National disgrace, scoundrel and extremist Cllr Debra Storr

Climate change adaptations for the NE of Scotland

2010-03-04T19:42:00.000Z

The audience at the Royal Society of Edinburgh's presentation and debate on Climate Change last night had some very clear views.

Firstly, in stark contrast to the Cassandra's such as Ian Wood and Co, the audience had a great belief that the shift to a low carbon economy was an opportunity for the north east. The overwhelming feeling was that with the assets of our ports, our universities and the engineering expertise, particularly sub-sea, we had a wonderful opportunity to embrace change. That didn't particularly surprise me. Industry seized the opportunity of north sea oil and there is no reason why the renewables, particularly subsea renewables, shouldn't find a natural home here.

Secondly, and this did surprise me, there was strong demand for better public transport. FirstBus came under fire for its high fares in the city - justifiably as a minimum of £1.50 for ajourney is high by any standard. Stagecoach services in the Shire were seen as infrequent and slow.

This is a bit of a chicken and egg issue. With just 6% of journey's by bus and 60-70% by car, it would take a small shift from car to bus to expand bus services greatly. Think about it. If just 1 in 10 car journeys were replaced by bus, then this would double the number of bus journeys. OK - it's not quite that simple but part of the solution is in our own hands.

Scale and management of cuts

2010-02-25T11:41:00.002Z

the Accounts Commission has called on councils to take urgent and radical action to deal with the financial challenges ahead in their annual report, An overview of local government in Scotland 2009. The reports points to a likely real term drop in the Scottish budget of between seven and 13 per cent between 2009/10 and 2013/14.

Things could be worse - the Conservative Shadow Chancellor George Osbourne now saying the Conservatives will be "tougher than Margaret Thatcher" when it comes to tackling Britain's budget deficit. This will inevitably put more pressure of local government.

The Democratic Independent Group called for an inclusive all-group approach to making the hard decisions that will be needed in the recent budget. The LibDem/Tory administration may regret refusing this approach.

If the LibDem/Conservative administration on Aberdeenshire want all the power, then they can take all the resoponsibility.

Private lives and public roles

2010-02-23T11:47:00.004Z

Two senior officials in Aberdeenshire are on leave while the Council investigates matters that have been in the press over the weekend. I have sympathy for the individuals involved. Their private lives should be exactly that (so long as they do not bring it into the workplace.) The intrusion into their lives by The Sun is appalling.

However it is entirely appropriate that claims of bullying and intimidation are investigated. I hope this happens as swiftly as possible. Education is a key service for all our futures and we need good quality, stable management to allow our schools to thrive.

Unions Terrace Gardens v Peacock

2010-02-21T18:03:00.002Z

Architecture and Design Scotland have now commented on the proposals.

I think it fair to say that they were not impressed.

I started to pick out some choice quotes .... but it was most of the document so I recommend you read the whole thing.

We are nearing the end of the City Square Consultation. I have seen nothing to change my mind from when I first posted on this topic.

The CitySquare, ASCEF, Ian Wood camp sound increasing strident and unrealistic. Getting a Guggenheim is the cherry on the top of culture led regeneration - not the start. For example, Dundee getting a V&A outpost builds on Dundee Rep, DCA, Scottish Dance Theatre - and we have - well what? The best arts organisation we have is Peacock ... and we are putting their future at risk if we go with CitySquare.

A peacock in the hand is worth a hundred times more than 490 car parking spaces in the bush. And there are ways forward from Peacock that open up the gardens and link them with e.g. Belmont Street. The compromise solutions have clearly be laid out by Peacock and their brilliant and hugely committed architect Edgar Gonzalez.

Why won't Ian Wood add his money to the funds Peacock already have and make UTG brilliant.

Make your voice heard!

Roe Deer

2010-02-16T14:58:00.002Z

This roe deer was hungry enough to spend a lot of time snacking from one of my bird feeders. After emptying the feeder, the deer browsed spilt seeds on the ground before finally losing its nerve.

They must be hungry to be so bold and therefore we need to be careful not to disturb them so they can conserve energy after this bad winter.

Masterplan for Menie

2010-02-16T14:31:00.000Z

Now please don't confuse a picture with a masterplan. But for what it is worth, this is what Trump put out to the press today with my annotations of what is where.

