Frant Road casework

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A resident on Frant Road advised me about some fly tipped rubbish
that had accumulated since December. I went along to see it for
myself. The council had previously refused residents requests to
remove the rubbish on grounds that it was on private land and not
on a public highway. The problem was that Fortidec Ltd, who owned
the land, had become insolvent.

After tracking down the receivers, I urged the council to serve a
streetscene notice upon them. I am happy to report
that a few days later the rubbish was removed.

Shasha Khan
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Tags croydon, greenparty

Cameron conquered the North Pole so Wicks goes to the South!

MP flies to the end of the earth. Taken from the Croydon Guardian
By Graham Moody

Mp Malcolm Wicks during his trip to Antarctica
Croydon MP and energy minister Malcolm Wicks has been accused of environmental hypocrisy after a five-day trip to a British research station in Antarctica to see the effects of climate change.
Shasha Khan, Croydon Green Party member, questioned why the Croydon North MP had to visit the British Antarctic Survey's Rothera Research Station last week - given that more than four tonnes of carbon dioxide was produced by his 18,216-mile round trip.
Mr Khan said: "Why has he got to fly out to Antarctica to find out how human impact is affecting our planet's climate?
"I am sure modern telecommunications allow the research station to convey their work and findings without the science minister making a five-day trip to Antarctica.
"Our principal speaker, Derek Wall, is invited to many conferences around the world but he refuses to fly to them. He does everything by video conferencing which greatly reduces the production of carbon dioxide. This was a publicity stunt and a waste of time and public money."
Climatecare, a company which helps people off-set their carbon dioxide output, said Mr Wicks' carbon footprint - a trace of how much CO2 was generated by the trip - was more than four tonnes for the return flight. That is more than 800 times the average car driver produces over the same five-day period.
“You just cannot sit in an office all day and find out the importance of things happening in the world, you have to see for yourself."
Malcolm Wicks MP
The Government pays to have carbon emissions from ministerial trips off-set so the environmental impact is reduced.
Mr Wicks said: "I don't need to be lectured by the Green Party on these things. As minister for energy I understand the critical importance of reducing carbon emissions.
"My flights were on planes that were already going and were full of other passengers. The plane taking me from the Falkland Islands to the station was scheduled to take workers out to the base. There was not one leg of my trip that was not already happening.
"You just cannot sit in an office all day and find out the importance of things happening in the world, you have to see for yourself. I learnt a great deal on the trip. The Green Party is just trying to make a cheap local point."
Professor Chris Rapley CBE, British Antarctic Survey Director, said: "It is important that the minister should be fully briefed on the current state of the polar regions and see for himself the work under way."
A spokesman for Mr Wicks' department refused to reveal how many people accompanied the MP on the trip.

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Letter to the editor: Labour spinning around again

Dear Editor

Could I just point out that only 15% of the electorate voted Labour in the recent Bensham Manor by election? Given that this is supposedly a safe Labour seat, it raises serious questions as to why Labour councillors continue to claim it as a great result – particularly at a time when the Tories are, indeed, cutting budgets.

In fact, I’d suggest their artificial merriment is merely part of yet another Labour Party spin campaign. It’s been 25 years since a Tory was elected in Bensham Manor. Yet, long before the official campaign got underway, Labour had decided to claim that their victory in Bensham Manor was a protest by the local electorate at the Conservative Council’s budget cuts. .

But why stop there? Why not produce truckloads of election material suggesting that a vote for any other party or not voting at all could let the Tories slip in. Then get Malcolm Wicks MP and Labour councillors to ring local people with the same message. Older residents of the area tell me they’ve never witnessed a campaign like it.

To top it all of why not send a media release to the BBC plus letters to the local paper predicting a huge Labour victory as a damning indictment of the Tories. (Conveniently omit the fact that Bensham Manor has been a safe Labour seat for donkey’s years, of course).

Then, on election night, carefully position every Labour guest and official by the BBC cameraman to whoop with joy and amazement when the unsurprising result is read out by the Returning Officer at the town hall. Encourage the BBC to speculate that the electorate has voted with its feet and shown their disgust at all the cuts.

And the spin still hasn’t ended. Just in case people realise what a dismal result it really was for Labour, why not blitz the local media with letters and statements reiterating the ‘great victory’ theme. After all, if they say it often enough, someone might believe it.

Sadly, all of this goes to show what a circus Labour has made of the democratic process. Rather than simply recognise that voters want real solutions to the problems they face, Labour continues to throw vast resources into denying reality then expect voters to believe them.

