Act, and these are laws that are not devolved to Scotland for them to amend at will.

What would the Office of Fair Trading do as the body responsible for monitoring price fixing in the UK? Will it take action against the Scottish Parliament if it embarks on such a scheme, or would it ignore it? There is no minimum pricing on anything anywhere in the EU so why start with alcohol?

I have often voiced my concerns regarding the ‘Tescofication of the high street’ and some of the large supermarket pricing policies are cynical, and have a detrimental effect on the suppliers, particularly farmers. The Government has recently announced the ‘below cost’ minimum pricing option which simply takes into account excise duty plus VAT which should ensure that supermarkets cannot sell alcohol below this price. This is, I think a positive step and goes a long way to address the issue of alcohol being a ‘Loss Leader’ for the supermarkets - so perhaps a little good news for pubs here.

The dilemma ....

We’re all consumers and the overwhelming majority of us use supermarkets. Do we really want the government artificially increasing prices to protect us from ourselves when the overwhelming majority of ‘ourselves’ need no such protection? If an argument is made for minimum pricing, why should it stop with alcohol? The NHS spends three times as much on combating obesity as it does on dealing with alcohol abuse. Would the next target be McDonalds? How dare they sell a calorie laden burger for only £1.99! Then there’s the inestimable environmental damage caused by global aviation. What if those advocating minimum pricing decide that we should no longer allow hard-working families to holiday abroad at ridiculously affordable fares?

The industry knows that it is necessary for sale of alcohol to be licensed, regulated and monitored. Pubs understand their responsibilities. It’s important that everyone who retails alcohol understands the regulations and complies with them, and the vast majority of our pubs do so. There should be no state interference in fixing prices – especially when the consequences cause more harm than good.

Thanks for all your support

2011-11-12T16:31:00.009Z

I would just like to thank all of those who have offered me their support this week and continue to do so – friends, colleagues and those from across the political spectrum and around the world. I thank all of you that have blogged or reposted the story, including those through facebook (or that “form of witchcraft” according to some of my fellow East Riding Tory Councillors…).

The update 2 at the end of the previous blog post shows exactly what for I have been censured for.

Having read the post I realised that I made a startling omission - When making the complaint to the Standards Committee, Mr Whitley attempted to do so under the cloak of anonymity. His request was certainly at odds with his numerous critical letters referring to me in the Goole Times, the Goole Courier and the East Riding Mail, as well as his own Lib Dem site (closed since he deserted the Lib Dems for Labour) - clearly not the actions of a man looking to keep his name out of the public domain. Attempting to anonymously place a complaint to the Standards Committee in the run up to an election, where he was planning to stand against me, is in my opinion nothing short of cynical.

I am at least grateful that this request was not granted by the Standards Committee.

Some of those blogs/sites are carrying this story are:

Conservativehome blog

Taxpayers Alliance website

Carl Minns Blog - A View from Hull

HU12Online - The Hedon blog

John in Gilberdyke blog

and the great reporting by the East Riding Mail at here and especially here

A sad day for bloggers, a sad day for freedom of speech, and a sad day for democracy

2011-11-10T09:40:00.017Z

Today I had to appear before the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Standards Committee to answer charges that in response to a posting on this blog, I had allowed two specific comments written by others to be published. I was found to have breached the Code of Councillors and received a written censure.

The complaint was brought by Mike Whitley of Gilberdyke, who stood against me as a Labour candidate at the May 2011 East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Gilberdyke Parish Council elections - he failed to be elected to either.

Although disappointed, I certainly feel that the Standards Committee was put in a very difficult position today because of the evidence and recommendation provided by the Council’s Monitoring Officer, and in only censuring me I appreciate that they gave me the absolute minimum punishment they could.

I am particularly disappointed that the evidence provided was as narrow as it was and resulted in the decision being made on a very technical point. Some of the evidence was subjective and some clearly wrong, and both the Monitoring Officer and Investigating Officer have some serious questions they need to answer, and I will be buying them both an English Dictionary for Christmas.

I have been censured not for anything I have said or done but for failing to censor the free speech of Howdenshire residents, who understandably feel strongly about the continued actions of an individual that has put their homes and livelihoods at risk.

I understood we have free speech in this country and unless a comment is defamatory or untrue I will continue to allow free speech and debate on my blog. I did not then and still do not, believe the key comment was defamatory and it is certainly true that Mark Twain did include such events in his novels. I accept that this is subjective and accept that the Committee did not share my understanding of the strength of feeling locally.

The Standards Regime is supposed to deal with wrongdoing in the public interest not give a voice to Political candidates to score points against their opponents. The committee was not allowed to look at the wider context of the repeated and unfounded complaints – (8 times this individual has referred me or Gilberdyke Parish Councillors to the Standards Board and every one cleared) and also reporting me to the Police which was also deemed to be unfounded. Conversely the Investigating Officer was free to attempt to mislead the committee and to raise other matters unrelated to the narrow accusation.

The Political context of the repeated complaints, and the totally untrue comments and accusations the complainant put into the public domain was also not considered.

In short the public has just paid for a failed political stunt.

Councillors who break the law should face the full force of the law - everything else is a matter for the electorate. If a Councillor does not reach the standards expected of them they will not be re-elected. I am at a loss to know what this process has achieved. A censure is meaningless but has cost an enormous amount of taxpayers’ money. A retired officer brought back at who knows what rates to undertake extensive investigations. How much has this cost and what services to our residents do we cut to pay for this?

If ever there was an example of why the Government is right to abolish this expensive and misused system, this is it. Absolutely nothing has been achieved and no difference has been made apart from the taxpayers get the bill for someone to pursue a personal, vexatious Political agenda.

I will continue blogging!

The East Riding News coverage of the story can be found here

Update - The paper copy of the newspaper article in addition carries an interesting quote from an unnamed fellow ERYC Conservative Councillor at County Hall:

"Many in our group believe facebook and Twitter are akin to witchcraft"

Oh dear, we really do need to drag ourselves into the 21st Century.....

Update 2 - The comment (not written by me) but which I allowed on my blog was, ‘In Mark Twain’s classic literature perpetrators of anti-social activity were stripped, tarred and feathered then ridden out of town on a rail. Not that I would suggest such a thing mind’

“Guidance published by Standards for England about blogging” – because there was other part of the guidance included in the Investigators report I can only assume this is what he used to base his decision and subsequent recommendation – This guidance quite clearly states that a comment has to be defamatory or obscene to be in contravention.

If one looks in the English Dictionary it says that, “defamatory remarks are not true and make people have a bad opinion of someone” (so logically any remarks have to be untrue before they can be defamatory)

The dictionary also states that obscene remarks are, “indecent, disgusting or likely to deprave or corrupt”

I’m still at a loss, because the advice I was given supported my thinking that there is nothing that could be considered UNTRUE, INDECENT, DISCUSTING or LIKELY TO DEPRAVE OR CORRUPT in the comment.

Roadworks the American Way - Lessons to be learnt?

2011-11-01T08:36:00.007Z

Having spent some time in America this past couple of weeks, one thing that I was able to look into was roadworks, as this is somewhat topical around Howdenshire at the moment, and whilst driving in Alabama and Mississippi took the opportunity to investigate further as to how significant repairs and road construction are able to be carried out with seemingly minimum disruption to road users, and residents.

The first thing to notice was the lack of the 1,000’s of cones we see when roadworks are carried out locally, with the works are carried out at night when the roads are less busy, they appear to avoid peak traffic periods, and relatively short sections are started and completed before moving on to the next. There also seems to be fewer workmen and the road construction is somewhat simpler, without kerbs for the most part and constructed slightly higher than the verge to aid drainage.

The speed enforcement signage is also quite interesting, there are no fixed or variable speed cameras, to ‘trap the motorist’ along the whole section of the repair all of the time, instead there is a limit and double fines only when ‘workmen are in the road’ - not when they’re not, this is clearly signed and enforced by a combination of gun-toting State Troopers, Sheriffs and Local Enforcement Officers.

On talking to one of the construction teams working near the State border, they were a little surprised on seeing a ‘foreigner’ in those parts when I stopped to talk about roadworks, but quite amused when I described the way roads are repaired in England. It was clear that they looked at what could be done in a day (or night) and broke the whole job down into daily segments where they could plane the road surface, remove the scalpings and lay the new tarmac, before moving on to the next section the following day. The traffic is normally controlled by flags, stop/go boards and sometimes traffic lights, and diversions as a last resort.

Interestingly they described how the scalpings are recycled, remixed with tar and re-used as a base.

All in all a very different carry on to what we see in England, and some of their traffic management arrangements we could learn certainly learn from – BUT then there is that small issue of Health and Safety legislation which we would perhaps find difficult to get over.

Are Fairtrade Products in conflict with 'Buying Local' ?

2011-10-14T08:03:00.007+01:00

There is currently a rush to promote Fairtrade products in order to support farmers in poorer parts of the World, but is everything what it appears and should Local Authorities be promoting these at the expense of local products?

Buying local products supports the local economy, reduces food miles, and contributes to a feeling of involvement between local businesses, suppliers and the customer. Promoting local products is not necessarily in conflict with promoting Fairtrade products; they can exist together - JUST!

As well as supporting East Yorkshire farmers and producers, there is no doubt that buying locally grown produce reduces our carbon footprint through reduced fuel mileage, and this has to be a consideration, but this tends to swing the balance away from Fairtrade produce, especially when there is a choice.

The ‘Tescofication’ of the high street, and their massive advertising budgets, continues to have an adverse effect on local producers and farmers, many have described the appalling practices employed by the giant superstores - hardly what could be termed FAIR TRADE. This is why, wherever possible, I support local farmers and producers, but again this swings the balance away from Fairtrade produce.

Buying local has many benefits, one only has to visit a local farmers market to buy fresh, high quality local produce, and also ‘meet the farmer’ to find out more about what you are buying. There is a genuine desire to ‘buy local’ driven in part by quality but also trust, there is also a belief that we are doing our bit for the environment by reducing fuel mileage - the products are grown or reared more naturally – and this is further enhanced by the generally lower amounts of packaging used.

My local pig farmer in Howdenshire wants to pay a fair price for feed and energy, and in return she wants a good price for her produce - but she also wants to see small coffee, cocoa and tea farmers in developing countries receive a fair price for their products too.

Many of us drink coffee and tea, and some people really love chocolate - but where does coffee, tea and cocoa grow? Certainly very little, if any, grows in Yorkshire. The majority is grown in developing countries where the climate is more suitable. So to ship over and transport Fairtrade goods alongside non Fairtrade goods makes sense.

As someone who has spent many years as a development worker in West Africa, perhaps I have a good insight into how the world’s poor can be supported through trade. Interestingly there are instances where the growers of Fairtrade crops can contribute to offsetting the carbon footprint for transportation; achieving this indirectly through local economy boosting agricultural sector job creation and directly by helping people in being able to grow and buy local food rather than importing. This is especially relevant when Aid Agency funding is provided for basic tools to enable the growing of local vegetables. Linking Fairtrade production to helping the World’s poorest would appear to be a positive step.

But alas this is not the whole story, the Fairtrade Foundation demands these poor farmers sign up to or ‘join the scheme’ and insisting that only ‘environmentally sound’ agricultural methods be used – this can mean backbreaking work for farmers and their families, without any mechanisation, chemicals or fertilisers, in return for them receiving a few cents more for their products. The liberal elitist champions of Fairtrade would have us believe that this is about “freeing the poorest producers from the exploitive effects of the market” when in fact it can have the completely opposite effect, through preventing farmers developing or growing their businesses from this basic level. In a ‘nutshell’ – the negative impacts of what the Fairtrade Foundation deems to be the ‘right way’ of farming or harvesting.

My message is that where possible we should be supporting our local producers by purchasing their products - and certainly not encouraging the purchase of those same products from afar. But for those products that are NOT grown or produced locally then to look at Fairtrade products is an option worth pursuing – but remember Fairtrade does not always deliver what it says on the tin.

Wind Farm Imposed on Howdenshire Village of Spaldington by Government Planning Inspector (but it could have been worse)

2011-09-29T22:29:00.007+01:00

The Government’s Planning Inspector has published his decision on the appeals for the two wind farm proposals, one at each side of the small village of Spaldington. His decision is to allow the 5 turbine Spaldington Airfield application to the west of the village but to throw out the 7 turbine Spaldington Common application to the east.

I have worked very closely with the Spaldington residents and the STOP team since the ERYC Planning Committee’s decision to refuse these applications, knowing that the developers would certainly appeal the decisions. I know the residents team well, and having spoken to some of them today I realise just how deflated and devastated they feel, but this is tempered by winning one of them.

It is common for a community to stand up to fight the imposition of one large wind farm next to their village, but very unusual for them to have to fight two at the same time. In many ways this is a hollow victory and many Spaldington residents will be fearful of the future as their properties are overshadowed by some of the highest onshore wind turbines in the country within 750m. Much, much closer than we see at the only constructed similar size wind farm at Lisset.

It is ironic that within a handful of miles of Spaldington, turbines could be constructed far enough away from properties so as not to have a negative impact on them. This is mainly a result of those land owners not being willing to sell to the wind farm companies. What is perfectly clear is that more effort has to be made by developers and particularly the East Riding of Yorkshire Council to make sure appropriate sites are selected and not on the basis that a landowner is willing.

The Council’s Planning Committee come out of this very well in the way they made their decisions to refuse both applications, unfortunately the same cannot be said of the Council’s Planning Department, who had recommended approval on both applications and the flawed evidence put forward by the Council’s team as detailed in the inspectors findings. I really hope the Council’s Planning Department Officers now take a very close look at the inspector’s decision, particularly regarding proximity and specifically when he says, “In relation to the Common scheme, I have found that the proposal would result in unacceptable harm to the living conditions of nearby residents through being dominant and overbearing and noise disturbance”. For far too long I have been saying that a line has to be drawn in the sand when it comes to the proximity of large wind turbines to houses, and to read a Planning Inspector agree in many ways vindicates my position.

The Inspector also makes reference to the Council’s Interim Planning Document (IPD) on Renewable Energy when he says, “Although the IPD has been the subject of public consultation, given the absence of an adopted Development Plan Document and the apparent conflict with national guidance, I attach limited weight to the IPD”. Again this was something I raised in my motion to the ERYC Full Council on 13th October 2010 - but very little has subsequently been done, again I feel somewhat vindicated by the Planning Inspector’s comments.

In addition the Planning Inspector rightly criticises the key photographic evidence, drawings and measurements provided as evidence by the Council when he says “Whilst not all of the criticisms made by the appellants were accepted the Local Planning Authority (the Council) did acknowledge that, as submitted, all of the viewing distances and angles of view quoted were incorrect”. This is something that really should not happen.

On a positive note, we now have the line drawn in the sand regarding proximity distances from residences; we now know what is acceptable and what is not. It is important that this is built into a revised policy on renewable energy which I called for last year and is now needed following the Inspectors remarks.

This may be too late for some villages in the East Riding of Yorkshire, but will no doubt benefit many in the future, and developers will now have to consider this when submitting wind farm applications. I would like to recognise the STOP team of residents, expert witnesses and their Barrister – without which I am absolutely convinced the Spaldington Common wind farm would not have been thrown out. The work they have done will benefit the wider East Riding, and for that I am very proud.

The inspector’s conclusions are as follows:

In relation to the Airfield scheme, I have concluded that the proposal would not have an unacceptable impact on living conditions, landscape character, public visual amenity, ecology and the operation of Breighton Aerodrome. Whilst there would be some harm to the setting of Howden Minster, I consider that harm is outweighed by the significant weight to be attached to the need for renewable energy and benefits of the scheme. Accordingly, I conclude that, subject to the imposition of appropriate planning conditions and the relevant provisions of the S106 UU, this proposal would not conflict with the objectives of development plan and national policy. Accordingly, I allow the appeal.

In relation to the Common scheme, I have found that the proposal would result in unacceptable harm to the living conditions of nearby residents through being dominant and overbearing and noise disturbance and some harm to the setting of Howden Minster. Notwithstanding my positive conclusions in relation to landscape character, public visual amenity, ecology and aviation matters, I consider the harm is not outweighed by the benefits of the scheme or the need to meet regional targets for the provision of renewable energy. Moreover, this harm would not be acceptably mitigated by imposing planning conditions. Accordingly, I conclude that this proposal would conflict with the objectives of development plan and national policy. Accordingly, I dismiss the appeal.

Road Grates Replaced on Gilberdyke to Howden Road

2011-09-26T23:14:00.007+01:00

Sometimes there is a perception that the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s highway maintenance is not as responsive as it might be, mainly because of a history of reduced government funding. But a good example of how the highways maintenance team works really well is highlighted in the work replacing some 40 gully tops/grates on the B1230 at each side of Balkholme flyover between Gilberdyke and Howden.

Many would have seen the numerous times one or more of the grates were laid on the tarmac or wedged in the frame at an odd angle after being ‘bounced out’ of the frames by the action of being run over by a vehicle.

I had received a number of calls and messages from residents and road users regarding this, and actually found myself stopping on numerous occasions to put the grates back into their frames, and on mentioning this was surprised to find that Anna Longthorp owner of local business ‘Anna’s Happy Trotters’ had also been stopping to replace grates in their frames. It got to the stage where Anna would send me a facebook message telling me that she had ‘replaced another one’…. (pictured with Anna Longthorp)

The Council acted very quickly when I raised this as a safety concern, they inspected the gully grates, and ordered in the new iron tops and frames when the originals were found to be badly corroded around the hinges and unsafe.

The most pleasing aspect of this work carried out by the Council’s own team, was not just the quality and speed of which it was accomplished, but with the minimum disruption to road users. A good example of a job well done before anyone was seriously hurt.

Howden School and Technology College out of Special Measures

2011-09-22T20:18:00.014+01:00

I thought the highlights of a school Governor was being the Chair of the Governing body at Gilberdyke Primary School when we achieved the status of an ‘Outstanding School’, it was something we had built up to year on year, the management of the school and the systems were excellent, the kids were well behaved, and the parents, teachers and staff were very proud of ‘their’ school. It was great to appear alongside long-standing Head Martin Alger before the Council's Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee and answer the question posed by the Chair on the day, “Now Cllr Robinson will tell us how to achieve an outstanding report from OFSTED”.

I still remain a member of the Governing Body at Gilberdyke, but in addition was asked to become a Local Authority appointed Governor at Howden School and Technology College (my old school) when it was plunged into special measures last year. This was certainly going to be a challenge.

Recently the school achieved its best GSCE results its history with 55% achieving grades A* – C in five subjects including maths and English, and acknowledged as being the most improved School in the East Riding of Yorkshire, so we knew we were on the right track.

I must say that previous highlight has most certainly been matched this week, as on Tuesday and Wednesday, 20th and 21st September, Mr Bernard Campbell HMI and his team came to Howden School to carry out their third monitoring visit. They were so pleased with what they saw they decided on Tuesday night to turn the monitoring visit into a full Section 5 Inspection (The basic Ofsted inspection that all schools get).

The outcome of the Section 5 Inspection was that the school is now a ‘satisfactory’, school and therefore does not require ‘special measures’. This means that from today (Thursday) officially the School is out of special measures.

I know just how much work has gone into picking up the pieces and rebuilding the school, and I’m immensely proud of my fellow Governors, the Executive Head Dave McCreedy, and Acting Head Gary Garghan (both ‘loaned’ to us by Wolfreton School), the teachers and staff, parents and carers, and the officers of the Local Authority – but most of all the students who have worked so hard to get the label of ‘special measures lifted.

I understand it is almost unprecedented for a school to rid themselves of the ‘special measures’ tag after just 3 monitoring visits, so this is an amazing outcome. This is truly the result of what can happen when all stakeholders: students, parents / carers, staff, governors, community partners come together in a common cause – this is has become known as ‘Team Howden’ and I’m proud to have been part of that team.

Acting Head Gary Garghan best summed it up when he said, “So we have now exchanged the miserable category ‘special measures’ for one that says we are ‘ok’. Not good enough for ‘Team Howden!’ The mission to move towards being an outstanding school starts today!!!!!!” – I could not agree more.....

Walking With Elvis for Marie Curie Cancer Care

2011-09-14T09:07:00.003+01:00

Many will remember that last year I took part in the ‘Humber Bridge Midnight Walk’ in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. This past weekend my daughter Katy and I again took part in this year’s event, but this time I was persuaded by the organisers (who knew I possess the requisite attire) to appear and walk as Elvis. In the absence of the Lord Mayor of Hull (who let the organisers down) I was asked to step in as the walk starter and gave the following in my very best Elvis accent:

“IT’S MIDNIGHT” and can I just say “HOW GREAT THOU ART”, for joining me, a hunk of “BURNING LOVE”, and my “GOOD LUCK CHARM”, my “LITTLE DARLIN”, my daughter Katy…, but most importantly it’s the “WONDER OF YOU” for being here for just “ONE NIGHT” to stride out with “A FOOL SUCH AS I” in “MY BLUE SUEDE SHOES”, to walk “DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE”, raising money for that “HARD HEADED WOMAN” ….. MARIE CURIE.

Well I’m “ALL SHOOK UP” seeing you all here tonight and “I JUST CAN’T HELP BELIEVING” that we will all enjoy the walk over this “BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER”.

I know that I’m “ITCHING LIKE A MAN ON A FUZZY TREE” to get started, and there’s going to be a “WHOLE LOT OF SHAKIN GOIN ON”, I’m sure y’all “HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT” on this “LONG LONELY HIGHWAY”, although as we finish the walk I may “NEED SOMEBODY TO LEAN ON”

So, with a “LITTLE LESS CONVERSATION AND A LITTLE MORE ACTION” ladies and gentlemen “IT’S NOW OR NEVER”….

