Squirrels on pills

 This week The Times newspaper reported an alternative way of controlling grey squirrel populations in a hope to protect the native red squirrel and also native trees for future generations, Read it here.

Its estimated there are 3 million grey squirrels in the UK compared to around 200,000 reds, oh and there might be around 25,000 black squirrels. since greys arrived reds have been squeezed out of the uk by these immigrants (I suspect as they came from the usa Brexit ain't going to bother them). i didn't realise that aside from the impact on the red squirrel greys also strip bark from native trees leaving them exposed to disease. Oh and Greys also carry Squirrel Pox !

Photo borrowed from BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7573535.stm

So why have I decided to write about this ?

I suppose it links to my "End of Conkers" entry in October, The British countryside is changing !!!

The first thing that springs to mind is "oh Red Squirrels are cute with their hairy ears". Then I thought, I wonder when i last saw a squirrel, well it was the other day on the way to the school run and yes it was grey squirrel, I don't think I have ever seen a black squirrel. And this made me ask the question  is it better to see a red squirrel or no squirrel at all ?

Living in Tamworth Squirrels are not uncommon and its always fun to spot them when out with my children. 

So the suggestion supported by Prince Charles is not to cull but to put contraceptives in Nutella in specialised traps that will only feed grey squirrels and stop them breeding, this will reduce the population from 3 million to 300 thousand in 5 years. What the article doesn't tell us is how fast the red squirrel population will grow with the absents of greys. I'm no expert in this field either but surely greys have now to a large extent become a part of the british eco system and so I would suggest that any action must be carefully measured. The last think we need is a Myxomatosis crisis but in squirrels. 

I don't know what the answer is to be honest but what i do know is human intervention brought them here and I always worry about human intervention to try to reduce any human created issue, I have way to many questions to get to a conclusion including Is there actually a problem to be solved here or a change to our country. I'm sure we have done more damage to the country side through industry than we care to measure.

I've sort of ran out of steam with this as I'm not sure of my conclusion. 

There is something that doesn't feel right about this but I'm not sure what, for now I am going to enjoy looking out for squirrels (like the one below outside St. Edithas church Tamworth) and leave the debate for those who have actual knowledge and not based solely on emotion. 

Housing crisis !

There are 25 million homes in the UK housing a population of 65,255,164 (at time of writing) with an average age of 40. As the population continues to grow the government aims to build 1 million more homes before 2020, which equates to a growth of 4%

So first thing, do we need more homes ? according to the ONS the answer is yes and the main reason for population growth is the birth rate being higher than the death rate.

Births and deaths by year

Lets not ignore the current situation with housing prices in both the rented and owner occupier markets. To me these high prices are simply a case of supply and demand, there's high demand and short supply so competition drives prices up.

I think there are 2 different parts to this discussion, one is about who, where and how, the other is about the type, style and build of housing.

Not a year goes by in Tamworth without the question being asked, does Tamworth need more homes? and the supplementary question where else can more houses go we have built nearly everywhere now and brownfield is running out.

 The government has pushed house building for local authorities and has incentivised local councils to be pro house building. This has been a 2 pronged attack and may well have been necessary for many places but I have repeatedly said I feel Tamworth has provided above its share of new housing over the last 50 years. So what is the incentive to continue to approve housing? New Homes Bonus. This bonus is as ever not entirely simple but the council will get 6 years worth (reducing to 4 years)  of council tax for each new property completed from the government as well as the council tax collected via the normal means. OK its a bit more involved than this but I'm keeping it simple. And at the same time the austerity measures we see mean that all councils no matter of geography or population will have to be self sustaining and no longer rely on an annual government grant. I personally think this is a good scheme particularly in prompting local authorities to start allowing new build, Its a fact that for the last 40 years not enough housing has been allowed and now we are in this situation of too few houses. Tamworth however has never stopped building houses and has made its contribution.

 So the pressure is on to squeeze more housing in.

 Late last year we saw on Sky news, and read in news papers that the government sees 100,000 pre- fabricated houses could provide some of the answers as they are cheap and can be put up in a day. I think there might be something in this as long as these prefabs are done correctly and are either given a appropriate life span to be replaced or are built in a way that does not store up the same problem for a near future time.

