Actions, not words

A quick snap to show that actions are being taken to rectify the water leakage on Pottery Lane. The two carrying out the work haven't sourced it yet, but in any case will put in something that's known as a 'correlation point' which will measure where the leak is coming from.

However, I'm sure that will only work if it's a leak from the mains, and if, in actual fact, it's simply groundwater - from an extremely high water table round here - I don't know whose accountability that will be. Must find out.

STOP PRESS! Again...

My brother-in-law tells me that the guys from yesterday were back again this morning. Apparently they were doing a bit more of a survey, and think that the water leaking onto the roads is a mixture of ground water, mains, and perhaps even some drainage. Let's hope we find out soon.

STOP PRESS! STOP PRESS!

Just saw some water board and County Council personnel reviewing the water pipes etc. around Pottery Lane and Quennels Hill, in order to solve the problem of ground water leakage!

Tea: milk, one sugar

What a encouraging experience I had today of our local water suppliers (or 'water board' in old English).

We stepped out the house at about 9 am on our way to church, and notice a very heavy stream of water eminating from our water meter outside the front boundary. On returning from church a couple of hours later, and noting it still churning out, I phoned the water board.

Within 30 minutes somone was on-site (see photo), and within another 40 minutes, a gang were digging a hole and fixed the problem and tidied up in 30 minutes flat.

Seriously good service. And all for a phone call, a mug of tea (and the water bills of course).

One week turned into two...

... as I realised how much I needed a rest with my family, and so my apologies to one and all that it's been almost two weeks since I last posted. It's been a lovely time with family in Herefordshire, and a deligth to watch Caleb (our 19 month old) make fast friends with Polly - the 14 year old Labrador -, and Barney - the 6 month old 'Springador' (as I believe they're called).

Returning home seemed so much sweeter after time away. However, I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the amount of litter in the streets here in Wrecclesham. I suppose we were spoilt over the holidays, being a few miles from the nearest shop, but I really can't believe that just because we live close to a popular newsagents, we should suffer so much horrible rubbish - mostly sweet wrappers - quite literally covering the pavements.

Some months ago I experimented by announcing on this blog that I would be litter picking along Gardener's Hill Road. Well, it didn't turn out to the be roaring success I hoped, but that's probably more to do with the fact that my blog had 3 readers, one of whom was my mother-in-law in Herefordshire!

This time, I'm going to do it properly. Not sure how, but I'm going to try to organise a series of litter picking activities in the village, and tidy the place up a bit.

{And writing this has reminded me that I need to take a photo of the graffiti that has yet again appeared on the wall at the bottom of School Hill.}

12 months in the clink

Had lunch today with a friend who's studying at the College of Law in Guildford this year, and I want to pass on a little nugget.

He mentioned that he's looked at the Forestry Act of 1967 - which came up as I was talking Tree Preservation Orders (ah, the scintillating nature of our conversation I hear you all cry) and the Wrecclesham Conservation Area.

Anyway, I learned something new: apparently, this Act defines the most serious penalty for cutting down a tree, as 12 months in jail!! 12 months! As my friend pointed out, he hopes that that is for the most important of trees, and not the leylandii hedge down the garden.

Thinking

Well, I'm sat at my desk in Stockley Park near Heathrow, with 8 minutes until my next meeting. I don't have anything particular to post, so thought I'd simply dump a list of things that are going through my head:

(1) I sometimes feel impotent as a borough councillor. Whilst I want to hear things that need fixing locally, it seems like once I get into it, there are simply too many layers of bureacracy to go through, and then no one person who feels empowered to make a decision, and, often, to spend money. Good control over finances and other resources of local government is absolutely right, but just sometimes, I wish for a small fund to help things move along locally. Maybe I should be a County Councillor!

(2) East Street - contract considerations will come along soon. Now that planning permission has been given (with many conditions to be met), the contract now has to be considered and the viability test reviewed. Watch this space...

(3) A couple of tree preservation orders need some attention. One is longstanding, and I simply can't see a way forward. Another is fairly new, and I need to get my head around it for the first time. The key thing is understanding the phrase 'amenity' and wondering how best to define it.

The Mother-in-Law is Back

And as usual, she comes bearing gifts, most commonly lemon marmalade (to assuage my preference for morning toast), and clippings from various magazines and newspapers she reads.

The article that caught my eye last night was one by Simon Barnes, about developers and land. Now, at the risk of incurring the wrath of the outlaw in-law, I’m not altogether in agreement with what appears to be Simon’s default position that development is bad. (He doesn’t literally say this, but also doesn’t give much indication that he appreciates the necessity of development as a natural consequence of good health, education and food – things which I hope he can’t complain about.

But, I agree with a the premise of his article, which can be summed up in a single quote:

It seems that there is a fundamental difference between developers and people. When a developer sees a stretch of open country, he sees a place that is empty. When we look at it, we see a place that is full.

