Up in Smoke? Democracy, Trafford, and an incinerator…

Posted on July 26, 2012 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Mason Corbishley of the Breathe the Clean Air Group answers questions about a proposed incinerator in Trafford.

Briefly, what is the planned thing that you are objecting to? 




Peel Energy has proposed to build a waste incinerator within 550 metres of a densely populated residential area. The incinerator is planned to burn 200,000 tonnes per year of waste, which will include wood from construction and demolition sites as well as Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF), which are plastic residues that cannot be recycled.

What are your principle concerns/objections? 


Our principle reason for objection is the impact of this incinerator on the local air quality and the health implications that it could cause. Some other reasons include:

  • The location of the Application Site and Surroundings
  • Policy Misalignment – Whether the development is incompatible with sustainable development principles and local and national policies
  • The amenity of local residents due to noise or other disturbance and interference with enjoyment of the land
  • The impact of the development upon Regeneration of local town centres and property prices

What would you say to people who accused you of being NIMBY? (“Not in my backyard”)
We are not NIMBYs; we are a well-established community group campaigning against the construction of an incinerator within our community. As well as working on a local level on this issue, we are working collaboratively with other groups or a more national scale to prevent the construction of such plants. We are also affiliated to organisations such as “United Kingdom Without Incineration.”

What would you say to people who say, “Surely renewable energy is a good thing”?
We are not opposed to renewable energy. BCAG is 100% for renewable energy but this method of waste disposal certainly is not renewable. Solar, wind and hydroelectric power are all renewable energy sources that should be utilised instead of incineration. Incineration is a dirty industry and energy of the future should not have such a dangerous impact on air quality. Alternatives are green and clean, but incineration cannot be put into this category.

What do you think should happen to the waste?
Energy can be derived from waste using alternative processing methods such as Plasma Gasification or Pyromex.  These processes do not create the dangerous emissions we are so concerned about.  However, all of the processes mentioned still create a ‘pull’ for more waste – the BCAG support the drive towards a Zero-Waste society, where precious resources are not destroyed.

Who are your public allies within the political system (MPs, councillors etc.)?
We have had full support for all 3 of our MPs (Kate Green, Paul Goggins and Graham Brady) as well as MEPs (Sajjad Karim and Arlene McCarthy).
Not only have we had members of parliament supporting our campaign but also we have a unanimous cross-party supporting council, who have gone public with a motion that states:
This Council deplores the recent action of Peel Energy in appealing the decision of Trafford Council’s Planning Committee to refuse planning permission for a bio-mass incinerator in Davyhulme. This was a unanimous decision of the planning committee on the grounds of the perceived threat to the health of Trafford residents.
The council demands that Peel Energy reconsiders its decision to appeal the refusal and withdraws their appeal forthwith.
Further this Council resolves to investigate using its powers under the Sustainable Communities Act to petition the Government to change the planning system so that developers cannot appeal to central government to overturn a local planning decision.”

All Trafford Councillors are in full support of our campaign and will be helping us during our next step in the lead up to the public inquiry.

What are the top three things you are asking your supporters to do? 


The Public Inquiry is going to cost us money to engage the services of an Air Quality expert and obtain Legal Representation. We have launched an appeal for £12,500. We are asking the public to donate whatever they can to our fighting fund.
We are asking the public for ideas on how to raise money with their friends and neighbours by holding a coffee morning, sponsored event, collection or fundraising events. This is also giving the public a way to get more involved without being part of the core group.

We need as many people as possible to speak at the inquiry so we are asking for people to be at the public inquiry on the first day (13th November) and to see whether they can get their local Head teacher or doctor to speak. We need the community to support us on the first day of the Inquiry (13th November) and on a later day when the public have their say. The venue is yet to be confirmed and we will inform everyone nearer to the time, but it will be held locally within Trafford.

What happens after the next “deadline” in the campaign
At the minute, the Environment Agency (EA) is consulting the public on its draft decision to grant and environmental permit for the plant. The deadline for representations is 15th August.

As well as the EA consultation, the Public Inquiry is a parallel process, which we are currently trying to raise funds for. (See info above). The Public Inquiry is to being on 13th November (Venue TBC) and scheduled to last 10 days. This will allow the public to express their concerns and objections to the inspector. After the inquiry, the inspector will write a report recommending whether or not planning permission should be granted. This is then sent to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, who will make the final decision.