   Pre-fabricated housing is nothing new and looking at today's media you could very easily think that the only time we have used them is during the post war 1940's and 1950's. but this is not the case, it was not many years ago that John Prescott visited Castle Bromwich to watch prefabricated timber frames for housing being put together. the company in question was Space 4 and the visit was featured on  BBC west midlands . for those that aren't aware at the time Space4 were supplying timber houses to Westbury homes who built a brick wall layer around the timber house, this reduced the price and increased the speed of building and happened a lot in the early 2000's though I'm not sure if it still does.

  I have often taken my family away on holiday and whilst its only been for short periods I have always noticed or even admired the efficient use of space that static caravans have. there are many people in the UK who live in static caravans and in mobile homes. if the efficiency of this type of housing could be used when building in the future we may be able to provide cheaper quality housing with more space around them in the same tight land availability. My grandmother lived in sunset close in her later years and whilst it was a great bungalow the space was certainly not efficiently used, with thick walls, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and lounge all connected through a hallway/corridor without any interconnecting rooms. This to me screams out to be learnt from when building smaller dwellings. I've stayed in caravans less that 12ft x 40ft with 2 en suites a kitchen diner, lounge and 3 bedrooms

   So maybe small units with high spacial efficiency of a high quality prefab type may well be part of the answer.........but please lets not build stacks of rabbit hutches.

 I have argued that if each village in the midlands were to expand in a sympathetic way, maybe 100 homes on each, they could maintain the village renaissance and address some of the housing crisis. The side benefit would be supporting local shops post offices and pubs assuming the village had not already lost theirs. This is a sensitive point and would need to be done right to maintain character.
Instead the councils of Lichfield and North Warwickshire are that afraid of development in their back gardens they are fully intent of building on our borders!!! Robeys lane to the M42 and the north of Tamworth along Lichfield's borders will become extensions of Tamworth with green space between them and the town or city they pay their council tax to. Tamworth residents are being ignored by our neighbours and so we get development times 3. .

God forbid that this point is linked to the below on as I do not what a Judge Dredd style megalopolis of the mega cities

   One solution has already been tried and tested with various levels of success and that is building upwards, the success of this type of housing very much depends on where you are in the world and the assumed usages these have in many parts of the UK. In Tamworth do we have flats and maisonettes or do we offer Luxury condos with a river view. Lets face it we have flats and apartments which are often used to support the affordable housing need of a development to gain the planning permission and stay compliant.

Tamworth has it's fair share of apartment type accommodation but the demand for 2 bed properties is huge and whilst I believe an individual must be able to sit outside in the fresh air not everyone wants to have a garden.

 I remember one of the early Tamworth Listens where a member of the public suggested we build along the river with luxury apartments and the ground floor ones having moorings etc. Another suggestion I heard many years prior to councils being given the right to charge market rents for housing (should they wish) and this was to one by one empty the H block in Stonydelph as people left so not re let, Then once empty redevelop these as luxury apartments with panoramic views of Tamworth, generating an income for the housing department and raising the building out of some of the problems it had at the time.


I'm not sure what the ultimate answer is but I do know we need to look at all the options available and be creative with our solutions.

So becoming a bit nimby myself, Tamworth has done its bit and its now in the situation of going over and above whilst others haven't pulled their weight.


NOW THE BIG QUESTION..
house building is one thing but infrastructure MUST be in place to serve new development.. This is a topic for a whole new entry but expansion does not offer the same opportunities as new towns.

....MORE ON INFRASTRUCTURE TO FOLLOW

Please follow this link to see some of my thoughts on Tamworth Town Centre

Planning, Tamworth's town centre, retail and leisure

     I tend not to comment on planning meeting or decisions after my points have been made in the meeting, but I feel it might be time to start doing so; well at least I'm going have my say on a few recent things not just planning committee meetings but also some of the wider issues that affect Tamworth.
    It is often tempting for the public and committee members to say things like "I'd prefer to see a shop here instead of this application for a cafe" or "I think this land is better suited to shops than housing" but the committee can only consider the application in front of them for approval or not, the committee cannot refuse an application just on speculative desire, if it fits policy it's difficult to argue against.

