Support Frack Free Lancashire

From 9am on Tuesday 23rd June, Lancashire County Council will be deciding on whether or not to approve two of the biggest fracking tests ever contemplated in the UK. If allowed to happen, each site would have 4 horizontal wells, producing tens of millions of gallons and radioactive and toxic waste and opening the door to thousands more wells to be drilled across Lancashire, and the rest of the UK. Preston Council have just recommended objection to the plans for Roseacre Wood.
Come down to County Hall, Preston, where Lancashire County council are due to decide on Cuadrilla’s fracking applications. Fishergate, Preston, Lancashire PR1 8RL


On the first day (and on subsequent days), concerned communities from around the UK will descend upon Lancashire County Hall in Preston for a peaceful show of solidarity and resistance. This is a huge deal that has implications for the entirety of the UK. It’s also a great chance to showcase the strength and solidarity of the of the UK anti-fracking movement by standing with the people of Lancashire!
Full Event Details Here!https://www.facebook.com/events/833975066650397/
Wear Yellow & Bring a Home Made Banner!
Register your Objection to Cuadrilla’s plans now!!!

Green Party in Brighton Votes to Defy LibLabCon Austerity

BREAKING NEWS! Brighton Green Party passes motion supporting 'No Cuts' budget - Join the resistance

(Hat tip to Wembley Matters Blog)

Breaking news from Brighton

This is the full and final text (below) of the No Cuts motion passed by a large majority at a quorate and wellattended meeting of the Brighton and Hove Green Party today.  The General Meeting sets policy for the party, but cannot "instruct" Green Councillors. However, given that the General Meeting is "the prime decisionmaking and organisational body for the BHGP", and has now made this vital policy decision, the party expect Green Councillors to abide by it, and if they feel they cannot, to step down.  It remains to be seen what will happen when the Budget comes up for decision in late February, but the local party has now made its position very clear - Green Councillors should not vote for any cuts budget or abstain so as to allow one to pass; and after this the party and councillors should lead a campaign of resistance to imposed cuts. If Green Councillors vote for a cuts budget of any kind, then they would be defying the clear and democratically expressed wish and policy of the local party.

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This General Meeting notes the Motion passed unanimously (with one abstention) at the December 2015 General Meeting that the Brighton & Hove Green Party supports the production of an alternative Budget for 2015-16 that would protect local services and employment, not cut them.

The cuts to local services required to "balance the budget" for 2015-16 are the direct result of massive and unprecedented cuts by central government to the local government support grant, cuts which could mean a further cut to the Brighton & Hove budget of over £100 million by 2020.  This will effectively destroy local services as we know them.

The cuts required to balance the budget for 2015-16 alone would require  a restoration of more than £20 million of government grant or a Council Tax rise of over 20%. The proposed 5.9% Council Tax increase is therefore not viable as a means to fight the cuts or defend the vulnerable. It is a regressive tax on the poorest, and it would hardly dent the massive cuts still required. To propose this rise in Council Tax in conjunction with a cuts budget would fatally undermine the Green Party's anti-austerity stance locally and nationally.  It is the worst of all worlds.

We are now seeing a "Green surge" and rising membership especially amongst younger voters, the primary reason for which is our inspiring anti-austerity message. If the only example in the UK of the Green Party in office were to implement a large cuts budget just before the 2015 General Election that would disillusion and alienate many of those new supporters. It is likely it would severely damage not only the local party but the national party's prospects in the election.   The Brighton & Hove Green Party will not support any Brighton & Hove Council Budget for 2015-16 that makes further cuts to local services. We support a no cuts budget identifying how much government grant now needs to be returned to Brighton & Hove to avoid horrendous damage to local services. It is therefore the policy of Brighton and Hove Green party that any budget that makes further cuts to local services should not be voted for by the Green Group of Councillors, nor abstained upon to allow it to pass.

The Brighton and Hove Green Party advocates a strategy of complete resistance to implementing further cuts to local services, including

·         A massive communications campaign to explain a) why the Green Party is adopting this policy, b) the devastating effect of the level of cuts suggested for 2015-16 and the years beyond, and c) that Labour and the Conservatives will deliver those cuts because they have no policy or strategy to resist them. 