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Steering Group chair hangs up on MCFly; “You can hardly be surprised”

Posted on July 25, 2012 by manchesterclimatemonthly

After several days of trying, MCFly co-editor Arwa Aburawa finally got hold of Steve Connor, chair of the Steering Group. She was phoning to ask five basic questions which we had put up on the website the previous week.  The phone call was short, because Mr Connor decided the best way to deal with journalists who are asking straightforward questions is… to hang up on them.

Arwa then sent an email. Here’s what happened next.

Hi Steve,
I realise you’re busy and don’t really want to talk to me but I do have some questions to ask. During our 30 sec phone conversation in which you hung up on me didn’t really give me a chance to say that.

(Connor’s responses in italics)Given your low opinion of the Steering Group you can hardly be surprised.
[MCFly – this means – “Only sycophantic journalists need apply”]

Anyway, questions are:

1. When will you be putting up the minute of the Steering groups meeting that took place in 2012? On the website they are only available up to 2011.
Minutes is an oversight. Thank you for letting me know and I’ll get it rectified.
[In a post on linked-in on June 26th, Mr Connor wrote “We’ll also make sure we get the notes up on the website (manchesterclimate.com) which hasn’t been done for a few months and for which I apologise. Will improve.” Our phone call was on July 10. Today, July 25th – still no minutes on the website. Or if they are up, they’re very well hidden. No blog posts since January, of course.]

2. Will meetings ever be open to the public?
Our meetings will remain private.

3. If you can’t attend the August refresher meetings, will there be other ways to take part – survey etc.
Refresher meetings – am taking this up with the volunteers organising them.
[Well, the refresher meetings are now a week away, and there’s been no survey, no notification, so, basically the answer to that one appears to be “no” as well.]

4. From what I have seen so far, none of the workshops are looking at behaviour change. Will that change?
Behaviour change is not a siloed activity but stretches across all the areas.

5. Will the refresh meetings acknowledge the awkward fact that if economic growth does return it will involve tipping even more carbon into the atmosphere.
Economic growth – I have personal opinions which are well known to many but as a steering group we have not sat down and discussed whether we are in the death throes of ‘Late Capitalism’ and need a plan B. We have no plans currently to campaign for alternative economic models.

We could write a long editorial about how hanging up on people and making repeated promises about the availability of minutes is not the best way to show openness and transparency. But the facts, again, speak for themselves.

Marc Hudson
mcmonthly@gmail.com

Posted in Democratic deficit | Tagged | 1 Comment

Volunteer to help make #Manchester Carbon Literate – tough questions answered

Posted on July 24, 2012 by manchesterclimatemonthly

A couple of weeks ago MCFly advertised a “please come volunteer” shout-out from Cooler Projects, a small social enterprise that’s doing “Carbon Literacy” work. Then it occurred to us that we really ought to be every bit as tough on the people we go drinking as we are with those we don’t. So we came up with the curliest questions we could. Maybe not curly enough? If any readers think there’s more to ask, then send us questions and we will get the thumbscrews out again, wipe off the blood and go to work once more. In the meantime, here are the answers that one of the directors of Cooler, Phil Korbel, sent us…

1) Why should people work for free?
People shouldn’t normally work for free but this is a significant project run by a small social enterprise which has suddenly encountered much more demand than anticipated.  Let’s unwrap that a bit – the Manchester Carbon Literacy (MCL) is a unique project that aims to enable everyone that lives, works or studies in the city access to a days worth of Carbon Literacy Training by the end of 2014.  Year 1 was meant to be relatively sedate but organisations have kept on saying ‘yes’ to working on the project so we have ended up with more work on our hands than we ever expected, or than we budgeted for.  Thus the need for temporary voluntary help.

2) What is in it for them?
Experience and the knowledge of being a part of a unique and worthwhile project.  The work any volunteer on the project will be real work with a substantial level of responsibility and Cooler projects would be happy to document this fact for any volunteer’s c.v.  It is worthwhile because we believe that the wide scale up-take of Carbon Literacy is vital to the creation of a low carbon culture in the city and beyond.  It’s also never been tried before – which is meant as an encouragement.