At the published scale is is difficult to tell what happens to the homes Trump does not own. It looks like David Milne's Hermit Point is buried under an apartment block. Mill of Menie is part under the first and is where the second golf course is planned. And Leyton Cottage seems hidden by trees - perhaps a return to the Racho Palos Verdes tactic.

The main issue is of course whether the Masterplan includes the disputed properties. And if so, whether the families who have made it clear they do not wish to sell will again be threatened with Compulsory Purchase.

When that is settled, then I'll comment on the Masterplanning process in more detail. But I'll be looking out for progress in the issues I highlighted to Gareth Hoskins back in September.

Robin Hood - Can good come from the banking crisis?

2010-02-11T20:51:00.000Z

A small tax on banking transactions could yield enormous sums. It's also known as a Tobin Tax. Watch the video and perhaps sign the petition.

Petition text is

Dear Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg

It’s time for banks to pay their fair share.

We call on you to support a “Robin Hood Tax” on banks. It’s a small tax on high value transactions between banks that would raise hundreds of billions of pounds that would be used to fund action against climate change, poverty and other big issues in Britain and around the world.

Together we can turn the banking crisis into an opportunity for Britain and the world. Please support the Robin Hood Tax.

Budgets - when the going gets tough you can see where priorities lie.

2010-02-11T17:53:00.003Z

As central funding gets tighter, the sustainability of Council tax freeze gets further called into question and the prospect of a George Osborne austerity budget looms, the stresses of Council budgets are starting to show.

Aberdeenshire has survived fairly well up to now. Despite the low central government grants, good management and tight control has limited the pain. And Aberdeenshire prided itself on maintaining standards in Education. But now the prospect forwards looks grim.

For 2010/11, there was a funding gap of £10m and agreement between the LibDem/Tory administration and officers on how to find £6m. That left us this morning trying to fill a £4.49m hole.

The LibDem/Tory administration proposed "realignment of budgets", heavily impacting Education as follows:

Life Long Learning & Leisure

£250,000 Cuts in support for Learners Auxillaries
£646,000 No increase in nursery school hours
£1,031,000 No provision of free school meals for Primary One to Three pupils.
£840,000 Saving from turnover and recruiting at lower salary levels.
£200,000 Undefined efficiency saving from Community Learning & Development and Libraries
£244,000 Cut in per capita allowances to devolved school budgets
£45,000 cut in health education
£85,000 5% cut in budgets for Sure Start and Community Network budgets
£200,000 Pre-school Education and Nursery (to be achieved by using Council school premises where possible)
£52,000 Cut in travel and subsistence budget.

and in other areas

£225,000 Community wellbeing -cuts in posts
£325,000 Reduction of funding to external partners
£132000 Cuts on day care provision
£14,000 Reduction in North East Chief Executive Forum funding
£60,000 Efficiencies in officer accommodation use and from WorkSmart
£100,000 Efficiencies from transferrring more services to Contact Centre.

The offical opposition, the SNP responded with a rather vague budget.

£2,429,000 Resource efficiency (£1,1020 target recurring underspends, £500,000 review end year flexibility, £500,000 redcue business mileage, £250,000 Shared Service opportunities, £150,000 Review methods of publicity)
£879,000 Workforce management (£500,000 vacancy management, £225,000 review staff absences, £150,000 review staff shift allowances)
£745,000 Capital funding adjustments (£500,000 reprofiling capital plan, £200,000 review treasury management, £45,000 sale of surplus assets)
£400,000 Procurment cuts (£200,000 reduce expenditure on consultants, £100,000 review software licences, £100,000 savings from corporate contracts)

As the details are nearly all expressed as round hundreds of thousands of pounds, I suspect the rigor of the analysis. £500,000 from reprofiling the capital plan equates to £5m cut in capital spending and I'd dearly like to know where this was to come from. The whole budget seems to me as just "we need to find the money so we'll just spread the pain around."

The Democratic Independent Group last year proposed a budget without "growth" items and instead with one-off spends designed to save money later.

