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Penny |
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Regular Posts: 63  | A simall delegation of TBI members (Penny, Anne, Martin and Julain) had a meeting with Malcolm Mcleod and David Cowie on 29th November to discuss the Proposed Plan. Following the meeting we made a submission to the Council. Click on the link below to read it. http://www.transitionblackisle.org/userfiles/file%5CTBI%20Business%... Penny | ||
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| glacio |
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Member Posts: 32 | I prepared a personal response to the Highland wide Local Development Plan and my submission has been acknowledged. The text ran thus: The Director of Planning & Development, The Highland Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, IV3 5NX. Comments on Highland wide Local Development Plan: Proposed Plan September 2010 Dear Sir First, may I thank Malcolm MacLeod and David Cowie for giving up their time this week to meet representatives from Transition Black Isle. It was very interesting to hear how you viewed the planning process and its inevitable compromises when responding to different local and government legislation. Comments by Transition Black Isle are being sent to you independently of this personal comment. I have been involved in teaching adults about climate change and its consequences for twenty-five years through the University of Cambridge's Institute of Continuing Education. My current two-term course at First Year undergraduate level is delivered on-line and I run this from the Black Isle. The course attracts students from the UK and around the world and gets added value when students from Brazil, Papua New Guinea, China, The Netherlands and UK (for example) argue in the course forum over development issues. The first term's course is entitled The Global Climate Challenge: Science Framework and the second term's The Global Science Challenge: Policy, Technology and the Future. The content of my course gives students and myself a view of the likely shape of the 21st Century and beyond to the 22nd and 23rd in terms of sea level rise, climate change and resource depletion - and the difficulties policymakers and technologists have in combating what will be inevitable if Business As Usual continues. Scientists and policymakers alike agree that the next five years are crucial for the international community to agree a road map for development to ensure that we avoid the worst possible consequences of unrestrained human activity. In that light any development (and that includes development in Highland) in the period to 2030 should be compatible with their assessment, and be the springboard for future adaptation to changing climate and resource depletion, and lead to a reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases. I see little urgency in tackling the long-term issues of climate change and resource depletion in the Highland wide Local Development Plan. Business As Usual appears to be the overall scenario in which the plans are embedded. Sure, climate change issues are mentioned but the reality is that the issue is so important it should have been a driver of the development. The Chief Scientist at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Professor David MacKay, has assessed the substantial investment needed to ween the UK off shrinking fossil fuels and Highland Region could, for geographical reasons, see much of this lucrative activity. In 2004 Tony Blair said What is now plain is that the emission of greenhouse gases, associated with industrialisation and strong economic growth from a world population that has increased six-fold in 200 years, is causing global warming at a rate that began as significant, has become alarming and is simply unsustainable in the long-term. And by long-term I do not mean centuries ahead. I mean within the lifetime of my children certainly; and possibly within my own. And by unsustainable, I do not mean a phenomenon causing problems of adjustment. I mean a challenge so far-reaching in its impact and irreversible in its destructive power, that it alters radically human existence. I would hope the Highland wide Local Development Plan would meet this challenge that is so far-reaching in its impact and irreversible in its destructive power that it could be a model with other plans from around the world to ensure the future prosperity of all. I hope you will take up the offer of a partnership with Transition Black Isle for a pilot project to prepare an energy descent plan for the Black Isle, as a first step in contemplating the wider issues for Highland that would need to be reflected in the next iteration of your council's development plans. Yours sincerely Dr Julian Paren | ||
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| Anne Thomas |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 319  | I made a rather last minute submission on behalf of Friends of the Earth Inverness and Ross. Dear Malcolm MacLeod, It was good to be able to meet you and David Cowie as part of the Transition Black Isle group but I am also the Co-ordinator of Friends of the Earth Inverness and Ross the only local Friends of the Earth local group in the Highlands. As such I often have enquiries from a range of people about their environmental concerns and so I thought I would respond in that capacity. Renewable Energy and Climate Change- The Scottish Government has now raised its targets from 50% electricity from renewable sources in the next ten years to 81% and they are hoping to revise this still higher. This means that there is a potential for export of electricity to the rest of the UK and other parts of Europe. The Highlands has some of the best renewable resources in the World. The arrival of Peak Oil means that we need to make full use of these resources. Energy efficiency is the most cost effective way of both reducing financial vulnerability and climate change and should be given a much higher priority. See the pathways calculator for models of what needs to be done http://2050-calculator-tool.decc.gov.uk/ Transport policy should reflect the growing availability of green electricity and move away from oil. This means electrifying railways and encouraging electric cars particularly around wind farms so that they can use some of the electricity being generated, balance the grid