Could it be done here?
Over 200 households backing onto 9 alleyways in Barton, Salford are receiving an exciting green makeover thanks to a project supported by the Big Lottery Fund that has been running in the area over recent months.
256 Bus launch
Was very pleased to attend the launch of the green buses on the 256 route a little while back. This is a welcome change to the service. These green buses switch to electric running in cruise. This is an important route to Stagecoach carrying a million passenger journeys. It's an important route to us as well connecting one part of the ward to the other, and onwards to town.
Very disappointed that the High Court has confirmed the decision of the Planning Inspectorate allowing the incinerator to go ahead at Barton. I'm disappointed but not totally surprised. The legal grounds presented in argument always seemed shaky at best and centred around the sustainability of a wood waste supply.
There is a finite supply of wood waste but had the appeal been won, it would be difficult to see any future plant being developed no matter what the technology.
My main argument against this plant is that we live in an overly polluted area. The site of the Barton Plant is adjacent to the M60, one of our busiest motorways. We've allowed a shopping mall to be built there that's almost impenetrable to any mode of transport except the car; certainly pedestrians and cyclists are deterred. The Environment Agency accepts that as a consequence, primarily of road transport, the pollution levels exceed the allowable levels all the way along the M60 here. Yet we're not allowed to challenge the ludicrous decision of the Environment Agency to still permit the plant to operate at Barton.
And now we're being subjected to a rogue's gallery of Conservative candidates protesting how disappointed they are with the decision. This is the same Conservative Party that destroyed the buses, privatised the railways and built places like the Trafford Centre. Is it surprising the system is so rigged that we must not try to tackle air quality? We can tiptoe round the edges and ask how much wood-waste they can get their hands on. But don't whatever you do suggest that the Tory way of travel is affecting our health. Because it is.
So has the process of opposing been worthwhile? Absolutely – in my view it's been a coming of age. There's been an exponential growth in awareness of environmental consequences and far more readiness to fight the next battle.
In 2011, a group of parents in Bristol, concerned about their children’s health and their lack of outside play, decided to use legislation designed for street parties to apply to have their street closed to cars. Later that year, Bristol City Council introduced a policy whereby residents could apply to have their street closed to traffic for up to three hours a week for play.
The idea spread and, following a grant from the Department of Health, the parents who set up the first play street established Playing Out. It now offers support and advice to parents wanting to set up their own play streets in other parts of the country.
There are now 40 play streets in Bristol alone and the concept has spread to other council areas, including Brighton, Hertfordshire, Oxford, Reading, Sussex and Norwich. Usually streets are closed for a couple of hours a week or month, with residents acting as stewards at either end to divert traffic.
" Our cities offer people the biggest range of economic opportunities. They are home to the most productive parts of the economy and they are places where new ideas are generated, businesses are started and expanded, wages are higher and people’s ambitions can be fulfilled. Our 64 biggest cities are home to over half of the population, 60% of businesses, and nearly three quarters of skilled jobs.
" Our task is to bring together the different interests in our country – business, employers and employees, the third sector, our democratic leaders – to build a coalition for national renewal from the bottom up and in the process transform how we govern the country.