This year, with the situation worse, we wanted to provide a breathing space by

transferring £3,500,000 of revenue spend in schools and roads to capital,
scrapping the unsuccessful unadopted roads scheme for £300,000,
anticipating a low rise in salary levels for most staff (£865,000) and mandating a freeze for senior officers (£90,000) and, in order to share the pain, cutting special resonsibility allowances to Vice Chairs (£25,000).
We also believe that a cut in administration f £250,000 is achieveable
We also believe that we need to stop the drain on our Visitors Attractions and therefore proposed cutting £150,000. This was done with some sadness - Archeolink is a great idea but its future needs to be independent of the Council.
We also cut £253,000 from the growth initiatives.

That then allowed us to put £653,000 into Spend to Save initiatives and add an extra £331,000 to balances in case the risks are even more adverse than expectations.

My ward colleague Rob Merson didn't understand our switch of revenue funding to capital. Rob, Fergus could, I hope, explain that cutting £500,000 from revenue by reprofiling the capital plan does means that somehow about £5m of capital spending needs to be delayed. What we proposed was roughly the reverse. More alarmingly Jill Webster, Vice Chair of Infrastructure despite her long service as councillor also didn't understand this common mechanism.

So, LibDems and Tories are prepared to sacrifice education. The SNP don't know what their priorities are. And the Democratic Indpendent Group aim to plan for long term savings and protect our most valuable services especially education.

But LibDem/Tory cuts in education it is. What a future.

Police website consultation

2010-02-04T20:05:00.001Z

The police are interested in hearing your views on the force website and have asked for the following to be distributed as widely as possible.
Their text from here on ....

Grampian Police wishes to develop a new Force website that meets the needs of the people of north-east Scotland. You can help by answering a few questions about how you currently or might use the Force website.
Please look at the Grampian Police website www.grampian.police.uk and then complete the survey to let us know what you like or what you would like to change.
We would like to hear the views of as wide a cross section of our communities as possible so if you have any further contacts who may wish to contribute please forward this email on.
The survey can be completed by clicking the link below
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/newgrampianpolicewebsite

Scotblogs Awards 2010 : Top 10 politicians

2010-01-28T13:19:00.003Z

I am very grateful to have been placed 7th in the ScotBlogs Awards 2010 for Politicians. My colleague Paul Johnston came in 9th (very unfair as he works harder than I do). Congratulations to Paul for 5th for Hyperlocal.

And now I get 4th on th Env/Green blogs.

I am delighted that the Democratic Independent Group on Aberdeenshire Council has gained this recognition for our own brand of open and honest engagement on the issues.

Thank you!

Ocean Lab 2

2010-01-26T19:38:00.000Z

Congratulations to Aberdeen University on the offical opening of Ocean Lab 2 at Newburgh.

I attended the opening this morning and benefited from a guided tour. Thanks to Daniel for an explanation of some of the strands of work underway and Alan for a tour of the technologies. (And apologies to both for forgetting their surnames - please take this as an expression of friendliness)

Some of the facilities are used by the north sea industry for testing. A vessel capable on simulating the pressures 7km deep in the ocean, mean of testing the types of sudden drop in termperatures from the tropics to the deep sea and a serious vibration plate are available for commercial use - and the business sdie of the oepration subsidises the research that covers a wide range of issues.

And the new building is lovely - graound source heating and what must be the best view from a workplace coffee room anywhere.

Auditor asked to look into Menie land deal

2010-01-24T16:24:00.001Z

I have asked Audit Scotland to investigate whether Aberdeenshire Council is failing in its statutory duty to get the best possible value from the sale of Council owned land at Menie to Trump - refusing all other bidders.

I opposed the sale of this land to Trump and the rejection of other bidders. I argued that the only way anyone can know that the best price is realised is via an open competition. However seven other councillors were determined to sell to Trump and I fear that this will be at a much lower price than if an open process had been used.

Writing to the Council's external auditor, I have asked for the matter to be investigated urgently and cite section 74(2) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 as requiring councils to only accept offer that are "the best that can ... reasonably be obtained"

Update: Audit Scotland will be investigating further and reporting on the matter as part of the 2009/10 audit.

Picture: Cllrs Martin Ford and Debra Storr at disputed land

ScotBlog nomination

2010-01-24T12:11:00.000Z

I am flattered to have been nominated for a ScotBlogs 2010 Award especially as this blog has only been running since March 2009.

There is a wide range of blogs nominated so please do browse the nomination list - you never know who else you'll find. It was fun!

Voting in the Scotblog Awards is open until Wednesday 27th January at 8pm.

