Council condenmed for letting parishioners express their views!

Controversy has again shaken the little village of Smoke on the Water in the County of Glossitover. The Parish Council has issued a formal complaint to the County Council about its recently released film footage.

Controversially it seems that last year the County Council decided to directly contact parishioners about the ongoing parking problems in Smoke on the Water village. However the County Council recorded these conversations on film and has since published the finished vox populi on-line.

The Parish Council has taken extreme exception to all this and in December made a formal complaint, claiming that talking directly to residents in order to hear their views, "without any moderated context, is irresponsible".

British Waterways bans people with Children or who work from Continuously Cruising?

Now I have seen a few pretty weird things from BW over the years but I have to say this tops the list: Just noticed what on the face of it seem to be a rather sinister statement on their Waterscape website:

continuously cruising

You will not usually be issued with a licence unless you have a permanent mooring. However, if you have no ties (such as jobs or children at school), you can opt to cruise canals continuously, never staying at the same place for more than a fortnight. British Waterways has a special set of guidelines for such boaters.
Source: http://www.waterscape.com/things-to-do/boating/moorings

The message seem to be, if you are a Continuous Cruiser don't let BW know if you work or have children: they might revoke your Licence?

More Mushrooms - Realities of being a British Waterways residential moorings customer

Myself and my neighbours are fighting huge price rises (as are a small number of other boaters who are BW mooring customers). Mysteriously, all the information that BW had previously posted to justify these increases seems to have been removed from the BW website. (If it is relocated I will let you know.)

Although many BW Moorings Customers got a reasonable settlement on moorings fees this year (2%), a small number of us have been hit hard with increases of up to 20%.

Useful Woodburning Guide

Sitting indoors nursing a cold and surfing idly, I found old link not working from AIE (Arboricultural Information Exchange) on one of the canal forums - a useful guide to which timber to burn.

The main thing I have found is getting your wood as dry as you can seems to makes a huge difference - more and cleaner.

Major consultation on national Waterways Policy

Heads up - another consultation!

BW's 'secret' war against residential boaters

Just saw the latest post on the K and A boaters' website entitled Psychological Warfare on the Kennet and Avon Canal.

Well done to the author of that one. The view that BW is engaged in a covert war of attrition against residential boaters sits at the heart of my personal opposition to BW and so many of its works! I simply reflect on the dozens of friends I have made over the years who have succumbed to the pressure and given up living afloat. (Maybe they were actually the wise ones?)

In particular I completely agree with the sentiment: BW’s aim is break our resolve to live within the rules laid down by law and either be ‘bullied’ into paying for unwanted moorings or to simply disappear (?)

Soild Fuel Stoves and the Clean Air Act

Further to my last posting I thought I'd alert you to a useful reference site for boaters or anyone else using solid fuel heating and/or thinking of installing or replacing a solid fuel stove. Under the appropriate links it sets out in detail the current lists of 'approved' appliances and which solid fuels comply with the Clean Air Acts.

www.uksmokecontrolareas.co.uk/index.php

Greening my domestic fuel consumption

Two weeks and nothing to say? Well in part I’ve been doing that thing most live-aboards spend time on at this time of year. Getting ready for winter. Preparing and checking your heating systems is pretty high on the list for most of us.

I claim to be fairly green and I’ve always subscribed to the ‘keep going with what you’ve got before you replace’ ideology. Well this summer I’ve had to bite the bullet and buy some new kit. My old Torgem solid fuel stove was increasingly held together by fire cement and my old gas fridge was no longer keeping cold in summer. Can’t complain, as both appliances have done the best part of twenty years good service.

Lammas Project wins planning permission

A major step forward for the sustainability movement was achieved at the end of last month when the Lammas Project won planning permission for their project.

NEWS RELEASE

August 2009

First Eco-Village in UK gets planning permission

Lammas, the group behind the innovative eco-village, first applied for planning permission in June 2007. After being refused twice by Pembrokeshire County Council the group appealed to the Welsh Assembly Planning Inspectorate and following a well attended public hearing have finally won permission.

The project consists of nine eco-smallholdings, a community hub building and a seasonal campsite on land near the village of Glandwr in North Pembrokeshire. Lammas founding member Paul Wimbush explains: “We want to build an ecovillage in which people can live lightly on the earth in modern eco-houses. The project is unusual in that on the one hand it takes a green approach to all aspects of living and on the other hand is structured very much like a conventional village.”

“The project has been designed so that the nine smallholdings, while being essentially autonomous, will also fit into an overall permaculture design plan for the whole site. Permaculture is a land-management approach that meets people’s needs through replicating natural ecosystems. It is diverse and human-scale by its very nature as opposed to agriculture which tends towards big machines and monocultures. This way we can turn what is considered as poor land into something incredibly productive.”

The project has met a mixed reaction from local people despite promising a range of benefits including new footpaths, a seasonal shop, fresh local produce and a minibus service.

Cassandra Lishman, a local businesswoman and a prospective resident of the eco-village said today: “At last we can begin building our homes. We are delighted that the Welsh Assembly Government is bold enough to put their policies into practice.”

Because of the strict regulations imposed by the planners, the buildings erected on the site must have a very low visual impact and blend into the landscape and cannot be made out of conventional materials such as concrete blocks and cement. Instead, largely natural materials from the locality must be used, including earth, turf, timber and straw, and the buildings have been designed using a combination of the latest in green technologies combined with traditional building skills. The houses will incorporate many sustainable technologies such as passive solar heating, rainwater harvesting and electricity generation from renewable sources such as wind, water and solar, and the whole site will not be allowed to use any mains services.

Cassandra Lishman and the other prospective residents know that life in the eco-village is going to be hard work. The planners require that 75 per cent of all household needs must be met directly by land-based means. Each smallholding has had to be meticulously planned to meet this requirement with a broad spectrum of enterprises ranging from strawberry production to basketry, from smoked hams to furniture making, from woollen crafts to medicinal tinctures.

However tonight the Lammas residents will be celebrating what could well be considered as a significant planning precedent and a sign of changing times.

Further details about Lammas and the eco-village can be found at www.lammas.org.uk including pictures and links to some short films on the project.

Continuous Cruising

Seems that I and other contributors managed to re-ignite some debate about Continuous Cruisers and Council Tax on Narrowboatworld's Forum recently! This started from some confusion about NABO's view on the subject of whether Continuous Cruisers should pay more. You can see how the debate went in this case by reading the forum but I thought I'd post the key arguments I made on NABO's behalf here too. For the avoidance of doubt it is not NABO policy that Continuous Cruisers should pay a higher BW licence fee than those with long term moorings. We remain committed defenders of the position that your standard BW craft licence should be a universal licence, allowing the boater to travel around the network (or the river they are based on in the case of River Registration) as much or as little as they wish.

Lammas Project

Best wishes from me to the the Lammas project at the forthcoming planning hearing:

See: http://www.lammas.org.uk/ecovillage/news.htm