and reduce the need to upgrade power lines. Heating should be moving partly to biomass and partly to heat pumps with a thermal store which again will use some of the renewable electricity but more efficiently and also help balance the grid. Information Technology is a very high user of electricity. Much of this is used in storing data and keeping data centres cool. There is an opportunity for locating new ICT data centres in the Highlands which are cooler and therefore need less power for cooling and also have an increasing amount of green electrical power. Linking up electricity generation sites with nearby users of electricity makes sense and the whole picture should be considered as in the potential wind farm on Nigg Hill with the potential industrial site at Nigg. Peak Oil changes how we go about reducing green house gasses and therefore climate change. For instance if we are running out of oil it makes much more sense to reduce CO2 emissions by feeding them through algae and producing more fuel and fertilizer as now being used by distilleries (http://www.scottishbioenergy.com) than burying them and reducing power produced by about 25%. Climate change is unpredictable. We may well (as our last two winters suggest) experience a colder climate here as the gulf-stream slows down and the jet stream becomes less predictable. This will increase demands for energy efficiency and increased renewable heat. Waste Management Waste should be seen as a resource but there is a concern that building incinerators or autoclaves will lock us into lengthy contracts to supply waste, thus reducing incentives to re-cycle. It is not just oil that is reaching peak supply. Other resources are reaching their peak and or in decline e.g. phosphorus. If we burn these resources we will not be able to re-use them. There needs to be much more use of Mechanical Biological Treatment of waste. This will still provide energy from waste but also allow re-cycling to continue to increase. Water Water may be plentiful here but it still requires energy to transport and our imports often include products from areas where farming and industry is rapidly lowering the water table and will not be able to continue thus for long. We urgently need to reduce our dependence on so many imported goods Conclusion There needs to be a much more ambitious vision for a low carbon Highlands. Re-invigorating local communities will increase resilience to the shocks that are likely to come in the time period covered by this plan. There is a need with an increasing population to nonetheless use much less of everything. This is not an easy task but let us have the vision to rise to the challenge. Anne Thomas Coordinator Friends of the Earth Inverness and Ross | ||
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| David Franklin |
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Regular Posts: 80 | With regards to Climate Change the one bright ray of hope, with the advent of Peak Oil, Peak Coal, Peak Gas and subsequent Global Financial meltdown, is that it might just be impossible for us to create enough CO2 to reach a tipping point. With regard to what the council should be doing. 1. they need to look again at there plans to continue growing Fort William, Inverness and the Moray Firth Basin. Looking at population growth over the last 20 years shows no significant rise in the population for the whole Highland region. It does however show huge increases to Inverness (and the surrounding area) and Fort William at the expense of all other areas (especially the Islands ). This should not be allowed to continue. The data appears to point out that 16-30 age group move out of the rural areas to find education or better job prospect, moving to either urban areas or moving out of the region all together. While 30-65 age group are the majority of those moving into the region but again preferring the 2 urban areas. Also as we continue to live longer while at the same time have fewer babies the proportion of the population over 40 continues to grow, putting strains on the health services. 2. The council needs to look at the regions dependency on tourism for it's incomes. When demand for oil starts to out strip supply, and fuel prices continue to rise, this will drive up the cost of travel. What do they have to deal with a prolonged down turn in tourism? 3. More public land should be made available for local food projects and any farm land / woodland that becomes available should be brought into community ownership for Transition projects (Food/fuel/reskilling) 4. Intentional zero carbon communities should be given priority in the planning department and fast tracked. New house build need to consider the CO2 produced in building as well as running and 50% recycled material should have been used in the build. Also the creation of a housing demonstration zone, where alternative building materials and methods can be shown with people actually living in the buildings. 5. Lowering the speed limit both in and out of town and more priority to walking and cycling. The most important thing is something i see the council having no control over. Our lifestyles, our dreams and aspirations. until we realise that these are the things that need to be changed then we are going to find the next 20 years very tough indeed. | ||
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| Penny |
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Regular Posts: 63 | I like a lot of your specific ideas here David - more community ownership, zero carbon communities and speed reductions. The deadline has now passed to make specific comments to the Council on the Proposed Plan, but TBI is hoping to expand on its ideas for greater resilliance in the coming year and to generate some debate about new directions. We want to engage the Council with these ideas as this goes forward. I totally agree about lifestyles, dreams and aspirations - and we've a hue amount of work to do here - on ourselves as much as on others. TBI will be showing a film on 27th February at The Stables in Cromarty in conjuntion with Take One Action called 'No Impact Man'. The film is about an American couple who decide to live for a year with no net CO2 emissions. Its as much about the social issues they encounter as the physical constraints of their lives - and the positive outcomes that result. | ||
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