“Derek Bastiman doesn’t take much prompting to wax lyrical about the beauty of his home borough of Scarborough, insisting it has the beating of any coastal area up and down the country.
But the former estate agent, who has served a combined 67 years in local government in the area in various forms, says the attractiveness of the area has presented its own problems..
the county and parish councillor said his offer to form “a rainbow coalition as we did up in the early 2000s” was supported by the Greens and a cluster of independents.
“And it was a genuine offer to park politics, you have your battle every four years, park your politics now and go into it and try and get the best out for the people who put us there to start with, but they didn’t want to know, so we remain an effective opposition, and that’s what we’ve got to do.”.”
https://www.whitbytowncouncil.gov.uk/news.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-leeds-54294161
“A university spokesman said: “We are fully supportive of the [lockdown] decision.”Services such as wellbeing support and the library will remain available to our students online.”Our security teams will increase patrols to support the lockdown and we will take disciplinary action against any students found to have breached requirements.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54299057
“”But the high street has got to contract and become more focused on where it is and become a real interesting place to go to shop, where interesting shops are, not usual run-of-the-mill shops.
“So, from an economy side, yes, the high streets will improve, if they accept that they’ve got to contract and shrink.”
He goes on to sing the praises of the diverse offers from the boroughs three main resorts. Filey ‘has its own charm because it has no amusements as such…there isn’t a plethora of kiss me quick hats and cash machines’, while Whitby ‘will always be popular for all the right reasons’.
Scarborough, he says, “will always be the queen of the walking places, because we’ve got two fantastic bays, we can offer the peace and redevelopment of the north side and you can have the south side with south bay and the amusements”.”
“Councillors had agreed the wording of a local development plan to guide planning decisions. But when it was sent out for consultation it had been changed.
The original wording precluded unconventional hydrocarbon extraction – or fracking – until there were guarantees that it would not affect the environment or public health.
The council’s chief executive Alison McCullagh acknowledged the rewording of the public consultation had “impacted adversely” on public confidence in the process.
“It’s apparent that the arrangements in place for document oversight and control were not as robust as expected,” she said.
The original wording had stated the council “will not permit exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbon extraction until it is proved that there would be no adverse effects on the environment or public health”.”
“Heat is a Cinderella problem – more than a third of UK carbon emissions are created by heat production. Ministers are being pressed to announce a date when gas home boilers will be phased out. Industries want incentives for low-carbon heat, and Mr Johnson’s UN remarks suggest he has been persuaded by the well-funded lobby trumpeting the role of hydrogen in heating and some transport, although that looks expensive.
The nuclear giant EDF is suggesting that nukes might be harnessed to generate heat, but there’s scepticism about this.
The government is also under pressure to stop buildings being demolished where possible, because new building materials create a lot of carbon emissions.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54296828
Ah …
““Her Majesty has always been a trooper and you won’t hear her complain, but those of us who know her because our family tree is also a bamboo can see just how dire things are.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54230737
Almost?
Keep Busy
““If you think that turning out your lights and night makes you safer, then that’s your choice. But I know my rights. If I want to keep my lights on, I will.”
The interviewer then points out that by keeping his lights on, Mr Williams is endangering not just himself, but his neighbours as well.
Williams countered, “Only if you believe in this blitz. Look, even if there is a blitz, it’s not as bad as everyone makes out. Bombs aren’t that bad, they just knock down the occasional wall. But they’re the sort of walls that would have fallen down anyway.”
The interviewer then asks what advantage the government would gain from making people turn their lights out at night, to which an enigmatic Mr Williams replies simply – “control””
https://www.thisisthecoast.co.uk/about-us/what-is-this-is-the-coast/
“Optimism is essential in politics. But the borderline between optimism and wishful thinking is easily overstepped.”
Oh Dear.
Pure Coincidence.
“”It’s an alignment, really, of someone’s extraordinary life and performance… and how he spoke not only to his own community but to a wider community and it just happened to dovetail with where we were taking some of these songs.””
“The word Uluru translates as Great Pebble.
The Anangu people put great cultural significance on the rock, which changes colour throughout the day, most noticeably when it glows red during sunrise and sunset.”
Eeek
“Sunak ended on a rousing note, saying the public could not continue to “live in fear” and “lives can no longer be put on hold”.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54211450
I, Exist.
“Author: Local Democracy Reporter, Carl GavaghanPublished 1 hour ago
The Prime Minister has been urged by district council leaders in North Yorkshire to shelve plans to break up councils in order to allow them to focus on the Covid-19 pandemic.
The seven district councils claim that in July, councils they were to believe as part of the government’s reform agenda that devolution for North Yorkshire could only be delivered if local government reorganisation happened.
Since then the seven district and borough council leaders have been working on plans that would see their councils disbanded.
The leaders have worked with independent experts to prepare a possible local government model for councillors across all the districts and boroughs to vote on, if reorganisation were compulsory.
However, given that the country remains in the grip of a global pandemic, the district and borough council leaders have now asked that government reconsider and allow devolution without the need for reorganisation.
The view of district and borough council leaders is that there “could not be a worse time to dismantle or disrupt local councils” when they are part of the front-line response to the Covid-19 crisis.
On behalf of the borough and district council leaders in North Yorkshire, Leader of Hambleton District Council Cllr Mark Robson said:
“There is no doubt the Covid-19 situation has worsened nationwide and this will inevitably put extra pressure and new demands on district and borough councils to further support our communities and businesses as we work through this crisis together.”
tis not a Spectator,
Sport.
vandalsblog 