·         Refusal to assist any officials sent by DCLG to enforce a cuts budget upon Brighton and Hove, and wide publicity to explain this refusal.

·         Working with the Brighton and Hove People's Assembly, local campaign groups and trade unions to publicise and implement this strategy and to create a focus of resistance to cuts and the austerity agenda.

Green Left Statement on Local Authority Cuts

Green Left Statement on Cuts to Local Authority Services

The following statement was agreed and issued by Green Left, the ecosocialist platform in the Green Party of England and Wales, on 8th December 2013:

The Green party of England and Wales fought the 2010 general election in opposition to the savage public service cuts supported by the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties. The Green party offered a different approach to reducing the country’s debts, which included making the wealthy (people and corporations) pay their fair share of tax, investing in the economy to produce sustainable growth through the Green New Deal, some cuts for example to Trident and pledging to protect public services particularly for the most vulnerable in our society.

Unfortunately, we did not win the general election and so are unable to put these policies into practice, although Caroline Lucas has almost single handedly taken the opposition to the Coalition government cuts agenda. The ideologically driven shrink the state policies of the Coalition government aim to reduce public spending and turn most of the public services over to private corporations. Our elected representatives in local government are on the front line in the assault on public spending, with local authorities having their funding from central government cut by around a third since 2010. Councils of all political stripes are hurting and they worry about whether they will even be able to fund their statutory duties in the future. Local government is under serious threat and everyone involved in it knows this to be true, despite the blithe statements about local authorities making efficiency savings and encouraging local business growth to pay for services, trumpeted by the Coalition central government. All the easy savings and many not so easy have been made now, and a future of even more of the same is daunting.

We in Green Left say enough is enough, and call on all of our existing elected Green party local councillors and any that are elected in the 2014 local elections, to firmly refuse to implement these Coalition government cuts to essential public services. If the government sends civil servants to carry out their dirty work then the responsibility for the cuts will be firmly in the public view, and our elected representatives can be in the forefront of a popular campaign against them. The time has surely come to make a stand, in solidarity with our communities that depend so heavily on the services provided and with the local authority workforce who have endured cuts in wages if not redundancy.

The Welfare Cuts Tsunami Arrives

To the accompaniment of criticism from the churches, disability groups, charities, voluntary organisations, political parties outside the coalition and decent fair minded folk everywhere, the Government's welfare cuts regime is upon us - arriving at the same time as the implementation of the "NHS dismemberment legislation" and attacks on legal aid.

The welfare cuts include the hated bedroom tax which will face many low income families with the choice of going without or moving (perhaps away from friends, family, jobs, schools etc) into more expensive private sector accommodation (that will also raise rather than decrease the government's required expenditure - so will not succeed even on those terms, though perhaps one government aim is to further enrich their friends in the Rachmanite community).  There simply is not enough smaller property available in the Social Housing Sector to accommodate all those affected that are being expected to move. This will cause widespread hardship and anguish.

At the same time there is a 1% cap being put on increases in benefits which will reduce the income of poorer people in real terms.

This is not to be confused with the cap in overall benefits which is encountering problems in roll out through pilot areas but the government is still determined to bring in.

There is also the farming out of Council Tax Benefit payments to Councils with a cut in their funding which will lead to people who have never had to pay Council Tax before having to fork out large sums from limited and fixed or decreasing (see above!) incomes.

There is also the moving of many disabled people from DLA into the new PIP regime, again likely to cause disruption and potential hardship. (Not to mention the ongoing war on the disabled being conducted by ATOS and their ilk.)

Taken as a whole this is a wide ranging and multi-faceted, disgusting attack on the most vulnerable in our society and should be opposed - it is all the more sickening when coming from a government of Millionaires, most of whom have never had to suffer any kind of deprivation.

Councils must be encouraged to follow the lead of those Green, SNP and (few) Labour councils that have said that they will not evict tenants who fall into arrears as a result of the Bedroom Tax.  Local campaigns must be built to resist bailiffs and fight people's corners.  The hypocrisy of the well heeled,  expenses- claiming, generously pensioned, extravagantly paid and often multiple job holding political classes must be exposed.