The other benefit for MCL volunteers would be to put themselves in an advantageous position for paid work when new funds are procured – and that is being worked on as a high priority at the moment.  If a volunteer has been working well with us and knows the project already they are bound to perform better in any selection process.

3) Who gets the financial profit from their labour in this instance?
Cooler is a Community Interest Company so no one earns profit per se from what we do.  Two people are being paid to run the MCL project and this request for volunteers applies to currently un-funded work.  In other words, volunteer time will not increase the revenue coming to the project.  We hope that MCL will ‘profit’ from volunteer input in that it may lay the ground for more funding in the future – see paragraph above.

4) What experience do you (either or both) have of developing unpaid interns/volunteer management?
Cooler Director Phil Korbel has been running a charity that focuses on volunteering since 1999 and is well versed in volunteer management.  We also place great value in nurturing the skills of our team – be they paid or unpaid.  Our existing volunteers seem happy with how they are being treated – and keep coming back.

5) Anything else you’d like to say?
Just to re-iterate – needing to ask for unpaid work is an unsatisfactory position and one that we’d seek to redress soon.  This call-out is an un-intended consequence of the success of the MCL project and we hope that anyone responding to it will gain by involvement with us.

Phil Korbel, Co-Director, Cooler C.I.C.

For more info, see MCFly’s February 2012 interview with Dave Coleman

Posted in volunteer opportunity | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Job Alert: Local Food Project Officer, Groundwork

Posted on July 23, 2012 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Salary range £21,413 – £26,765 inc. contributory pension scheme
September 2012 – February 2014

Groundwork are seeking to recruit an individual to deliver a new,
innovative project, Eat the School, across primary schools in the
Swinton area of Salford. You will have the ability to inspire and
motivate young children, their teachers and volunteers in food growing projects, using the outdoor environment to develop skills and
abilities in a fun and practical way. For this role you will have
experience of working with primary age children, and of teaching basic horticulture and gardening within the community, or working with community growing projects. You will also have experience of working with a range of public, private and third sector partners.

You will need an understanding of the national curriculum and the role of the outdoor environment in its delivery. You will need excellent communication and interpersonal skills, as well as the ability to plan events and activity programmes. You will possess strong basic horticulture skills, including planning, design and growing. You will be an excellent project manager.

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: 2nd August 2012
Interviews will be held on 9th August 2012

If you believe you can make a difference, we’d love to hear from you!
We are an equal opportunities employer.

Contact us on 0161 220 1000 or email manchester.jobs@groundwork.org.uk
for an information and application pack, quoting job reference LFPO.

Posted in Job Alert | Tagged | Leave a comment

#Manchester #climate nuggets July 23 2012

Posted on July 23, 2012 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Hi all,

the Steady- State Manchester meeting last Thursday went well (see blog post about it here). Starting this evening individual emails are being sent out to people and groups asking them for their involvement.

Manchester Climate Monthly will probably move down a gear over the summer, for reasons like Ramadan, holidays and the pressure of Other Work.

One post I’d strongly recommend you read is the news piece MCFly co-editor Arwa Aburawa wrote about new EU rules (and support) around cities measuring and reporting their carbon emissions.

Best wishes, and, as ever, if you want to volunteer some time and/or energy to MCFly, get in touch with us via mcmonthly@gmail.com…

PS Here’s our post-mortem of the last print issue. Please add to it!

Marc Hudson

Coming up this week

Mon 23rd, 7pm Withington Co-operative Eco-house meeting,Fuel, 448 Wilmslow Road, Withington (upstairs). “The Withington Co-operative Eco-house is a new project to enable a group of people to be given the opportunity to live together within the city in a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way. The house will provide accommodation for a household of six people, who we are currently looking for. No capital is required to join. Go along to the next meeting to find out more.” http://www.coopliving.net

Tuesday 24 July from about 6.30 pm. A new “eco-house” in Chorlton is being created. A sledge hammer session will be launched to clear the backyard of concrete towards creating a vegetable/fruit and nut garden.
Observers may wish to lay bets or do any other wild thing to raise money for the Green Party or the house.
please ring 0770 207 8859 to confirm there are no changes of plan. Anne

Stories you may have missed on the MCFly website

Lessons we like to pretend we have learnt
The self-delusion is endless. It really is.  You might think that mass murder and pillage of natural ecosystems is this species’ strong suit, but nope, self-delusion wins that prize hands down.