In January we had planning meeting with 4 applications for discussion and decision. 1 was a change to existing, 1 was a new application following refusal of a previous scheme, 1 was a change to a scheme and 1 was final details about a foot bridge.

 One was for a new footbridge over the Birmingham Derby railway line giving pedestrian access to the Anker Valley development keeping pedestrians off the carriageway.  The main controversy on this one has already been aired and discussed with the Anker Valley development and at previous committees so was simply around final details on the bridge itself. Previously the committee had been asked its collective opinion on the style of the footbridge and what would be acceptable or not such as a high arch bridge or low profile, enclosed roof etc.

But the application that garnered the most discussion was that of the new multi-use development adjacent to the co-op garage opposite the former site of the Jolly Sailor public house. This was the 4th time the committee had been presented with information of the development. They received an issues paper, which is an opportunity to raise issues which the committee feels are important prior to application, then a planning app which in this case ignored the comments made by the committee at issue paper stage. This first application was refused as it did not meet either policy or the views given by the committee. The cycle was repeated and this time the new design and plans were approved. For the committee this was an important applications as not only does it sit next to the old Co-op garage site which will be coming forward for development at some point it is also located on the route of one of the Gateways to the town centre which the borough and county council have been investing in through the gateways project over the last 6 years. Evidence of this can be seen in the works done to Ladybridge surfacing, changes to the pedestrian crossing on Riverdrive and also the works around Tamworth Train station roundabout.  The ultimate goal is to marry up the 2 different offers of Ventura Park and the town centre and walking onto the Train station.

Tamworth Borough Council and many other groups and individuals have been grappling with the challenge of keeping the town centre vibrant in an ever changing world of retail and leisure.
There are a few things than need to be stated before we go too far.
 
Tamworth Borough Council-

• does not set business rates
• does not own Ankerside or most of the town centre properties
• does not and did not own the land formally the precinct
• does not operate bus services
• does not maintain or build highways (but Staffordshire County Council does)
• does not have any control of what planning applications are received but all must be considered
• Retail has changed and is still changing rapidly

The issues start with what does Tamworth have to offer. Tamworth has Ventura Park as we know it locally but it's actually a collections of sites, This area is one of the biggest retail attractions of the Midlands, it's not on the scale of Trafford Cnetre or the Bullring or the big city high street experience but in fact there is a lot more there than we realise and take for granted. I know people who travel to Ventura park as an activity in shopping and tell me they have been to Tamworth. And actually the traffic issues are nowhere near a bad as we say or think they are I travel through there at various times of the day without problems, in fact I often choose that route to get to the town centre between 4:45pm and 6pm.

So what's the blocker for the town centre? Why aren't these shops there?
Retail has changed and is still changing rapidly, the retail units on offer in traditional town centres are simply not as suitable as they were in the past. There are different demands on vehicle access, different demands on safe pedestrian areas and the size of retail units in demand has changed significantly.

As mentioned earlier the planning committee at Tamworth often receives planning issues papers where a developer will allow early discussion of a proposal and get a feel for the bigger issues the committee will have on a development, this week we have had sight of an application for changes to car parking at Ventura and a the redevelopment of the Gungate Precinct. Yes it's another outline permission maintaining the outline permission given in the past.

 So what should be done ?

In the past I have had some of  my ideas reported in the Tamworth Herald including a tramway from the station along Victoria road to the town centre and a series of venues 'New Orleans' style along this route. yes maybe this was just blue sky thinking but it was still an idea.

As I have mentioned before retail is changing in a way no one predicted, or at least didn't predict well and in the longer term I do worry about all retail shops with the progression of internet shopping so what should be built in Tamworth?

