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Navitus Bay
This seems to have been going on for ever: to read the background click on www.wcresidents.co.uk and then on “environment- Navitus Bay” on the left-hand side of the screen.
The scheme has caused WCRA as an organisation some problems. We started off being against the development. However it then became clear that a large minority of our members were either fully or partially in favour. As we have to reflect our member’s views (no matter what we personally may feel) we changed our stance to “undecided”. We weren’t alone – other local Residents Associations had similar experiences.
Two things have now happened that have caused us, after some heart searching, to change back to being opposed to the scheme. UNESCO has written to HMG and more detail on the trench that is to be built from Barton to Mannington (north of West Moors – where a whole new sub-station is to be built) has been published.
UNESCO has made it quite clear that if the wind-farm is built off the Dorset coast then its world heritage status will be removed. UNESCO has done this elsewhere for similar reasons and there is no reason to believe that they are anything but serious. As a lot of people visit the Dorset and East Devon coastline because of its world heritage status this would have a large detrimental effect upon our local economy.
The euphemistically named “trench” has now become a 22 mile (35 kilometres) long 66 yards (60 meters) wide massive cutting that will be a huge scar on our landscape. It will house 18 cables in 6 parallel trenches and it will disrupt our lives for 5 years just to build it. It will generate its own electro-magnetic field around itself.
Thousands of trees will be felled and no trees can be replanted on the cutting. The cables will go through, over or under: 4 International Conservation Sites (ICS); 6 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI); The New Forest National Park; the rivers Avon and Moors; the Bournemouth-Southampton railway line; the A31, A35, A337, A338; other local roads and footpaths.
If you’ve been reading these Newsletters for some time you may recall the local engineer who wrote to us and chastised us for being against the scheme. We reproduced the letter here and it elicited some support from our residents. That same engineer has now written again:
Just to advise you that I have changed my opinion on Navitus Bay. Whereas I do still believe that wind power can eventually be made to work economically I am really concerned about what happens to the electricity when it comes on land. The swathe of channel required all along its journey from Barton to Mannington will be an environmental blight for the residents and for the wildlife. If such things are needed they should only be in sparsely populated areas that are not ICS or SSSI designated.
At our request and with the agreement of all other local Residents Associations our umbrella organisation ACRA has thus registered with The Planning Inspectorate and will be making representation to the effect that it opposes the building of the proposed cutting.
(Note to new readers: if you want to read old Newsletters covering all of this and many other topics go to www.wcresidents.co.uk and click on “newsletters” on the left-hand side)
ACRA Involvement In Flood Plans
We have held talks with The Environment Agency and have a further meeting scheduled for the end of June. After that we should be able to publish our guidelines and set about producing plans to protect vulnerable residents in the event of a flood.
What we are doing is nothing to do with preventing floods – only with helping people who are caught up in one. A separate action group is looking at prevention and is for example calling for a stone groin to be built out from the harbour wall in a southerly direction. They believe that this would improve the rate at which water escapes from the harbour into the sea.
Have Your Say On How Offenders Are Brought To Justice
Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner, Martyn Underhill has launched a three month consultation to give residents a greater say in how anti-social behaviour and low level crime is dealt with in the county.
The recent Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act places a statutory duty on him to develop a list of Community Remedies. From this autumn, victims will be able to select the punishment for the offender from a menu of options.
Community Remedies are likely to include measures such as repairing damage to property, cleaning up graffiti or receiving a punishment proportionate to the crime. Victims can also ask the offender direct questions, mediate or receive an apology. By bringing together the offender with the victim of their crime, it’s hoped they will better understand the impact of their actions. Community Remedy is a way of delivering justice without going through the traditional court process.
To have your say go to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/dorsetcommunityremedy
News From The Hospital Trust
The local Trust is hoping to make significant investments over the next few years to improve the services to patients. While these investments include large scale building projects, like the creation of the new Jigsaw building at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and the redevelopment of the Christchurch Hospital site, high quality care comes from staff.
The number of consultants should increase to 183 by the end of the year. The additional posts will support increased seven-day working and consultant-led care across all specialities including the Emergency Department.
They also continue to recruit additional therapists and nurses and by the end of June, aim to have 97 new nurses from both the UK and Europe.
The Radiology Department now operates a seven-day CT scanning service, enabling patients to be assessed more quickly and improving the quality of their care. Inpatient scanning now takes place on Saturdays and Sundays between 9am-5pm with a limited outpatient service also operating. Patients entering the hospital through the Emergency Department receive timelier scanning meaning they can get to the right ward for the right treatment the first time around. The new service is especially beneficial for stroke patients where rapid diagnosis is essential to recovery.
They have created a new directorate dedicated to delivering high quality services for older people in their care. Led by specialists in elderly care, the initiative has already seen many positive reforms take place. They have a new short-stay ward for elderly patients. This means patients are given an initial assessment by a consultant when admitted and their length of stay is anticipated. Treatment can be prioritised and some patients can be discharged earlier than they might have been previously.
However, we still can’t get any up to date information on the progress or otherwise of the building works at Christchurch. For the latest NHS Factsheet on Christchurch Hospital go to www.wcresidents.co.uk and click on “latest updates”
Dorset Recycling
Dorset recycled 54% of its waste from kerbside collections and recycling centres in 2013/14, up from 49% in 2012/13. More than 60% of the waste collected in Christchurch, East Dorset and North Dorset has been recycled since the Recycle for Dorset service was introduced in October 2012 and June 2013.
The service is now used by two-thirds of Dorset households, having started in Purbeck and part of West Dorset in March. Purbeck’s recycling rate for the first month was 56%, more than twice the district’s rate of 27% in March 2013. The overall objective is to increase Dorset’s recycling to 68% whilst reducing costs by £2m a year. Around 30,000 households have also paid for an optional, fortnightly garden waste collection.
Another 50,000 properties in Weymouth and Portland and West Dorset will switch to the scheme in October, followed by the rest of West Dorset next year. The total amount of Dorset’s waste sent to landfill last year was 23%, down from 26% in 2012/13. Councils currently pay £80 in tax for every tonne of waste sent to landfill. Including fees, it costs £1,060 for a dustcart to dump 10 tonnes of rubbish in landfill, compared to an income of £127 for the same amount of recycling.
European Election Results
A number of residents contacted us as they couldn’t find anywhere the results of the recent election as far as Christchurch was concerned. Here are the votes cast for the leading four parties: UKIP 6068; Conservatives 5151; Labour 1216; Green 1086
Pokesdown Station
A possible date for your diary: Pokesdown Residents Association tells us that The Minister for Transport will be visiting Pokesdown Station on the morning of Monday 28th July. They say it would be great to have a reception committee on the platform of mums with toddlers and buggies, cyclists with bikes, passengers with luggage all struggling to get up the steps, greeted by another reception committee at the top of the stairs of residents in wheelchairs who would like the opportunity of even getting down to the platform. They hope to tell us more nearer the date.
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