SO…. It’s one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready now go cats, go!!!

... and on the stroke of midnight on a very cold night about a hundred of us set off over the bridge.

About half way across, in the teeth of an appalling headwind, a rather nice lady of a certain age that I was alongside, dressed in green surgical robes, mask and hairnet answered her mobile phone and said, “You’ll never believe this but I’m walking across the Humber Bridge with Elvis Presley" and asked me to speak to her caller – I don’t think the person on the other end believed us for some reason!

Anyway it was nice to walk to Lincolnshire, but even better to walk back to Yorkshire!

Katy and I have so far managed to raise well over £200 for this very worthwhile cause – if anyone would like to donate or sponsor us please let me know!

Best ever GCSE results for Howden School and Technology College

2011-08-25T12:24:00.002+01:00

‘TEAM HOWDEN’ MOVES FORWARD!!

Students at Howden School and Technology College achieved the schools best ever GCSE exam results today.

55% of students gained the prestigious ‘gold standard’ benchmark of 5 A* - C GCSE’s (Including English and Mathematics) whilst 70% achieved 5 A* - C GCSE grades and 97% got 5 A* - G grades.

Garry Garghan, Acting Headteacher, commented:

‘We are thrilled with these results – a 10% improvement on the gold standard results this time last year.

These results are a testament to all of the hard work put in by everyone connected with ‘Team Howden’ as we regard ourselves. Students, staff, parents / carers, governors, community partners and the LA have all worked together to move the school forward.

These results, the best in the history of the school demonstrate that we are well on course to cast off the ‘special measures’ label during this coming academic year.’

Gilberdyke's Community Funded Drainage Culvert Worked During Heavy Rainfall

2011-08-04T09:06:00.006+01:00

Although Gilberdyke didn’t get anywhere near as much rainfall as Goole yesterday it was great to see the new community funded culvert taking all the water. I’m reliably informed that some 25mm of rain fell in the village and although some water levels did rise on some of the roads and at least one garden saw some localised flooding, I’m not aware of any flooding in people’s houses.

The water entered the culvert at the western end without obstruction and flowed out into the large dyke known as Far Drain at the eastern end. The head of the water forced its way out of the culvert and into the dyke even though the level in Far Drain was above the level of the culvert during the peak flow.

Needless to say the culvert did exactly what it was supposed to do, we would not have seen the water move so quickly through this section prior to the work taking place, as the narrowness of the former dyke and capacity of the previously potted sections with their ‘protective grills’ would have created the pinch points and impeded the flow, as highlighted in the survey conducted by Mason Clark after the 2007 floods. The report from this survey subsequently led to the culvert being installed.

All in all it was rewarding to see the system work, and I look forward to the remainder of the work being completed in the near future enabling the culvert to be extended to drain surface water from those at risk properties in Westbrook Road. This of course puts less pressure on the existing surface water and foul water systems in the village meaning that the flood risk to the whole village is reduced.

Many thanks to Gilberdyke Parish Council and the Flood Action Group, the Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board, the East Riding of Yorkshire Council Drainage Engineers, and the community for their support, a great result of what can be achieved by working together.

Gilberdyke's Leatherdog Lane Tip Liaison Group Established

2011-08-03T11:21:00.006+01:00

As part of the planning consent to increase the life by one year of the Leatherdog Lane Tip located between Gilberdyke and Newport, there was a requirement by the tip owner to establish a Liaison Group consisting of community representatives, and also those from the East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) and the Environment Agency, as well as the tip operators.

A meeting to set up this Liaison Group was held last Thursday 28th July 2011 in Newport. Both Gilberdyke and Newport Parish Councils had put forward their two respective Chairmen, Nick Norris and Roy Hunt to sit on the group, as well as myself as the ERYC Howdenshire Ward Councillor.

It was suggested and agreed that I chair the Liaison Group which is envisaged to meet every six weeks.

It was established that the best way for the community to be represented on the group was through the Parish Councils, and the respective chairmen would give updates and take questions and ideas from residents at open forums as part of the regular Parish Council meetings, they could then take these to the Liaison Group.

It was felt essential that the two main regulatory agencies, namely the ERYC and the Environment Agency be represented and the liaison group would be a forum for both to sit around the same table, to hear first-hand the communities concerns and for joint action to be taken if deemed necessary.

It was agreed by the operator that the tip would be filled within the recently granted year’s extension period, and that no further extension to the life of the tip would be required.

“It is about how the Liaison Group can work with the operator to ensure that the tip is filled and capped off within the timeframe agreed as part of the planning application, and within the regulations and conditions imposed, not only by the planning consent - but also the licence given by the Environment Agency. I personally feel the operator has to tell us how many HGV movements are required to complete the tip, and how these movements can be managed to minimise the negative impacts on residents – particularly those living down Newport’s Thimblehall Lane. There are also on-going issues around smell and the tip height that must be addressed”.

Long awaited roadworks between Wressle and Breighton

2011-07-31T21:30:00.003+01:00

Roadworks on the road between the Howdenshire villages of Wressle and Breighton are due to shortly commence on Monday 22nd August and are expected to last two weeks (Weather permitting).

(Pictured with my fellow Howdenshire ERYC Councillor Nick Evans)

This is something that I have been pushing for since before the Bubwith bridge closure, and certainly afterwards as the road became damaged with the diverted vehicles using the road as a detour.

The carriageway between Breighton Road & Lund Lane is due to be resurfaced as part of the Council’s road improvement programme 2011 - 2012. The work will consist of recycling the existing carriageway to a depth of 220mm, further strengthening of carriageway approaching ‘Wressle Clough', and a new macadam road surface course.

To undertake the work safely it will be necessary to close Breighton Road & Lund Lane at the junction with Main Street in Wressle and at the junction with Ferry Lane in Breighton for the duration of the works. Although access will be maintained for residents, refuse collections, postal services and emergency services.

Traffic will be diverted during the works and letter is to be delivered to resident/farms disrupted by the work (along with surrounding areas) in due course.

The work will be carried out by Wright Civil Engineering Ltd on the behalf of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

Great news for Bubwith, HOSM and Foggathorpe as numbers of HGVs through the villages is to be reduced

2011-07-21T00:16:00.004+01:00

The 7.5 tonne weight limit through Sutton on Derwent and Elvington is to be removed which will reduce the amount of HGVs coming through HOSM, Bubwith and Foggathorpe. Today the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Environment and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee voted to lift the weight limit as was recommended by the ERYC officers in their report to the Committee.

Prior to the weight limit being imposed the HGV movements from Breighton Airfield Industrial Estate went either north through Sutton on Derwent, or either east through Holme on Spalding Moor or west through Bubwith. This had meant that the HGV movements were somewhat shared between all the communities - alas since the weight limit the villages of HOSM, Foggathorpe and Bubwith particularly, had borne the brunt of these lorry movements, so now the burden of HGV movements is once again to be shared by all communities rather than just a small number.

I would like to pay tribute to HOSM, Bubwith and Foggathorpe Parish Councils and residents who had been very proactive in pushing the case forward. Bubwith being insistent that the ERYC assessed both the bridge on the A163 and the Sutton Bridge, as both bridges are about the same age and both awkward to cross, and subject to traffic light controls to ensure single file traffic. The result was that both bridges were deemed capable of taking 44 tonne HGVs, the signs indicating a weak bridge had been removed from the Highfields crossroads in Bubwith, but the bridge still had a 7.5 tonne environment weight limit signed upon it.

I had spoken at length to the Council’s Director of Service; he confirmed that there had been a large number of responses from the public, both in favour of keeping the weight limit and also asking for its removal. The views of the parish councils and residents were taken into consideration and were be included within the report to the Committee, which contained the recommendation for the weight limit to be lifted.

The re-routing of HGVs through rural villages such as Bubwith, Holme on Spalding Moor, Foggathorpe and Harlthorpe had not only passed the problem from one community onto others, but also has a detrimental effect on both the businesses that had to foot the extra fuel costs and increased travelling times, and the wider community with the increased emissions associated with lorries travelling the extra distances. I did not think this fitted with the ERYC policy of reducing emissions through reduced journeys.

Once again many thanks to all those who worked hard to get this weight limit lifted

Phase 1 of Gilberdyke Flood Relief Scheme Approaches Completion

2011-07-20T23:59:00.004+01:00

Gilberdyke Parish Council is pleased to confirm that the much anticipated phase 1 redevelopment of the critical drainage system in the village will soon be completed, and work will then continue onto phases 2 and 3 on Station Road, Westbrook Road and Bellasize Park.

During the public session of the recent Parish Council meeting held on Tuesday 12th July 2011, the individual who has fought the Parish Council ‘tooth and nail’ for month after month delivered what is hoped was his final inaccurate salvo, when he stated that in his opinion the new system will not work. It was pointed out that the system had been designed by Mason Clark Associates in conjunction with the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s drainage engineers and the Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board, and the likelihood of all the professional people involved in designing and putting the project together, and the contractors, all getting it wrong was slim. It was also pointed out that all his concerns had been previously addressed by Eddy Allen, the Clerk to the Drainage Board.

It was further explained in considerable detail how the system within the village dovetails with further works planned to lower and widen the dykes down to the river at Blacktoft, where a new large pumping station is to be installed. This larger project will benefit the much wider area than just Gilberdyke, and will also prevent the tidal effects we see in Far Drain as the water rises and falls at the outlet to Phase 1.

As the work on phase 1 reaches its conclusion the Parish Council has to consider the future of this important section of the redeveloped drainage system. It has been established that the strip of land above the run of the new culvert (that was the original dyke) is still in the ownership of the developer.

The Parish Council is very concerned and disappointed to learn that even before the first phase is completed some residents of Scalby Lane and Chestnut Drive properties are attempting to ‘land grab’ sections of this strip of land as theirs - even though it is owned by another party. This ‘land grabbing’ has to cease and it has to be realised that such actions compromise the future maintenance of this critical drainage system for the whole of the village and surrounding area.

It was agreed by the Parish Council that the next important step was to ensure the future safety and secure maintenance of the new system, and would approach the actual owner of the strip of land above the run of the drain, with a view to the Council taking on the responsibility for and to ensure control of this section. A meeting has been arranged for early August.

“I was disappointed that even after the work has been almost completed the Parish Council is still subject to accusations from the same individual, who has been lightening quick in attempting to claim part of the land above the run of the new culvert for himself. I have visited a number of the properties affected by the work and spoken to many residents, most of which seem very impressed by the standard of work and the way the site has been left, as with projects of this size there are always some very minor issues around replanting of shrubs and landscaping that require addressing – but which I’m confident will be cleared up as soon as possible. More importantly the affected residents I have spoken to are very happy with how their gardens have been left, and I hope this serves as a reassurance to those residents who will be affected by the further two phases which are to be carried out shortly”.

Spaldington Wind Farms Appeal Public Inquiry Presentation

2011-07-08T20:15:00.009+01:00

The following is the presentation I gave to Spaldington Wind Farm Appeal Public Inquiry today. I'm not sure how it played with the inspector - but I think it totally wrong-footed the two barristers acting for the two windfarm companies. - in so much has they couldn't find it in themselves to ask me a single question at the end.

1. Introduction

If one was to ask, “How do I get to Spaldington?” Imagine if one or both of these wind farms were approved the answer would be “follow the road to the wind turbines - that’s Spaldington”.

This is not about the proximity of a wind farms to a village - it is simply about Spaldington being at the centre of a wind farm, with residents living between the turbines. It’s akin to separating the Lissett wind farm and dropping Spaldington right in the middle. If the applications are considered separately then either one is far too close to properties, we have not seen anything like the numbers of residences being so close to these large generation turbines anywhere else in the East Riding.

Visualising cumulative impact is very difficult when the number of wind farms that have been consented have yet to be built. This is why it is important to consider not only the 14 wind turbines already built within 20km of Spaldington but also the 78 consented, giving a total of 92 within 20km.

2. Howdenshire

When entering the East Riding of Yorkshire from the west one sees Drax Power Station, followed by the Rusholme Windfarm on the left, on the right you see Goole’s Capital Park with its massive buildings including the glassworks, pelleting factory, and large distribution centre. In the background we see the iconic salt and pepper pot towers, the church spire and the cranes on the Goole docks.

Continuing over the Ouse Bridge into Howdenshire we see the port of Howdendyke and the two large distribution centres on the right, and when one looks to the left a large expanse of rurality then opens up before you – in the foreground we see trees, woods and hedges planted by farmers who over the generations have invested to shape the area.

Howdenshire then stretches almost uninterrupted to the Vale of York to the north, the foothills of the Wolds to the northeast and towards the distant views of the Humber Bridge and City of Hull to the east. It is this tranquil, intimate, rurality dominated only by the tower and green roof of the historic Howden Minster that makes Howdenshire special.

Here I would take the advocate for the Common wind farm back to early in the inquiry when he mentioned the view in some way could be impeded by the crash barrier at the nearside of the M62. I hope since making that statement he has taken the time to join the 18,000 vehicles crossing over the Ouse Bridge daily from the west, and has driven in each of the three lanes of the motorway and seen for himself the unimpeded view of the Minster, and witnessed the potential impact that 12 moving 126m high turbines will have behind and above the roof and tower.

3. The East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) Planning Committee

It is important to state that during the period from May 2007 to May 2011 I was a member of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council Planning Committee, although I am not representing the committee, these are my views. I have been involved in the decision making process regarding all the renewable energy applications brought before the committee during this period, including both Spaldington applications. I am not a policy maker nor qualified to defend any of the Council’s planning policies, I consider my role is to give overview, interpretation and weighting to those policies when making decisions. I would say that I have always voted to grant consent unless there was a clear reason not to.

The Planning Committee can only make a decision on what is in front of them, which can at times be very frustrating with some applications. I have always been open to arguments from all sides when it comes to wind farms and have voted both for and against, depending on the individual application.

Prior to 2007 the Planning Committee approved the wind farm at Lisset and the turbines at Loftsome Bridge. From 2007 the Committee has approved commercial wind farm applications at Twin Rivers, Goole Fields, Sancton, Burton Pidsea, and recently at Carnaby.

I have voted to support each one of these applications, and actually moved approval on many. I therefore take great exception to the advocate for the Airfield scheme previously alluding to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council being somehow against wind turbines. What I would say is that wind turbines or wind farms, along with other renewable energy applications have been approved when they have been of an appropriate size and scale for the landscape, have been in the right place, and have not had a negative cumulative impact on a locality or residences.

The problem is that Inspectors at Sober Hill, Routh, Sixpennywood, Tedder Hill, Roos and Withernwick have said that we have got the balance wrong. It is true that those Inspectors may not have got it right themselves, and it is important to recognise that ERYC got it right at Monkwith.

An interesting example of the Planning Committee’s decision making was at the meeting held on 8th October 2009 where two wind farm applications were considered.

The first application for the 3-turbine Monkwith wind farm on the East coast was difficult for members; I struggled with the site and the cumulative impact of 3 wind farms surrounding a village and the harm to the coastal landscape, which I felt had not been adequately considered, all members supported a my motion for a deferment, which led to the eventual refusal, and which was subsequently upheld at appeal.

Conversely the second application for the 16-turbine Goole Fields wind farm was considered to be very well sited, being remote, windy, and a considerable distance away from residences, an excellent application for a large wind farm in an appropriate location. It was clear the applicant had worked very closely with the communities neighbouring the site, there were very few objections but not a significant number of supporters either. This application was fully supported by the Committee.

This was exactly the same with the nearby Twin Rivers application determined at a previous meeting, which I had also supported.

I find that when making decisions on wind farm applications it is always a question of balance. It may well be quite clear that a proposal is just plainly of such a size and scale to be unable to be incorporated within the surrounding landscape within the locality, but it can also be more subtle, the wind turbines may have a negative impact on the setting of a town such as we see here with Howden. More often it is that the location may not be quite right with the turbines being better located a couple of fields further away from residences to reduce the impact, or to take advantage of natural screening wherever possible, or in the case of the Airfield application being too close to Breighton aerodrome.
All this can be very difficult when the industry is being led by speculative developers who cannot always persuade the owners of the land most suitable for locating wind turbines to become involved.

4. Increasing numbers of wind turbines getting closer to residences

If one looks at the consented wind farms in the East Riding it is clear that the physical size of the turbines is generally increasing, but worryingly we are seeing more turbines planned to be built ever closer to properties. I would take you to four applications.

The Goole Fields application saw no properties within 750m and only 3 properties within 1,000m.

Withernwick then saw 5 properties within 1,000m and none within 750m, and 100m to tip turbines.

The Sixpennywood application then saw 5 properties within 1,000m but of which 2 properties were within 750m.

Then at Monkwith 12 properties within 1,000m, of which one was within 750m.
Of all the wind farm applications the Planning Committee has considered – I can’t recall any where we’ve seen so many properties so close to 126m high turbines as the Spaldington applications. In the case of the Airfield application 30 residences are within 1,000m and alarmingly 7 (if one includes Mount Pleasant) are within 750m - which is beyond what is reasonable. In the case of the Common application we see 19 within 1,000m and 16 within 750m and the closest being around 450m must on the face of it be unacceptable. Also the centre of the village is less than 1,200 away from the nearest turbines on each application.

Considering the two Spaldington applications together we see 49 properties within 1,000m of which 24 are within 750m, with the closest being within 450m. Quite simply this is too many properties, too close to some of the largest wind turbines in the country.

At some point a line in the sand has to be drawn when it comes to how close 126m turbines can be built to unaffected properties – for me both these applications have crossed over that line.

5. Motion to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council

Recalling the evidence of Miss Bolger, I do think the Council’s Interim Planning Document leaves a lot to be desired and that is why in my motion to the Full Council on 13th October 2010. I asked that the Council “undertake a review of its ’Interim Planning Document on Renewable Energy’, which could include minimum distance criteria between wind turbines and sensitive land uses such as residential dwellings, rights of way and roads”.

As part of the same motion I requested that the Council asked the Secretary of State to give urgent consideration to reviewing the government’s planning guidance on renewable energy as clarification is needed on national minimum distances between wind turbines and affected residences taking into account the size of the turbine.”

In his reply the Minister of State at the department of Energy and Climate Change, Charles Hendry MP says:

“There are no plans for the government to introduce a proximity rule. The assessment of an application to develop a wind farm already includes, amongst other things, an analysis of visual and landscape impacts to ascertain whether the location and height of the wind farm is acceptable”.

The minister also added;

“The Government considers that these impacts are best assessed on a case by case basis so that local factors can be taken fully into account, regardless of whether applications are dealt with at a national or local level. Where applications are dealt with at the local level, we believe that councils should have the opportunity to decide these matters on behalf of their local community”.

6. Miss Bolger’s Evidence

The Councils Interim Planning Document ‘Planning for renewable Development’ states in its Landscape Character Assessment type 5 - “there may be a greater capacity in this landscape character type to accommodate small scale wind farm development if appropriately located” – Clearly neither of these applications are small scale and are certainly not appropriately located. This is the real problem - there are much better sites within 4 miles that are infinitely preferable for smaller developments - being more remote from residences. In my opinion there is no reason whatsoever to locate 12 x 126m turbines within just 750m of domestic dwellings. I feel this does not fit within the Policies EN19 or EN73 in any way shape or form.

I share Miss Bolger’s concerns regarding the landscape character assessment being used in the Council’s Interim Planning Document, which of course was based on the much smaller generation wind turbines being considered at the time of publication.

Miss Bolger raised a very good example of the landscape around the Goole Fields and Twin Rivers wind farm sites which are clearly conducive to Windfarm developments - although in the Council’s assessment this area has landscape sensitivity more in keeping with that of a National Park, and less suitable than the area around Spaldington – clearly this isn’t the case. One is very open with few hedgerows or trees; the other has smaller fields with hedgerows, trees and associated wildlife. The former is able to accommodate the larger size and scale of a modern wind farm development; the latter is not.

This was my thinking when I was able to support the Goole Fields and Twin Rivers applications but not the ones here at Spaldington. What could be a clearer indication that the Council’s Planning Committee is not anti-wind farm, but rather more competent in understanding the local issues, and more reasonable in our decision-making then some would give us credit for?

7. Local support for and opposition to the Airfield and Common applications

There have been questions raised about levels of support for the wind farm applications.

As an elected ward Councillor representing Spaldington and the surrounding villages, I have had the opportunity to probably listen to more than most when it comes to resident’s attitude to these applications.

Whilst I acknowledge that local opposition in itself is not a good reason for refusing a scheme, I don’t ever recall receiving so many letters and emails asking me to reject a planning application, and we have all the surrounding Parish and Town Councils representing 13,755 local residents all objecting to these applications.

The ERYC Planning Committee had 395 letters of objection and 431 letters of support of the Airfield - but in the application for the Spaldington Common site we see 370 letters of objection but only 56 letters of support. Why is this? I wonder if it is anything to do with the agents for the Airfield applicants being more proactive in gathering letters of support from passers-by on the streets of places as far away Goole and beyond – One of the applicants was so proactive in Holme on Spalding Moor, that the Parish Council Clerk raised concerns about their aggressive actions in the village in an email to the Council as detailed in the STOP objection file appendix 15.