The People's Assembly Against Austerity gives an opportunity for uniting much of the rising tide of opposition to the Coalition's policies and both the local and National events should be supported and built.

The local elections in May will give an early opportunity to show the Coalition parties the contempt that millions of ordinary people now hold them in.

Brighton and Hove Green Party Draw Welcome Red Lines

Encouraging news from Brighton, where the local Green Party have passed a number of resolutions to guide their councillors in ongoing negotiations with staff, including this one:


*The Brighton and Hove Green Party wishes to make clear that under no
circumstances whatsoever will it agree with or support dismissing and
rehiring staff, who on the advice of their union negotiators, reject new
pay and conditions unilaterally imposed on staff by the Council
management side. The party therefore asks the Green Group to make it
unequivocally clear to the CE and other officers leading the
negotiations on "Pay Modernisation" that both the activation and/or the
threat of the activation to dismiss/rehire is completely unacceptable,
and should this  nevertheless proceed the party will publicly dissociate
itself from such an action and will actively campaign against it.

This is in relation to the argument over the ongoing "revenue neutral" pay modernisation negotiations in Brighton which had the potential to be very difficult, as "Single Status" agreements have been for many Labour Councils and Labour linked unions around the country.

It is very important that local Green Parties maintain strict scrutiny and regular contact with their elected Councillors to guard against the temptations and incentives to "go native" in the Council chamber.  The Green Party in England And Wales has a very good policy platform, and now, following last conference, a good Philosophical Basis statement favouring social justice.  Members should not allow the desires of individuals to appear "pragmatic" or "reasonable" to establishment politicians and media to damage our public image as a party firmly on the side of workers and their families.

Victory For Anti-Incinerator Campaign in Notts

Pickles rejects Sherwood Forest incinerator

Following a public inquiry, the Secretary of State Eric Pickles has refused planning permission for Veolia’s proposed 180,000 tonne waste incinerator in Rainworth, Nottinghamshire. The public inquiry, which was presided over by Inspector Rupert Grantham, opened in October 2009 and was adjourned twice at the request of Veolia to allow them time to submit further evidence.

The greenfield site, owned by UK Coal and subject to a planning condition requiring restoration to heathland and woodland, is in the heart of Sherwood Forest, and is used by rare and protected bird species such as woodlark and nightjar.

Local campaign group People Against Incineration (PAIN) were joined by Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and Newark & Sherwood District Council in opposing the application at the public inquiry. There was also a community evening where local residents voiced their opposition to the incinerator.

In the Planning Inspector’s view: “...Veolia have failed to show use of the Rufford facility would not prejudice further movement up the waste hierarchy...Recognition that the site is not previously developed land would have ruled it out at an early stage in the site selection process. I have also identified significant shortcomings in the subsequent assessment of this and other shortlisted sites. To my mind, the appraisal of alternative sites has not been robust”.

PAIN’s Chairman, Bernard Thompson, said: “This is a happy day for the people of Rainworth, and for all who care about Sherwood Forest. I would like to thank everyone involved. Local support remained solid over many years of campaigning. We have utmost respect for the Planning Inspector, Mr Rupert Grantham, who treated all parties fairly and arrived at the right conclusion.”

Shlomo Dowen, who gave evidence on behalf of PAIN at the inquiry, said: “It is unfortunate that Veolia and Nottinghamshire County Council have squandered so much time and public money on this misadventure. Now that this distraction is over PAIN looks forward to working with our County Council to ensure that Nottinghamshire’s ever-decreasing quantity of waste is managed sustainably.”

Newark & Sherwood District Councillor Linda Tift said: “I am overjoyed to hear that this beloved site will be protected from development. The site is clearly important to nature conservation and is surrounded by Sites of Special Scientific Interest. I hope that UK Coal will now honour their promise to return the site to heathland so that the community’s vision for the area to be restored and included in a Sherwood Forest Regional Park can be realised.”

