The Big Ask - Still asking one year on
 South Tyneside Friends of the Earth is continuing
the call for support for The
Big Ask, a campaign to bring into law the Climate Change
Bill. STFOE spokesperson Bryan Atkinson said, "The Big Ask is a simple idea. Call on the Government to introduce legislation that will commit it to making cuts of three per cent each year in the UK's carbon dioxide emissions."
South Tyneside failed by court
Local group member Bryan Atkinson has failed
in his bid to stop the folly that is the second Tyne
tunnel. Despite the decision of the High Court, handed
out on Friday, the campaign for a sustainable South Tyneside
goes on.
Brown fails the green test
Once again Chancellor Gordon Brown has lost an opportunity
shift the economy towards sustainability goals, and has
avoided taking concrete
economic action on climate change.
Another one bites the dust
Yet another bidder has dropped out of the second Tyne Tunnel project,
leaving just two runners. Campaigner Bryan Atkinson said:
“That’s two down, two to go. The PTA are desperately trying
to put a positive spin on yet another bidder dropping out but there’s
no disguising the fact that the construction industry is rapidly
losing confidence in this destructive road building scheme.
Who knows, if potential operators keep dropping out at this rate, the
whole project could be dead in the water long before we get to the High Court.”
Local campaigners speak up for Fellgate Greenbelt
On the first day of the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) Examination in Public
(EiP), Fellgate residents passionately argued for the
protection of the greenbelt at Fellgate. Even though
there was an impressive turnout of Fellgate residents, South
Tyneside FOE spokesperson Bryan Atkinson singled out local
estate campaigner Ron
Smith for his rational yet heartfelt appeal.
Would Jesus build
on the Fellgate greenbelt?
Campaigner Bryan Atkinson (pictured) has discovered in
Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) documents that the Church
Commissioners for England and Durham Cathedral not only want
South Tyneside’s dwindling greenbelt to be built upon, but
would also likely be the biggest financial beneficiaries of
the project.
The church position stands in stark contrast to the
position of the vast majority of individual respondents to the
RSS who objected to the deletion of the Fellgate greenbelt.
 Bryan
Atkinson said, “Building on greenbelt land is unsustainable.
Short-sighted and speculative development of this nature leads
to more and longer journeys by car, making lives a misery.
"At the rate that we are building on green field
sites, there will be precious little left for the meek to
inherit.”
South Tyneside Friends of the Earth is part of the campaign to
stop South Tyneside Council's plans to build a business park
on greenbelt at Fellgate.
The park, dubbed the 'Tyne
Wear Park' would further erode South Tyneside's
greenbelt. STFOE call on
all concerned citizens to get involved and get their voice
heard.
STFOE have offered responses to the Local
Development Framework Core Strategy and the proposals
to build on the greenbelt at Fellgate.
Victory for Toxic Trow hero!
Great news - Peter Collins, who was dismissed
by the National Trust for leaking the Toxic
Trow report, has won his industrial tribunal for unfair
dismissal. Let's hope that NT see the light and reinstate
Peter as soon as possible.
The Big Ask
Friends of the Earth is campaigning to push forward the
Climate Change Bill through The
Big Ask.
While Jarrow MP Stephen Hepburn has already
signed up to support it, South Shields MP David Miliband
has yet to pledge his support.
Oddly, in a staggering display of environmental
inconsistency, Stephen Hepburn is also an avid supporter of
the proposed second Tyne
road tunnel, a project which will help fuel the expected
growth in car travel, and the CO2 emissions that will bring.
Go to The
Big Ask website to show your support, and lobby your MP to
put their weight behind the Climate Change Bill.
Climate change and flying: easyclimatechange.com
NE 2 G8
Members from South Tyneside FOE headed
up to Edinburgh for the Make
Poverty History march on 2nd July 2005.
If you haven't already signed up to show your support for
Make Poverty History, it's not too late - just go to
their website
and find out what you can do.
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