8. Impacts on Spaldington

Mr Stewart said the wider benefits outweigh any local environmental effects which have been identified. I take this with a very large pinch of salt, just like I did with his statement that golfers use wind turbines to gauge the wind direction, are we assuming from this that your amateur golfer will be able to gauge the wind direction and wind speed on a golf course using a turbine over a 1km away, at some 100m above the ground, and allow for any feathering into or out of the wind, or more importantly the wind speed at that height….. Perhaps not?

I would also like to pick up on Mr Stevenson’s comments regarding the residents of Spaldington being selfish when it comes to not wanting these wind turbines close to their village, and I for one found his comments a little repulsive, and statements such as ‘the residents are throwing the kitchen sink at this appeal’ are hardly helpful. I very much admire the residents for doing what they’ve done, it is to be commended not ridiculed, and if that’s perceived as throwing the kitchen sink at it then so be it – but it is nothing when compared to what either of the applicants have thrown at these applications.

9. Visual Impact

All the photomontages can show is a static picture when in reality we should be looking at a succession of movie clips, nothing is static (not including those many days that wind turbine blades don’t turn) what will the views be like if you walk through the village, or travel into the East Riding.

I also take issue with some of the viewpoints chosen by the applicants for the photomontages. What is perhaps more telling is that neither Mr Stevenson nor Mr Ingham has tried to produce photomontages from just outside residential properties that are known to be affected. E.g. The swallows, The lodge (even though Mr Stevenson suggested a planting scheme for this property), Fir Tree Stud, Cottage Farm etc.

Then we saw photomontages showing turbines behind trees when if taken a few meters to the left or right would have shown a true picture, or alternatively a stacking effect. I would certainly consider a 126m wind turbine within 450m of Avian Pastures to be somewhat of a ‘Holy Moley’ or a ‘show stopper’ and certainly in the ‘Red Zone’ as referred to by the Airfield advocate – I wonder why a photomontage was not produced from the viewpoint through the windows of this property.

10. Detrimental impact on Breighton Aerodrome

I have listened to almost all the evidence regarding the impact the Airfield application may have on Breighton Aerodrome, and I am somewhat surprised in the vast differences of opinion between the expert witnesses, and the fact that Mr Spaven seems to be very much at odds with the others.

It is abundantly clear that the Airfield Wind Farm presents an unacceptable threat to the safety of flights to and from Breighton Aerodrome. I am very concerned about inexperienced pilots being able to safely use the aerodrome from what I have heard and I am very concerned about pilots being able to safely fly vintage aircraft from there too.

Nothing that has been said by the developer’s representatives gives any assurance that the legitimate and serious safety concerns can be adequately mitigated. Tony Smith, who is vastly experienced in operating the aerodrome and in flying its vintage aircraft, said in his evidence that if the wind farm is built, it becomes a matter of when a serious or fatal accident occurs and not if.

It would be a serious loss to the area if Breighton Aerodrome, with its museum and its general aviation facilities were forced to close by the presence of the wind farm, whether as a result of the real safety issues or of reduced numbers of visiting aircraft, kept away by the perceived difficulty of operating so close to the turbines.

In his evidence Mr Spaven appeared to say that a 3 degree approach angle is not the norm and was ‘misleading’ and cited the example of Fife Aerodrome where the approach angle was 7 degrees, with this being a much more normal approach angle. This appears to be contradicted by Mr Spaven’s report he wrote in opposition to the Westfield Wind Farm, near Fife planning application*, where he clearly accepts the 3 degree approach calculations when clearing the turbine blade tips by only 200 feet.

Reading the content of Mr Spaven’s report, it would appear to be so contradictory to the evidence he provided to this inquiry so as cast serious doubts on its reliability and his credibility. (this is fully explained in the attached letter from Mr James Dalgliesh).

We have a saying up here in Yorkshire “you can’t run with the hare and hunt with the hounds” – I suspect Mr Spaven might just have been trying to do both.

11. Targets

During this appeal we have heard a great deal about targets, we could argue about the interpretation of the wording and the thrust in the Regional Spatial Strategy when it comes to approved or installed capacity for renewable energy. It is my opinion that the East Riding is already carrying more than its fair share of the region’s renewable energy targets in those applications that have been approved.

It is clear that the area has met the 2010 target and its 2021 target but having said that the capacity to accept more wind farms is not in question – it just comes down to size, scale and location. What is also clear is that particular areas could become saturated with the cumulative impact of the many turbines when all those already approved are built, creating in effect wind farm landscapes.

The Monkwith scheme being so close to the consented turbines at Roos, Burton Pidsea and Tedder Hill, would have crowded that part of Holderness with turbines if it had been allowed to proceed. Here in lies the problem that many of us have to grapple with - many wind farms have planning consent, but apart from Lisset and Out Newton none are yet built.

12. Noise

The starting point for noise impact is the 1997 ETSU Guidance, which is based on average background noise levels at residences likely to be affected by wind turbines. This is open to abuse by wind farm developers as it based on average background noise levels, which can be affected by a number of factors. These were clearly identified in the evidence provided by Mr Stigwood. It is acknowledged by many, including myself and alluded to by David Davis MP that this 1997 government guidance is out-dated and flawed.

It would appear that the Common site is going to have issues resulting in the wind farm not being able to operate at its full rated capacity because of noise, as well as restrictions as a result of shadow flicker.

I listened with interest to Mr Bennett and as a layman found serious issues with his credibility. When one considers both applications the Airfield application was preceded by that for a large anemometer mast which is still in situ.

The Common application did not and resulted in a very temporary mast, that was not as high as recommended, it was supposedly struck by lightning, had a rain gauge that was working but Mr Bennett was unsure as to what it was actually measuring, and a wind vane that became frozen and only recorded wind in one direction, then a wiring fault that appeared to repair itself, we heard evidence about Mr Bennett not explaining to residents why equipment was being installed or the criteria being used, locations chosen near sources of higher background noise, like a domestic sewage treatment plant. There is also anecdotal evidence that so called farming activities had taken place around the noise measuring equipment during the period of measurement – including constantly working the land in the vicinity of the noise measuring equipment – all this giving a higher than normal reading. He then intimated that residents tampered with the equipment.

Early in his evidence he quite clearly said, “When the wind is blowing from the east the village will hear the turbines from the Common and when the wind is blowing from the west the village will hear the turbines from the Airfield”.

He also stated that his wind vane evidence “leaves a lot to be desired”.

When it comes to the Common site, I have serious doubts regarding the validity of this noise evidence, from what I have heard I believe it is reasonable to conclude that the protection of residents from noise is reliant on faulty equipment and it’s positioning, which has led to inadequate or invalid results.

13. Summary

This appeal is not about wind power as a concept, it’s not about national policy, it’s not about targets - it is simply that these are not small wind farms “Can two wind farms of such size and scale with their out of character vertical structures fit into the existing landscape without a significant adverse effect, on this part of the countryside and those residents who choose to live in it?”

If either of these applications is approved it will result in the greatest number, of the largest turbines, built as close to any property not connected with an application, in the whole of the East Riding of Yorkshire. This is in my view a step too far. Wind farms yes, but of an appropriate size and scale and far enough away from communities and residences so as not to leave them swamped with the inescapable and repressive impacts of wind turbines.

The decision making has to be about what is reasonable and what is not. No resident is entitled to a view nor entitled to silence, but they are entitled to reasonableness and I hope you sir will share my opinion that neither of these wind farms, either singularly or cumulatively satisfy the test as to what is reasonable for significant numbers of Spaldington residents.

There will be no relief from wind turbines for Spaldington residents - whichever way they look they will see them, whichever way the wind blows they will hear them. Whichever way they drive into the village they will be there – an inescapable presence.

14. Finally….

I would like to draw the inspector to a phase we have heard a few times during this inquiry that of an inescapable impact on individual properties and the village in general if either of these applications are approved. This starts when people enter the East Riding from the south or the west as they are returning home, they will see the 68 already consented turbines in the south west quadrant of the 20km radius of Spaldington.

Imagine when all the wind turbines within that 20km of Spaldington are constructed and a resident is travelling back home by road, let’s say they’ve been away on holiday and they’re travelling back from any of the airports at Doncaster, Leeds Bradford, Manchester or East Midlands. They journey north along the M18 or east along the M62 and the first sign of approaching the East Riding is the beginning of what will be a wind farm landscape, the turbines showing the way home and drawing them in. Getting nearer they rise over the Ouse Bridge and see the turbines that surround their houses viewed over the minster, continuing past Howden towards Spaldington village the turbines loom larger and larger before turning at the water tower to drive through the Common wind farm with the Airfield wind farm in front of them… they return home to the overpowering inescapability of living far too close to any of the two wind farms.

I hope that you Sir will draw the same conclusions, and dismiss both of these wind farm applications.

Cllr Paul Robinson

How public service organisations can save a colossal amount of money without cutting front line services

2011-06-22T22:01:00.003+01:00

The following is a speech I gave to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council meeting this afternoon.

Public Service Organisations all working from separate buildings is not the best use of public money, and much could be saved if buildings were to be shared – this is termed ‘Asset Rationalisation’.

Asset rationalisation is all about money, lots and lots of it. Not what it will cost but how much it will save. It’s a way of not just the Council but other public service providers saving significant amounts of money without cutting frontline services – but for it to work requires a major shift of thinking, and herein lays the problem, the thinking within the public sector must change. We must move away from protectionism and look more towards sharing; we must move away from regionalisation and move more towards localism.

Do Public Service providers making the best use of their assets? I would suggest not, and for one simple reason – there is almost no sharing of assets. Why, because there is not sufficient will or desire amongst the providers to break out of their individual silos.

Taking the asset values of just two of the Public Sector organisations in the area - the Council and the Fire service. Then Council’s assets are in the region of £1.4 billion of which some £750million is accounted for in land and buildings, £439millon in Council housing and £180million in roads, bridges and coastal protection. Humberside Fire and Rescue have building assets worth some £13.6million, the Police, NHS, probation, and other partner assets are in addition to this - A colossal amount of money.

I suggest there would be significant savings if we were to share buildings, particularly between the ‘Blue Light’ services. We have 12 Fire Stations and 14 Police Stations strategically placed covering the East Riding with over 80% in the same village or town.

Would it not make sense for Police and Fire to come together and either share existing buildings, allowing the surplus buildings and land to be sold, or sell off both existing sites and use the proceeds to construct a purpose built facility in the area?

BUT let’s take it one step further - There happen to be 14 East Riding of Yorkshire Council customer service centres located strategically across the East Riding which mirror almost exactly the Fire and Police Stations. Would it not make sense to consider relocating these into the shared buildings?

Let’s go one step further and have the NHS Paramedics move in too.

So where would the savings be? Firstly the obvious cash from the sales of assets, but then the on-going savings in heating, lighting, power, water, insurance, cleaning, catering, telephones, not to mention backroom staff, but what about pooling and maintenance of vehicles and equipment, and the favourite expenditure… I.T !

If we look at just the ‘Blue light’ Services – imagine the efficiencies if they were all based at the same place, working together as a fully integrated team.

So if we had multi-agency, multi-service centres strategically placed across the East Riding – the logical step would be to devolve power and decision making to these areas – and that would be localism, would it not?

The key to making asset rationalisation work is changing the mind-set, elected Councillors make up the Fire Authority, are by far the largest part of the Police Authority, and will have an increasing role in the Health service. Councillors do have a role in setting the strategic direction of partner organisations. To really make asset rationalisation work I’m absolutely certain members can play more of a pivotal role in setting the strategic direction of the public service providers in this area – and I urge them to do so.

Spaldington Wind Farm Appeals hears 'very interesting' evidence from noise experts

2011-06-12T20:44:00.006+01:00

This week at the inquiry looking into the two wind farm proposals at each side of Spaldington the issue of noise was discussed at length by the expert witnesses and each cross examined by the others barristers.

The Governments 1997 ETSU Guidance is used as the starting point for the assessment of noise impact, taking the average background noise levels at residences likely to be affected by noise from the wind turbines. This is open to abuse by wind farm developers as it is based on noise levels measured at only a few points around an application site, which can be easily affected by a number of factors. These were clearly identified in the evidence provided by Mr Stigwood representing the STOP campaign team. It is acknowledged by many, including myself and alluded to by David Davis MP that this 1997 government guidance is out-dated and flawed and was put in place a long time before we as a Council were looking at these massive 2 and 3 MW, 126m high turbines. We’ve also heard during the week that this guidance is ‘blind to wind direction’.

It became clear that the Spaldington Common site to the east of the village would have noise issues resulting in the wind farm not being able to operate at its full rated capacity, an issue I raised at the Planning Committee meeting when the application was originally refused.

I listened with interest to Mr Bennett, the expert witness for the Common Site and found serious issues with his credibility. When one considers both applications, the Airfield application to the west was preceded by a large anemometer mast which is still in situ. The Common application has only ever had a very temporary mast, that appeared not to be as high as recommended, was apparently struck by lightning, had a rain gauge that was working - but Mr Bennett was unsure as to what it was actually measuring, a wind vane that became frozen and only recorded wind in one direction, and a wiring fault that appeared to repair itself. Interestingly I did raise the lack of an anemometer mast for the Common site at the Planning Committee stage.

Then we had the sorry saga of the noise monitoring equipment, with stories about Mr Bennett not explaining to residents why the measuring devices were being installed or the criteria being used, and locations initially not even on residents own property and near sources of higher background noise. There is anecdotal evidence that so called ‘farming activities’ had taken place around the noise measuring equipment during the first period of measurement – including constantly working the land in the vicinity of the noise measuring equipment – thereby giving a higher than normal reading. He also intimated that unusually high night time noise at one site may have been caused by residents tampering with his equipment, when in fact it can be explained by the night-time operation of the resident’s sewage treatment plant!

Early in his evidence he quite clearly said, “When the wind is blowing from the east the village will hear the turbines from the Common and when the wind is blowing from the west the village will hear the turbines from the Airfield”.

He also stated that his wind vane evidence “leaves a lot to be desired”.

There is a question of what is reasonable, especially when it comes to the Common site, I have serious doubts regarding the validity of this noise evidence as it is reliant on faulty equipment whose positioning could lead to inadequate or invalid results. This is about the protection of residents from noise if this wind farm is given the go ahead to be built.

Then there is the problem of drafting enforceable planning conditions should both wind farms be consented. The two developers assured us they would cooperate and each be responsible if “their” turbines were downwind and hence appeared to be the source of the noise-nuisance. In principle this seems OK, the Airfield to the west, and the Common to the east – BUT what happens when the wind is from the north or the south? I can see the residents and the Council’s Public Protection department being placed in an intolerable situation, with it being impossible to determine which wind farm is the prime cause of the noise-nuisance, and the nuisance actually being due to the interaction between noise from both wind farms as Spaldington effectively becomes located in the middle of a wind farm.

Bubwith residents organise petition against Sutton on Derwent weight limit

2011-06-10T08:45:00.003+01:00

Residents of Bubwith have decided to take action by raising a 580 name petition in support of the lifting of the 7.5 tonne weight limit through Sutton on Derwent and Elvington in place since the Sutton on Derwent Bridge on the B1228 was repaired this past year.

Prior to the weight limit being imposed the HGV movements from Breighton Airfield Industrial Estate went either North through Sutton on Derwent or either west through Bubwith or east through Foggathorpe and Holme on Spalding Moor. This meant that the HGV movements were somewhat shared between all the communities - alas since the weight limit the village of Bubwith particularly, has borne the brunt of these lorry movements.

The petition has been organised by Bubwith residents Pauline Witt and Caroline Taylor, who presented it to fellow Howdenshire ward councillor Nick Evans and I handed it to the ERYC Service Manager Paula Danby on their behalf.

Bubwith Parish Council have also been very proactive in pushing the case forward, being insistent that the East Riding of Yorkshire Council assess both the bridge on the A163 and the Sutton Bridge, as both bridges are about the same age and both awkward to cross, and subject to traffic light controls to ensure single file traffic. The result is that both bridges are deemed capable of taking HGVs, the signs indicating a weak bridge have been removed from the Highfields crossroads in Bubwith, but the bridge does have a 7.5 tonne environment weight limit signed upon it.

Bubwith Parish Council Clerk Steve Young says, “Bubwith Parish residents are fed up with taking more than its share of HGVs because of the weight limit, and that Ellerton & Aughton Parish Council, Foggathorpe Parish Council and Holme on Spalding Moor Parish Council are all very strongly opposed to the weight limit”.

In an email to Bubwith Parish Council Paula Danby states, “A report is to be presented to the councils Environment and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny sub Committee on the 20th July 2011. This meeting is held at County hall and usually starts at 10am. The public are allowed to attend the meeting and the report is made public one week prior to the meeting”.

“There have been a large number of responses both in favour of keeping the weight limit and also asking for its removal. The views of the parish councils are being taken into consideration and will be included within the report”.

I certainly do not support this ill thought out experiment, and would like to see it removed as soon as possible and the HGV movements shared between all the communities rather than one or two having to cope with the whole lot.

To re-route HGVs through rural villages such as Bubwith, Holme on Spalding Moor, Foggathorpe and Harlthorpe not only passes the problem from one community onto others, but also has a detrimental effect on both the businesses that have to foot the extra fuel costs and increased travelling times, and the wider community with the increased emissions associated with lorries travelling the extra distances. I do not think this fits with the ERYC policy of reducing emissions through reduced journeys”.

Elected Police Commissioners and why I support the idea

2011-06-03T08:54:00.005+01:00

This week the East Riding of Yorkshire Councils Corporate and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committee looked at the issue of elected Police and Crime Commissioners. This is a committee on which I sit.

As a great supporter of extending democracy, devolving power and giving people more choice in who represents them; to have elected Police Commissioners is a positive step in this direction.

Elected Police Commissioners were a key plank of the Conservative Party manifesto, the concept is enshrined in the Coalition agreement. I have spoken in support of this concept many times, including on the doorstep during the election campaign, at meetings and to the Police themselves.

Looking at how officials are elected in America, not perfect by any means but it brings in democracy and more importantly accountability to Policing. It leads to more people taking an interest and becoming involved – something we have seen very little of at many of our Police and Partners Community Forum meetings.

For me this is about devolving democracy, decision making and accountability to local people.

In fact I would like the concept of elected Police Commissioners extended – to include fire and health commissioners.

I do not believe overall neither the Police Authority nor the Fire Authority are efficient uses of public money. They have grown into overly large self-serving organisations that could, and should be more accountable and democratic.

Lessons can certainly be learnt from the past. If we look back to 1996 the Council’s previous Chief executive acted as Clerk to the Humberside Police Authority. The Director of Finance of North Lincolnshire Council acted as the Treasurer. Since then the growth in scope of the Police Authority has meant they have appointed their own chief exec and secretariat including staff to meet their requirements.

With Humberside Fire Authority, the Council’s Chief Exec was the Secretary and Solicitor to the organisation from 1996 until 2004, and we provided legal, committee management and property services. Hull City Council provided finance and audit services. Since then the Fire Authority has appointed its own solicitor/secretary and finance personnel. Although the council continues to provide property services to the Fire Authority.

It is hard to believe that since then the arrangements put in place by these relatively small public authorities/bodies represent value for money and are cost effective compared with the services available from the local authorities.

In this respect I would certainly welcome a new Police Commissioner learning from, and revisiting the financial benefits of this partnership working we saw previous to 1997.

There is far more scope for councils to share services between themselves and with other public bodies, if the major public service providers were more willing to bring officer functions together as we saw in the past, we would see less staff to deliver the same output - Achieving colossal savings without cutting front line staff. I cannot see this happening with the Police Authority as we see it – BUT I believe a Police Commissioner elected with a clear mandate to improve policing will be the catalyst for this to happen.

I welcome the plans to introduce Police and Crime Panels consisting of a minimum of 10 councillors to scrutinise the work of Commissioners. This will ensure elected members still have a key role and a say in how policing is delivered in the area.

I also welcome the proposal, and the Local Government Association (LGA) support for the Police and Crime Panels being able to veto a Commissioner’s proposed budget by a three quarters majority vote, and also to veto any candidate recommended by the Commissioner for Chief Constable.

Cost – the cost to run an election is not so high as to be prohibitive, especially if run in conjunction with local elections, which we will no doubt see in some parts of Humberside.

The culture of horizontal thinking and protectionism we see in parts of the public sector is unacceptable… We see Police and Fire looking to regionalise rather than work together… flying in the face of localism by moving decision making away from the area and from local people – and the election of Local Police Commissioners will go a long way in addressing this.

At the end of the debate the Conservative Councillors and the Independent Member on the Committee agreed with my proposal and it was resolved that:

The Committee support the concept of Elected Police Commissioners and:

Welcome the plans to introduce Police and Crime Panels consisting of a minimum of 10 councillors to scrutinise the work of Commissioners. This will ensure elected members still have a key role and a say in how policing is delivered in the area.

Welcome the proposal and the Local Government Association (LGA) support for the Police and Crime Panels being able to veto a Commissioner’s proposed budget by a three quarters majority vote, and also to veto any candidate recommended by the Commissioner for Chief Constable.

Record number of new blog readers in the last month

2011-06-01T20:05:00.001+01:00

The past month of May saw a record number of hits on my blog, over 4,000 in the month for the first time and of these 28% were new readers.

The most popular post was 'Farewell as Chair of the Goole and Howdenshire Local Action Team' on 13th May which generated 388 hits (with over 76% being first time readers) on the 14th May, the post also received the most ever comments (31) of which I could only allow 11 as the remainder where, let’s say ‘overly critical’ and named names - and only two that where critical of me – one of course I allowed, and the other I couldn’t because of an on-going Standards Board Case.

The second half of the month was much busier than the first although the first week around the local elections was busier than normal.

