Editor’s Intro

As you may all know, I have taken over from Cathy Larwood, to produce BVFOE’s newsletter, long-awaited and eventually achieved.

Our theme this year is emphasising the positive and moving on from the negative. Hopefully, you should find this echoed in our undertakings.

I do hope you enjoy the mixture of entries in this edition (thanks to the many who have contributed), everything from serious green political comment, to tales from pubs and wine bars, where serious environmental issues were being discussed – of course! CHEERS!

Protect your local voice and local choice!

The Government introduced a consultation Planning White Paper in May that will radically alter the planning procedure as we now know it. The idea is that massive and damaging new developments will be fast-tracked instead of the usual long drawn out, but democratic, planning enquiry that is currently required. This fast tracking will reduce the right of local people to object to schemes that threaten their communities such as airport expansion, road widening and nuclear power plants. Locally it could mean that the massive Mega warehouse development proposed for Pyestock (for the supply of Tesco supermarkets throughout the South East) could be waved through, or the number of aircraft movements at Farnborough Airport expanded without the current public enquiry. Our local shops may also be affected by the White Paper, as it may mean that the out-of-town supermarkets may again start to be built (there has been a moratorium for over ten years) putting our small independent traders out of business.

For this reason, BVFoE is joining the national Day of Action on July 14th. We will be at Fleet town centre (10am - 4pm Harlington Centre) asking people to sign two cards, one objecting to the White paper proposals, and the other objecting to the power of the supermarkets and their ability to affect planning laws. Please join us. Phone Rick 01252 510424 for details.

Waste News…..

Did you know….

Every year in Hampshire, we put 25,000 tonnes of glass into bottle banks and boxes for kerbside collection!

Alternate Weekly Collection

Alternate Weekly Collections (AWCs) have caused a fair stir in recent months as local council Hart implemented it in November 2006 and Rushmoor have been performing a 6 month trial on 7000 houses in their area this year. The other two councils in BVFoEs area, Surrey Heath and Guildford (Ash Parish), although maintaining they have no interest in introducing an AWC, must be looking at the results from Hart and Rushmoor with interest. And the results are interesting. In both cases recycling has increased considerably. Hart were one of the worst performing council in Hants, but after a short period of the AWC have now become the best at 36.9%. In the trial in Rushmoor recycling has increased by 36% for the houses involved. If this was reflected throughout

the borough it would mean that the current paltry figure of 22% recycling would increase to 30%, well on the way to the target of 40% by 2010. The national Local Government Association has also just published figures showing that the top authority for recycling is North Kesteven in the East Midlands which is operating an AWC. All ten of the councils with the highest recycling rates in the country have adopted alternate weekly collection and eight out of ten of the councils with the most improved recycling rates also use alternate weekly collection.

The local critics of the scheme in Rushmoor suggest that the AWC is a cost cutting exercise instead of for environmental purposes. This may be partly the reason that cash strapped councils are increasingly using the AWC (more than a third of all councils in England) but if the scheme increases recycling as an offshoot and additionally some of the money saved can be turned to other environmentally conscious schemes then it is worthy to support it. Critics have also said that come the hot weather, food hanging in bins around for two weeks will be rotten and cause smells and a plague of rats. This is a good point which people will have to address by a change of habits - composting wherever possible or wrapping meat up well before throwing it away (a more radical suggestion may be to turn vegetarian so all food waste can be safely composted). A recent report by DEFRA claims that there is no health risks to AWC.

National Friends of the Earth supports alternate weekly collections of waste provided the area has a separate weekly collection of food waste, a good kerbside recycling scheme and home composting has been promoted.

English Waste Strategy

The new Waste Strategy was published by the Government in May as a guidance for local authorities. BVFoE were very disappointed that only a modest target of 50% for recycling and composting of domestic waste was proposed. Tackling climate change requires a much more challenging target and some go ahead authorities like Cambridge CC are already nearly achieving that rate.