Green Progress

A good Green showing in local elections across the country and excellent Green Party progress in Norwich and Brighton in the face of sustained attack from both Labour and Conservatives and feeble rearguard action from the tarnished Lib Dems:

Norwich results


Brighton Results

A shame about the AV referendum , but with FPTP voting for the foreseeable future the Greens, especially in England, now carry much hope and responsibility as the untarnished left-of-centre alternative in areas where the Lib Dems are crumbling and Labour are vulnerable or unable to make headway. Join us!

5th May - Say YES! (And Vote Green if you get the opportunity!)

On 5th May there is the opportunity to make a small change in the UK's voting system. However, if the vote is no this will be presented by the whole media and establishment as showing that there is no appetite for any change from First Past The Post in UK general elections and Proportional Representation will be off the agenda for possibly a political generation. Anyone who wants PR should vote YES to AV.

The Tories are changing the boundaries for elections so that they will get even more of an advantage under FPTP - Labour votes are concentrated in urban areas and the North - Tory voters are more spread out in rural and suburban zones and the South. The new boundaries will mean more seats fall to the Tories or become "Safe" Tory seats. AV would at least balance this change.

Some have been arguing that progressives and the left should vote No to "spite Clegg" in the hope this will cause the Lib Dems to leave the coalition or some such unlikely "Turkeys Voting for Christmas" scenario. Putting aside that voting YES is likely to "spite Cameron" and upset the Tories - (the Organ Grinders rather than the irritating monkeys!) - it seems to me that basing your vote on a change (that could lay the ground for further change, will be fairer and allow more of a clear picture of smaller party support) on personal animosity and short term vengeance seems to me politically immature to say the least.

So, Vote YES, and if you can - vote Green, and elect local councillors with principle who will not be mouthpieces for the Coalition vandals.

The Reality of Coalition Neo-liberalism

I was up close and personal with the reality of the austerity coalition's policies this week as the redundancy axe began to fall in my workplace.
For those still deluded enough to think the coalition is just about "Deficit reduction" and getting rid of "unproductive workers" the coming few months is going to be instructive. A tsunami of job losses in local government is coming along with the proposed total transformation of the National Health Service and a slow but sure dismantling of locally democratic controlled education. The shared (Neoliberal) aim of the two coalition party leaders, Sauron and Saruman, is the final dismantling of the post war settlement in Britain. That is effectively the end of anything resembling a welfare state and the beginning of a new age of corporatism. At the same time they hope to finish off what remains of anything approaching effective trade unionism by decimating the public sector and shaving off services left right and centre to corporations, religious groups, charities, philanthropists and the like. Their ideological attack dogs in organisations like Policy Exchange are already slavering for even more restrictive anti-union legislation and attacks on freedom of speech and assembly. So much for the "libertarian" rhetoric of the Cameroons and Orange Bookers.

The reality of this at the grassroots is likely to be disruption in the short term and in the longer term the creation of a two (or more?) tier system of services with the encroachment of private insurance, religious charities and corporate asset strippers.

At my workplace I have sat amongst devastated people who are going to lose jobs or workmates. We have people being made redundant on the grounds of "sickness points" who have otherwise exemplary performance and disciplinary records. That means people who have been unfortunate enough to have cancer in their families, who have had swine flu and even work related injuries, who have been coping with immense stress due to personal and family problems - these people are to pay for their bad luck with their jobs if they and their unions cannot win their appeals. This is people who have worked in a public sector employer that has been ranked amongst the best of its' kind in the country and in one of the most successful workplaces of that employer. And the 70% or 80% who remain may only have a temporary reprieve before the axe swings again, and again and again. Looking for jobs in this socially deprived part of the country will not be easy - the jobs that there are will probably pay half or less than what those being made redundant were paid and may be temporary or otherwise insecure.

Fortunately I sense that even those who went along for a while with the Coalition's rhetoric are now seeing the reality of what they are about - an ideological project to cement the power of certain sections of society even more firmly. They see the Bankers' bonuses, the sucking up to Murdoch and the political two-facedness and turn away in disgust. A mood of resistance is developing that goes far beyond the students that were the first to take the field. What is more, there is an awareness that alone in our workplaces and communities we are unlikely to be able to mount anything more than fragmentary resistance. What is needed is a movement across industries and society, across barriers of age and culture that takes inspiration from those resisting at the knife edge of the neo-liberal totalitarian project.