Many, many thanks to all that read my blog, for your comments, messages and support, and knowing that it is read makes it worth doing.

Best wishes to you all

Paul

Spaldington Wind Farms Public Inquiry

2011-05-31T20:45:00.008+01:00

As the Spaldington wind farms appeal public inquiry moves through its second week the pattern is becoming clear. It’s the Council and the ‘STOP’ Team* working on the side of the residents against the two wind farm developers, and each developer defending their position but going out of their way to rubbish the other. (*STOP is the Spaldington Turbine Opposition Project with its own barrister and expert witnesses all funded by the community)

Week one saw the opening exchanges with the Council’s expert landscape witness, the landscape witness employed by STOP, and the expert witnesses employed by the two developers taking the stand. They all presented evidence and were cross examined by the four barristers, with each trying to score points against the other. There is certainly an interesting atmosphere between the two appellant teams and their barristers, Mr David Hardy representing Falck Renewables and Mr Jeremy Pike representing Volkswind.

The evidence provided can come across as rather complicated and extremely detailed as it focuses on degrees of potential impact on the landscape, and how the landscape can be defined and compared with other areas. It also goes very deep into the potential theoretical impact on individual residences, the distances of turbines from the houses, likely views from different windows, and from what angle turbines are expected to be seen. There are photomontages provided by all parties showing views from near and far, from house windows and from gardens, from roads and footpaths. These are then challenged by the other parties for accuracy and consistency. Interestingly the most widely used and referred to photographs are the aerial shots provided by STOP, these taken from a helicopter hovering at the tip height of each of the 12 planned turbines. This being the first time this type of photograph has been used at any wind farm inquiry in the East Riding.

There are many references to planning inspector’s decisions at previous wind farm inquiries, and paragraphs from those decision documents quoted by all sides by the barristers and witnesses to back up their positions. However it has been frequently stated in the proceedings the the inspector will come to his own conclusions.

The Inquiry also saw 4 witnesses from Spaldington take the stand to give evidence and undergo varying degrees of cross examination; these included Parish Council Chair Kath Westin, local horse and rider trainer and businesswoman Janice Chadwick, Beryl Norris a medium at the Fir Tree Spiritualist Church, and local resident Ann Marie Jackson. All gave very passionate and emotional presentations, and stood up to the questioning extremely well.

As the Councillor on the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s planning committee who moved the successful refusal of both wind farms before they were appealed and therefore some would say an ‘informed member’ of the public, I think the inquiry can be interesting if somewhat tedious at times. I keep saying to myself and others that the witnesses and the barristers don’t need to impress each other, me, or the public, they only have to impress the one person – and that is the Planning Inspector sitting on his own at the top table, who will ultimately make the decision to allow or refuse the appeals.

I am to give evidence on Friday 10th June 2011 !

Holme on Spalding Moor Road improvements to start soon

2011-05-31T18:58:00.002+01:00

Sections of HOSM's Selby Road and High Street between the mini roundabout at the junction to the A614 and Major Bridge are due to be repaired and resurfaced as part a programme to improve roads within the East Riding of Yorkshire. This in addition to the recent repair and surface dressing work due to be completed by the Councils’ direct works department.

The work is programmed to commence on Monday 13th June 2011 and is expected to take 2 weeks to complete (weather permitting). Should there be delays due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances, the scheme may extend beyond the expected completion date. The sections to be repaired are from the mini roundabout to Runner End, from Sands Lane/Station Lane to Water End farm (just beyond Bulmer Lane) and approximately 200 meters either side of Major Bridge.

Unfortunately, due to the narrow width to sections of the carriageway and to undertake the work safely, it will be necessary to close the road to through traffic during working hours. The road will be closed at 9.15am until 5.00pm Monday to Friday and 8.00am until 8.00pm Saturday and Sunday. Temporary traffic lights may be in operation outside of these times with the road open to traffic. When the surfacing is undertaken at Major Bridge, it will be necessary to close the road to all through traffic for one day due to the narrow section on a bend. This is programmed to take place on Sunday 26th June 2011. Please note that on this day the 0900 from Holme on Spalding Moor to York and the 1710 from York to Holme on Spalding Moor will operate as normal. All other buses on service 18A will start and finish at Foggathorpe Heavy goods vehicles will be diverted at Bubwith using the B1228 and A614 via Howden. Light vehicles will be diverted via Runner End and Back Lane where a 7.5 tonne weight limit exists.

Access will be maintained for shop deliveries, emergency services, refuse collection, mobile library, mobile optician and postal services. The existing bus services, including school buses, will be allowed through the works and operate as normal. Residents living within the work areas will be able to access their properties from Runner end or the A614, dependent on the location of the surfacing operation but are requested to avoid attempting to travel through the works. The contractor will be able to advise residents regarding access on a daily basis (contact details below).

Galliford Try Highway Maintenance Ltd has been contracted to undertake the work on behalf of East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

Should you have any questions or require further information please contact the project Engineer Jeff Taylor on 01482 395504 or the above mobile number. (Email: - jeffrey.taylor@eastriding.gov.uk). During his absence you may wish to contact James Sissons (Project Manager) on 01482 395644. To discuss access or work related matters, you may wish to contact the contractor’s representative, Chris Moody (mobile: 07885 135439) or Kev Thompson (mobile: 07888 027192).

Meeting with Gilberdyke Tip Operators

2011-05-26T20:28:00.001+01:00

I was recently given the task of chairing a meeting facilitated by the Goole and Howdenshire Local Action Team (LAT) between representatives from the new owners of the Gilberdyke Landfill Site site Mr Kevin Wanlass and Mr Sam Juggins, Matthew Wollin from the Environment Agency, Newport residents and representatives of both Gilberdyke and Newport Parish Councils.

Although the meeting went quite well, everyone was civil to each other, and many questions were answered, but I certainly felt that a number of unanswered questions remain and there are series issues that need to be addressed. I was reassured that the Environment Agency who monitor the site has visited the site each week in the past six weeks, but what was clear from the beginning is there had been almost no communication from the tip’s new owners and the community, and for me this had led to the tensions. I hope the putting forward of views and the answers given will in some way reduce these tensions.

I am still at a loss as to why a company applying to extend the life of a tip would put the residents through so much suffering in the lead up to the application being heard. It was not made clear as to why we had seen the vast increase in HGV movements to and from the site, and why many of the HGV movements appear to be by trucks originating in the North East of the Country.

From the information given by the representatives from the tip it would appear that the original owners have made the application to extend the life of the tip, this being ‘City Plant’ which operated as a sole trader. A recent change has taken place with the operators now being a limited company trading as ‘City Plant Limited’ which corresponded with a cash injection into the business. However, the identity of the directors of this new company was withheld. What is clear is that Mr Kevin Wanlass confirmed that he is employed by North East based waste company Niramax and is acting as a consultant to the new operators of the site.

Gilberdyke Parish Councillor John Jessop adds, “It was confirmed that the injection of new finance with the aim of utilising all the available space left in the site, will result in a very significant number of lorry movements over and above those estimated in the City Plant planning application to extend the life of the tip”.

“Complaints from residents about the offensive stench were virtually ignored and claims by the company and the Environment Agency that any smells were ‘Agricultural in source’ were made. Unfortunately many of the group of residents were of farming stock and the claim completely rejected. The stench (the company describe it as an odour) had become particularly bad over recent weeks, an explanation was offered but there was a degree of scepticism from the residents and Parish Councillors.

Concerns were also raised regarding the discharge of foul, black liquid into the dyke alongside the tip, this was denied and at one point the EA officer tried to suggest that the resulting elevated level of liquid in the dyke was due to the tide – The dyke is not tidal, it has tidal doors at the River Ouse end and the River Foulness at the other end is not tidal! Photographic evidence of pollution of the dyke as far as Gilberdyke Medical Centre was produced. Unfortunately no answer could be given that was acceptable to the residents and Parish Councillors.

A promise was given that the life of the tip would not be extended again if this extension were to be granted - can we really believe this or to paraphrase Mandy Rice Davies of Profumo case fame many years ago "Well they would say that wouldn't they?"

Sixpennywood Wind Farm Access Road Saga Continues

2011-05-22T16:20:00.005+01:00

The Sixpennywood wind farm saga continues to rumble on, and agreement has still not been reached over access to the site near Howden, as this coming week Howdenshire residents look to try and fight off two other wind farm developers proposing to build wind farms at each side of Spaldington, a village also near Howden. The battle commences at the Planning Appeal Public Inquiry beginning in Goole on 24th May.

This past week I was proud to join Balkholme residents, Parish Councillors, and representatives of the ‘Sixpennywood Not’ anti-wind farm group on a site meeting with representatives of wind farm developer ‘Your Energy’ and a Government appointed Planning Inspector. The purpose of the visit was to look at the piece of land being offered by the developer as ‘Common Land’ as a replacement for a piece of ‘Common Land’ they wish to take in order to construct the wind farm access road.

I really struggle with the idea that an area forming a rectangle of some 500 square meters is to be taken, and replaced with a strip ‘43cm wide by over a 1km long’.

The consultation reply from the British Horse Society sums it up very well:

“The replacement land is of inferior quality, being at the edge of a deep dangerous drain, overgrown with trees and shrubs and what is to all purposes the rough ground where the drain is cleaned out onto.

The land proposed as replacement is not as stated on the 'edge of agricultural land ' and a less than half a metre strip of 'waste' can hardly reciprocate for the present common.

The consultation on this proposal was poor and the maps wholly inadequate and the equestrians feel that the scheme could go ahead with a permit to work on the common without the need to de-register it”.

Is this really the best Your Energy can come up with? Why instead could a useful area of land (of 500 square meters) not be provided for community use?

The Planning Inspector has my sympathies here, because it is a question of what is technically right and what is morally right.

The other point is that the access road, if given the go ahead, will have to cross a bridleway, well used by local people - especially on horseback. Your Energy is applying to close a 12m section of this bridleway for a period of 6 months during the construction of the wind Farm. Apparently, due to the risks posed to public safety.

Once the construction period is complete, the bridleway will be re-opened and access will remain as it currently exists but with an access track, constructed of compacted stone surface, crossing the bridleway for the operational lifetime of the wind farm (25 years).

The British Horse Society has also raised points about this, and I for one would not like to see the bridleway closed or significantly diverted. A compromise is certainly possible here.

I also struggle with why the access to construct this wind farm was not part of the original planning application. It this yet another example of ‘Your Energy’ playing fast and loose with the feelings of local residents and the system?

Environment Agency Update on Gilberdyke Landfill Site

2011-05-20T09:35:00.006+01:00

The following is the information I have received from the Environment Agency about the work they are doing at the Gilberdyke landfill site.

Across England and Wales, millions of tonnes of household and business waste end up in landfill.

The Environment Agency makes sure that landfill sites are meeting their high environmental standards and have a minimal impact on people and the environment.

Modern landfill sites are created to an agreed standard to minimise gases or polluting liquids being released. Polluting liquids – known as leachate – and landfill gases are extracted from the waste and need to be disposed of accordingly.

How we regulate the site
In the past, landfill sites had a mixture of modern areas and older areas where, the control of these gases and liquids were not to the current standard. Gilberdyke landfill site is one of these. The continued development of the site is in part based on improving the way the site operates.

Fortunately, because of the site’s location, there is a very low chance of any liquids being released into the ground, even from the older sections In 2006, we issued Gilberdyke landfill site with an environmental permit. The permit imposes a series of conditions aimed to minimise the risk to the environment from elements such as odour, dust and litter.

We regularly inspect the site to make sure that the operator is complying with the conditions of their permit. If we feel that conditions have not been met, we raise them with the operator to resolve. If these are not resolved to our satisfaction, we have a number of options we can use to make sure work is carried out.

There are a number of things that other organisations, such as the local authority, are responsible for at the site. These include:

• how many hours the site operates for;

• how many vehicles tip at the site;

• the access routes used to get to the site;

• the time limit for the life of the site;

• the final height of the site - this is determined by planning permission.

What we have being doing
The site has recently become busier than it has been in the last few years. This occurred at the same time as a change in ownership, with the new owner being Cityplant Ltd. This has coincided with an increase in the number of complaints we have received from local residents. Consequently, we have increased how often we inspect the site and have prioritised our efforts to ensure that they are operating correctly.

Below are examples of issues that we have dealt with recently:

• At the start of April, the operator disconnected the extraction system that removes odorous gas so that they could carry our engineering work. This may have been the source of some of the odours attributed to the site at the time. The system has now been reconnected and was also improved.
• A new fence has been erected at the top of the site to control litter during high winds. This is working well.
• There are now permanent litter pickers employed at the site to remove any litter that does blow away from the working area.
• Recent complaints about odour and litter may have been due to a shortage in materials that cover the waste during and at the end of the day. Consequently, the operator received a large amount of material that will cover the waste better. Because of such a large delivery, there was a short term increase in the number of vehicles going to the site. The operator is also planning to operate a narrow tipping area and cover waste repeatedly during the day to help control litter.
• The operator has used tankers to remove leachate from the site for disposal elsewhere. This has minimised the risk of water pollution or odours.

Work in the future
The operator has agreed to install a number of extraction wells to help minimise odour. This is planned for the autumn but will depend on the amount of waste coming onto site.

We are currently in discussions with the operator to investigate ways of minimising the odour before the full extraction as mentioned above.

Further information

We welcome any further information you may have relating to the landfill site. This will help us to ensure that the site is being operated correctly.

If you notice odours or litter from the site, please call our 24 hour incident line on 0800 80 70 60.

If you have any further questions about our role at Gilberdyke landfill please contact:

Matthew Woollin
Regulatory Officer
matthew.woollin@environment-agency.gov.uk

Tel: 01709 312 933

Farewell as Chair of the Goole and Howdenshire Local Action Team

2011-05-13T18:51:00.003+01:00

It has been covered in today’s Yorkshire Post that I have been removed from the Chairmanship of the Goole and Howdenshire Local Action Team (LAT) by the Leader of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

Having received calls and messages from many people last night and today - I feel very humbled by the support offered. Interestingly, I have not heard it from anyone that I have been removed for lack of effort, hard work or commitment – and I do not believe I have been removed for any of these reasons.

I am not alone in being removed from a position of responsibility within the Council; three of my close Councillor colleagues have suffered the same fate for what appears to be similar reasons.

Most know me as a very principled Councillor, and I believe it is for standing up for those principles, particularly around the issues of early retirement for senior officers, and supporting the Conservative Party and Howdenshire residents on a number of issues not in tune with the thinking of the Leader of the Council, that I have been removed from the post.

I’m feeling quite philosophical about all this; to lose the Goole and Howdenshire LAT Chairmanship is sad, and I’m sure has nothing to do with what I have achieved, but under the circumstances was to be expected, and predictable. I’m looking forward to spending more of my time working for the residents of Howdenshire whilst still continuing with my role on the Council’s Corporate Communities Scrutiny Committee and discovering the intricacies of the Licencing 2003 Committee – to which I have been appointed.

I will of course continue to work with the new Goole and Howdenshire LAT Chair, and have already pledged my full support and offered to help in any way I can.

At the end of the day it is the Leader of the Council that has the power to appoint Councillors to Cabinet posts, Committee places, and Chairmanships – he also has the power to remove them….

I would like to thank all the partners that make up of the Goole and Howdenshire LAT, all the ward Councillors, Parish and Town Councillors, Council Officers and members of the public with whom I've worked over the past 3 years - it's been fantastic!

As a footnote, Cllr Parnaby still enjoys my support as Leader of the Council.

Boothferry Bridge reopened ahead of schedule

2011-05-10T10:47:00.004+01:00

This week saw the re-opening of Boothferry Bridge to traffic following completion of the major maintenance by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC); this has been completed in less time than the advertised ten week closure.

The main contractor 'C Spencer Ltd' who in conjunction with specialist paint and mechanical & electrical sub-contractors must be congratulated on completing a varied and challenging scope of works within a tight working area and programme. Savings on certain activities also enabled additional works to be undertaken to prevent major disruption in the future.

Even though the available scheme funding was focused on the main structure improvements to the bridge approaches have been made at minimal cost with assistance provided both internally by ERYC Streetscene - and externally by the Humberside Probation Service in putting offenders to work.

Given the feedback the ERYC has received from users it is believed that the temporary transportation measures implemented to assist pedestrians and cyclists worked well during the closure period.

Further minor works to the bridge together with removal of fencing, welfare facilities and equipment will continue over the next week or two. Signing for the temporary traffic management measures introduced as a result of the closure are currently in the process of being removed which should be completed this week.

I would just like to thank people for your co-operation and that of the local community who have shown great patience given the duration of the closure.

A great job done by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council - below budget (so as to allow additional works to be carried out) and ahead of time.

Photograph by Bernard Bradley

Paul Robinson re-elected in Howdenshire

2011-05-07T10:32:00.006+01:00

Many thanks to the 2,640 Howdenshire people who gave me their vote on Thursday, enabling me to top the poll by 297 - and along with my two Conservative Colleagues, Doreen Engall and Nick Evans elected to represent you on the East Riding of Yorkshire Council for the next four years. It was humbling to receive such great support from all the 15 Parishes that make up Howdenshire.

The Conservatives also did very well across the East Riding as a whole with us gaining many seats, to now hold 53 of the possible 67 seats. (For the results please click here)

I would also like to thank all those people of my home village of Gilberdyke for their support in re-electing me to the Parish Council as part of ‘TEAM GILBERDYKE’ and congratulations to the other ten members who were also elected. We set out our priorities and now we have to look to deliver on them over the next four years.

I would like to thank my wife and daughter, family and friends for their support, my team of supporters and helpers – and in particular my agent, Victoria Aitken.

I also recognise those people who did not vote for me in either of the elections and will strive to work for, and represent them too.

I have always said that I would be “Howdenshire resident’s representative on the East Riding Council rather than the Council’s representative to them” – this is what I will continue to be.

The work continues with a number of issues having to be worked on this weekend.

Once again thank you to the residents of the parishes of Gilberdyke, Newport, North Cave, Hotham, Broomfleet, Blacktoft, Laxton, Kilpin, Eastrington, Spaldington, Wressle, Holme on Spalding Moor, Foggathorpe, Bubwith, and Ellerton and Aughton for again putting your faith in me.

(Picture courtesy of Sean Stewart)

The Campaign is Over

2011-05-04T23:19:00.002+01:00

So the campaign is over, the last leaflets are delivered and people have been canvassed, and now it’s up to the electorate – many, many thanks for all that have helped us in Howdenshire, but also thanks to all those who offered me their support, especially my friends and family.

I wish all my friends who are standing for election tomorrow, for whichever Party (or Independent) the very best of luck – I’ve seen the time and effort you’ve put into your campaigns – well done!

Finally to all those living in the wonderful area of Howdenshire - I would really appreciate your vote tomorrow!

For those living in Gilberdyke - my fellow Members of TEAM GILBERDYKE and I would also appreciate your vote.

... and finally and not forgetting a vote for NOtoAV.

Thanks

Paul

Goole and Howdenshire Local Action Team to facilitate meeting over Gilberdyke tip

2011-04-27T08:16:00.006+01:00

The issue of the tip between Gilberdyke and Newport was brought up at the Goole and Howdenshire Local Action Team (LAT) meeting held in Goole last week.

One of the LAT partners, Neighbourhood Police Inspector Mike Bower drew attention to the police concern about the apparent growing tensions between residents and the tip operator. These allegedly due to the poor management of the site, rubbish blowing off site, smell, high number and speed of HGVs using the site.

It was decided that the best way forward to reduce the tensions and was for the LAT to organise a meeting between the tip operator, a representative group of residents and other interested parties.

According to Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, another partner on the LAT, some of the litter/fire risk hazards have been dealt with e.g. the tip coated with soil and the lorries are being netted reducing the amount of litter in the road, lay-bys and fields.

However, the LAT is concerned that something is done about the situation as soon as possible and that tensions are reduced.

Just a small point of clarification, many will know that I chair the Local Action Team, but due to protocols in the run-up to the local elections that prevent elected Ward members calling a meeting with Council Officers and the public, it was agreed that the LAT officer call a meeting between residents, the tip operator, Council and Environment Agency, to start a dialogue with the aim of resolving some of the issues in the short term, before the future of the tip is determined by the ERYC Planning Committee.

Hopefully the meeting will be held within the next week.

Gilberdyke Parish Council says No to extending the life of local tip

2011-04-24T11:01:00.004+01:00

At last week’s meeting of Gilberdyke Parish Council the members decided to oppose the planning application to extend the life of the Gilberdyke Landfill Site on Leatherdog Lane.*

Eleven Newport residents attended and were given the opportunity to put their concerns to the members. It was accepted that over the long years of operation of this particular landfill site there had been many complaints to the Parish Council, and it was believed complaints had also been to the Environment Agency.

The Parish Council agreed that the site should be allowed to run until November 2011, then for operations to cease for good, but raised concerns that the amount of traffic, the size of the lorries, and the fact that long hours during the 6½ days the tip is open is affecting the day to day living experiences of the residents on Thimblehall Lane and through the village of Newport. Concerns were also raised that HGVs were also using other routes to the tip including Newport’s Mill Lane.

The Council also raised concerns regarding health and safety in respect of litter from the tip being allowed to blow over the surrounding land and nearby properties.

It was demanded by the Parish Council (not requested) that a classified vehicle count be conducted at the entrance to the site, to indicate the size, type and number of vehicles using the site and at what times, and this should be done immediately.

In conclusion Gilberdyke Parish Council requests that both parts of the planning application be refused and use of the site ceased for good in November 2011.

