Joe Salmon, 21 October 2023, Tags:
THIS BLOG ONLY REPRESENTS MY OWN THOUGHTS AND NOT THAT OF THE GREEN GROUP AS A WHOLE OR ANYBODY ELSE. ITS JUST WHAT IS ON THE TOP OF MY HEAD AT THE TIME OF WRITING SATURDAY MORNING
Morning all sorry for the radio silence over the last couple of weeks. I’m also going to keep this one short as I’ve not got much time to write it with the start of the school holiday this weekend and the hyperactivity that come with that from the kids. I’m also attending the demonstration at 2pm today on the ever escalating Israel Palestine conflict. I’ve updated my public to do again
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sd6-F8V4HvaMJZ8hx1XkWNNn_-4Iat-sk4FTTB9roSo/edit?usp=sharing
This contains most of what I’ve been up to, but just in case the format doesn’t work for you, in short the last couple of weeks I have been focused on this
West Way
I met with the police to discuss speeding and solutions to this on West Way, a speed camera is out of the question due to the bureaucracy and lack of funding, but we could get one of those unhappy face speeding sign things there. We’ll consult with residents on this.
In the long term every interaction we have with the police is clear that they are chronically under resourced, this doesn’t seem apparent when you look at documents produced by the police and crime commissioner. I’m going to dive into this, because this shortfall should be clearly documented and addressed. The officers I speak to all know what they can do to better protect the public, but can’t because they don’t have the resources. This is mad, we’re one of the largest economies in the world with tons of superrich freeloaders who should be paying their way.
Local Plan
I’ve gone over the local plan in detail, it is very poor and ignores climate change and the ecological challenges we’ll face in the next few years. The Green group is meeting with one of the officers involved to discuss. In the next few years we are almost certain to cross certain climate tipping points and the environmental disasters we’ll face in this country will be like nothing we’ve seen before. We must be prepared for this. Similarly planning for net zero as late as 2050 is pointless, we might as well not bother, we need to reach net zero ASAP, the science is crystal clear.
Licensing
Officers have confirmed our approach is utterly ineffective when it come to shoplifting and dangerous goods like knives and alcohol (a no touch policy is acceptable for example). This is rooted in national legislation and guidance so I’ll put my thinking cap on regarding how to fix this.
Anyhow that’s it for now, I’ll try to give a more detailed update packed with my usual philosophical musing next week.
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