We need to work towards such a movement and as we do, the dream of ages past - the social general strike, the general expropriation of the expropriators becomes less of a dream and more of a possibility on the way to concrete necessity.

WASTE GIANT FAILS TO OVERTURN PUBLIC RIGHT TO KNOW

SECOND VICTORY FOR LOCAL RESIDENT IN LANDMARK SECRECY COURT BATTLE WITH WASTE GIANT

The multinational waste company Veolia Environmental Services today lost its Appeal against a High Court ruling which ordered it to release details of its £850 million waste management contract with its waste partner Nottinghamshire County Council to local residents .

This is the latest in a long line of cases in which information Veolia has tried to withhold has been forcibly made public. The judgement, confirmed by the Court of Appeal, set an important precedent for local authorities with immediate impacts for other councils around the country.

Veolia initiated the case, asking the High Court to judicially review Nottinghamshire County Council’s decision to release details of its multi-million pound waste management contract following a request by local resident and waste campaigner Shlomo Dowen, of People Against Incineration (PAIN), under local authority audit laws. The High Court ordered Veolia to release the information, and the Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court’s broad interpretation of the right of access to information under the audit laws. The Court of Appeal added a qualification that where the information is commercially confidential the authority must still release it where it is in the public interest to do so.

Mr Dowen was represented by lawyers from Friends of the Earth’s Rights and Justice Centre and Timothy Pitt-Payne QC at the Appeal, which was heard in July.

Information released following the High Court judgement showed how much money Veolia has been charging the local council for each method of waste treatment, such as landfill, incineration, recycling and composting, and helped show whether or not the local authority is getting value for money. As a direct result of the release of the information, the district auditors carried out several investigations, and will release their report following the judgement today.

The High Court case spawned a facebook page, and resulted in similar requests for waste contract details from Local Authorities in: Shropshire; Nottinghamshire; Leicestershire; Newcastle; Dudley; Hull; East Yorkshire; Derby; Bristol; Gloucestershire; and Warwickshire.

The case joins a series of blows for incineration in the UK.

Shlomo Dowen said:

“Truth is the best friend of every anti-incineration campaigner. Information that has been released to campaigners provides a valuable, powerful and effective resource. We have used this information to help District Auditors' investigations, for planning objections, and in public inquiries with great success. Such information is an antidote to the industry's propaganda. This decision will be celebrated, again, by campaigners throughout the UK. And of course, the implications for accountability go well beyond waste campaigning."

Friends of the Earth Lawyer acting for Mr Dowen, Laura Gyte, said:

“The Court of Appeal have confirmed the victory in this case for freedom of information and the residents of Nottinghamshire.

“Veolia was forced to come clean about its waste disposal contract and allow council tax payers to see how vast sums of their money is being spent, and how their rubbish is being disposed of.

“We are disappointed that the Court of Appeal implied a qualification on commercial confidentiality – in our view this is a matter for Parliament to decide upon – but it is important that even where commercial confidentiality is claimed, the audit laws mean that public authorities must still disclose the information where it is in the public interest to do so.”

For the past six years Veolia has been embroiled in a controversial attempt to build a waste incinerator in Sherwood Forest. A public inquiry was held in Rainworth near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. The public inquiry, which opened on 6 October 2009 and came to an end on 26 October 2010, involved Veolia, Nottinghamshire County Council, Natural England, Newark & Sherwood District Council, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, and the local anti-incineration campaign group PAIN. A decision on Veolia's proposed Sherwood Forest incinerator is expected in 2011.

April 10th - We Won't Pay For Their Crisis!

There is a major demonstration scheduled for London on April 10th in the probable run up to the General Election - a general election where all 3 main pro-capitalist parties are signalling their intentions to make cuts in public services and welfare. The protest, originating in the National Pensioners Convention, is backed by all main unions, coaches are being organised by Trades Councils and union branches from most areas of Britain.
Assemble 12 noon for 1pm Temple Place, Embankment, London.
Rally in Trafalgar Square.
Lets show the politicians we are not going to pay for their incompetence and the bankers' gambling! Let us remind them that whoever is in power after the election, we are not going to let them reverse what remains of the gains made by working people in Britain since the Second World War.