(*As an ERYC Councillor who presently sits on the Planning Committee that will ultimately decide the future of the site, I took no part in the debate or the decision making – so as not to pre-determine my position which could prevent me from voting on the application as a Planning Committee Member)

Why I will be voting NO to AV

2011-04-18T21:02:00.002+01:00

Many people are angry about the way some politicians abused the way they were able to claim expenses – but for me this doesn’t mean the system for electing them is at fault. We have good politicians locally, but this may not be the same in other areas, therefore we may need better politicians - but to get these we certainly don’t need to change the way they are elected.

The current system is called ‘first past the post’ where the winner is the one that comes first, and has stood our Country, and many others around the world, in good stead for hundreds of years. In election after election, it has given our country the kind of government it was seeking – the occasional coalition mixed in with plenty of strong governments that reflected the type of leadership, we wanted at the time.

There are lots of genuine reforms which would go some way to restoring people’s trust in politics, many of these that will enable local people to have more say in the decisions that affect them. I am all for reform of many of our present systems of government, but the way we elect our politicians is not one of them.

The current system creates strong governments, it’s simple to understand, it’s the most widely used system in the world, it’s quick and easy to count, but importantly it’s cheap to administer, and above all else its fair – giving one person, one vote, rather than some people’s vote being counted more than once.

Newport Tip - the situation getting worse for residents

2011-04-14T14:14:00.010+01:00

I have a great deal of sympathy for the residents of Newport who are affected by the smell, litter and Vehicle movements associated with the tip located at the side of the M62 between Gilberdyke and Newport. The tip has been on the site for many years and for the most part has been a reasonable neighbour to residents.

But all this seems to have changed over recent months and we now see the amount of waste being delivered to the site increasing significantly. This is having a negative impact on the quality of live for a great many Newport and Gilberdyke residents as they are subject to, increased HGV movements past their homes from very early in the morning till late at night, plastic bags and other rubbish being blown across the fields and littering the hedgerows, and obnoxious smells coming from the site.

Early on Tuesday morning some residents of Newport’s Thimble Hall Lane parked their cars at each side of the road to prevent the passing of HGVs onto the site for a short period of time, as a gesture against the HGV movements. I am told that two representatives (thought to be from one of the companies using the tip) stopped in a Range Rover, and rather than engaging with residents to listen to their concerns, informed them they’d called the police. Ironically I have today received complaints from the residents of Newport’s Mill Lane about a Range Rover travelling along Mill Lane at high speeds thought to be above the speed limit.

At last night's Newport Parish Council meeting an unheard of 35 members of the public attended, and proceeded to describe the situation. I was certainly surprised to hear that yesterday they had witnessed over 150 HGV movements along Thimblehall Lane to and from the tip, and the day before the last lorry passed at ten past ten in the evening. But it was surprising to hear from residents living alongside the other routes to the tip along both Mill Lane and Landing lane that were also complaining about the increased HGV movements. It was also stressed that a number of the vehicles were from the North East of the Country.

I certainly find it very disturbing to see the operation of the tip expanding at such an alarming rate, especially when the documentation from the applicant received by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council on 8th March 2011, as part of the Planning Application to extend the life of the site states, “ Due to the much reduced input of waste, traffic volumes have consequently reduced. At the anticipated revised output, traffic levels will remain below those expected in 1999. On Average, 20 vehicle movements per day, including employees and visitors are expected”.

“To be blunt, on the evidence I’ve seen I really wonder just who the applicant is trying to kid here”.

Newport littered by plastic bags blowing from tip

2011-04-05T21:56:00.008+01:00

I’ve had a number of calls recently regarding the amount of litter and in particular plastic bags blowing across the fields from the west towards Newport.

When I checked, I found this is coming from the tip alongside the M62 adjacent to Gilberdyke’s Leatherdog Lane, blowing across the fields and getting caught in the hedgerows and fences, particularly along the side of Newport’s Thimblehall Lane and the hedgerows between.

When I looked closer the amount of litter coming from the tip is quite widespread and clearly not acceptable. I have asked the Council’s public protection officers to look into this. I have also had a number of historic complaints from the farmer of the land south of the tip regarding surface water run-off and potential pollution.

The owners of the tip have recently made an application to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council to extend the life of the site. This follows a similar extension approved in 2006. Whilst the site is technically in Gilberdyke Parish the HGV movements to and from the site are almost all via Newport’s Thimblehall Lane. A number of people have raised issues around this application to vary the condition on the life of this site.

I hope that this application will be heard before the Council’s Strategic Planning Committee (which is made up of Councillors) rather than be determined by Council Officers under delegated powers. This would allow for a full and frank debate and for residents to be given the opportunity to put their points to the Committee.

I feel that Newport Parish Council should be fully consulted on this planning application because of the HGVs travelling to the site down Thimblehall Lane.

Details of the application can be found by clicking here

If you wish to comment on the application please write to: Pete Ashcroft, Head of Planning, ERYC, County Hall, Beverley, HU17 9BA – or by email at pete.ashcroft@eastriding.gov.uk quoting reference. Application 11/00931/STVARE, Gilberdyke Landfill Site, Leatherdog Lane, Newport

Howden Secondary School Moving Forward

2011-04-04T12:30:00.003+01:00

As both a parent of a year 7 pupil and Governor at Howden Secondary School, I attended last week’s parents meeting to discuss the progress the school is making on implementing our Post Ofsted Action Plan, and to discuss the findings of the Local Authority inspections.

As a Governor appointed after the school found itself in special measures I feel one of my key roles is to scrutinise the school leadership and the performance of the school, and whenever possible be the voice of the parents – asking the questions they would want to ask. But as Governors, our job is also to take an overview and to offer support to staff and, where possible, advice.

I have been impressed by the concept of ‘Team Howden,’ the team ethos that now runs through everything the school does. This has improved communication throughout the school, and brought together teachers, pupils, parents and Governors in one team to move the school forward and lift if out of Special Measures – a tag nobody connected with the School or any parent wants to see.

The progress since September has been excellent in my view. Attendance has improved, the number of children being removed from lessons has reduced, the number of exclusions has fallen, and most importantly very few of the lessons observed by the School’s Leadership Team and the independent Local Authority Inspectors have been graded as unsatisfactory, with most now being satisfactory to good.

The extra pressures of being in Special Measures have of course affected the staff. The changes in ways of working and the increased workload have contributed to the rise in the sickness rates, resulting in a bigger dependency on supply teachers, which is a concern. The resulting lack of continuity, being real or perceived, does raise questions as to whether the pupils are reaching their full potential. This is something the Governors and Leadership Team are aware of and are looking to address as soon as possible.

At the recent Governors meeting is was unanimously agreed to continue with the services of Dave McCready as Executive Head and Gary Garghan as Acting Head for a further year. I have been seriously impressed with what both have done for the school, they have in many ways renewed the school and by putting in place new policies and procedures have laid a strong foundation on which to rebuild. I stated at the meeting that Dave McCready and Gary Garghan were best qualified to rebuild on that foundation, and am pleased to see them continue their great work.

HGVs mis-directed through Broomfleet

2011-04-03T11:01:00.005+01:00

HGV movements through Broomfleet are a long standing issue that has been raised with me by a number of people.

The problem appears to be confusion with lorries following a Satnav when travelling to the Broomfleet Works of Sandtoft Tilleries, and confusion with a HU15 postcode directing them to the village. Both these factors result in heavy lorries destined for the tile works finding themselves in the village, and having to turn around or back up, especially when they get to the weak bridge and weight limit sign at the end of Main Street.

To have the software on Satnav systems changed is very difficult and can take a long time to be effective. But I have asked the ERYC to look at whether the signage can be improved and if additional signage directing HGVs to the tile works can be installed, particularly in Newport at the junction where vehicles turn off the B1230 onto Wallingfen Lane, but also at other routes to Broomfleet.

I have spoken to Sandtoft Tilleries and I’m reassured that they are doing their bit in directing delivery lorries via Gilberdyke’s Tongue Lane, including giving out the DN14 postcode for the road at Oxmardyke.

Windfarm company still playing ‘fast and loose’ with resident’s concerns

2011-03-28T00:11:00.008+01:00

Many will recall when I spoke against the Sixpennywood Windfarm application at the appeal hearing - I said the company Your Energy had acted in a very questionable manner from the very beginning, playing scant regard to community engagement, riding roughshod over local concerns, measuring the background noise in very dubious circumstances, and changing the size of the turbines between the Planning Committee making its decision and the case going to appeal.

Needless to say the actions of the company continue to raise concerns and annoy a number of residents as they now try to take 'common land', and look to close a bridleway for their convenience during the construction process.

Nearby Spaldington is poised for a similar battle against not one, but two large wind farm developers – one at each side of the village, as both go to appeal simultaneously in mid-May after yet again being refused by the ERYC Planning Committee.

Local democracy is worth fighting for, local voices are important and should be heard, alas this was clearly not the previous Labour Governments understanding, when they trampled all over local democratically elected Councillors, hopefully now that centralist government with its complete lack of understanding of rural issues has been thrown out. The new Coalition Government with its Localism agenda will hopefully give us a fairer hearing.

How ironic the number of times (like today), that I drive over the Ouse Bridge to see the wind turbines west of Airmyn at a standstill, but Drax in the background still churns out the megawatts.”

A fair solution required to the Sutton-on-Derwent weight limit conundrum

2011-03-23T23:16:00.004Z

Today, Sutton on Derwent Parish Council presented a petition to the ERYC Environment and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee asking that the trial weight limit on the bridge over the River Derwent in the village is made permanent, two members of the Parish Council appeared and gave an interesting presentation in support of their case.

I also appeared before the committee and spoke against the proposal, because the result of the trial weight limit has been to pass the HGVs movements from Sutton on Derwent to the Howdenshire villages of Bubwith, Foggathorpe and Holme on Spalding Moor.

Mr Kirby, the Chairman of Sutton on Derwent the Parish Council spoke very vividly about the dangers of HGVs coming through his village prior to the weight limit, sadly what he was describing is what we presently see in Bubwith. This is more than a case of moving the problem from one village to another - in the past all villages had a share of the HGV movements but now as a result of closing off one route - the villages on the other routes have been left with a greater problem. For me it is a case of balance, bearing in mind the old adage that for every action there is always a reaction – but which can be disproportionate, as we have seen in this case.

To re-route HGVs through rural villages such as Bubwith, Holme on Spalding Moor, Foggathorpe and Harlthorpe not only passes the problem from one community onto others, but also has a detrimental effect on both the businesses that have to foot the extra fuel costs and increased travelling times, and the wider community with the increased emissions associated with lorries travelling the extra distances. I do not think this fits with the ERYC policy of reducing emissions through reduced journeys.

Mr Kirby also raised the issue of HGVs leaving Howden and Goole and their Sat Navs sending them up the B1228 instead of the route to York via the M62 and the A19. It was acknowledged that changing Sat Nav routing can be difficult and somewhat long term, but my suggestion was accepted and agreed for the ERYC to write to all the large companies in Goole and Howden handling large numbers of HGV orders, highlighting the negative impact of HGV movements on the B1228 and for them to ask the operators to avoid this route.

The Committee agreed to look again at this issue of the trial weight limit on the Sutton on Derwent Bridge in the future, as more information around HGV movements in the area, and comments from residents become available.

Ultimately we need a solution that is fair to all communities.

Laxton Flood Relief Scheme Moving Forward

2011-03-22T08:17:00.005Z

The flood prevention scheme for Laxton is moving ahead, as a member of the Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board I have continued to press the case for Laxton and Eastrington.

I am happy to say that at this time the scheme has so far survived the axe and the money is still in the budget with the Environment Agency. The Engineers employed by the Drainage Board have over the past couple of weeks been taking levels and measurements in Laxton.

The scheme is important as it involves replacing the existing tidal door with one that is less prone to jamming, increasing storage capacity in the dykes, and a system for pumping the water into the river rather than just the gravity outfall we see at present, meaning that the surface water can enter the river at all times rather than be dependent on the state of the tide.

It will also ensure that the levels in the dykes surrounding the villages can be lowered to create a fall through the system, ensuring that the flood risk to Laxton and Eastrington residents is reduced.

(Pictured with Laxton Parish Council Chairman Win Collins)

Re-opening (yes RE-OPENING!) of the Eastrington Shop and Post Office

2011-03-21T16:20:00.006Z

Great news for Eastrington residents – this morning saw the RE-OPENING (yes re-opening!) of the Eastrington Shop and Post Office. This is the first Post Office to re-open in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

(pictured with Sub-Post Master John Shepherd and David Davis MP who performed the re-opening honours)

This would not have happened without the drive and determination of Gilberdyke Sub-Post Master John Shepherd who has taken on the Eastrington office in addition to Gilberdyke.

When the post office and shop closed residents feared for the worst as a valuable asset to the community was lost, a number of people voiced their concerns to both John Shepherd and I, with many not realising just how important the shop was until it closed.

Ironically the Post Office closed but the post box didn’t, therefore Eastrington people could post a letter in the village but not buy a stamp.

I really think this is a real win for Eastrington and seriously good news, and I’m sure this valuable village resource will go from strength to strength.

Interestingly the ‘Post Office Local’ concept means that it’s open after hours and seven days per week - not just as a shop - but a Post Office too.

Major Roadworks begin on Holme On Spalding Moor's High Street and Selby Road

2011-03-17T20:59:00.016Z

Holme On Spalding Moor (HOSM) residents will have noticed that the East Riding of Yorkshire Council has begun repair work on A163 Selby Road, with some of the most damaged sections being excavated and patched, and some sections of dropped kerb entrances replaced.

(pictured with the Council staff carrying out the preparation work at Rowan Court/Selby Road junction)

This work is in preparation for surface dressing to be commenced in the middle of June, with the work held back and programmed to avoid clashing with the major repairs to Boothferry Bridge - as the A163 is one of the diversion routes.

Also in mid June we will see the major works required to High Street which will involve some rebuilding of the road, including removing and replacing the top 160mm (6”) in places.

The first part of the HOSM programme is the considerable works involved in the resurfacing of the A614 Rush Corner, which is due to commence on 4th June 2011.

During all the works there will be temporary road closures through the narrow sections for safety reasons, and the ERYC will organise these closures to commence at 9.15am until 3.15pm in order to minimise disruption to commuter traffic. Local diversions will be put in place for local traffic and light vehicles.

First the flooding then two severe winters, there is little wonder that some of the roads, not just in and around HOSM, but throughout the East Riding are breaking up, and this is compounded by the fact that the roads were never designed for today's HGVs.

Clearly this is not a matter of filling in potholes, some sections of roads in the East Riding are so damaged they will have to be rebuilt as we will see in HOSM's High Street, and some £20million will be spent on road repairs throughout the county over the next twelve months.

The cost of highway maintenance is funded through road tax, however the amount the last Government paid back to local authorities was much less than they took in taxation and not sufficient to maintain the roads.”

“To repair and rebuild our damaged roads will take time, but East Riding of Yorkshire Conservative Councillors have made a pledge that we as a Council will undertake this work”.

North Cave litter pick yields almost 50 bags of rubbish

2011-03-13T15:15:00.014Z

A litter pick was carried out on sides of the B1230 as it passes through the village of North Cave, this as part of the ‘Wallingfen Way Project - a scheme to improve and develop the road as it continues through the villages of Gilberdyke and Newport as well as North Cave.

Many thanks to the 21 people who gave their time free of charge, including Parish Councillors, members of North Cave in Bloom, First Responders, the Womens Institute and other people who took part in wanting the village to be clear of unwanted litter and rubbish. (you're all great!).

We collected almost 50 bags of litter, plus a lot of other rubbish, including goodly amounts of vehicle parts.

I am told that my 2½ hours raised £16.68 in matched funding from the LEADER programme, with the other volunteers achieving the same. This money has been made available for this worthwhile project and will be initially spent on landscaping, and the planting of shrubs and trees along the B1230 through our villages.

The Coast, Wolds, Wetlands and Waterways LEADER funding programme was launched in April of last year. The area covers most of the rural East Riding of Yorkshire as well as parts of Ryedale and Scarborough.

Special thanks to North Cave Parish Council Chairman Steve Skipsey (pictured) although not able to pick up the litter, played a key role in organising the morning’s activities.

Staff proud to work for the East Riding of Yorkshire Council

2011-03-11T08:11:00.005Z

The East Riding of Yorkshire Council conducted its annual workforce survey in November 2010, the 2,769 responses showed a positive increase in some areas, notably in pride in working for the Council which has increased by 3% to 72%.

This is very positive if coupled with the attendance rates and average days lost to sickness falling to around 7.5 days per year, this despite the incidences of swine flu and other winter viruses, plus the bad weather. These figures are something the Council staff should be extremely proud of, and compare very well with most Local Authorities and other public services.

I think the East Riding of Yorkshire Council employees do a terrific job and are a credit to the Authority. The Council has placed itself in a stronger position than many other local authorities by anticipating and planning carefully for funding reductions before they were announced by the Government in December. The Council has been asked to find £30 million of savings over the next four years, but most importantly has already approved savings of £9.5million which will be achieved through projects to improve productivity and service delivery.

The budget approved by council will result in the reduction of up to 145 posts across the Council over the next two years although this will be lower through redeployment and retraining. This compares very favourably with our neighbouring authorities which in some cases are looking at four figure job losses.

What is particularly galling is the posturing and scare mongering of Goole’s Labour Coucillors in last week’s Goole Times when they ‘estimated a further 500 council jobs would have to be cut’ – SOMETHING THAT IS COMPLETELY UNTRUE. They have both had plenty of opportunities to raise this during the Council’s budget setting process and the last Council meeting, but failed to do so – in fact if I recall correctly the Leader of the Labour group complimented the Council on its strong financial position.

What the two Goole Labour Councillors should consider is the effect these untrue scare stories have on the moral of the Council employees and their families, and they should certainly not forget that it was their previous Labour Government that got us into this mess in the first place.

No reduction in fire appliance crewing - as Fire Chief goes back to the drawing board

2011-03-07T08:20:00.005Z

As one of the Conservative Councillors who vehemently opposed the downsizing of provision at the Goole Fire Station in July 2008, it will come as little surprise that I strongly opposed the general thrust of the proposals to reduce spending by some £7million being put forward by the Humberside Fire Chief to the Humberside Fire Authority members who met this past week.

(picture with David Davis MP on a visit to Goole Fire Station)

The Chief’s plan for the reduction of Fire Appliance crewing down from 5 fire-fighters down to 4 was most contentious - and in this respect I am grateful that the Fire Authority members have listened to what many people said as part of the consultation process, and rejected this key proposal.

Unfortunately my other major concern for changing of the crewing arrangements for specialist appliances attending road traffic collisions, was approved by the Fire Authority members.

But I can accept the proposals for changes to the Command Unit crewing and technical rescue fire station crewing arrangements, and also changes to the Operational Command to give a more flexible duty system.

Fire Chief Frank Duffield is quoted as saying “We have to look at all of the options; I am disappointed the members have chosen to reject some, but I understand they are responding to the consultation. The authority has now tasked me with finding that shortfall, so we will be going back to the drawing board and come up with further suggestions.”

The Government has made it clear that the cuts in public spending following the Comprehensive Spending Review should not, where possible, reduce front line services but rather that savings should be made through further partnership working, cutting back office support, curbing excessive spending and eradicating economic wastage.

“When the Fire Chief goes back to the drawing board I would suggest that instead of looking at cuts to front line services, more emphasis should be given to reducing non-operational officers and by exploring local partnership arrangements with other public services. I hope that lessons are learnt from the scrapping of the plans for a Regional Call Centre in West Yorkshire that the Fire and Rescue Service does not go down the regionalisation route to look for further savings. I believe it is essential that Humberside Fire and Rescue Service look at improved localised partnership working as a driver to cut costs, as stated in their own Strategic Plan.”

Subsidised buses from Bubwith and HOSM to Woldgate College to continue

2011-03-06T10:25:00.003Z

As a result of many Holme On Spalding Moor (HOSM) and Bubwith parents raising the issue of the continued funding for the school buses from the villages to Pocklington's Woldgate College, I called a meeting with the College Head Jeff Bower and Business Manager Hugh Peake, and ERYC transport and education Officers to thrash out a solution to enable the subsidised service for pupils choosing to attend the College to continue.

A resolution was reached which means the current arrangement where pupils pay £180 per year is extended for the next academic year 2011/12, and which fits with the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s (ERYC) policy for bussing pupils into a school from outside the catchment area.

The Head confirmed that this will be a “rolling arrangement subject to review each year”.

The College has accepted responsibility for those pupils travelling on the bus from HOSM and Bubwith and will continue to recover funding from them as at present. It is important that the College be accountable for organising the allocation of places for HOSM and Bubwith children, as this will ensure that the buses are operated in a controlled way.

There are two buses involved: 1W that serves Bubwith through to Holme on Spalding Moor and 2W that has been rerouted to pick up in Holme on Spalding Moor.

Parents must inform the College of those HOSM and Bubwith pupils who wish to travel on the bus 1W (to a maximum of 38), and those HOSM pupils who wish to travel on 2W bus (maximum 28). The college will then need to provide the ERYC with names, addresses, DOB and photo ID by 19th August, 2011.

The ERYC will send out bus passes to home addresses prior to the start of the autumn term.
A strict no pass no travel scheme will be operated. If there are more than 66 passengers’ alternative arrangements will need to be made by the College and parents as no additional pupils will be allowed to travel on these buses.