Reading the Manchester web
Manchester’s green spaces win more awards. Possibly not Heaton Park or Platt Fields, just right now, though…

“A Step Forward for Green Socialist Policies and Approach in the North West”

Sustainable Housing: “Learn how to go bleach free”

Living up to its tagline of “tomorrow’s news today”, the BusinessDesk.com talks about geothermal energy for as many as 8,000 homes in Ardwick a day ahead of the Manchester Evening News, which publishes a breathless and context-free front page/page 2 splash, and a fremdschämen-inspiring editorial.

Things worth reading
Treausry trying to get its ROCs off; The George Osborne omni-shambles rolls on. To the frustration of the Lib Dems, Labour and all sentient beings on the planet, he is trying to protect gas from ‘excessive’ subsidies for renewables. I defy you to make this stuff up.

Copenhagen wins “European Green Capital 2014”

“Aquaculture is dirty, unsustainable and inefficient. So why is the UN pushing it?”

And next Saturday, this…

Posted in Weekly bulletins | Leave a comment

MCFly in “reprinting press release” shocker: “Dig the City” 24 to 29 July

Posted on July 22, 2012 by manchesterclimatemonthly

We have been sent this, think it’s probably interesting, but haven’t had the time to investigate. We do know that our friends at “Mad Cycle Lanes” are miffed about the chaos on Victoria St.

‘The Living Street’ to inspire all at ‘Dig The City’

Groundwork, the environmental regeneration experts, are to take over an area near Manchester Cathedral to show Mancunians how healthier and greener living ideas could be recreated on their doorsteps.

Groundwork Manchester, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford (MSSTT) are to temporarily make the recently pedestrianised Victoria Street, adjacent to Manchester Cathedral, into an urban garden as part of ‘Dig in the City’, the inaugural Manchester Garden Festival taking place in the centre of Manchester between 24th and 29th July 2012.

Groundwork MSSTT plans to bring to life the 150metre street, promoting the longstanding Groundwork vision of “changing places, changing lives” by showcasing a wide range of projects linked, amongst other things, to health and wellbeing, play, environmental sustainability, social enterprises, community cohesion and food growing. Elements of the Groundwork show gardens at the RHS Hampton Court event will be transplanted into the centre of the city

“This will be a visually stimulating and thought provoking display, where we turn tarmac into a green oasis” said Groundwork’s Senior Landscape Architect, Julie Hyslop. Instead of having garden festival events out in the country, Groundwork along with Manchester Cathedral and the City Council are bringing the countryside into the city. People will be able to see how becoming more connected with the environment even in urban spaces can really improve their lives and make them feel better. “With plans to inspire and change the perceptions of the public to help them imagine the possibilities Victoria Street can have. ‘The Living Street’ will be peppered with interactive live demonstrations, training workshops and talks to help educate, enthuse and interact with the general public.”

Groundwork has been “changing places, changing lives” since 1982, with over 35 independent Trusts now working across the UK to support those neighbourhoods facing the most significant challenges. Although the world is a very different place in 2012, there are still many parallels with 1982. “Communities are being buffeted by economic forces beyond their control “a concern expressed by Groundwork UK, as part of Operation Groundwork. “ Unemployment is high and social tensions are simmering. There is a need for new thinking about how we manage land and green spaces and increasing urgency about the real and unstoppable impacts of climate change. 30 years on, Groundwork still holds on to that vision and forever pledges to help make a brighter future.”

‘Dig The City’ will take place immediately after the RHS Tatton Show, aiming to create an urban garden show in the centre of Manchester.

Posted in Upcoming Events | 1 Comment

Something for the Weekend 20 July 2012 #Manchester #Climate

Posted on July 20, 2012 by arwafreelance

To get your weekend off to a start- a (shockingly half decent!) joke.