The RMT's Bob Crow on the demo - here.

Protest Against Nottingham Social Care Cuts

Nottingham City Unison have called a demonstration outside the City Council Budget Meeting on Monday 8th March at 12.30 in Old Market Square. The Labour City Council is proposing cuts in Adult Social Services as part of an £18 million package of cuts in its 2010/2011 budget. The proposed cuts include -

* Proposed closure of Riverside Residential Home (Bulwell) for adults with learning disabilities
*Closure of the Willows Older Persons Day Centre at weekends
*A new daily £2 charge for attendance at all adult day centres
*Cuts in day care for adults living in residential and nursing homes
*A 3% increase in charges for homecare, meals at home and transport to day centres
*Cuts in City Council Deaf Sevice

It is particularly ironic that Labour politicians and activists have been prominently flying their flags at protests against the Conservative controlled Notts County Council over the last week as the Tories launch a similar cuts programme targeted on day centres, residential homes etc in the County. Labour in the City are following the same policy as Tories in the County - targeting the most vulnerable and those they estimate are least likely to kick up a fuss or cost them votes.

Workers and service users need to show the City Labourites that we oppose their cuts every bit as much as those being implemented by the County Tories.

The Beginning Of A Long Struggle In Notts

Greens and Wobs from Nottinghamshire joined trades unionists, community campaigners, service users and members of left Parties in a protest against the forthcoming Notts County Council cuts programme on Saturday 20th February. The small but angry protest in Mansfield Market place appeared to attract a crowd of between 1 and 2 hundred (not bad for a small market town)but speakers were keen to stress that this is just the start of a campaign of resistance and protest against the Tory Council's attacks on jobs and services. The idea of a County wide anti-cuts campaign was floated, to work alongside the Trades Council and unite the various concerned groups.

A second protest is planned outside the Council budget agreement meeting at County Hall, West Bridgford, Nottingham on Thursday 25th at 10am.

The Independent newspaper had a headline earlier in the week that a survey conducted by them had shown at least 20,000 Council jobs across the country to be lost in the near future due to cuts programmes, and this is just the start. These cuts come whilst the main parties are gearing up for a general election and so are not as keen as they might be to be seen to be making deep cuts that affect public services. We can imagine what is to come after the general election.

Now is the time to build the links and solidarity, the organisation and communication between workers, campaigners and community groups that will be needed in the coming struggle.

Cuts Protest - Mansfield, Saturday 20th February

There is to be a protest against the cuts recently announced by Nottinghamshire County Council. It will take place in Mansfield Market Place on Saturday 20th February from 11am. The proposed cuts will mean hundreds of job losses, closure of vital services for elderly people, increases in charges and withdrawal of concessions. This action by the new Tory-led Council is a foretaste of what the Conservatives have in mind for the country as a whole if they gain power in the 2010 election - continued concern for the rich and powerful and cuts targetted on the poorest and most vulnerable. It appears to be no accident that the cuts seem to be harshest in areas like Mansfield - where people do not vote Tory (the last Tory District Councillor in Mansfield just defected to UKIP!).
Join the protest rally and help build the campaign against cuts.

Notts Incinerator Inquiry Postponed!

In a dramatic move the Nottinghamshire Incinerator Public Inquiry has been adjourned until April 13th 2010 and will now run for 4 weeks instead of 3 weeks.
Here's hoping that Veolia might think it is too much hassle or NCC might walk away.

On Wednesday 14th. October, the Public Open Forum will not now be needed. However, PAIN has decided to keep this date in place in order to update members.

The PAIN meeting is at
Rainworth Methodist Church Hall,
Southwell Road East,
Rainworth,
Notts
NG21 0BN
on Wednesday 14th October. 6.30 for 7pm. Cake will be available!

Victory over Veolia!