As we have seen during the present year, some pupils will no longer wish to travel on the buses leaving spaces for those that do. At any time over the year if a pass is returned another pass can be issued to another pupil.

“This is certainly a good compromise with parents continuing to have choice as to where their children are educated whilst contributing a nominal amount for the transport cost, with the College picking up the remainder and the ERYC taking care of the tendering process and some of the administration – a great example of what can be achieved by sitting around a table and working out the issues.”

Proud to yet again be part of the 'Marie Curie Great Daffodil Appeal’

2011-03-05T17:08:00.005Z

It was great to yet again be part of the ‘Great Daffodil Appeal’ raising much needed funds to help Marie Curie Nurses care for people with cancer and other terminal illnesses. Five wonderful ladies and I gave two hours of our time in Howden dressed ‘appropriately’ in yellow hats and tabards raising money by handing out small cotton lapel daffodils. In the two hours we managed to raise £405.73

This was followed by lunch with the five ladies who turned out to be ‘ladies who lunch’ - to be in the company of not one, not two, not even three, nor four, but FIVE charming ladies has made my whole week!

(Pictured with Jackie Cox - one of the 'Ladies who Lunch')

Special thanks to the local Marie Curie fundraising superstar that is local Pauline Hornsey for organising everything – she is certainly one of my heroes!

I have again committed to the Humber Bridge midnight walk during the summer – and promised Pauline that this year I will take part dressed as Elvis!

Y-us? - A Charity devoted to supporting family members suffering as a result of a loved one’s drug abuse

2011-02-28T10:43:00.007Z

1 in 8 people are seriously damaged by a drug addict in their family

But they are very unlikely to admit it!

Y…us? is devoted to helping and supporting the millions of family members whose lives have been devastated by one or more of them succumbing to long term hard drug addiction.

Its priority is to provide an environment where members and appropriate guests can communicate or meet in a caring, supportive and secure environment, exchange experiences and suggestions, gain comfort from the knowledge they are not alone, and realise that life can be worth living once more. It also provides training and information as to how the style and content of their communications with the addict can significantly help or hinder long term recovery.

Angie Chalkley (pictured above), has for 16 years battled with the crippling effects of her son’s addiction to heroin. She did not cause it, she cannot cure it and she can’t control it, but it has ruined her life and that of millions of people like her. Addicts have plenty of ways of seeking help, their families have virtually none!

Angie says,

"A few months ago I created Y-us?, a Humberside Charity devoted to supporting family members suffering as a result of a loved one’s drug abuse. Due to the stigma involved these people are largely unseen and unheard, but their numbers are huge.

I desperately want to work with people across the region to help improve the lives of thousands of people like myself, while giving partner organisations a chance to contribute to and enhance their profile within their community. Some of you will no doubt already be aware of the TV, radio, newspaper and magazine pieces that have spread the Y-us? message. There are many promotional opportunities available, and our strong media and political presence means we can together create a win/win result. "

You can learn more at http://www.y-us.org.uk/, then please contact Angie to discuss how you can work together at Y-us? angie@y-us.org.uk

p.s. If you have sympathy for this cause, please do send this message to your own database of contacts to spread the word.

COULD YOU BE AN ENTREPRENEUR? - Presentation to East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Young Advisors

2011-02-25T08:37:00.006Z

This week I was invited to speak to the East Riding Council’s Young Advisors on the subject of entrepreneurship and business planning. This was more in my role as a director of my own company rather than as a Councillor. I really enjoyed the afternoon and I’m sure some of the young people present will go on to become successful entrepreneurs in the future.

It was a somewhat miandering and interactive presentation ranging from Education to Dragon's Den. The following are my notes as promised.

COULD YOU BE AN ENTREPRENEUR?

What are the 12 characteristics of successful entrepreneurs? You needn't possess all of these characteristics; few people do. Many of these can be developed or learnt as you enjoy your journey as a business person – remember business is a journey - it is certainly not a destination. It’s sometimes easier and less painful to learn from the mistakes of others – this is where it can be advantageous going into business in partnership with someone who can bring some of the following characteristics that you perhaps don’t have…. Yet!

1. Confidence

Not be confused with cockiness or bragging (remember, the quietest person in the room might also be the most confident).
Confidence refers to having belief in yourself and your ideas. This is essential, especially when things get rough. Most people gain confidence by creating a positive habit. I developed confidence by listening to others, always looking for the positive in any situation. Listen to people who are where you want to be – if you want to be a millionaire should you take advice from your mates at the pub or from someone who’s already a millionaire?
Invest time building your confidence as part of your preparation to embark on the journey of running a business. Always concentrate on positives and successes, take a public speaking course, and spend as much time with business people as possible.

2. Motivation

Without the reason why – don’t bother!
It’s the reason why, the dream, the desire is what makes you choose to become an entrepreneur. Personally I like to be in control of my own destiny, I like to do what I want to do, I want the satisfaction of doing it my way, I want to feel proud and I want to be admired – I also want to make some money.

3. Self-Awareness

Be aware of what you can and can’t do, recognise your strengths and weaknesses and work to your strengths and work on your weaknesses. If you can’t write get someone to help you, if you can’t handle accounts find someone who can – go out and do what’s productive and if need be - buy the other stuff in.

4. Be Competitive

You don’t have to always be first, biggest or best – you don’t have to smash the competition. It does mean that, in business, there are usually other people trying to do what you do except better, faster or cheaper. The key is to accept this and respond accordingly. Are you willing to put in the time to be successful? Do you use your initiative, can you seize the opportunity and be persistent?

5. Don’t be afraid of hard work

There is a significant time commitment to being an entrepreneur – many work and play very hard. People tell me I’m a workaholic, for me it’s never been about working nine to five especially in the beginning… but it does become a habit that’s difficult to break!
I thrive on hard work, I live with stress, and I never switch off – but I do know how to relax and play.

6. Never Stop Learning

The most important – the day you stop learning is the time to die. Keep up to day – as I said before always try to learn from others – less painful to learn from their mistakes than your own.

7. Persistence

Don’t be blown off course, have that strong desire to succeed, to work hard and to overcome difficulties. Nothing ever goes as planned.

8. Be focussed

It's important to be able to face the irritations and aggravations, and to be able to find solutions to the problems and then get on with your business.

9. Inventiveness

Always be on the lookout, see what could be and recognise the need. See the opportunity perhaps it’s for something that’s not be produced before. Train yourself to look out of the box – read and listen to successful inventors

10. Be aware of risk

To be an entrepreneurs will involve a degree of risk – but not overly so. High risk gives high pressure and high stress – and can lead to frustration and disappointment
I’ve not taken a great deal of risk – I’ve weighed the odds, I spread bet with advertising and have people working for me in case I go sick but other than that I calculate risk.
Good preparation (creating a business plan) should demonstrate your exposure to risk and your chances for success, if the calculation gives a disproportionate amount of risk – why would you proceed?

11. The ability to plan

“Those who fail to plan – plan to fail” – never jump in with both feet unless you’ve checked the temperature and depth of the water. Yes there are times to "fly by the seat of your pants" and it can work. But there is less risk to your success if you plan ahead.

12. Develop your communication skills

The essential element, one of the most successful people I know can hardly read or write – but he can communicate like you would not believe. Be able to articulate your dreams and visions to others – but most importantly have people feel comfortable in offering you advice and help – develop the skill of listening…. Very difficult for most politicians I must admit!
Learn to speak clearly and effectively, use humour were appropriate – develop the skills of communicating both one-on-one and in groups.
Learn to use the telephone correctly… Whenever someone asks “how are you ?” - There is the temptation to just say “fine” – why not try something different, how about…. “Never better” or “Hey you wouldn’t believe it, any better and I just couldn’t cope”, or “any better and I’d be twins”… what does that say to the other person on the line??? I’ll leave it up to you to decide!
Writing – always get someone to check any letter or important email - and never send an email after mid-night or when you’re angry or upset – I always wait till the morning and read it through after a night’s sleep!!

13. Luck

I’m a firm believer in making one’s own luck.

There is a great story about Gary Player, the South African golf champion, hitting a hole in one at a tournament.

“Lucky shot!” exclaimed one of the gallery. “Yes,” retorted Player, “and you know what, the more I practice, the luckier I seem to get.”

Newport Parish Council ploughs money from fishing rights back into community projects

2011-02-14T23:34:00.007Z

Money raised by people fishing in the Market Weighton canal at Newport is now being ploughed back into the village by the Parish Council.

Last September the Parish Council obtained the fishing rights on a section of the Market Weighton Canal as it passes through the village, from the main road bridge north to Seavy Carr Drain. To date some £930 has so far been raised to be spent in the village, this is in addition to the welcome additional trade brought to local shops, the butchers, Fish and Chip shop, and pubs by the visiting anglers.

In early 2009, at the request of residents and Newport Parish Council I managed to obtain clarification from the Environment Agency as to the ownership of the Market Weighton canal, who was responsible for the banks, who owned the fishing rights, and what happened to the money paid by people to fish.

It was confirmed to me that until a few years ago, Hull and District Anglers Association paid rent to the Environment Agency and its predecessors for the fishing rights. The Anglers Association requested fishing platforms to be built, but the Environment Agency however were unsure of who owned the canal banks, and from this time on, I am led to believe the Association refused to pay the lease to the Agency presumably because they assumed that if the Agency did not own the banks then they did not own the fishing rights, although this had not stopped the Anglers Association continuing to charge people for fishing.

Needless to say that after considerable effort, particularly by Newport Parish Council, the fishing rights have been taken back and returned to the community.

There have been 5 matches and almost 200 tickets sold since the rights were obtained by the Parish Council – this was despite some revenue being lost due to flood water and ice. The costs to administer the fishing rights including the lease to the Environment Agency runs at less than £150 per year, although it must be stressed that the Londis supermarket makes no charge for issuing the tickets - which is a terrific gesture on their part.

The fishing is not restricted to any side of the canal and there are no pegs provided, there have been some issues with parking (which is being looked at by the Parish Council), litter and toilet facilities which require addressing - but on the whole many positive comments have been made.

I fully support the Parish Council’s efforts to extend their fishing rights further along the stretch of the canal northwards towards the River Foulness, and their plans make more leisure and amenity use of the canal as it runs through the village.

This is a great example of a community raising additional funds for public use, as well as contributing to the sustainability of the local shops and pubs in Newport.

Sutton Bridge Weight Limit causes increased HGV movements in Bubwith, Holme on Spalding Moor, Harlthorpe and Foggathorpe

2011-02-12T12:36:00.014Z

Many will be aware that after the work was undertaken to the bridge at Sutton on Derwent a temporary weight limit was imposed. Residents have confirmed this has resulted in increased HGV movements through Bubwith, Holme on Spalding Moor, Foggathorpe and Harlthorpe as many of the lorries leaving the Breighton Airfield Industrial Estate travelling north to York now travel through these Howdenshire villages on their way to join with the A19 or the A1079.

This weight limit on Sutton Bridge is temporary and of an experimental nature, and can, but does not have to run for a period of up to 18 months. The first 6 months of the experiment allows for comments, objections or letters of support to be made to the legal order for the weight limit which is in place.

I certainly do not support this ill thought out experiment, and would like to see it removed as soon as possible.

During the last few months many comments have been received by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council both in favour and not in favour of the limit.

Once the 6 month mark is reached (in the middle of March) comments will be reviewed and further discussions will take place with York City Council at this stage to further develop a way forward.

If you wish to comment, object to, or support this weight limit please pass on your comments to Paula Danby (the ERYC Officer dealing with this), by email at paula.danby@eastriding.gov.uk or writing to Paula at: County Hall, Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, HU17 9BA.

To re-route HGVs through rural villages such as Bubwith, Holme on Spalding Moor, Foggathorpe and Harlthorpe not only passes the problem from one community onto others, but also has a detrimental effect on both the businesses that have to foot the extra fuel costs and increased travelling times, and the wider community with the increased emissions associated with lorries travelling the extra distances. I do not think this fits with the ERYC policy of reducing emissions through reduced journeys.

Decision on 23 affordable housing application in Holme on Spalding Moor deferred

2011-02-10T09:00:00.013Z

This week I appeared before the East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Western Area Planning Committee to speak against a proposal by Chevin Housing for 23 affordable houses in Holme on Spalding Moor.

The decision of the Committee was to defer and reconsider at the next meeting after a site visit.

I had appeared before the Committee a short while ago to speak in favour of an affordable housing application in village, for 4 dwellings on a small plot of undeveloped land, and of such a scale so as to be incorporated into the community with relative ease.

This is not the case for this 23 dwelling proposal and I pressed the Committee to give significant weight the rate at which a community can absorb affordable housing.

The application had been compared with a similar scheme in Newport, something I fully supported – but was very different because of that community’s capacity to absorb the properties and locally available employment.

I had spent a lot of time looking at this application, when previous sites in the village where identified but fell through, and certainly before this site was identified – I attended the public consultation event and have listened to many, many HOSM people.

Almost all accept the need for affordable housing in HOSM, especially for young people. There is a big difference between people who presently live in the village or have a close connection with it wanting affordable housing and people from outside the community indicating HOSM as their preferred village in which to live. On balance the figures demonstrate a need from within those living in the village – But I would certainly take exception to this need being described as massive.

I recognise the excellent work done by HOSM Parish Council in looking to address the affordable housing need in the village. Without their drive and determination this proposal would never have got off the ground.

The site selection is controversial to say the least – the whole process has raised a number of very series issues and the behaviour of the developer is not something they should be proud of – including sponsoring the Parish Council Magazine in which they announced their plans, resulting in the Parish Council finding themselves in a position that, under advice, didn’t even comment on the application when it was before them.

There are numerous better sites for housing in the village – I am led to believe this was not the first or even second choice. It is on the outskirts of the village a considerable walk from what most believe is the centre of the village. For the applicant to cynically re-define the centre of the village as the school in order to support the proposal is nothing short of a ‘manipulation of logic’, it is embarrassing and it has not gone down at all well with people.

The site is wet, neighbouring Bailywood Close have had drainage issues – I am led to believe one of the delays in getting this application before the Committee has been around drainage. Yes any site can be drained – But what is confusing here is that the flood risk assessment asks that soakaway tests are carried out and the results submitted to the Environment Agency – this has quite simply not been done and I can see no reason what so ever why it hasn’t. So how can this be considered acceptable when it clearly isn’t.

I have spoken to many residents, and when one considers the population of HOSM of 1,286 households, to have a total of 636 residents (that’s people who live in the village not in other communities), opposing this sends out a very clear message – there is not the support for this proposal for 23 affordable houses.

The majority are not NIMBY’s - the proposed development is not near them, but they recognise the pressures that will be put on local services if an extra 23 families move into the village.

The one letter of support pretty much nails the issue “Smaller infill plots of 2 or 3 houses would be more acceptable”. The Planning Committee report was shows that that even back in 2006 it was suggested that a phased development of 10 per year would be appropriate – this is what is needed rather than this large affordable housing development.

If this was a private developer wanting to build 23 houses outside of the village development limit – would it have even got as far as the Committee – I suggest not?

I suggest Chevin go back to the drawing board, consult with and take the community with them, and find a more suitable site - or preferably sites in HOSM.

UPDATE

Affordable Housing - A disappointing result at the second meeting of the planning committee after the site visit

As Ward Councillor I again spoke against the Chevin Housing planning application for 23 affordable houses when it was heard by the ERYC Planning Committee after the initial deferment, not that I didn’t support the need for affordable housing, but I had concerns with the location and as to how the village services could cope with a large influx of people at one time that we will see with such a significant development. I would have personally liked to have seen much more of a phased process - so the families moving into affordable housing could be integrated into the community at a reasonable rate – preventing a ‘them and us’ situation.

I thought local democracy would have won the day, but it didn’t. I feel very disappointed for all the 636 HOSM people who had taken the time to write an objection to this application. I have spoken to many HOSM people, and when you consider the population of HOSM is 1,286 households, to have a total of 636 people, opposing this sent out a very clear message – there was not local support for this proposal for 23 affordable houses.

The behaviour of the developer Chevin was not something they should be proud of, particularly in cynically redefining the centre of the village as the school to justify their choice of site.

We will now have to make sure that the new homes go to HOSM people or those who have a close connection with the village.

If anyone knows of people who fit this criterion and are interested in affordable housing please pass me their details.

Potholes, Potholes and more Potholes

2011-02-05T18:18:00.004Z

As a result of the recent prolonged cold snap and combination of freezing, thawing and freezing, there is little wonder that some of the roads around Howdenshire and the East Riding are breaking up, and this is compounded by the fact that many of the roads were never designed for today's volumes of traffic and large HGVs.

This is not a matter of filling in potholes; some sections of roads in the East Riding are so damaged they will have to be rebuilt.

The cost of highway maintenance is funded through road tax, however the amount the last Labour Government paid back to local authorities was much less than they took in taxation and not sufficient to maintain the roads.

The cost to repair and rebuild our damaged roads will be huge, and it will take time, but East Riding of Yorkshire Councillors have made a pledge that the Council will undertake this work. .

We are not waiting for the damage to be reported, the Council has more than a dozen crack teams filling potholes as they go around - We think this is very much a common sense, practical short term solution as we cannot repair properly until the weather allows, and the full extent to the damage is known.

But motorists across the region are still being asked to report any potholes they come across to the relevant authorities. Potholes on minor and residential roads are dealt with by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council while those on major roads including the A63 and M62 are dealt with by the Highways Agency.

To report a pothole to the ERYC please call 0845 600 1 666
or email: highways.customer.care@eastriding.gov.uk
For major routes please call the Highways Agency on 08457 504030
or email: ha_info@highways.gsi.gov.uk

Yorkshire Water working in Eastrington to reduce flood risk

2011-02-05T10:38:00.005Z

Yorkshire Water contractors have really progressed since starting work on a project to reduce the flood risk to a number of properties in High Street, Eastrington and, hopefully, to reduce the pressure on the sewage system elsewhere in the village. The work is expected to last for 3 to 4 months in total.

High Street was closed for a period of time and there was also a period of one way traffic, controlled by traffic lights, whilst new drains were installed.

(pictured on a visit to the site)

The Yorkshire Water Scheme involves the installation of two large underground storage tanks along the eastern boundary of the playing field. They will be used to store excess water at times of heavy rainfall which will then be pumped back into the drainage system at a controlled rate when the pressure on the village sewer network reduces.

On completion a small control cubicle, vent pipe and manhole lids will be all that is visible. The playing field will be returned to its original condition and Yorkshire Water has said they will do everything possible to avoid any disruption for the playing field users and that Eastrington Show will not be affected.

As a temporary measure the main ingress into the village hall and car park will be through the entrance known as Jubilee Gates, which will lead also to an area of additional parking places by the cricket score box. It is hoped that by using care and consideration during this period that damage to the field will be minimised, and that once the work has been completed the entrance, driveway and car parking area will be back to normal.

“I am led to believe that a small amount of compensation will be payable by Yorkshire Water and current expectations are that this will be used to improve the village hall car park.”

“Whist appreciating the inconvenience to road users, especially those like myself that forgot the road was closed; the permanent benefits to the properties to the west along High Street would appear to outweigh the minor disruption. Having seen the flooding to some of the properties, and water coming up through the manholes and running down High Street during times of heavy rainfall in the past - I certainly welcome this work.”

Eastrington Village Shop to re-open

2011-02-03T12:06:00.003Z

Having listened to Eastrington residents and spoken to Gilberdyke Post Office owner John Shepherd a short time after Eastrington Post Office and shop closed; I certainly welcome his plans to re-open this valuable village facility. I don’t think people appreciated just how important it was to the community until it closed.
John realised the need when people from Eastrington started to use the Gilberdyke Post Office, telling him how difficult it was for some of the older people to get to Gilberdyke.
I am led to believe that there is a few weeks to go before the formal agreements are signed, but once open we will see the shop containing a ‘Post Office Local’ - which is somewhat different to a fully-fledged post office, but offering most of the same services.

For the most part it will be a village shop with the post office facilities at the till, therefore being more economical to run than the previous arrangement.

The big advantage is that some post office facilities, including buying stamps, posting letters and withdrawing cash will be available not just Monday to Friday - but also Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 1pm.

We hear a great deal of bad news concerning rural villages losing services, but in this case we have very good news as we see a service returning. I am confident that Eastrington people will support the ‘Eastrington Village Shop’ as it is to be known.

Gilberdyke Flood Relief Project Begins!

2011-02-02T21:03:00.011Z

After all the organisational work, all the arguments and all the hassle - construction work has finally started on the Gilberdyke Flood Relief project this morning. Those who were affected by the June 2007 floods will, I’m sure, be looking forward to the work being completed and the risk of future flooding being vastly reduced.

Once the new culvert is installed there will be less pressure on the Yorkshire Water sewage system (into which an amount of the surface water discharges at present) and the other surface water drains, therefore this culvert will have a positive effect for most of the village.

This is the first of the three phases and the section which takes the surface water from most of the village, once completed the other two phases can then follow on soon after, looking towards a completion date for the whole system in the spring.

There will obviously be some minor disruption during the undertaking of the work, some people have raised the issue of the pipes being stored near the Health Centre and another raised the issue of the spoil being temporarily piled at the side of the public footpath. Hopefully the pipes will soon be buried in the ground and once the job in completed the spoil and waste materials will all be removed.

This work is a great example of a community working in partnership with organisations such as the Parish Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council and the Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board.

Many thanks to all those people who have stuck with this.