(By the way, did you note his implication that developers aren’t people? Either deliberate insult, or ill-disciplined writing and editing and proof-reading)

However, I disagree with his description of what developers think:

…the developer is immune.
Beauty cannot touch him; he has taken the antidote.
Developers insist that a road or a building has to go somewhere: as if that invalidated every objection.
…developers … are keen, above all, to make their mark: to stand back and say: … I did that.
We need to reclaim … the developers for humanity.

This is simply a list of invective, not any kind of description of the developers I’ve come across. Talk to me about big building companies, and maybe I’ll start to think in these terms. But, and it’s a massive but, the majority of developers that I know, are either individuals or small companies, seeking to make living, by building a few homes at a time, in places where they think people want to live, acknowledging that our country’s need for housing is growing all the time, and trying to put food on the table for their family, as do we all.

To win easy points with one’s readers (this article appeared in the RSPB’s magazine) through such journalism contributes nothing to a proper debate over appropriateness of development, but simply makes it sound like a black/white situation, which it most certainly is not.

Finally, some questions for Simon Barnes:
(1) Who built your house?
(2) How many houses do you own?
(3) Have you ever extended your home?
(4) When you last bought a house were you thankful for the choices available?

Litter, litter, everywhere

Thursday, 4th September, 6 pm

After my visit to More House School yesterday, I walked back to Wrecclesham along Gardener's Hill Road. It's a lovely walk, and feels a million miles away from the busyness of nearby Farnham and the A31.

However, I became more and more aghast at the state of the litter along both sides of the road. I don't know how many times I've driven along it without noticing, but there a million (obviously I exaggerate, but only slightly) plastic bottles, newspapers, sweet wrappers, shopping bags, drinks cans and other throwaway society items, scattered continuously in the ditches and below the hedges.

So, I thought I'd book some time in my diary to go down there and do some litter picking. I suppose it's arguable that 'someone else' should do it, or that we pay enough taxes. But, I know that those arguments don't really end up with quick action, and in the meantime the situation will simply get worse.

Therefore, I'm hoping some readers might join me at 6 pm this Thursday (4th September) at the junction of Boundstone Road, Burnt Hill Way, and Gardener's Hill Road. I'll bring lots of black bin bags, and if you could bring your own gloves, we should be set. Depending on how many of us are, we may manage the whole stretch. But even if not, we'll have done a good thing.

See you there!

Courgettes, French Beans, Raspberries & Tomatoes

I had a great time in the garden today. It's the first time in ages, and I had as my objective the clearing of our courgette and french bean beds, which would enable me to tie up the raspberries better, and allow more sun to redden the very green tomatoes.

It's the first year we've grown our tomatoes outside, rather than in the green house, and it's been a great success. For the record, I'd call myself a sceptical environmentalist, but all the same, I never use to think that growing tomatoes outdoors in the UK was an easy thing to do. I do now.

Speechless? Not quite

This is how I felt when I read a lengthy email thread that I thought said that Surrey Local Committee would not be discussing the Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) at their next meeting on 12th September.

However, I misread the email thread contents, and, it turns out that the AQAP is indeed on the agenda, just probably not with a focus of Farnham, or with associated transport matters which bring the AQAP into specific relief.

Councillor Alan Lovell, who proposed an amendment at the last full council meeting, to ask for an urgent meeting between WBC and SCC on the AQAP and Farnham (yes, I'm trying to use as many TLAs and ETLAs as possible), alerted me to the presence of this issue on the agenda of the meeting on the 12th September, as well as then ringing me up to point out I'd arrived at the wrong end of the stick about it initially.

I'm extremely grateful to him for keeping me up-to-date, and accurate!

Terminal

That's how I might describe the heat in Chicago or Houston at this time of year, for those of a weaker disposition. I'm used to getting off a BA flight at either of those cities, and wading through the air as it's gentle dampness and intense heat wrap around me like a blanket.

However, I wasn't expecting to have a similar experience on my way to the airport here in London. But that's what it was like today. Thankfully, even though Terminal 4 is being turned upside down due to renovations now that most of BA is running out of T5, the aircon still seems to be working.

Time for a very, very cold DC I think :-)

Pigeons vs Trees

When I stood for election to Waverley Borough Council, I had a few things in mind - I'd be able to influence policy (yes); I could intervene on behalf of residents on housing issues (yes); and more.

But I never thought that I'd be engaging in a conversation about pigeon excrement and tree protection orders! However, life has its twists and turns, and here I am learning (in the words of our own council website) that

The only effective way to control pigeons and other pest species of birds is to remove food sources, roosting sites and breeding sites.

Hence my post title today - is it pigeons who win out, or the tree preservation order, when a family's life is miserable, especially in this gorgeous weather, because of the unremitting deposit of dark, staining, smelly pigeon poo on their back patio.

I know, not the most lovely of topics, but in reality, a good example of the kind of seemingly small issue that can make life pretty frustrating for both the family, and the councillor trying to help them out.

Green Cone

I received my green cone today! Having ordered it just before I went to the US on business, I'd forgotten it was due to arrive, and so when popping home at lunchtime today it was great to see it waiting by the front door.