Good news!
The giant multinational waste, transport, water and services conglomerate Veolia has been defeated in its' attempts to withhold important information from local anti-incinerator activists and Council Tax Payers in Nottinghamshire. The decision of the High Court on 1st October is a landmark decision and a victory for dynamic PAIN* and UKWIN* activist Shlomo Dowen and Friends of the Earth in the UK who supported the case against Veolia.

The court case came about when activists sought to see details of the fantastically expensive waste contract signed between Veolia and Notts County Council under regulations governing local government auditing. Under these rules members of the public are allowed to see Council accounts and financial details during the audit process. Veolia sought an injunction against anyone seeing details relating to the County Waste Contract which includes the controversial incinerator plans for Rainworth in Sherwood Forest.

This led to the farcical situation of Notts County Council, (aware of their legal duties and the likelihood of them loosing a challenge if they complied with the wishes of Veolia) confronting their favoured contractor in court.

This is all a good omen for the Public Inquiry into Veolia's White Elephant Notts Incinerator (improved waste treatment technology and increasing recycling rates are already making it increasingly obsolescent before it even has final approval - the argument for an alternative waste strategy strengthens by the day) - the Inquiry starts in Rainworth next Tuesday and the public have their right to have their say on 14th October in the evening session of the Inquiry at Rainworth Methodist Hall.

Well done to Shlomo, PAIN, UKWIN and FOE and good luck for the Inquiry!



Notes
* PAIN - People Against Incineration - local Notts campaign against projected Veolia incinerator in Sherwood Forest.
* UKWIN - National anti-incinerator network, UK Without Incineration.

Defend Jim Board - Fight The Reactionary Attacks In Doncaster!

The battle against the right-wing reactionary mayor of Doncaster and his supporters continues as they launch a pre-emptive strike on union organisation. This from the Facebook Group set up to oppose Mayor Davies of the English Democrats:

On the 7th September 2009 Doncaster UNISON branch secretary Jim Board was suspended after giving an interview to Channel 4 news in defence of children's services in Doncaster.

With massive attacks planned by the Mayor the public sector services and the equality agenda in Doncaster, Jim Board and UNISON would be at the forefront of fighting for jobs and the services of the most vunerable sections of our community; making this attack no more than an effort by the mayor and senior council management to remove opposition to their plans, and to clearly attack the trade union movement.

This is not acceptable.

As a response a demonstration in support of Jim Board and against the Mayor's divisive attempts to undermine trade unions has been called. This is part of the Mayor's overall assault on public services and the equalities agenda in Doncaster - and we must show him this is unacceptable.

Please invite as many people as you can and lets make this as loud and defiant as possible as we say NO to the Mayor's attack on trade unions, public services, and tolerance and diversity in our town.

Assemble 11.00am Saturday 12th September outside Mansion House, Doncaster Town Centre

The story as reported in the Sheffield Star newspaper is that Davies is trying to launch a reactionary "yellow" nationalist union linked to his own Party on the base of his freak electoral victory in Doncaster.

This is all further proof that reactionary attacks on minorities morph very quickly into attacks on organized workers in general and shows how organized workers should support minorities under attack, not only because it is the correct thing to do, but out of self interest as well.....

Green Electoral Victory In Scarborough

Green Party activist Nick Harvey, (who has done a lot of campaigning on issues like public transport in his area) has won a stunning by-election victory in the rural Hertford Ward of Scarborough Borough Council.

13/8/09 result:

GREEN, Nick Harvey, 894
Con 356
Ind 94

Turn out 32.69%

This was a Green gain from the Tories, despite a big Conservative last-ditch polling day effort.

2007 result (The first time Nick stood)

Con 732
Con 709
LD 591
GREEN, Nick Harvey, 508
BNP 212

The Green Party now holds 3 seats on Scarborough Borough Council, the other 2 being in Stepney Ward within Scarborough itself. In a second by-election in Scarborough on the same night an Independent took a seat from the Liberal Democrats.

Nottingham Protest Against Council Redundancies

Nottingham City Council is pursuing a strategy of making mass redundancies, whilst claiming that this has nothing to do with their recent loss of large amounts of money in the Icelandic banking collapse, or other current and recent mistakes and mishaps.

