Now then, will he speak up about incinerators as many fear the same health risks?

Or is this just a timely election stunt?

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I’m with Lucy W on other ‘comments’ page.
All M Ps are electioneering all of their time and ours.
Huw Peach and associates time would be better served finding a viable alternative to their landfill site which has blighted my horizon for years and years and years.
Chief of Planning M Barker appears ignorant of the history of coal, clay, iron, agriculture industries of this area. I boast 2centuries of generations of my family living here. The character, geology and culture surrounding ‘Coalbrookdale Coal Fields’ is a resource to be proud of.
The cost to tax payers of this useless campaign appears to be already approaching £100,000. It is due to continue for 6wks by which time it is estimated to be £500,000. I do wonder if Huw Peach has ever been at risk of repossession of his home or frantic about providing food on the table for his family.
Some people complain about anything under the environment banner. Currently like it or not coal is an integral part of our lives here in the UK. It is better economicaly and environmentally to use a local resource than purchase it from over 3,500 miles away and it is only a 30months project, not 200yrs as in Lawley. You don’t want mining activity on your doorstep move. Leave those who need the work to enjoy the rewards.

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Thanks but no thanks for the suggestions on how I should spend my time, Chris.

You raised the question of landfill…

Expanding recycling and setting ambitious zero-waste goals like our neighbours in Wales ( 50% recycling and composting rates by 2013, increasing to 70 per cent by 2025 ) is the best sustainable alternative to landfilling.

Doing this will also create MORE JOBS than incineration.

Choosing between burning local coal or imported coal is a false dilemma.

We are legally obliged to move away from BOTH as a society and towards methods of electricity generation which do not heat the atmosphere.

Currently at least 150,000 people in some of the poorest countries in the world are dying annually as a result of climate change, according to the WHO.

Blindly continuing to burn coal is going to make the lives of the poorest in the most vulnerable regions worse.

A massive investment in renewable energy would create MORE JOBS and a more hopeful future for the next two centuries’ worth of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren etc than burning coal would.

It would also make our economy better able to deal with the challenges ahead.

Mr Pritchard and Mr Wright are not electioneering.

They are democrats, answerable to their electorate, who are doing the job of articulating their constituents’ views.

Their activism is the sign of a healthy democracy.

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I’m equally sure Brian2 that my ancestors would not turn in their graves at ‘how it will all turn out’ as lack of housing is a cause of desperation for thousands in Telford and beyond.
If housing for our expanding populace is the objective then so be it. Shortwoods and fields like acres of loved land across Telford including the old Sutton Hill, Randlay, Oakengates and Lawley have had their day. Next two centuries of children have to live somewhere maybe Huw has the details!
I would suggest that MPs are selective in which views of the constituents they articulate.
Have to respect your committment to this even if it seems trifle unrealistic. Your Apparent Idealism and dictatorial phraseology appears hostile and aggressive makes one suspicious of motives.
Peculiar the dismissive approach to local landfill site and cost to the tax payer of campaign forced inquiry.
Have to go now and pay for Coal delivery.

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Wind turbines on the Wrekin, now that really is something to campaign aginst.
Ugly monstrous noisy inventions I live right next door to one it’s unbearable the constant whinning and whirring day and night. The electricity produced is so minimal as to be ineffectual.
Noise pollution not in my backyard.

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Chris,
Your local knowledge, for someone who’s ancestors come from this area is frankly a joke.To compare sixties Randlay with the Shortwoods is laughable and surely, as someone who’s ancestors come from this area, you should know, that the Granville waste site that spoils your view was once a pit, the very thing that you are campaigning for.

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Chris, you said opposing the burning of coal was ‘a trifle unrealistic.’

Perhaps you are right.

However, if -like me- you think that mankind is intelligent and foresighted enough to realise that burning coal is not sustainable, and if -like me- you think mankind is resourceful and wise enough to invest in sustainable alternatives, then it is also just possible that you are wrong.

Did you think that the Welsh decision to tackle the landfill problem by radically increasing their recycling rates and setting zero-waste targets was ‘unrealistic’, too?

Is President Obama’s plan to create 2 million green jobs with his Green New Deal ‘unrealistic’?

Are the South Koreans being ‘unrealistic’ to invest 81% of their economic stimulus package in green projects and nearly a million green jobs to get their economy onto a sustainable footing?

Lucy W, who you support (#3), is hostile to all these proposals, which will make the future affordable for our children.

Lucy W denies climate change, she denies that there is poverty in the UK, she denies that speed kills on the roads, and she denies that pensioners die in cold houses in winter.

Could you tell me what is ‘realistic’ about Lucy W’s viewpoint and ‘unrealistic’ about the Green New Deal and the Green Industrial Revolution it will fund.

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I’ll tell you what’s unrealistic about the New Green Deal – it isn’t written by an expert. So just who wrote it? I hear you ask, well I will tell you. A Journalist, an Advocate and a Politician.

Now lets consider their areas of expertise. Firsty writing stories, secondly arguing a view point regardless of personal conviction or its merits, and thirdly seeking power in similar way to #2.

All these politicians and would be politicians should stick to holding babies and planting trees while the experts sort the mess out created by the politicians.