And it was a lot bigger that I had imagined! We should be able to get all our food waste in it no problem, and I have just the spot for it behind the shed. I'll post about it once it's up and running and I can give some more useful feedback. First I have to dig a hole for it, but I think I'll wait until this sweltering day has cooled down a bit.

Greenbelt. Or not greenbelt?

This morning I was able to confirm a date next week for visiting a location in the ward that is giving me a planning conundrum. It's a piece of land next to existing properties, that has been used for light industrial / storage / building purposes, for the past years, and for which there is now an application to erect a single dwelling.

The conundrum springs from the fact that this land is not for urban development. It's not strictly greenbelt, yet is has a designation that protects the village from expansion in this direction. However, a number of the residents of adjoining properties would be happy for the new house to be permitted, as it would look much nicer from their own properties than a builders yard, and would seem more in keeping with the area.

There are a number of questions in my mind though:
(1) If relevant conditions are placed in the deeds of adjoining properties, would that be sufficient to prevent further development, even perhaps in the near future? I.e. how binding would these conditions be on future owners?
(2) Would allowing a particular development on very local grounds, be setting a precedent (even though this is not allowed for in national planning law) for further application for nearby greenbelt (or similar) land?
(3) Is it possible that an owner could use a certain piece of land in a way that means neighbouring owners would then be glad to see development on it as an alternative?

I post these as they are the real questions in my mind as I ponder over this application, and thought it might be of interest. Comments anyone?

Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide... Air, to you and me

At the Village Society meeting last week, a lady asked me about air quality in Wrecclesham. It reminded me that we had some air quality measurement going on in Wrecclesham, that I first heard about a year ago. So, I did some follow-up.

However, (and I'm learning as I go here from Anne Sayer, all things air quality at Waverley), it's not a simple matter of taking a year's readings and then extrapolating conclusions. Things such as temperature, precipitation (rain, to you and me), and wind, all contribute to the quality of air, and with these things ranging widely in quality over different years, comparative analysis is complex.

To quote Anne:
Diffusion tubes are a cost effective method of monitoring Nitrogen Dioxide levels.

Data for each month is then averaged over the year to show whether the Government's annual maximum objective for Nitrogen Dioxide is being exceeded. This objective allows a maximum level of 40 micrograms of nitrogen dioxide per cubic metre - if this is exceeded then the local authority must undertake a more detailed assessment.Areas of exposures are areas where people are expected to spend time - for this objective they include the boundaries of people's houses (but not their gardens) and public offices etc.

Waverley produces an annual report on air quality for the Government every year. This report concluded that the objective for nitrogen dioxide was not exceeded at the Wrecclesham monitoring site in 2007 - the first full year of data (although it was only just below) so we are not recommending a more detailed assessment at this point.

I'm now a little bit more educated thanks to Anne, but certainly not an expert in this area yet. Do let me know if you think it should be investigated a bit more - especially if you're offering to do the investigation yourself!

Birds. Plural. Just.

During my frequent visit to the new Waverley website today, I spotted the top news story for the environment:

Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

Was this another outbreak?! My concern level grew somewhat. Then I noticed that it was more of an update on the situation, than a warning of impending doom. Phew.

But, it did get my mind wandering. If one were to trust the media to reflect accurately the intensity, impact, and immediacy of any particular news story, one would have to assume that Bird Flu now has only a place in history rather than the present. Sadly, it's not the case. However, I happen to think that it's excellent that Waverley's site deals with information about issues that continue to be issues, long after the daily rags have grown bored.

As an aside, one of the two chickens we have in our garden is looking decidedly under the weather. We may soon be the owner of 'a chicken' rather than many.

I'll keep all (five) of you posted.

It's good to talk - and act!

As my wife reminds me - "I want actions, not just words!" And so I've eventually put a new list on the side bar of useful telephone numbers.

Actually, I was also prompted by a meeting I had in the council offices this morning, when I was given a little postcard with most of these numbers. Really handy, and just the kind of thing that I'd put on my fridge door.

You cannot be serious!

But I can - you really cannot believe how much post the average councillor gets. I'm a self-confessed geek, so you might be able to imagine that I'm all for getting everything electronically on my iPhone! It might the prevent the at least 500 sheets of paper I get through my door each month.

However, some things are nice printed, and I receive the Local Government Association magazine for councillors 'first' through the door each week. This time, the name of Bill Bryson on the cover caught my eye, and took me to an article about litter. Regular readers (all 3 of you), will note a couple of posts from me before about this, but today I'm extoling the virtues of "Stop The Drop" campaign by the Campaign for Rural England.

Do have a think about setting up a Community Clean-up where you live. Follow links to "Take Action" on the CPRE web pages, and you can see how easy it is.

Graffiti? What Graffiti?

I almost forgot to post about the excellent service I received last week via the Graffiti hotline. Only 2 days after I rang them (and followed up with an email of detailed locations), the team had been out and removed the offending 'tags' - totally gone.

My neighbour was really taken aback, as they'd cleaned up the one on her garden wall, and now she realises that the rest of the wall needs cleaning too!

Suffice to say, it was a job well done. A great response.