Planning meetings should be webcast

The Lindley Moor Plaque. Could webcasting have saved the site from development?

Webcasting council meetings has been a very successful initiative that was originally proposed in a Green Party motion to Council a few years ago. The council certainly took its time implementing webcasting but we now regularly have hundreds of people logging on and seeing how their elected representatives are acting on their behalf. To a large extent they see it warts and all. Full Council and Cabinet meetings are webcast but not Planning Committee meetings. We have recently had some interesting and controversial items at Huddersfield Area Planning Committee such as the proposed developments of housing and a data centre at Lindley Moor. No doubt many people would have logged on to watch if it were possible.  I guess the Councils main concern is that webcasting may aid applicants who appeal to the Secretary of State against decisions that are made against them.  If those decisions were made on the basis of flawed logic, dodgy arguments and didn't show Councillors in a particularly good light then that is something the Council might not want displayed for all to see. My own view is that if we are to see standards rise  then transparency through webcasting of Planning meetings can only make things better. If meetings aren't webcast then the only option for many who want a 'live feed' will be to follow those 'tweeting' from the Council meeting and you would certainly lose a lot of the drama and nuances e.g. the rapturous applause from the public for Cllr Khan as he supported building on Lindley Moor at the last Planning Meeting. Okay that's not the reaction he got, but if meetings were webcast you'd know that for sure!

The Wrath of Khan

The last Full Council meeting saw Kirklees Council Leader Mehboob Khan attack the new Green Party Administration in Brighton in a response to one of the many planted questions he'd arranged for the meeting. His answer was riddled with inaccuracies and lies but I guess everyone has there own leadership style. If you want to follow the actual point in the meeting in the webcast it begins about 35mins 30 seconds in (my reaction to Cllr Khan's comments can't quite be made out on the webcast fortunately!)

The crux of his case was that the Green Party in the run up to the local elections had promised that cuts were unnecessary and wouldn't happen if they were elected. So I drew the Kirklees Webcast to Brighton Green Party's attention and Councillor Jason Kicat had the following comment to make,

"Cllr Khan is speaking complete nonsense. We never pledged not to increase council tax and we have never pledged not to implement a legal budget. He should be asked to withdraw such rubbish.

We pledged to resist cuts to maximum extent legally possible. Furthermore the council has an ongoing value for money (efficiency) programme which actually over-delivered last year and is continuing this year."

Jason's blog provides more details of dubious Labour and Conservative attacks on the Green Party's position on Budget setting in Brighton.

You do wonder whether Cllr Khan's comments are part of a general fear about the Greens in the Labour Party. At their next Conference in Liverpool they even have a fringe meeting entitled "Green to Red: How can Labour stop the Greens spreading?"

Of course Cllr Khan's 'wrath' is because we didn't join with the other parties in voting for extensive cuts to adult social care (which they have now been forced to backtrack on for legal reasons). He doesn't seem to recognise that for some of us voting for cuts to services for the most vulnerable when bankers get off scot free is a matter of principle and conscience. He may regard voting on the basis of your beliefs as a luxury or an indulgence. I believe by opposing the cuts we provided a greater service to politics as a whole by ensuring that people in the most difficult circumstances felt supported and that they had a voice.

               Khan Plots his revenge. " He tasks me"

Vote Greening Kirklees. You know it makes sense!

Its come round to the Total Politics blog Awards again. If you fancy voting for Greening Kirklees I'd appreciate it. If you don't that's OK too. It fits into the 'Green' and 'Councillor' categories. Here's the link

Walking the walk

My preferred mode of travel

New Lib Dem Cllr and former Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate James Blanchard tweeted the following a few weeks ago,

"Fact of the evening (according to Cllr Khan at least): #Green Cllr Andrew Cooper has four cars #doastheysaynotastheydo"

It's difficult to work out who to be more annoyed with, Cllr Khan for lying or Cllr Blanchard for repeating it.

The truth is that we have only one car in our household and went down from 2 about 2 years ago and have never had more than that. Also I generally don't use it as I either walk to Huddersfield or use the train or very occasionally the car if I need to go somewhere where I'd need a car or to trasport something heavier than I could carry any distance. I also use City Car Club if I need a car but my better half needs ours.

My advice to Cllr Blanchard would not to necessarily believe everything Cllr Khan says nor to repeat it without checking it out first. He could also have a look at Cllr Khan's car. Very nice and flashy with a personalised number plate.

Permit Parking – Kirklees to propose £30 charge

Kirklees Councils proposal to charge households £30 for their parking permits is likely to adversely affect households in the Springwood, Highfields, Aspley  and parts of Primrose Hill. Previously households got their parking permits for free.  Over 8000 homes are expected to be asked to pay and it seems that smaller and lower income households could feel the impact.