Below is a communication from the Unison branch about the anti-redundancy campaign. I heard the other day about one worker who is close to retirement and being made compulsorily redundant, with all that entails, despite him being one of the most experienced and useful members of staff and without there being anyone equivalent to replace him at the moment. The Council workers are fighting to defend not only their jobs, but the level of service to the public.

Please ask your friends, family, colleagues etc to join our campaign to defend jobs and local services by;

1. Signing the attached petition or the epetition and encouraging others to do so. The link to the epetition is:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nottinghamcityunisoncampaign/

2. Write to Nottingham City Councillors and Nottingham MP's protesting about the cuts in jobs and services. Templates for letters will be forwarded to you shortly, together with bullet points to raise at MP's surgeries.

3. Join the protest on the 9th March between 1pm-2pm at the Market Square in Nottingham.

Many thanks


Nottingham City UNISON
4-6 Perth Street
Nottingham
NG1 3LU

Heathrow Runway 3 - A Declaration of War?

The Government announcement of their backing for a third runway at Heathrow entails the destruction of one village and the encirclement of another, a massive increase in pollution and further congestion and over-development of the South East of England at the expense of the rest of Britain, amongst other things. It also signals the final nail in the coffin of any claimed "green credentials" for the New Labour government.

The figleafs of claimed increases in aircraft efficiency and new limits on pollution and noise are an easily seen through propaganda exercise - two minutes thought tells us that if you improve emissions by a certain percentage, but then increase number of flights by that percentage or more you are not getting an overall gain! (This appears to be lost on Transport Minister Hoon - he of the Iraq War and "45 Minutes" - Hoon must surely go. What exactly does this right-wing militarist ex-public school boy have in common with the largely working class people of Ashfield in Notts anyway?) And do they really expect us to believe that Heathrow would shut and jobs be lost if it is not allowed to grow indefinitely? Is this really the future of the British economy, a cheap sevice bay for the International jet-set as they pass through, ceaselessy wandering the globe in search of profit - an economy that does not produce anything (food or manufactures) significant, but just services the global rich - a kind of National "Upstairs Downstairs" future?

The insult of the decision was combined with the arrogance and anti-democratic display over denying a debate on the issue (though hopefully the opposition can bring about a debate in Parliament). John McDonnell, one of the few remaining Labour MPs worthy of respect was quite right to be outraged - and one can sympathize with his symbolic wielding of the mace that has led to his Parliamentary suspension.

This anti-democratic behaviour by the Govenment over Heathrow was telegraphed long ago with the passing of the new planning laws meant to steamroller opposition and delays to projects that the government and their big business pals see as strategic. The legislation obviously had three or four main targets, all of which are potentially environmentally and socially disastrous - airport expansion, (chucking away carbon targets), a massive wave of incinerator building (effectively capping recycling and reuse and tying local government into an antiquated waste strategy for a quarter of a century), new nuclear build (dodging the waste question and again throwing more good millions of pounds away on a dangerous, strategically vulnerable and dubious "techno-fix") new road building (see carbon targets!) and new coal power stations with ridiculous promises of carbon capture "readiness" (i.e. without carbon capture).

However, the silver lining to all this is a change in the zeitgeist to a more united and militant opposition - we must all stand with the people of Sipson, Harmondsworth and Harlington. The resistance at Heathrow can spread out and become emblematic of resistance to the plans of new Labour and their Capitalist pals for a whole range of anti-social and ecocapitalist projects (i.e. projects which use the environmental crises as an excuse for further profiteering and which dodge the question of accumulation and the insatiability of Capital being the root of all the problems)

We need to see links built between community and environmental and workplace activists all over the country and the demand for a just and worker-led transition to a lower carbon economy raised to counter the "British jobs for British workers" crypto-fascist rhetoric that is beginning to be deployed by New Labour and their corporatist Gauleiters at the top of some unions and local government.

Some blogging comment below -

Derek reports on a Labour defection.

Jim reports the McDonnell protest at Westminster.

And more from Septic Isle at Obsolete