Yours sincerely

Shasha Khan
Croydon Green Party

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Movie: Croydon and Sutton Greens at the Stop the War demo

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Croydon Greens attend rally

Press Release: TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ AND HALT TRIDENT REPLACEMENT

The Government must abandon plans to replace its Trident nuclear missilesand immediately withdraw all UK troops from Iraq, says local Green Party campaigner Rob Steel.

After the march and rally from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square Rob Steel said: “Replacing Trident would be illegal, immoral, counter-productive – andutterly irrelevant to the real security threats we face today.

“It would cost the British taxpayer an estimated £76bn over the next fewdecades – money that could be used to fund practical solutions to climatechange, the far greater security threat we face, as the recent UNInternational Panel on Climate Change has again made clear.

“It will put the UK in direct breach of the UN’s Nuclear Non-ProliferationTreaty, and would increase the global supply of nuclear materials bylaunching a new nuclear arms race.”

Ends

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Letter to Croydon Advertiser

Dear Editor,

I was very sorry to read that pupils at Archbishop Lanfranc School in Croydon had to shelve their plans to recycle paper from their school because their school budget didn’t allow it. (“We can’t afford to go green” – 16th Feb). It will be the school children of today that will have to pay the costs of tomorrow if catastrophic climate change is not avoided. Recycling paper helps reduce carbon emissions by avoiding the need to extract and refine raw materials, and reduces methane emissions from landfill sites.
The political will in the Labour and Conservative parties is missing to deal with this problem and the wider issue of under funded schools.
Instead, they are prepared to pay a staggering £76billion to renew Trident nuclear weapons defence system. Replacing Britain’s nuclear arsenal would be illegal, immoral and utterly irrelevant to what the Government has acknowledged is the greatest security threat we face: climate change.
I will be writing to the school to find what “mutually beneficial agreement” this cost slashing Conservative Council will offer the school and to offer our support to their recycling campaign.

Yours sincerely

Shasha Khan
Croydon Green Party--------------------------------------------------
Tags croydon, greenparty

Press release: Legal challenge verdict

16.02.07
GREENPEACE WIN LEGAL CHALLENGE AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT'S ENERGY REVIEW
A judge yesterday ruled that the consultation process before making the decision last year had been "seriously flawed" and "procedurally unfair". Local Green Party spokesperson Bernice Golberg today described the court's decision as “historic”.

"I welcome the result today - and thank the many people involved, especially Greenpeace.Today's historic result shows that the government have got a fight on their hands. Despite their scheming, the combined efforts of many different organisations, including the Green Party has ensured that their ploy to bring in nuclear power by the back door has failed. The Energy Review was clearly just a rubber-stamping exercise for a decision the Prime Minister had already taken.”

Local Greens used street theatre to highlight the rubber stamping and to speculate why the then Energy Minister, Malcolm Wicks, went for the nuclear option. (1) They also collected signatures in Croydon Town Centre as part of an European wide campaign. (2)

"Some of our local members submitted evidence to this case, pointing out that there had been a failure to present clear proposals and information on key issues. We are glad the high court judge has joined us in objecting to this sham consultation. The government will now have to abandon the conclusions of the Energy Review, and we are looking forward to taking part in a full debate on how we use and generate electricity in the UK. We hope that this time the government listens to common sense and the views of ordinary people and rejects the expensive and dangerous route of nuclear power. There are huge opportunities in energy-saving and renewable energy just begging to be taken up. Ten million homes still have unfilled cavity walls in the UK and we are failing to take advantage of the massive wind and wave power resources that are unique to our islands. If the government doesn't have the vision to grab these opportunities, they will not be forgiven.”

ENDS

(1) Figures published by the Electoral Commission showed money flooded in to the Labour Party from energy companies and lobbying firms linked to the nuclear industry. Crucially, the cash donations give the pro-nuclear lobby access to decision makers.

EDF Energy, which has 58 nuclear reactors across Europe, gave Labour £6000 in 2005. In the same period, lobbying firm Weber Shadwick whose clients include British Nuclear Fuels gave Labour £19,500. Two weeks after Mr Blair’s now infamous ‘vengeance’ speech to the Confederation of British Industry, Sovereign Strategy, which represents US Nuclear firm Fluor, gave Labour £8000. Fluor is hoping to win a stake in the £70 billion British nuclear waste market.

(2) http://www.newnuclearpowernothanks.org/
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Tags croydon, greenparty

No Trident - Demonstrate Saturday 24th February 2007

Assemble 12 noon, Speakers' Corner. Rally in Trafalgar Square.

Details of where the Sutton & Croydon groups will meet up will follow.



CND Chair Kate Hudson talks about why you should attend the demonstration.


From CND

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Tags croydon, greenparty, trident, CND