Research into Masterplanning

2010-01-22T22:00:00.000Z

Camilla Klemme is a final undergraduate at Edinburgh University studying Geography. She is doing a thesis on: How Sustainable is Sustainable Development in the case of Ellon?

She will be asking the councillors and the community council for their views but I offered to see if anyone else wanted to comment via this blog and she is delighted at the idea. If you'd like to comment, please copy the questions below into an email and email your responses back to Camilla at cklemme@gmail.com (not to me!). You only need answer questions you are comfortable with - just leave any question you don't want to answer blank.

To Camilla, cklemme@gmail.com

Age
Sex
Ethnicity
and How long you have lived in Ellon?

Sustainable Development –

KEY QUESTION: What is your understanding of sustainable development/sustainable community development?

2 Are you a strong supporter of Sustainable Development?

3 Do you think the sustainable urbanism project of Ellon is sustainable?

Achieving Sustainable Community Development/Community involvement –

Housing –

Do you feel there is a need for more mixed/affordable housing in Ellon?

Aims of the Princes Foundation for the Built Environment (PFBE) – Ellon:

Do you feel it has made a positive change in the design and planning?

That the architecture is sensitive to traditions and history of Ellon?

That it will increase the quality of life of the residents?

That a sense of place is created?

KEY QUESTION: The PFBE has been accused of being a private lobbying firm/ not being a responsible charity…what are you views on this?

Aims of Scotia/SCD –

3 areas –

Cromleybank, south of the River Ythan – to include a new high street and several other key amenities that are needed for village life.
The Town Centre – small re-workings of the existing town centre to create better connections, more parking facilities and improved services.
Castleton and the Castle Gardens – the focus of this development aims to create a continuous link between the north of Ellon and the town centre, seamlessly blending into the existing character and fabric of the town. Revenue from this development will allow the beautiful hidden Castle Gardens, right in the heart of Ellon, to be re-opened to the public, creating a magnificent attraction right in the centre of town.

Castleton – Aims:

1 Walkable communities

2 Connected spaces (rid cul-de-sac)

3 Public places

3 Mixing it up (housing)

4 Visual variety (housing)

5 Local first (traditional development)

3 Sustianbale Community Development (what does it involve) –

Do you believe this will –

1 Meets the needs of all existing and future resources for Ellon?

2 Contributes to a higher quality of life?

3 Offers appropriate ladders of opportunity for households advancement, either locally or through external connection?)

4 Limits adverse external effects on the environment, society and economy?

Against Sustainable Development:

KEY QUESTION: Wildlife is being destroyed…. Is it then fair to say that this is sustainable development? What are your views?

2 Do you feel you will use your car less/walk or bicycle more?

3 Do you fell that new housing development will just increase the population and car use/increase Ellon’s use as being a commuter village?

Community Engagement?

KEY QUESTION: Has the sustainable community development of Ellon involved an integrated approach of community participation, partnership and engagement with urban professionals?

2 Do you believe that the Enquiry by Design process (of Scotia homes and PFBE) has sufficiently and successfully involved and integrated the views and ideas of the community of Ellon?

3 Do you feel you that you have had adequate power in the planning and development process of Ellon? That conflicts of interest have been identified discussed and changed?

4 Do you think the open workshops/public forums/engagement process has been a success?

5 Do you feel that the developers have put the community first in the decision making process?

KEY QUESTION: Do you believe that the new community of Ellon will be welcomed by the old community?

Press/Alliance for lobbying transparency –

KEY QUESTION: They have slated sustainable community development as a form of ‘greenwashing/green bling’…that it is just a dusted down scheme to enable more property development… do you have anything to say about this?

Planning Alerts is back!

2010-01-22T19:38:00.000Z

Delightfully, given my motion to Council yesterday, I can now advise that Planning Alerts is back up and running!

Today I got the first results

CULTERTY HOUSE MAIN STREET NEWBURGH AB41 6DA AB41 6DA (APP/2009/4114)

Demolition of Culterty House and Outbuildings and Erection of Residential Development of 10 Houses and 9 Flats with relative amenities and parking

MORE INFORMATION: http://tinyurl.com/y99kos3
MAP: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=ab41+6da&z=15
WHAT DO YOU THINK?: http://tinyurl.com/yeecvou

If you are interested in planning applications submitted near you, please go and set up an alert. You just need to give email address and a postcode and decide on an area of search.