I was walking through Ankerside this week looking at the shops that were open and noted a number of jewellery shops, hair and beauty outlets, and opticians. This got me thinking could Anker side move away from traditional retail and become a place to be pampered? hair salons, perfume and make up outlets, Jewellery outlets, nail bars, tanning salons etc etc, this would probably need so proactive chasing on behalf of Ankerside management but it's just food for thought.
And whilst I'm just imagining the opportunities here's another, should the Henry Boot development on the precinct be mixed retail and leisure or should it be heavily weighted on leisure and becoming a match for Star City in Birmingham, More leisure, restaurants, cafes, venues and a few retail outlets that fit the theme of the development, maybe even some nice flats and apartments similar to the top of Ankerside. Again this would take a shift in the approach of the owner.

I'm hoping the above stimulates some thought and debate outside the "another nail in the coffin" or " we need a Primark" or " too many card and phone shops". You never know the glass might be half full if we make it half full if we use the town centre for retail it may stay as a retail centre, its a bit like  local pub if they are empty the pub will close.

Consumer sovereignty will prevail

Plastic in the ocean PT2

When I wrote my previous entry on the sky campaign to reduce plastic going into the worlds seas and oceans I didn't expect to be returning so quickly but a story today on the link below made me think and pick it back up again.
http://news.sky.com/story/sick-whale-found-to-have-30-plastic-bags-blocking-its-stomach-10754077

Whale dies with 30 plastic bags in it's stomach By Thomas Moore, Health and Science Correspondent, Sky News

 In brief the whale had repeatedly beached prior to death and at post-mortem it was found that the whale had swallowed 30 plus plastic bags. Again this got me thinking about our plastic usage. Now the sky story does hold some provocative details such as English writing on some of the bags and the fact that a whale has died as a direct result, tragically I do not believe for a second that this is the first instance and I agree with the journalist for including this detail.
   It was no very long ago, less than 2 years, that the UK was up in arms at the suggestion that we should pay 5 pence for a plastic bag. the uproar was amazing when you consider the other issues of the day. I am really pleased to see that this charge has actually lead to a reducing in plastic bag litter on our beaches. So the charge seems to have had the desired effect in reducing the increase.
   It's not often that i hold McDonald's up as a good example (and we probably should for their community sponsorships, Ronald McDonald house etc etc) but I remember one of my first visits to a McDonald in the 1980's in Tamworth town centre with one of my neighbours and his mother Pauline. Whilst passing the wrapped burgers around the table Pauline exclaimed "look at all this paper, the Americans must have a lot of litter". Now 30+ years later i am remembering that statement and thinking "yes but paper doesn't last in the ocean as long as plastic, even waxed paper breaks down"
    Maybe just maybe many of our answers have been staring at us for years? my last blog on this referred to battery/electric milk floats and washable glass bottles, now i am talking paper bags for takeaway and hey why not supermarkets like the Americans. Sustainable forestry and recycling techniques are improving all the time so maybe we should have more food or shopping packaged in paper. I'm happy to buy fruit on a market in a paper bag why cant i select loose fruit and veg in a supermarket and weight it into a paper bag or just like the accusations from the self check out tills we are more obsessed that everyone is a shoplifter and trying to scam the machine or hide something in an opaque paper bag that we must use clear plastic.

     Right hold on I've just had another rant come into my head.

Who's idea was it to start putting eggs  in thin plastic trays/boxes/cartons that lock together so well its an art to open them without  firing a ballistic egg in some direction. Not only are these difficult to open especially using one had during baking etc but they also do not protect the egg from anything stronger than a light breeze and as mentioned throughout this subject they do not break down in the environment. although my eggs do in these awful packets. Just use traditional card egg boxes and stop ruining my eggs through neglectful packaging. 

The bottom line is we need to do something about the plastic we use and simply recycling is not going to be enough we need a fundamental shift away from plastics. I haven't gone into any of the arguments about use of petrochemicals and the origins of plastics that's a whole section on its own and supports many countries in its trade.



So my suggestions so far
Electric milk floats
Bring back glass milk bottles
Start using paper food packaging where possible.

http://jeremysnewsthoughts.blogspot.com/2017/01/plastics-in-ocean-skys-ocean-rescue.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34346309

Update !!!! 6th February 2017

Ooh just been thinking about this issue.

Why the **** does my toilet roll, kitchen roll and other paper products come packaged in plastic!!
Come on that's just taking the biscuit!!!!