The good news in the strategy was that it encouraged the generation of energy from waste by anaerobic digestion (100% renewable) rather than the non-renewable incineration (are you listening Hants and Surrey councils!). It also supported the controversial incentivising recycling (i.e. rewarding for recycling) and de-incentivising waste (i.e. pay for the amount of rubbish a household throws out). Such schemes should only be introduced where an effective recycling and composting scheme is in place, and should ensure that larger poorer families are not disproportionately affected.

FOOD

PRODUCTION

From an interview on the "Farming Programme" Radio 4 at 5.45pm (kindly supplied by Leo)

A spokesman from Cuba, which is organic, had this to say on an enforced adoption of organic farming methods.

"Because we were cut out of the use of oil, we farmed organically".

Q: "How did you get results equal to artificial fertilizers?"

A: "We had bumper crops of Pumpkins. This was done by selection of special seeds, resistant to diseases and by using farmers’ traditional knowledge, and the use of biological pest control and localised distribution."

Asked why other South American countries had not adopted organic methods, he said, "We have not worked this out for a very long time, and the other countries were too conservative"

BVFOE Visit to London Wetlands Centre (Sunday 13 May 07)

The day of our outing to the London Wetlands Centre, at Barnes, dawned, wet and darkly. However, despite this, BVFOE members set out to travel up to Barnes by train via Clapham Junction station. It was with some degree of satisfaction that we arrived at the centre on foot, after a short walk from Barnes station.

Our tour at 2pm took us to the various hides that are arranged around the lakes. There are many areas of shallow fresh water and sandy/muddy banks, which visitors, some birds from as far away as Namibia and S.Africa.

During the time spend in the hides, we saw many different types of bird, such as Red Shanks, Greylags, Ruddy Turnstones. Plenty of House Martins and Sand Martins. Sadly the Marsh Frogs had fallen silent, so we were not serenaded as we walked round.

Finally, after we had explored all the hides, we descended upon the restaurant for a well-deserved cup of tea and cake or biscuits, and discussion of politics and the environment, during which I did a lot of listening.

I would class the centre as well worth a visit, and very child-friendly as well with reasonable enough communications to make the visit achievable and doubtless a lot more straightforward than if it were attempted by the dreaded motor car. (Pippa)

Night Jar Walk

By Jonathan Young

This walk is a regular event at Frimley Lodge Park. Perhaps a word of explanation is necessitated for those who have never heard of Night Jars, or do not believe in them. It was described by our leader as resembling an old whiskered man with a pipe. It is called a goatsucker (but we won't go into that one, ed.)

Normally when hunting strange and weird creatures, such as Yeti and Loch Ness monsters, one starts off sceptical with a subconscious wish to believe.

On this occasion, we started off believing and came to the conclusion that we might as well be searching for unicorns on Dartmoor Common. We were equipped with torches and Night Jar detectors. These detectors emitted high pitched squeals ranging in intensity in relation to the proximity of Night Jars. It also help the Night Jars to determine the proximity of people, oddly enough.

The whole night conveyed the atmosphere of a ghostly vigil in a haunted castle. The silence itself was eerie. Somebody thought they heard a Barn Owl, but imagination was playing tricks. We did see a domestic moggy, though!

It was perhaps the least successful nature watch of all time. There was no creature stirring, not even a mouse.

Three Pubs & A Wine Bar – aka BVFOE Social Cycle Ride (May 07)

(Ride Leader, Charlie Halliday

Back Marker, Harold Fischer).

Three pubs and a cocktail bar was all it took for BVFOE cyclists to complete the 19.3mile ride on the first Bank Holiday weekend of May. We were joined by a new attendee, Mike, who found his way to us, through the CTC.

The weather, although threatening-looking, at times, was good to us throughout the entire ride and beyond. We stopped for a reviving cuppa/pint of TEA at another pub along the Basingstoke canal. Finally, on our last leg, or should it be last legs, we were tempted to try out the new cocktail bar in North Camp. I still have fond memories of my Mango and Ginger crush, laced with Vodka, of course.