You now (sadly) only have 21 days to response to applications so this is the best way to keep on top of what is going on and making your voice heard.

Open Data, Open Systems

2010-01-21T17:08:00.000Z

Aberdeenshire Council took forward for detailed consideration a move to make its data more accessible to people that I proposed. It was a pity support wasn't warmer on the day that saw the launch of www.data.gov.uk

My motion called on the Council to make data available in common data formats so that individuals and intersested parties can reuse this information and combine information togather in any way they chose.

The BBC recently used data on serious road accidents to publish interactive maps of accident blackspots and other public bodies are embracing the "Open Data, Open Systems" concept.

I start from the principle that the data a council holds belongs to all of us and therefore should be shared. There are lots of examples across the world of public bodies making their data available and in the UK, these moves are supported by the Cabinet Office and councils are starting to catch on. Kent dubs their initiative "Pic and Mix" and I like the idea of making data available for people to use.

This can also save Councils money. Making it easy for people to access data can save councils from building systems themselves. PlanningAlerts is used by thousands of people to be notified of nearby planning applications - without the expense of Councils building their own system. This gaves much better service to the public than trawling through weekly lists. WriteToThem.com is another initiative that enable citizens to find and contact their elected representatives. Let's make it easy for these systems to grow to meet public demand rather than building everything ourself and paying to do so.

Word of the day : MonopsodyCouncil land to be sold to Trump

2010-01-19T23:45:00.000Z

In economics, a monopsony (from Ancient Greek μόνος (monos) "single" + ὀψωνία (opsōnia) "purchase") is a market form in which only one buyer faces many sellers. It is an example of imperfect competition, similar to a monopoly, in which only one seller faces many buyers. As the only purchaser of a good or service, the "monopsonist" may dictate terms to its suppliers in the same manner that a monopolist controls the market for its buyers.

Wikipedia

Today Aberdeenshire Councild decided to make Donald Trump a monopsony*.

On a vote of 7 to 3, Formartine Area Committee decided today to reject 7 other interested parties and negotiate to sell a small piece of land to Trump.

If you reject all possible purchasers but one, you have no way of knowing that the price you get is the highest possible. And Aberdeenshire Council does not have a reputation as a tough negotiator with Trump.

I argued for an open process and let the highest bid win. Logically that highest bid should have been Trump. The land, if it is key to the development, is worth more to Trump than anyone else. But my colleagues with the honorable exceptions of Cllr Paul Johnston and Cllr Davidson, are simply happy to sell to Trump. Frankly the numbers mooted in the surveyors report don't sound large to me.

Why we must trip up Trump from Adam Proctor on Vimeo.

I also worry that the value put on this land will somehow impact the value put on my constituent's houses if - and I sincerely hope sense prevails well before we get that far - if CPOs are even used.

* I've wanted to use the word monopsody for years and never before came even close to having a chance!

Leaks

2010-01-19T23:23:00.000Z

It seems that the report into the sales of land at Menie was leaked to various newspapers. And weirdly the council decided to publish much of the material that I argued could have been debated in public itself after the meeting.

And two journalists who would regard me as a friendly source complained to me that they hadn't got a copy of the report.

For the record, when I was consulted on the report some weeks ago, I asked that the report be split into two - one part that could be debated in public about process and one that would need to be private taking about value and bidders. Today, I moved deferral so we could have these two reports this morning. I tried ....

No doubt there will be an investigation into the leaks. Last time the focus of an investigation as to who had leaked a memo about Menie that was sent to all 68 councillors focused oddly on Cllrs Merson, Davidson, Owen and myself. Will the investigation this time reveal anything useful?

I donlt think there was anything in the debate today that couldn't have been done in public. It would have been so much simpler if the my colleagues had simply decided to debate matters of legitimate public interest in public.

Disagree with me if you will, colleagues. But have the grace to do it in public - and then you can be properly accountable to the public.

Standards for windows.

2010-01-19T14:05:00.000Z

Formartine Area Committee actually brought themselves to agree with Cllr Paul Johnston and I today!