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The authors of the Green New Deal are ALL experts in their fields; Larry Elliott, Economics Editor of the Guardian; Colin Hines,Co-Director of Finance for the Future, former head of Greenpeace International’s Economics Unit; Tony Juniper, former Director of Friends of the Earth; Jeremy Leggett, founder and Chairman of Solarcentury and SolarAid; Caroline Lucas, Green Party MEP;
Richard Murphy, Co-Director of Finance for the Future and Director, Tax Research LLP; Ann Pettifor, former head of the Jubilee 2000 debt relief campaign, Campaign Director of Operation Noah; Charles Secrett, Advisor on Sustainable Development, former Director of Friends of the Earth; Andrew Simms, Policy Director, nef (the new economics foundation).

Ann Pettifor, one of the authors, wrote a prescient book in 2006 called ‘The Coming First World Debt Crisis’ (Paulgrave, 2006), which looked at the need for more regulation of the globalised, out-of-control finance sector.

Many of her ideas have become the accepted wisdom today, as understanding of what caused the financial and economic crisis has spread.

I know you disagree with these experts’ views, Lucy W, but I hope you will agree that people who have been vindicated by the events of the last year deserve at least to have their views listened to with respect.

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Lucy W, you said that the current mess was ‘created by politicians’.

I’m sure Sir Fred Goodwin would heartily agree with you.

The authors of the Green New Deal, on the other hand, assert that the current mess is a result of an ABSENCE of politicians.

The trade and financial liberalisation of the last couple of decades meant as little regulation from politicians as possible.

Now people are wondering why politicians did not regulate the international financial system more and prevent this crash.

Now people are wondering why they effectively had so little democratic control of the markets.

Politicians are potentially a source for good if ordinary people feel that politicians are making their lives better.

That’s why Mr Pritchard and Mr Wright’s activism in opposing this open-cast coal mine will be popular with the people who would have to live with the dust and disturbance.

That’s why the politicians, who created the NHS, and introduced the welfare state and education for all, are still popular today.

With over 2,400 job losses in Shropshire over the last 8 months ( http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/04/22/budget-county-job-losses-mount/ ), I hope that a few people out there are glad that some politicians are advocating a sustainable path for our economy, which will provide MORE JOBS than coal/nuclear/incineration.

And I hope that, as more and more people realise that a Green New Deal could create MORE JOBS than sticking with the unsustainable status quo, they will start demanding a GND from their politicians.

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If you feel so strongly, stop arguing amongst yourselves and do something proactive!

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According to figures calculated by Germany’s Öko-Institut, these are the respective CO2 emissions from different forms of energy.

Coal: 1,153 grammes of CO2 per kilowatt hour

Gas: 428 grammes of CO2 per kilowatt hour

Nuclear: 32 grammes of CO2 per kilowatt hour

Wind: 24 grammes of CO2 per kilowatt hour

In addition, the Öko-Institut found that building and running nuclear power stations creates more carbon dioxide than manufacturing and setting up wind turbines or manufacturing and laying solar panels.

Setting up wind farms also brings the extra benefit of creating MORE JOBS in the local area than coal or nuclear.

I hope others agree that is is proactive to get information like this, which is salient to this debate, into the public domain. Surely this is what democracy is all about.

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Building homes for the homeless that is proactive. Regardless of self-opinionated
self proclaimed single minded locals. Seems to me Chris’s suspicions are right, Brian2 and Huw just do not want houses in their view.
Isn’t Granville a character in Open All Hours.
Poor Brian2 doesn’t want anyone else to share the view not to worry takes 40yrs after opencast before land is stable enough for development.
Impressed with Lucy W clearing up lots of questions about validity of Huws claims you have another ally well done Lucy.
Leon

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Hi Leon, nice to see that Chris has a friend or alias. Glad anyway that he’s not trying to hide behind the “Im a born and bred local” any more.
I can understand people with corporate interest wanting to build more houses etc but they are so transparent when they go down the “I’m a born and bred local” route. Far better to put your cards on the table at the start especially when you have a poor hand.

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Ann Pettifor is not interested in doing anything you suggest, Lucy W.

She is interested in governments bringing the out-of-control financial system back under democratic control.

She wants governments to see the wealth, which markets generate, targeted where it is most needed; at creating JOBS and simultaneously tackling 3 massive issues facing us all; climate change, rising energy prices and the destructive effects of an out-of-control financial sector.

Rising joblessness and homelessness, which are resulting from the financial and economic crisis are major challenges, and could destabilise our democracy.

These challenges urgently need political solutions, which create MORE JOBS than business-as-usual.

Some democracies are responding to this challenge with suitable ambition.

In January 2009 the South Korean Prime Minister announced a Green New Deal.

81% of the £23bn South Korean stimulus package is going into green projects, and over 900,000 JOBS are going to be created with this.

In January 2009 Japanese Environment Minister Tetsuo Saito announced Green New Deal plans “to create something that would create jobs by the millions and will fundamentally change Japanese society.”

UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, called on governments on March 31st 2009 to make large scale investments in energy efficiency, clean energy and green jobs.

He said, “Green growth can and must be a major component of any global stimulus plan. It has the greatest potential to CREATE JOBS.” (my capitals)

Barack Obama is similarly pro-active on the green front.

So why is the UK’s response so half-hearted?

I conceded that you are right to say that our government is starting to become more enthusiastic about coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels.

But democracy is the solution to this.

It gives us all the opportunity to ask why only 7% of the UK stimulus package went into changing our economy over to a low-carbon one.

And democracy gives us all the opportunity to ask why our government is pursuing an energy path (or an aviation policy), which will make the future unaffordable for our children, when more jobs could be created by massively investing in a Green Industrial Revolution, funded by a Green New Deal.

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