£30 is not a lot of money for some people but if you are a pensioner on a fixed income or receive income support then it is effectively another tax on you at a time of rising food and fuel prices. For many people a parking permit is not even a guarantee that you can park on your own street as particularly in the Springwood area contractors and people working on behalf of Kirklees often take up these spaces. Though many low income and pensioner households may not have a car they value the permits to use for family and friends who come to visit them.

If Kirklees were to make concessions to low income households, as we would want them to do, this would reduce the amount of revenue the scheme would generate thereby making charging as a policy less viable. For that reason we want Kirklees to scrap the idea of introducing a charge for parking permits for all households.

Before any proposed charge is introduced all 8000 permit parking holders will have to be consulted by letter and allowed 21 days to respond. These responses will then have to be considered by Kirklees Cabinet.

The Liberal Democrats are also opposing permit parking charges currently in the Lindley area but were in favour of them during the budget process which set the wheels in motion on this proposal. 

Greening Calderdale

Scholes Farm in Calderdale. That roof's looking a bit bare!

 At first glance you might think Calderdale didn't need much 'Greening'. It is indeed a green and pleasant area and a Council I worked for for a while as their Home Energy Conservation Officer. They pioneered universally free insulation for the over 60s regardless of income before any other Council in the country and did so for around 8 years before funding constraints took hold. Calderdale has Hebden Bridge with the Alternative Technology Centre and more 'right on' folk than you can shake a stick (that may be later used as biomass) at. It also has Todmorden which pioneered the food growing revolution that is 'Incredible Edible'. The Council is also doing some pioneering work on new social housing with high Code for Sustainable Homes standards. So there's a lot for them to shout about on the green front but even the more proactive areas have a blind spot and Calderdale's is their Planning Department's approach to solar PV on listed buildings.

 A recent planning application for a solar PV panels on a listed farmhouse at Scholes Farm is a case in point. The applicants wanted to put their panels on a section of roof that was on a new extension to the listed building that could not be seen from the road or particularly easily from anywhere else. Calderdale Planning however reckoned that this was still adversely impacting on the buildings listed status and recommended refusal. All I could imagine that the applicants could have done to make the panels more acceptable to planners would have been to bury them in the garden but this would have rather negated their purpose in life.



St James Piccadilly Solar Panels

 Having listed status does not mean you can't have solar panels. There are many examples from around the country including St James Piccadilly, a 17th century church designed by Sir Christopher Wren of St Pauls Cathedral fame no less. These panels are on a grade 1 listed building and again can't be seen from the road. I've been in the church and very nice it is too it even has a meter in the lobby to show how much electricity is being generated by the 'eyesore' on their roof. In Calderdale itself they have an even better example in Gibson Mill near Hardcastle Crags. This National Trust Visitor Centre is a converted listed mill and proudly  displays its solar pv panels for all to see at the front of the building. It also uses hydro and biomass as other power sources for the building. So looking in the context of these 2 examples it makes Calderdale Planning's approach to this application look rather harsh.

I advised the applicants of their right to ask one of their local councillors to refer the matter to the Planning Committee for a decision rather than be decided by officers. Fortunately the Councillors could see that the interpretation of government planning policy in this instance was not being regarded as an enabling one but in a more restrictive light. Evidence was ably provided by Mr Adam Gillespie of the Energy Saving Trust on behalf of the applicant. The Councillors wisely approved the application.

Down on the farm

Kim Warren in the foreground with David Browning of KEP

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's project to establish a community farm at Stirley Farm is coming on leaps and bounds. A few of us hardy souls went to see progress on the site on land between Newsome and Castle Hill on Saturday morning. The plans are to make it into a working farm with an educational and community focus.

 It enjoys strong support in the Newsome Ward as perceived insurance against housing development as well as being a good use of the land in it's own right. There is also a strong link with the Growing Newsome project and it was with their movers and shakers that I was out in the rain on Saturday morning. Many of the buildings on the farm site are in a pretty ropey state so there is going to have to be a major refurb which gives an opportunity to have some 'wacky do'' eco and energy features.



Diane Sims central behind some peas. Oh look there's David Browning again!

 At present the staff on the site are working out of a temporary container style  office unit without electricity. We were shown round by the Food Education and Training Officer Kim Warren who has a wealth of knowledge about food growing and used to be Jamie Oliver's gardener but has now taken on the challenge iof getting our local communities interested in growing and eating their own food. She is already making links with local schools.

I got some curly kale from the farm to put in a stew. After my recent experiences with the allotment this was a much needed morale boost on the local food front.