We argued that it was disgraceful that the standards for replacement windows in Sheltered Housing just barely met building regulations while the council put better windows that woudl reduce heating costs into other properties. I want the highest standards in both! But is is very important to put low u-value windows into properties occupied by some of the most vulnerable people in society. This reduce their fuel bills in future helping achieve reduction in fuel poverty aims as well as reducing CO2 emissions.

After some resistance, the committee finally agreed to raise the matter with Social Work and Housing. Thanks to Cllrs Duncan and Davidson for chipping in.

I put down my marker now - if standards are not improved, I will be voting to reject contracts in future.

Main Issues: Enabling Development, Protection of Nature Conservation Sites, Landscape Character, Historic Environment, Safeguarding Resources - Water, Agricultural Land, Woodland, Transport Facilities, Employment Land, Oil and Gas Sites, Mineral, Wind Farms.

2010-01-17T11:39:00.001Z

A final run at this .... again, if you can get comments to me by 20th,that would be helpful. The Formartine Area Committee will be discussing on 27th January.

Enabling Development: permited for retaining a Listed Building or (newpolicy) start-up of employment, leisure, tourism in Regeneration Priority Area
Protection of Nature Conservation Sites: These water down protection in the current plan. The plan will include a list of designated sites at International, National and Local levels, lists of protected species under EU and British Law and Local Priority Habitats and Species, and Geological Conservation review sites. Others are better placed than I to review these.
Landscape Character: Recognises the value of our landscapes and introduces Valued Views (list provided).
Historic Environment: There is Supplementary Guidance for Listed Buildings, Conservation AReas, Historic Gardens and Designed Landscapes, and Archeological sites and Ancient Monuments. The polices are good and I welcome a requirement for development in Conservation Areas to be for Full Planning Permission.
Safeguarding Resources - Water, Agricultural Land, Woodland, Transport Facilities, Employment Land, Oil and Gas Sites, Mineral, Wind Farms. This policy covers a lot of ground! The policy of water trys to ensure than water quality, flooding, ecology and flood plans are properly considered. There is a presumption to retaining the best quality agricultural land. Trees and Woodlands not covered by TPOs gain some protection as are routes that may be useful for future transport (including paths) and other transport infrastructure. A new presumption to retaining employment land in employment use. St Fergus is recognised as special for oil and gas development and other developments will be resisted. Land for mineral development is safeguarded in Areas of Search (see maps) and there are also areas of search for large windfarms and landfill sites

The extension into enabling development to support almost any for of economic activity is interesting. There is Supplementary Guidance to limit this to where the public benefit outweighs the disbenefits of breaching public policy, and limits the scale to 5 houses or fewer. We have had problems with developers selling of parts of the development and then finding they don't after all have sufficient funds to restore a listed building and therefore coming back for more. The "prferably to be developed in full by the developer" is therefore welcome. I do worry that the test is too easy - of course Trump was allowed 500 houses of enabling development at Menie - a long way from the regeneration areas and that proposal would have been a different matter in an area of high unemployment.

I have to be a bit of a cynic on the Nature Conservation Sites policies: they have been badly breached and now they say that that's fine. It's not.

On Resources, there is a lot of ground here. I welcome the presumption that trees and woodland should be preserved even when not coverd by TPOs - with changes to and reviews of TPOs, this is sorely needed. And the retention of employment land as such is very important - losing employment land to residential development has been an issue and we need to ensure we have residential and employment uses in our villages.
It'll be interesting to see the map for Area of Search for Minerals -and Landfills.

MPs expenses

2010-01-15T15:16:00.000Z

OK - we all had good fun about this. But now we have the final proposals for change. Do look and respond - you can do it online and it's well presented to make it easy.

I'm pretty comfortable with most of it except

MPs should not be allowed to "exploit" the system for personal gain. Much damage was done by the "but it was within the rules" whinging of MPs. It needs to be clear that claims should be within the spirit of the rules.

And all details must be published by the authorities as they are submitted (or as reasonably practical thereafter). This is the best assurance that we can have that claims in future will be reasonable.

I think that the transitional arrangements are too long - up to 5 years. MPs jobs should be insecure and if they make long term arrangements, they should take the risk. Over to you ....

Main Issues: Flooding and Erosion, Hazardous Development, Contaminated Land, Carbon Neutrality in New Developments, Developer Contributions

2010-01-15T12:26:00.000Z

Hopefully last but one lap - comments by 20/1/10 appreciated.