Q. How many G4S security staff does it take to change a lightbulb? A. Six soldiers and a policeman

And this weekend…

Sat July 21st Envirolution, A free festival in Platt Fields Park. A selection of marquees will host a range of activities and entertainment promoting and inspiring sustainable living. http://envirolution.wordpress.com/

Sunday 22nd  July New Eco-House open day in Chorlton.  Open House and would welcome volunteers to help remove the polystyrene covering walls and ceilings of the 2 attic rooms and roll up the carpets, but no obligation to do anything but call in and say hello or “Are you crazy?”. 36 Manchester Road Chorlton cum Hardy, M21 9PH I can have all day.

CORRECTION: Monday 23rd, 7pm Withington Co-operative Eco-house meeting, Fuel, 448 Wilmslow Road, Withington (upstairs). “The Withington Co-operative Eco-house is a new project to enable a group of people to be given the opportunity to live together within the city in a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way. The house will provide accommodation for a household of six people, who we are currently looking for. No capital is required to join. Go along to the next meeting to find out more.” http://www.coopliving.net

If you know of weekend events that are about “climate” (and that includes food growing, or cycling or whatever), then let us know and we can include them in future “Something for the Weekend”s…

And if you know any jokes of the high standard we’ve used so far, please submit ’em.

Posted in Something for the Weekend | 1 Comment

Newsflash: Brussels sprouts action on climate change gas reporting

Posted on July 20, 2012 by manchesterclimatemonthly

MCFly co-editor Arwa Aburawa travels all the way to Brussels*  and sees parliamentarians decide that European states must now take account of the “sub-national context” when measuring their greenhouse gas emissions. What does this mean for Manchester? Read on…

Manchester City Council has been struggling to keep its promises to monitor its greenhouse gases. For example the annual carbon budget report, which would help make sure the council is on the right track to meet its ambitious targets, failed to appear on the agenda of the July meeting of the City Council’s Executive. The Council’s “Environmental Advisory Panel” has met only once all year, and the Greater Manchester Climate Strategy Implementation Plan is delayed again. So, where does the European Union come in?

Well, as you are probably aware the Kyoto Protocol and various agreements at Cancun and Durban have helped set binding carbon targets for the UK and most member states of the EU. To help monitor their progress, a ‘monitoring mechanism’ was established. However, there are two major problems with the monitoring mechanism: the reporting isn’t transparent or consistent enough between nations, and it is also too focused on the national level to be useful regionally.

The local context is missing and that is a real problem. Councillor Neil Swannick** developed a proposal that has been put to the European Committee of Regions on ‘monitoring and reporting greenhouse gases’. As Seb Carney, a researcher at the University of Manchester and the expert who helped put forward the proposal with Councillor Swannick, explains: “It all very well saying how you’re going to cut your carbon but it’s vital, in my view, to say where you are going to do it and over what time-frame. So the amendment adopted by the CoR of adding ‘spatially resolved’ into the wording of the plans [low carbon development plans/monitoring mechanism] means that there can be greater input from the cities and regions to national plans, as well as guidance to them on implementation. This ‘place’ specification provides greater opportunities for monitoring progress on mitigation, but more importantly delivering it.”

The proposal, presented on Thursday July 19th,  was passed at the European Committee of Regions with unanimous support. So, if this is subsequently passed at European Parliament European states would legally have to factor in the sub-national context when looking at their monitor mechanisms/low carbon development plans. But what does it mean for Manchester?

Well, it means that soon there could be a free, comparable and useful tool for Manchester to monitor its carbon and see how it compares with other European cities. It could also help the national government see what city-specific targets they need to set to make sure that they reach their national targets overall. “If the amendments are adopted by Europe it will provide more power and understanding to cities and regions in Europe about what they need to do, and by when, to reduce their emissions than they currently have,” says Carney, a Research Fellow at the Centre for Urban and Regional Ecology (CURE) at Manchester University. “It’s about giving more power and understanding to cities, regions and other stakeholders to perform their own analysis to see how they can best play their part in delivering National and European targets in potentially a more cohesive way.”