(Pictured with the contractors who had to hand dig the first section)

Neighbourhood Watch in Eastrington

2011-01-18T16:58:00.007Z

Last night I was invited along with Tony Froggatt, the former Neighbourhood Watch Development Officer for the East Riding to a meeting of the Eastrington Neighbourhood Watch.

Neighbourhood Watch schemes are very positive, with the Eastrington scheme being very much a good example of how residents can have a significant input into crime prevention by being the ‘eyes and ears’ within their communities.

(pictured with Neighbourhood Watch Members Francoise Siganos, Tony Froggatt, Sue Boyeson and Gina Walker)

I was asked to present Sue Boyeson with a belated award from HANWaG (which sadly ceased to exist from last autumn). The honour is the Norman Godfrey Award which is given to Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators selected by a panel of experts with a community and crime reduction back ground.

The award is given to one person in the Humberside Police Authority Area who have given their time energy and commitment to their community, which Sue as given over 20 years. During this time not only has she had a family to run but she has given her time to improve the quality of her village and local residents. Sue has also had a difficult time with her parents being ill which led to a difficult decision of stand down as the area coordinator. Sue continues to be active with other community projects in her community.

Sue said, “Last night was a positive meeting and I was pleased to see Tony and Paul who used their precious time to join us. I woke feeling as though I'd dreamt the evening; it wasn't until I saw the award on the mantelpiece that it hit home. I am delighted with the award and feel that it is a positive way to promote the benefits of volunteering ones time. Also to highlight the need to continue the hard work that everyone manages to achieve in Eastrington."

Sue added, “There isn't an' i' in team - this award, I feel is for everyone involved with Eastrington Neighbourhood Watch.”

Has the ‘Big Society’ crept up on us this winter?

2011-01-12T17:24:00.003Z

Many people ask what the ‘Big Society’ is all about?

I for one, think the ‘Big Society’ has its roots in the past - when we lived in a different world, a world where we had a strong sense of community, where people willingly helped each other and took responsibility, and where we didn’t have restrictive Health and Safety legislation or the ‘Compensation culture’.

If it is about people coming together to help themselves and others within their communities - what occurred before Christmas with Parish and Town Councils, volunteers, residents, farmers and businesses all working together to clear the snow and ice, and grit roads within their communities – could well be a great example of the ‘Big Society’.

We saw 112 Town and Parish Councils across the East Riding taking full advantage of the £175,000 made available by the East Riding Local Strategic Partnership and administered by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council. Not all applications were approved to the full amount requested but all town and Parish Councils that submitted a bid were awarded some of the grant. – with £113,235 being awarded to date.

Some Parish Councils were proactive before the money was made available, and had already taken the lead in organising teams of volunteers - including diggers and equipment provided by local businesses and farmers to clear the snow and ice … in these cases the funding certainly enhanced the work those Parishes were already doing - particularly in allowing them to buy in salt and grit, but most importantly it provided an incentive for other Parish Councils to become involved.

Those residents who picked up shovels to clear snow and grit footpaths and streets independent of the Parish Councils should also be recognised for the tremendous work they did.

As a Ward member I was very proud to spend time working with some of the Howdenshire Parish Councils, residents and the volunteers - I was impressed with the way so many people were able to achieve so much in a relatively short space of time. (pictured with the Holme on Spalding Moor volunteers)

Before going further - I would like to recognise the sterling job carried out by the Council’s gritting teams in keeping the strategic road network of over 800 miles clear during the recent period of heavy snow, without the commitment and expertise of our staff, from the loaders and drivers up to the managers - this would not have been possible.

But whilst the council strives to ensure a strategic network of key routes are open many roads and paths are left untreated. This is where Parish and Town Councils, local farmers and contractors, residents and volunteers were able to make a positive contribution towards helping their local communities.

If one looks back to the past, previous Authorities did things slightly differently in having farmers with snow plough attachments on the front of a tractor on standby to clear the snow from minor roads. I am not saying this is something this Council should look to do directly, but I do know that two Howdenshire Parishes have undertaken to in the future employ a local farmer to clear snow from the minor roads in the Parish as soon as practicable to do so after it falls. There is also significant interest from local businesses in getting involved in this too. Providing the tractors are insured and they are allowed to use red diesel for the task, it would seem a win-win local solution to a local problem, and perhaps something we should look to develop and promote further.

To further support residents, the council also provides salt in bins or piles at many locations throughout the East Riding (some town and parish councils also fund salt bins in addition to these). The council fill the bins at the start of each year and again when they are notified that they need refilling. However, the speed at which they can be refilled does depend on prevailing conditions with the priority being treatment of the defined roads.

I hope the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Environment and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be able to look at this whole issue and more guidance be developed for communities, farmers and businesses.

Whilst recognising the positive impact of the £175,000 of funding, I feel that possibly more important was what the Council did prior to this when issuing the guidance on clearing snow and ice from footpaths sent to all Ward members and Parish Councils at the very beginning of December – many will recall it was a leaflet appropriately titled ‘CLEARING SNOW’. This was produced after the Council received many queries from residents, businesses and Town and Parish councils seeking guidance on how to help with snow clearing during periods of bad weather, during the previous winter.

It was also becoming obvious to the managers and Portfolio holder Cllr Matthew Grove that we were facing a large number of residents potentially trapped in their homes by the shear volume of snow fall. It was a case of the council recognising the limitations of our own service and seeking other ways of helping our residents.

I certainly feel this positive guidance went a long way to allay the fears of people being sued and demonstrates how the Council applauds and fully supports such community spirit that we subsequently saw.

I also feel the guidance is in tune with the sea change nationally - which we are seeing under both the ‘Big Society’ and Localism agendas, and shows the Council is engaging with both.

There are countless stories of the good work done by Parish and Town Councils, volunteers and residents. No Town or Parish Councillor is paid to do anything in his or her community, never mind clear snow.

Although the task was great as we had not seen the amount of snow or the freezing temperatures for many a year, there was some criticism that some paths and roads were not cleared or the work not done quickly enough, but it was never going to be possible to remove the snow and ice from every street and footpath. By and large the comments have been positive and people have been grateful for the work having been done. Personally I found the work carried out by the communities to be very humbling.

It has also sent out a clear message that Health and Safety and the ‘Compensation Culture’ is not going to stop communities working together to help each other in times of need – and perhaps the ‘Big Society’ has crept up on us without us realising.

Gilberdyke Flood Relief Scheme - The pipes have been delivered!

2011-01-09T19:19:00.006Z

The pipes have been delivered – this being the first sign of the work starting on the new culvert running behind Gilberdyke’s Scalby Lane and Chestnut Drive, to enable the surface water to run out of the village during times of heavy rainfall.

This is the first phase culvert, that once complete will allow the East Riding of Yorkshire Council to install and connect the next two phases of the new drain up to the properties on Station Road, Westbrook Road and Westbrook Crescent that were flooded in 2007.

The whole project will lessen the flood risk to all properties in the village by reducing the pressure on the Yorkshire Water pumped sewage system during times of heavy rainfall, which we saw during the floods.

There were times in the past 2½ years when I wondered if the village would see this work start, but needless to say after all the obstacles put in the way of the Parish Council and the community as a whole we are moving ahead.

Thanks to Eddy Allen of the Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board, East Riding of Yorkshire Council Drainage Engineers, Gilberdyke Parish Councillors, members of the Gilberdyke Flood Action Group and most importantly the residents for sticking with this through some particularly difficult times.

Happy 2011 to all readers.

2011-01-02T20:14:00.007Z

Many thanks to all for taking the time to read my blog – during the year there has been a steady increase in visits month on month and 102% increase over the previous year. To have well over 3,000 people read my blog in one month is amazing and something I never thought or expected to happen.

2010 has been an interesting year with a great many ups and very few downs. I have enjoyed my role as a Councillor and also as a Conservative over the year, with the obvious highlight being the General Election result in May - especially seeing Andrew Percy returned as the MP after gaining Brigg and Goole from Labour, and David Davis increasing his majority in Haltemprice and Howden.

I have continued to pursue a number of issues and causes close to my heart: The Gilberdyke Flood Prevention Scheme, Agricultural Composting and its associated foul smells in parts of Howdenshire, anti-social behaviour and reoffending, the renewable energy agenda which certainly included windfarms and how the planning system can be improved to see greater distances between turbines and residences, Broadband speeds and the Wallingfen Way Project.

I have very much focused on issues around young people and how their voices can be heard in the decision making processes, including the Question Time Events at the Secondary Schools, and talking to gangs of young people on the streets of Goole and villages and towns across the East Riding. I continue as a Governor at Gilberdyke Primary School and look forward to the challenges ahead as a newly appointed Governor at Howden Secondary School and Technology College

One highlight was certainly being invited to speak to the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce lunch – I can’t ever remember feeling as free in what I said or made to feel as welcome.

Over the year I have been privileged to work with some great fellow Councillors, MPs and Council Officers and Officers from Partner Organisations and business people, Parish Councils and or course the most important people - Gilberdyke, Howdenshire and East Riding Residents who provide me with plenty of casework!

As we move into 2011 there is much to do and some hard work ahead. As a Council we have some tough decisions to make as we cope with reduced funding, but this will hopefully be tempered by the increased powers devolved to the local level though the Localism Bill.

Of course we have the Council Elections in May which will no doubt be an interesting time for us all.

I am not going to make any predictions for the coming year – mainly because I only got 3 ½ out of 10 right for last year - so I don’t want to tempt fate!

Happy New Year to you all!

Council has power to decide if wind turbines are too close to homes

2011-01-01T11:36:00.015Z

Following my motion that was approved by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council at the Wednesday 13th October 2010 Full Council meeting, where I requested that “the Council asks the Secretary of State to give urgent consideration to reviewing the government’s planning guidance on renewable energy as clarification is needed on national minimum distances between wind turbines and affected residences taking into account the size of the turbine.”

In his reply the Minister of State at the department of Energy and Climate Change, Charles Hendry MP says:

“There are no plans for the government to introduce a proximity rule. The assessment of an application to develop a windfarm already includes, amongst other things, an analysis of visual and landscape impacts to ascertain whether the location and height of the wind farm is acceptable.”

“The Government considers that these impacts are best assessed on a case by case basis so that local factors can be taken fully into account, regardless of whether applications are dealt with at a national or local level. Where applications are dealt with at the local level, we believe that councils should have the opportunity to decide these matters on behalf of their local community.”

Minister for Decentralisation, Greg Clark MP, in a very similar reply reiterates this, and also indicates the Government’s plans to put forward a “simple and consolidated National planning framework covering all forms of development.”

On face value this would appear to mean that the buck stops with the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Planning Committee as to where wind turbines are located in relation to dwellings.

This will hopefully contribute to a positive outcome for Spaldington residents, when the two separate wind farm schemes close to the village are heard at appeal in the Spring. The proposal was for sites on either side of the village, with the community being in the middle of a 12 turbine windfarm of 126m high turbines. There would have been 24 houses within 775m of the nearest turbine and would have been the closest of any wind farm developments in East Riding to nearby homes.

The decision of the Planning Committee in September was to refuse both applications; therefore if the Ministers are to be taken at their word the decision to refuse these applications should be upheld by the planning inspector.

Why I oppose the way Humberside Fire & Rescue Service plan to cut costs

2010-12-23T12:34:00.008Z

This past month or so I have had the opportunity to look closely at the cost saving proposals put forth by Humberside Fire and Rescue Service in their Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP), and have twice heard presentations from both Humberside Fire and Rescue Service and the Regional Fire Brigades Union.

The Government has made it clear that the cuts in public spending following the Comprehensive Spending Review should not, where possible, reduce front line services but rather that savings should be made through further partnership working, cutting back office support, curbing excessive spending and eradicating economic wastage.

In the introduction to the Humberside Fire and Rescue Strategic Plan for the years 2011 - 2014, it states that to meet the economic challenges ahead, Humberside Fire and Rescue Service would need to be flexible and adaptable to the rapidly changing public services environment which could “include exploring opportunities to improve efficiencies through increased sharing, collaboration or integration of support functions, premises and other services and assets.”

Unfortunately I feel that the proposals in the IRMP do not reflect this statement nor provide any evidence that this approach had been explored. I cannot reconcile the aims of the Strategic Plan with the proposals in the IRMP and I am very disappointed that other, alternative measures have not been fully explored. Here I support the Government and believe there has to be a greater emphasis on the Fire and Rescue Service working closer together with the other public services, and I would have liked to have seen cost savings achieved by sharing such things as, vehicle maintenance, IT systems, call handling, legal and secretarial support service, community engagement and procurement. There is very little evidence that any of this has been considered before producing the IRMP.

I do understand the financial pressures faced by Humberside Fire and Rescue Service over the coming years, however, as the reduction to the Central Government grant was not as austere as first expected, I certainly feel that the proposals put forth in the IRMP are harsh and have focused unnecessarily on reducing front line services, rather than protecting them.

Quite simply reductions to front line services could have been offset by reducing non-operational officers and by exploring partnership arrangements with other public services.

In view of the scrapping of the plans for a Regional Call Centre in West Yorkshire, I feel that the planned proposals in moving towards further regionalisation of Humberside Fire and Rescue Service in the future is somewhat irrational. It is essential that the Fire and Rescue Service look at improved localised partnership working, as stated in the Strategic Plan.

In conclusion, I strongly oppose the general thrust of the proposals put forward in the IRMP, particularly when it means cutting front line services and specifically the plans for the reduction Fire Appliance crewing down from 5 fire-fighters down to 4, and the changing of the crewing arrangements for specialist appliances.

But I can accept the proposals for changes to the Command Unit crewing and technical rescue fire station crewing arrangements, and also changes to the Operational Command to give a more flexible duty system.

I can also support the introduction of Small Fires Units as any addition to the front line service, but am a little disappointed that one of these Small Fires Units would not be based in Goole. Here I must stress that I would not like to see the Small Fire Units replacing the second response fire engine.

Finally, and following a Freedom of Information request which indicated that over a 6 month period there were over 200 occasions when the Snaith and Howden fire stations could not raise a retained duty crew and thus attend an emergency call - I fully support the review of the retained duty contracts to increase the availability of fire engines, as the current arrangement were all retained duty staff have contracts offering cover in fixed bands of hours do not always give flexibility to meet personal circumstances.

To read the Humberside Fire and Rescue Service Stategic Plan and their Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) for the years 2011 - 2014, and to also complete the online consultation please click here

Howdenshire Parish Councils take the lead in organising snow clearing & gritting

2010-12-22T10:08:00.043Z

Many thanks to the Howdenshire Parish Councils for taking the lead in organising snow clearing and the gritting roads and footpaths over the past couple of weeks. Those residents who picked up shovels to clear snow and grit footpaths and streets independent of the Parish Councils should also be recognised for the tremendous work they did. Although the task was great as we had not seen the amount of snow or the freezing temperatures for many a year, and it was never going to be possible to remove the snow and ice from every street and footpath, the work carried out by communities has been humbling. It has also sent out a clear message that the ‘Compensation Culture’ is not going to stop communities working together to help each other in times of need. The £175,000 made available to Parish Councils by the East Riding Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) and administered by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council was certainly welcome, and enabled equipment to be hired and grit to be purchased. North Cave Parish Council certainly took the lead and brought in snow clearing equipment and with a small team of volunteers cleared the snow and ice from a good number of streets within the village, primarily to allow people to be able to drive from their houses to the main roads running through the village. This work continued and well done to Parish Council Chairman Steve Skipsea for taking the initiative and all the other Parish Council volunteers and resident who ‘mucked in’ to help. Gilberdyke Parish Council saw volunteers working with equipment provided by a local farmer, and also employed a local contractor to remove the snow from the main village roads and to snow plough almost all the streets within the village. This removed the surplus snow to the side but unfortunately was a little too late to address the issue of the snow that had become packed and turned to ice. After many calls from residents the Parish Council then cleared the carpark and paths in front of the shops, with the landowner not only giving his consent, but also agreeing to pay for digger used to carry out the work. The Parish Council then purchased 4 tonnes of grit and a team of volunteer Parish Councillors, the road sweepers and residents spread it on numerous paths and roads in the village. This was then followed by clearing of packed snow and ice from footpaths and a number of the streets within the village using both a mini digger and JCB tractor. It was the priority to clear the footpath near the school and other key walking routes within the village. Those residents who were proactive in clearing snow and gritting footpaths did a fantastic job too. Holme on Spalding Moor Parish Council organised a team of volunteers including diggers and equipment provided by local businesses and farmers, and also buying in grit. I spent the first Saturday morning working with the volunteers and was certainly impressed with the way so many people were able to achieve so much in a relatively short space of time. The tenacity of the Parish Council Chairman Chris Worrall should also be recognised in sticking with the task, for more information please click here Eastrington Parish Council organised plant and equipment to clear the streets in the village particularly after the snow had become packed and frozen. It was certainly impressive to see the size of the equipment employed and in a very short time a number of key streets were cleared. Parish Council Chairman Rob Martinson and fellow Parish Councillor Gina walker did a tremendous job as did all the others involved. Bubwith Parish Council organised equipment and volunteers and in a relatively short space of time made a significant impact. Well done to Parish Council Clerk Steve Young, Handyman couple Gill and Nigel, the Parish Councillors and volunteers for a job well done. Blacktoft, Broomfleet, Kilpin and Laxton did a sterling job with local farmers toiling to keep the roads clear throughout the Parishes. Newport Parish Council purchased grit for the community to use. Many thanks to the small group of volunteers that spent Sunday morning clearing the footpaths ,and others who have also cleared snow and ice in the village. Other villages and communities did sterling work, and all concerned should be recognised for their efforts. There are countless stories of the good work done by Parish Councils, volunteers and residents. No Parish Councillor is paid to do anything in their community, never mind clear snow. The task has been great and so many have risen to the challenge. There has been some criticism that some paths and roads have not been cleared or the work was not done quickly enough, but by and large the comments have been positive and people have been grateful for the work having been done.

Holme on Spalding Moor Primary School is deemed 'Outstanding' by OFSTED

2010-12-15T13:23:00.009Z

Congratulations to the Headteacher Mark Alson, Teachers, Staff, Governors, Parents, and not forgetting the kids who have contributed to Holme on Spalding Moor Primary School achieving a fantastic OFSTED result recently.

In the inspection of Home-upon-Spalding Moor Primary in 2008 were reported as a good school with outstanding features. The school was delighted with that result, but are even more pleased that all the work of the past two years has now resulted in them being recognised officially as an OUTSTANDING school - one of the top 7%-8% schools in the country.

The following are some of the comments made about Holme on Spalding Moor Primary School by the Ofsted Inspectors:

This is an outstanding school.

It has an excellent Early Years Foundation Stage.

Pupils’ outstanding behaviour is a key factor in their success. They thoroughly enjoy their learning, work hard and play together energetically.

The school ripples with laughter because pupils find learning fun.

They have an outstanding awareness of how to keep themselves and others safe.

Their excellent health awareness is evident in their healthy eating choices and in the huge take-up for the many different extracurricular sports.

Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding.

Pupils have a keen interest in ethical issues and accept the rights of others to hold different values and beliefs.

The school’s outstanding partnerships with parents and carers, the parish and other organisations underpin pupils’ excellent contribution to the community and their all-round development.

The school takes outstanding care of all its pupils and gives them excellent support and guidance. This contributes to the school’s welcoming and purposeful atmosphere.

Every pupil is known and respected as an individual because the school promotes equal opportunities exceptionally well.

The school gives outstanding value for money.

Here are some of the comments which the children made to the Ofsted Inspectors:

When asked if he knew how to run away from the school, the boy looked surprised and responded,'why should you want to run away from this school?'

Younger pupils assured their teacher, ‘We’ve got our working heads on, not our talking heads.’

Pupils have a strong sense of community and are very capable and socially responsible. They respect each other’s needs and know exactly what to do if they have any worries. They point out that, ‘It is wrong to be racist and to make fun of people because they are different. Our school does not think it is funny and nor do we.’

There are no persistent absentees and very few holidays taken in term-time because as pupils say, ‘Learning is an enjoyable experience.’

Teachers have excellent subject knowledge and most lessons incorporate drama and games to keep pupils actively engaged in their learning. This is why pupils say, ‘Lessons are fun and really make you think.’

As well as acknowledging the key role of all the staff, the children, and the Governors of the school, we would like to thank the Friends Association and all the members of the village community who assist in so many ways to make the school the success it undoubtedly is.

A copy of the full OFSTED report can be found by clicking here

Gilberdyke Flood Relief Scheme latest

2010-12-14T23:18:00.009Z

Over many months since the flooding of 2007 Gilberdyke Parish Council along with residents, engineers from the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, consultants Mason Clark Associates and the Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board worked to put together a comprehensive flood relief scheme for the village. The scheme is in three phases with the Parish Council responsible for funding the 1st phase through a £80,000 public works loan, which was approved earlier in the summer.

(Pictured with Gilberdyke Parish Councillor John Jessop)

Needless to say after many hours of work by many people, last week this project to prevent future flooding in Gilberdyke was effectively stopped, because consent to allow access to the dyke into which a new 900mm diameter culvert is to be installed was being denied by three residents. This was subsequently detailed in the article published in the Goole Times Thursday 2nd December 2010.

The Lower Ouse Drainage Board (LOIDB) had worked with the Parish Council to obtain the consent from residents to access the existing dyke running at the rear of their properties on Scalby Lane and Chestnut Drive. The final deadline for this consent was noon on Friday 19th November, to allow the work to commence the following Monday.

