National Mesothelioma Day 2 July 2010

On 19 June 2010, I briefly mentioned my old mate Chris, who died recently from an industrial disease contracted whilst working with asbestos.

It so happens that Friday 2 July is National Mesothelioma Day, held to raise awareness of asbestos-related illness and the issues surrounding that problem.

If anyone`s interested, my article Asbestos Awareness and Advocacy - `For Chris` (19 April 2010) can be found at http://masses2mainstream.blogspot.com/ and contains links to various relevant bodies.

Save Our Valley Revisited

More news from the Save Our Valley campaign.

As you may know, this very interesting campaign had three aspects ;

 One was the desirability or otherwise of the National Grid`s plans to build pylons in a particular part of the Bristol/Somerset area. The main aim of the locally-based Save our Valley was to oppose this development.

Secondly, there were questions as to whether the National Grid had carried out sufficent public consultation, and also whether the consultation they did carry out was designed to get the answer they wanted.

Thirdly, the Infrastructure Planning Commission, the body overseeing all this, was not in fact accountable to Parliament, which seemed completely inappropriate.

We now have answers to two of these questions.

In March of this year, the IPC told the National Grid that the level of public consultation had not been adequate. This effectively obliged them to start again.

Now we learn that the IPC is to be replaced by a new body, the Major Infrastructure Unit, which will be accountable to Parliament.

Lastly, a new public consultation is now underway.

An excellent outcome so far, we shall know the result of the new consultation very soon.

Interested parties ;

www.save-our-valley.co.uk

Background reading ;

Doctor Denounces Democratic Deficit ( http://masses2mainstream.blogspot.com , 20 February 2010)
Save our Valley Update                       ( http://masses2mainstream.blogspot.com 20 March 2010)

Sheringham Store Wars : The Saga Continues

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the seaside...

Amazingly, `Sheringham Store Wars`, which appeared to have ended in a victory for local people earlier this year after an epic 14 year battle, appears to have raised it`s head yet again.

Now it seems that formal complaints have been made concerning the conduct of some councillors and that this casts some doubt over their decision to once again refuse planning permssion to Tesco and instead give the go-ahead to a proposed eco-store.

Naturally, while the matter is under investigation, very few details are available to the public. However, interested parties include  Save Our Sheringham ( http://tescno.blogspot.com/  ) , Tescopoly ( www.tescopoly.org ) , Sheringham and District Preservation Society ( www.northnorfolk.org/sheringhampreservation ) and local group Scamrod (Sheringham Campaign Against Major Retail Overdevelopment) , who appear to have no online presence.

Welcome to Angel Pavement

Thanks for visiting my Angel Pavement, a blog which concerns itself mainly with grassroots democracy, community issues etc.

 I`m not a member of any political party but where MPs (of whatever party) are associated with a particular cause I will be giving them a mention. I dare say my own views will be apparent from time to time.

The name of the blog comes from the novel by J B Priestley. The reason for this is that last year my friend and fellow J B Priestley fan Chris Watkinson died of an industrial disease* and, remembering that Angel Pavement was his favourite Priestley novel, I thought it would be a nice gesture to use it for this purpose.

Under the circumstances there will be more emphasis on trade unions and worker safety than you might have expected, but I imagine environment and planning issues will predominate.

Subsequently, it`s occured to me that in their own way the groups and communities featured in this blog embody the sort of popular democracy favoured by Priestley in his wartime classic Out of the People. I didn`t plan it that way, but I`m certainly happy with that.

This Reggie the Hedgehog. Reggie, I understand, was found wandering and lost late last year near Bournmouth by friends of one of my relatives. He spent the winter at a wildlife rescue place and, after many hearty breakfasts, was then released into the wild. Reggie will be making appearances at regular intervals purely because I thought he seemed a good-hearted hedgehog and would add a bit of extra cheer and stop us taking ourselves too seriously ! 


All the Best,

Nick

* See "Asbestos Awareness and `Advocacy` - For Chris" online at The Graphophone 19 April 2010.