Councillor Swannick added that monitoring and reporting of carbon is costly so offering these mechanisms freely and openly means that cities can adopt them without using up their limited resources. In fact, there isn’t a formalised way of measuring carbon internationally or nationally so having a mechanism that is embraced by Manchester’s ten councils would be great. If, nothing else, it would help settle the ongoing ‘greenest city/country/council’ titles people keep awarding themselves and let us know how well/badly Manchester compares to other European cities.

The only downside to this focus on monitoring and measuring carbon is that it can distract from taking real action. The data we have is usually enough to tell us we need to take pretty drastic action. Now. The longer we wait for the ‘situation report’ on carbon, the more emissions we release. Saying that, having a way to measure how close/far we are from our targets is useful. We just need to make sure that the balance between measuring carbon and taking action is more heavily weighed towards the latter in future.

:: Photo via © Comité des Régions / Wim Daneels.

Arwa Aburawa
Freelance Journalist

* A separate blog post recounting the travails of low-carbon travel to and from the Brussels event will appear on this website shortly.

** Conflict of Interest Disclaimer: The trip to Brussels came about via an invite from Cllr Neil Swannick. Travel and accommodation expenses were paid by the EU (and maybe, in part, by MCFly. It’s a long story).

Posted in Event reports, Manchester City Council | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Executive indecision: carbon budgets off the agenda

Posted on July 19, 2012 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Here’s a progress report on the City Council’s much-vaunted annual carbon budgets. On the left is the agenda for the Manchester City Council Executive meeting of July 27 2011.  We’ve circled the relevant bit.  On the right is the agenda for next week’s 2012 equivalent. We’ve also circled the relevant bit. No, wait…

(Readers with keen eyes for irony will have spotted that while there’s not time to talk about carbon budgets, there IS time to talk about roads that lead – metaphorically and literally – to the Airport.)

It seems the “annual” carbon budget is about as “annual” as the Stakeholder Steering Group conferences (so far one in 2010 and another in… 2012), and as reliable in its appearance as the Greater Manchester Climate Strategy Implentation Plan.

I suppose we could ask the head of “News” at Manchester City Council for a statement about this. But a couple of weeks ago he made a completely false statement  about Manchester Climate Monthly. We provided proof that his statement was false that very same day.  In the two weeks since he has neither retracted the allegation nor apologised for it.  It’s an issue we will be taking up with his bosses.  In the meantime, maybe some MCFly reader(s) would like to ask him for a statement, and relay it on to us? Going via the Council switchboard should get to him. 0161 234 5000.

Doubtless there will be the strongest protestations that climate change remains a top priority.  Fine, but “if” there is a delay in producing carbon budgets – and we are all adults here, we can accept the inevitability of delays – isn’t it less-insanely-destructive-of-lingering-credibility to announce (pro-actively!) the delay, explain the reasons and announce the new deadline, rather than hope that nobody will notice?

Marc Hudson
mcmonthly@gmail.com

Posted in Democratic deficit, Manchester City Council | Leave a comment

Tweet for a greener #Manchester, today – #greenmcr

Posted on July 19, 2012 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Please share your top tips (one per tweet!) about how everyone in Manchester – individuals, neighbourhoods, organisations, businesses and the Council -can make the city greener and fairer. What can “we” do in the next 1 to 4 years to get ourselves on the right path?

Please use the hashtag is #greenmcr

It might be about growing more food, or encouraging people to insulate their houses, fly less, or cycle more. It might be about how we use social media to support each other becoming greener.

It might be about things you are already doing, or have done, or want to do. It might be about how to make the Council walk their talk. It might be something you know another city is doing and Manchester could copy…

It might be about how we “engage all individuals, neighbourhoods and organisations in Manchester in a process of cultural change that embeds ‘low-carbon thinking’ into the lifestyles and operations of the city.”

Please start tweeting now, and from 6.30pm this evening there’ll be lots more people joining in.

In a perfect world, you’d come to Madlab, on Edge St in the Nothern Quarter, tonight (Thursday 19th July) between 6.30pm and 9pm to meet and mingle and share your top tips in person. But if you can’t, please start tweeting now, and tweet again/more this evening!

Please ask your twitter “followers” (ugh, horrible word!) to do the same. And on facebook “tell a friend to tell a friend.”

steadystatemanchester.net, @steadystatemcr

Posted in inspire, Upcoming Events | Tagged | Leave a comment