The Parish Council held an extra ordinary meeting where it was agreed to pay for any damage caused by gaining access to the dyke over the one key property on Scalby Lane, it had previously been resolved to precept an amount each year to contribute to the maintenance and cleaning of the new culvert. Sadly this was not enough to satisfy the key householder. The deadline passed and the contractors who were due to start the work on 22nd November were stood down as the required consent from the one key householder in particular, plus his two sons who live in two different properties had not been forthcoming.

The Parish Council then held another extra ordinary meeting with the only item on the agenda being how the essential flood prevention work could be progressed. The key householder and one of his sons who had also not given consent, along with three residents whose homes were flooded in 2007 attended. The Parish Council agreed to give the key householder and his family one more opportunity to give their unconditional consent for access for the duration of the work, and gave Friday 26th November as the new deadline.

An email was received on 25th November from the key resident indicating that he was willing give his consent in writing and would speak to his sons to persuade them to give their consent too.

Again the revised deadline passed with no written consent from the three householders, and the Parish Council was left with no option but to put the scheme on hold.

The parish council also held a Parish Surgery on Saturday 27th November 2010 in the Common Room on Scalby Lane. Many of the concerns raised by the residents who called in were regarding the flood prevention work and much anger expressed as to why it has stalled at such a late stage.

Thankfully on the morning of Friday 3rd December the key householder delivered his signed letter along with similar letters from his sons to the Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board offices, giving access across their properties. Ironically this was the day after the Goole Times published the article.

The Parish Council has held discussions and been able to renegotiate the Public Works loan, and also informed the contractor that the work can now go ahead. The Council is looking at the work starting on this much needed flood prevention scheme as soon as weather conditions allow, and hoping along with residents that a rapid thaw does not occur to cause further flooding.

I am pleased that common sense has prevailed and I look forward to seeing the work completed as soon as possible.

Howdenshire Neighbourhood Policing update for December 2010.

2010-12-14T08:34:00.009Z

Please find the latest Howdenshire Neighbourhood Policing Update for December 2010

1. Priority Issue: - Anti-social behaviour on Scalby Lane, Gilberdyke

Action: - Following complaints of Anti-social behaviour the team are actively working to reduce incidents of this nature in order to improve the quality of life for the residents of Gilberdyke.

Anyone witnessing anti-social behaviour is asked to call in with details. Howdenshire Neighbourhood Policing team will aim to respond to all calls for service in relation to this priority. Any incidents that are not attended will be investigated and followed up by the team.
Positive action will be taken against anyone engaging in anti-social behaviour.
East Riding of Yorkshire council anti-social behaviour team also investigate reports of anti-social behaviour the 2 teams will be working together along with other agencies to target the issue.
An Anti-social behaviour order has recently been obtained in respect of a local youth; any breaches of this order will be dealt with positively.

In September 2010 a youth was verbally abusive to a PCSO from the Neighbourhood Policing Team. He then ran off from the scene. He was located very quickly and was charged to Goole youth Court.

On 10th October 2010 officers from the NPT were called to a report of a male causing a nuisance in the area. He was interviewed and issued with a £80 Penalty Notice for disorder.

Officers are currently investigating a report of a disturbance at the play park, Clementhorpe Road in Gilberdyke. Several youths have been arrested and interviewed and are currently on bail pending further enquiries.

A female was arrested for assaulting a police officer in the early part of November 2010 and she too is on police bail pending further enquiries.

On 12th November 2010 a 15 year old male was arrested by officers from the NPT regarding verbal abuse in the area of Station Road, Gilberdyke and he has been summonsed to appear at Goole and Howden Youth Court in the near future.

On 29th of November 2010 an 18 year old male was arrested by officers from the NPT for Section 5 Public Order. The male was issued with a £80 Penalty Notice for disorder.

Officers from the NPT have concentrated their patrols in this area and will continue to do so. Anyone who acts in a disorderly manner can expect to be dealt with firmly. Our patrols will include the use of arrest powers and the consideration of the use of £80 penalty notices for disorder to anyone causing nuisance at these sites. Regular patrols will be made on an evening to reassure the public and to send a positive message that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated. There is unlikely to be any discretion shown.

2. Priority Issue: Anti-social behaviour, Eastrington Ponds

Action: - This priority has been set after reports received from Eastrington Parish Council and members of the community have reported anti social behaviour around the area surrounding the ponds.

The behaviour has included littering, drinking and general lack of respect for the environment.
High visibility patrols have been increased by Police Officers and Police Community Support Officers, and these will continue, officers will speak to those using the area and ask them to be respectful.
Anyone found offending will be dealt with in a positive manner, bins are provided at the site and users are kindly asked to use them.
It is important that anyone witnessing anti-social behaviour reports it to the police preferably at the time it is occurring, we will aim to attend all reports and those we can’t make it to we will follow up and try and identify those involved so we can deal with them.
Work will continue with East Riding of Yorkshire Councils, anti social behaviour team, and letters will be sent to parents of those engaging in anti social behaviour, anyone committing criminal offences will be dealt with in a positive manner.

3. Priority Issue: - Underage drinking on the playing fields at Holme Upon Spalding Moor

Action: - A small number of reports have been received from residents of Holme Upon Spalding Moor that youths are drinking on the playing fields in Holme Upon Spalding Moor.

The team have increased foot patrols on the field and alcohol seizures have been made, the patrols will continue and youths in attendance will be spoken to about underage drinking and the consequences of it.

Residents are reminded that the playing field is a designated no drinking area which means that no-one can consume alcohol there whatever their age. Police Officers and Police Community Support Officers will require anyone with alcohol in their possession to surrender it, anyone who refuses commits an offence.

Licensing officers have also contacted local off licenses and advised them on selling alcohol to underage people and to be wary of adults who may be buying alcohol to supply to youngsters. Anyone selling alcohol to youths or supplying alcohol commits an offence and positive action will be taken in all cases.

Parents are asked to be aware of where there children are and what they are doing when they are out on evening, anyone drinking alcohol puts themselves in a very vulnerable position.
Officers will also use new powers under Policing and Crime Act 2009, which allows prosecution of youths for persistently possessing alcohol in a public place. Offenders can receive fines of up to £500.

4. Offenders brought to justice

The police and ASB team have worked together and as a result a local youth is now subject to an anti-social behaviour order, any breaches of this will be dealt with in a positive manner.

A local youth appeared at Beverley Youth Court on 27th July 2010, he was convicted of 2 criminal damage offences and ordered to complete 16 hours reparation work and pay a total amount of £435 compensation.

A local male and female have been charged with assault causing actual bodily harm following an incident in Sandholme in July 2010, where the victim was assaulted by 2 people one of whom had a baseball bat, the male was also charged with possession of an offensive weapon. One of these person was found guilty whilst the other was found not guilty. The guilty male is awaiting sentence.

A male from Blacktoft has been charged with theft, robbery and possession of a prohibited weapon, this case will be held at the crown court and a date is still to be fixed for the trial.
This same male has also had his vehicle seized in April by HM Revenue and Customs for using illegal diesel.

A Howden youth appeared at Goole Youth court on 14th July, after officers were called to the Blacktoft area following a report that youths were riding bikes in an anti social manner. The Youth was given a 6 month conditional discharge and has had 6 penalty points added to his licence, for taking a motor vehicle without the owners consent, driving with no insurance or licence.

A further youth also had his bike seized.

On 7th July 2 males were arrested in a stolen motor vehicle on Stoney Lane, Newport, the vehicle had been stolen from the Middlesborough area and the males were dealt with by officers from that force.

A further male was issued with an £80 penalty notice for disorder on 7th July following a disturbance in the street at Bubwith.

A local male was issued with a police caution following a minor assault at the Black Swan, Eastrington on 24th July 2010.

Another male has been charged with assault after an incident in the White Hart, North Cave also on 24th July, the male will appear at Beverley Magistrates Court.

A male was arrested on 27th July 2010, in Laxton after he was stopped in his vehicle by officers and found to be driving whilst over the limit; he has been charged with this offence and driving with no insurance or licence. He was found guilty of all the offences and given an interim driving disqualification. Further sentencing was postponed.

On 8th August 2010 a male local to the Holme on Spalding Moor area was given a police caution for production of cannabis following a seizure of plants from a local address.

On 24th August 2010 a male local to Gilberdyke appeared at Goole Magistrates charged with failing to provide a breath sample, driving with no insurance and disqualified driving. He was found guilty for all the charges and his sentencing has been postponed.

In September, officers from the NPT were made aware of a male who had been abusive to members of the public. He was located and issued with a £80 Fixed penalty Notice for disorder by one of the Neighbourhood Policing Teams PCSO’s

On 10th October 2010 officers from the NPT were called to a report of a male causing a nuisance in the Newport area. He was interviewed and issued with a £80 Penalty Notice for disorder.
Officers are currently investigating a report of a disturbance at the play park, Clementhorpe Road in Gilberdyke. Several youths have been arrested and interviewed and are currently on bail pending further enquiries.

A female has been arrested for assaulting a police officer during the early part of November and she too is on police bail pending further enquiries.

On 12th November 2010 a 15 year old male was arrested by officers from the NPT and he has been summonsed to appear at Goole and Howden Youth Court in the near future.

On 29th of November 2010 an 18 year old male was arrested by officers from the NPT for Section 5 Public Order. The male was issued with a fine.

Officers from the NPT are often in the Howdenshire area carrying out speed checks as one of the biggest complaints we have from residents is that of speeding. Numerous motorists have been verbally cautioned re their speed, others have received fixed penalty notices and some have been summonsed to court. If you believe that speeding is an issue in your area get in touch with us with your concerns.

5. Meetings

You are invited to attend any of the below meetings:

Police Surgery. Means: an opportunity for you to meet privately with a member of the neighbourhood team to discuss any policing issue of concern. This is a drop-in event so you may have to wait a few minutes.

Police and Communities Together Meeting . This is a public meeting where the police and other public authority representatives will be present. Its main purpose is to determine what the local priorities for action over the next three moths will be. It gives members of the public an opportunity to raise their concerns and influence those decisions.

Street Briefing. This means that the whole neighbourhood team will be briefed on current problems in the area and tasked to deal with them. The public can meet with the officers and be informed about how they can help with these issues.

Type: Police Surgery
Venue: Howden Library, Shire Hall, Market Place
Date: Monday 13th December 2010
Time: 5pm to 7pm

Type: Police Surgery
Venue: Howden Library, Shire Hall, Market Place
Date: Monday 17th January 2010
Time: 5pm to 7pm

Type: Police Surgery
Venue: Howden Library, Shire Hall, Market Place
Date: Monday 21st February 2010 2010
Time: 5pm to 7pm

6. News and Appeals

Winter home security
With the dark nights now with us, take time to review your home security. Make sure doors and windows are locked, security lighting is working along with burglar alarms and other security aids.

Many burglars target only empty homes. If you are going on holiday or even if you’re just out at work all day, try to make it look like someone is home and don’t advertise your absence.
Use time switches – available from most DIY stores – to switch on lights, radios and other appliances when you’re out or away.
If you’re going away, get a friend or neighbour to collect your post, draw your curtains and make your home look lived in.
If you are taking your car on holiday, ask a neighbour to park in your drive.
Remember to cancel milk and papers.
Write your home address on a piece of paper and keep it inside your suitcase. Make sure your address isn't visible from the outside.
Hide financial documents and keys – if someone does break in you don’t want them to also steal from your bank account or take your car.

Christmas also brings rich pickings for burglars and thieves. Keep presents and valuable out of sight especially if you are leaving them in your car.
As well as tackling the local priorities the team have been busy with crime prevention work. In partnership with the neighbourhood action team a number of events have been organised where members of the public can access crime prevention materials and advice, the next one in the Howden area will be at the Howden Show in July. If anyone would like a visit at home to discuss crime prevention issues please contact the team so we can arrange a suitable time.

Anyone with any information about crimes within the Howden ward are encouraged to contact the local NPT on 0845 6060222 ext 2243

Use Your Head This Christmas
The annual Christmas Drink / Driving campaign is now well underway and adverts will be on the TV and in the media emphasising the strong "Don't Drink and Drive" message. An important element of this are patrols by our officers and the stopping and testing of drivers believed to be under the influence of alcohol.

Breath tests can be administered:
1. At the scene of an accident.
2. If a moving vehicle offence has been observed.
3. If they suspect drink / drugs.

Whilst the message has got through to most drivers, there still remains that minority who are either prepared to "risk it" or who completely ignore the law and drive under the influence of alcohol. As Police Officers, my colleagues and I have all come across these people at various times. I had one a while ago who we found crashed in a ditch who, believe it or not, had only been charged and bailed for a similar offence earlier the same day!

These people are putting themselves, their passengers and innocent people in danger through their own selfish stupidity. This week's article is addressed at that minority and it can be summed up in one word:

THINK
- Would you want to be responsible for the death or serious injury of one of your family or one of your mates?
- Would you want to be responsible for the death or serious injury of a completely innocent person who becomes a victim through your selfishness and stupidity?

And from your own perspective:
- Would you want to go to prison if you killed or seriously injured someone through drink / driving?
- What would you and your family do if you were killed or seriously injured?
- Would you want to be banned for a minimum of a year if caught drink driving?
- Would you want to lose your job if you couldn't get to work?
- How would you then pay your bills?
- How would you support your family?
- How would it affect you wider than the above? (because it definitely would).

And if you think this doesn't happen, think again!
So the simple message is "Don't Drink and Drive this Christmas" or at any time. Our patrols are out and about working on the Christmas Drink / Drive campaign. Those suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol will be breathalysed. And remember, if you're found to be over the limit, the knock on effect could be permanent for you and others.

So, use your head! Don't do it!

East Riding of Yorkshire Council Conservative Party Candidate Selections

2010-12-10T17:56:00.005Z

Now the appeals for 9 of the 10 East Riding of Yorkshire Conservative Councillors have been heard, of which 8 have been upheld, and where unfortunately Cllr Chuck Hunter was unsuccessful, I would like to say the following:

There has been much written, particularly in the East Riding Mail, some key points of which has been inaccurate, spurious and simply wrong. There was speculation as to there being a ‘Dirty Dozen’ Councillors who were in some way against the leadership of the Council, and Cllr Steve Parnaby in particular – this has been said to me openly by Councillors but when challenged could not name 12. Then 3 other Councillors and I were labelled by an unnamed source in the East Riding Mail as being the leaders of a deep-rooted plot to unseat the Leader and other elected members.

Nothing could be further from the truth – in fact I, along with a number of others were subject to exactly the self-same process as those members whose applications to stand as Conservatives in next Mays' Council elections initially failed. We all submitted an application form, and I was called in for an interview by the appointments panel like just the others.

I did not support the decision of the Council’s Cabinet in approving the taking of more than £360,000 of taxpayers’ money from service budgets to put into a Senior Officer’s pension fund, enabling the Officer to take early retirement under the 85 year rule.

I also did not support the Council’s position when it came to downsizing of fire cover in the Humberside Fire Authority area, and specifically in Goole.

I make my decisions in the best interests of Howdenshire residents, and the residents of the East Riding in general - but most importantly, I act according to my conscience. If my position occasionally differs from the Conservative Group position then it is entirely within the rules and the councillor’s code of conduct for me to vote against.

What is disappointing is that some colleagues perceive that Councillors who occasionally act using their conscience, and stand up for what they believe in, are considered to be traitors, and wrongly assumed to be plotting the downfall of our leadership. Fortunately the Conservative Party is sufficiently robust as to prevent any minority of rebels from having such power over the selection process.

It is ironic that on other big issues that have come before the Council such as ‘Car-parking’ and recently the new look ‘early retirement policy’- I not only supported both policies but actually stood up and spoke in favour.

I have also gone on the record publically, and stood foursquare behind the Leader of the Council on Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), one of the most difficult and controversial issues we have to resolve. Here I am certainly in a minority and find myself out of sync with local MPs and some business leaders. If I was to be moving against the Leader this would have been a golden opportunity.

I look forward to working with my fellow Conservative Councillors up until May 2011, and if fortunate to be re-elected, continuing to do so after that.

Using windfarm payments to subsidise public services

2010-12-08T08:37:00.008Z

The British Windfarm Industry, and both Local and central Government could really learn from this especially when looking at innovative ways of paying for public services

Tocco Da Casauria has embraced its wind turbines

Ever wanted to have your rubbish collection bill reduced?

Or have the cost of your children's school meals cut?

Or live in a place where you get cheap visits to the local health spa?

There is one town in Italy where all this is possible, thanks to wind.

The town is Tocco Da Casauria and it is being held up as an example of what is possible with renewable energy.

Surplus power

Tocco is in the mountainous Abruzzo region of central Italy. Set on a hill, it is a place where small cafes sit alongside olive oil shops in narrow, cobbled streets. But as you peer between the houses coloured pink, yellow and green, out into the distance beyond, two impressive sights stand out: the rugged mountains, recently tipped off with the first snowfalls of winter, and four wind turbines.

The turbines spin with unsynchronised, hypnotic regularity.

The electricity they generate is not just a top-up for other sources of energy. It is the only source of energy. Wind powers the entire town of nearly 3,000 people.

So efficient are the turbines that they produce 30% more electricity than is needed, and so the extra is sold back to Italy's equivalent of the national grid.

That creates a profit of nearly 170,000 euros (£144,000) a year and it is that money which is being pumped back into local services, enabling everything from street-cleaning and school meals, to grass-cutting and street-lighting to be subsidised.

Tocco has the luck of location.

I don't mind [the turbines], they're not ugly, they're good for our town”
It lies in a kind of wind tunnel, benefiting from mountain-blown air in the mornings and powerful sea breezes in the afternoon.

Tax Cuts

So the turbines turn nearly 24 hours a day. It does not mean that domestic electricity bills are being reduced. Legal restrictions prevent that.

But residents such as Rosa Uberti are not too bothered because their local taxes have been reduced instead. Average-sized homes like hers now pay about 100 euros a year for all refuse collection, road-sweeping, grass-cutting and more. That is less than a couple of euros a week.

"I find the turbines nice," says Rosa. "I don't mind them, they're not ugly, they're good for our town."

Wind turbines divide residents in other places. Some view them as noisy, intrusive and unsightly. Not in Tocco.

'Windfall' profits

Rosa is not the only one you find here with a "yimby", not "nimby", attitude towards the giant windmills. For these people, it is "Yes In My Back Yard".

Schools also benefit from the "windfall" profits. As well as getting money to help with building works, they get subsidies for meals. A two-course lunch at the local primary school costs less than a euro a day. And fancy soaking in the warm, bubbling, sulphurous waters of the local health spa?

Prices there have been discounted as well thanks to an 11,000-euro subsidy from the town's coffers.

Mayor Riziero Zaccagnini says Tocco may be exceptional but there is a message for everyone.
"There is a simple lesson here about sustainability," he says.
"We're demonstrating what is possible with wind. It's something others could follow, whether it's with wind, solar power or other types of renewable energy. Italy and the world can learn from this."

Wind converts

Italy's national record on renewable energy is not very impressive. It makes up only about 7% of the total electricity used. The country relies, instead, more on imported natural gas and oil to satisfy most of its needs. It is also re-starting its mothballed nuclear power industry.
Italy has come under international criticism for failing to meet carbon emission reduction targets and for not converting to the renewable sources being championed by places like Tocco.

The award-winning Tocco is not the only community meeting all its own electricity needs, but it is one of the biggest and most advanced. Critics have argued that renewable energy, like wind, is only ever going to be a marginal solution, an add-on.

But in Tocco, where they also have solar-powered buildings, they are converts.
Here, they believe they are in a wind-win situation.

By Duncan Kennedy BBC News, Tocco Da Casauria

Gilberdyke and North Cave Parish Councils take the lead to clear snow in their villages

2010-12-07T16:30:00.007Z

Both Gilberdyke and North Cave Parish Council’s took the lead and employed diggers to clear the unprecedented levels of snow from the streets within their villages.

After numerous complaints and requests from residents Gilberdyke Parish Council employed Sweeting Brothers who provided a tractor with a snow plough blade to clear the streets within the village. Local framer Miles Kirk from Oxmardyke also provided his loading shovel driven by local businessman Howard Malcolmson to remove some of the snow from the roads where it would create problems for pedestrians if the snow was pushed from the road onto the footpaths. The Parish Council's road sweeper, Parish Councillors and volunteers also donned shovels to help with the work.

After receiving similar requests from residents North Cave who were finding it difficult to get their vehicles from their driveways to the main roads in the village, employed local farmer Dick Brown with his loading shovel to clear the streets in Manor Road, Blanchards Lane and others.

The East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) has done a sterling job in keeping the 800 plus miles of A and B roads clear, but simply does not have the resources to work on all the minor roads and streets within villages. This is why I feel it is important that the communities pitch in to do their bit, and as we have seen in Gilberdyke and North Cave - the Parish Councils have taken the lead.

I acknowledge that there are going to be lessons learnt from this recent period of snow. Perhaps we need to look back to the past when we had farmers ready to go to clear the minor roads using their tractors. I remember when I was growing up in Faxfleet the local farmer had a snow plough that he attached to the front of a tractor.

If we had been able to call on an army of farmers with their modern 4 x 4 grain shovels or using simple snow ploughs, the snow could have been cleared before it turned to ice, and we would not be witnessing the inches of compacted and frozen snow on minor roads and streets within our villages.

People say it’s the compensation culture that is preventing people from clearing the snow from outside their properties and more so shopkeepers from clearing the snow form outside their retail premises. The East Riding of Yorkshire Council has issued guidance to Parish Councils but I feel more needs to be done to dismiss the rumours surrounding this compensation culture where people are afraid to become involved in helping themselves and others for fear of being sued.