Flooding and Erosion : Stronger policy for both coastal and watercourse threats. 1:200 years limit for residential, commercial and key infrastructure. 5m and 10m countours considered for Flood. Impact of hardened surfaces on flooding elsewhere considered.

Hazardous Development: talks about pollution, flooding, nuisance and hazard - restricting such new sources and development sround existing sources.
Contaminated Land: Talks about assessement and remediation.
Carbon Neutrality in New Developments: 30% below 2007 standards increasing to 60% by 2012, 90% by 2014 and 100% by 2016. Lots of additional information re definitions and methods to achieve.. Off site permissible for Conservation Areas etc.

Developer Contributions: Appendix will include details of specific contributions required against major sites. Individual sets talking about Access, Water and Drainage (cf SUDS), Waste Management.

Often pretty technical stuff but useful to be specific about Access (maintenance of such can be an issue), water but I can;t see anything that will help us ensure maintenance of SUDS schemes. It'll be interesting to see how Carbon Neutrality pans out!

Aberdeenshire Council now honest - no action on climate change

2010-01-14T18:37:00.000Z

Aberdeenshire Council today decided not to sign up to 10:10. My colleague Cllr Paul Johnston could not even get a seconder for other LibDems, the Tories or the SNP. I understand that members of Policy and Resources felt that the Council couldn't make the minimum commitment of a 3% reduction in 2010 - and a reduction of 10% from their own baseline.

This is disappointing.

Aberdeenshire Council made good progress in reducing CO2 emissions in the early years of its commitments but reduction have since slowed. A report to Scrutiny and Audit in December showed

the reduction in emissions over 3 years for Building and Property has been 3%, of which 2.9% was in the first year.
the reduction of emission from waste to landfill has decreased by 15.4% but only 1.4% reduction has been achieved in the past year.
emissions from street lightling were static or slowing increasing initally but have grown by 5.2% over the past year
emissions from business mileage has increased every year and are now 5% higher than the base year.

However the Council was happy to support Earth Hour and issued a press release in support of 10:10.

Now one of the reasons I left the Liberal Democrats and joined the Greens was the gross disparity being saying and doing. It looks like I was right. LibDem* controlled Aberdeenshire likes to sign Climate Change Charters but when it comes to making commitments to deliver - nothing.

*Cllr Paul Johnston is a LibDem but not part of the ruling Administration. He is therefore excempt from criticism.

Haiti Earthquake appeal

2010-01-13T22:02:00.000Z

This poor country has now been devastated by and earthquake. The Red Cross has launched an appeal - More details.

Union Terrace Gardens

2010-01-11T17:02:00.000Z

It is with some trepidation that I comments on this - but as folk in the City had no inhibitions on commenting on Menie, I'll put in my tuppenth-worth.

I have carefully looked at all the material on The City Square website and also the Peacock Arts Proposals. A useful comparison can be found at CompareTheSquare. You may also be interested to read the Supplementary Planning Guidance Aberdeen City Council has already agreed for Bon Accord Quarter and put this in the overall context of the City Centre. The Masterplan proposals had over 70% approval ratings.

My initial reaction to the Ian Wood suggestion for UTG was fairly open minded with some concern that this was another grand project. However I recognise that Union Terrace Gardens are under-used but the Peacosk Arts proposals seemed set to take care of that.

The actual details of the Ian Wood proposals are rather thin. £50m from Sir Ian (presumably his investment not a gift). But what other funds would be needed and from where. The City Square website says it would not be taken from public services. I assume that means no on-going revenue commitment but it leaves open the question of capital. And just what does it consist of? Parking, shops, public art, public open space. My other job is in the IT industry and we have a term for stuff that sounds like a good idea but doesn't exist - vapourware.

And how much does Aberdeen need more car parking and shopping with Union Square just opened and the general proposals in Bon Accord? I also worry that the Union Square to Bon Accord axis is killing the shops on Union Street and George St.

So we have a choice - the Peacock Arts proposals in the hand - or Ian Wood's proposals in the bush.

I think that the way forward is Peacock Arts - This Time, This Place, This Generation - delivered.

Please do complete the CitySquare consultation questionnaire and if you want to save Union Terrace Gardens and the new Arts Centre, also complete the online petition. I was the 4276th signatory.