Shhh! – Don’t Mention The Pre-planned Deer Cull

 Aberdeen City, Articles, Community, Featured, Information, Opinion  No Responses »
Apr 052011
 

Planting trees, creating habitats, using trees to clean the air: no one could be against such a plan, particularly if it would be ‘cost neutral’ and the citizens of Aberdeen would wind up with forests to enjoy down the road. However, in light of new information, Voice’s Suzanne Kelly takes a different view.

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What probably started out as a good idea is now a contentious web of extremely poor advance planning, politics, blackmail, vandalism and international outcry at a secret, but long-planned deer cull.

It is time to examine what should have happened, what went wrong, and what should and could be done.

The initial scheme

An Aberdeen City news release of 29 October 2010 explains that 210,000 trees will be planted in several stages, that this programme had funding for the first phase, and was winning awards.  The news release goes on to explain how important trees are – they will such up pollutants and CO2; they will provide habitat for animals (presumably there should be a tree planting near Loirston Loch, but a stadium is to be planted there instead).  This news release, stored on the Council’s website, also explains that funding is being sought for Phase 2.

It is a bit more difficult to find any record on the Council’s website of the deliberate vandalism which destroyed trees planned in Torry and elsewhere.  There is no report on how vandals will be prevented from destroying further plantings.  But within a month or so of this news release appearing, certain people in the Council involved with the tree scheme were already scheming some destruction of their own – and they certainly didn’t want either you or me to find out about it until it was too late for us to do anything about it.  I refer to the plan to keep us in the dark about how Phase 2 of the scheme was being deliberately led:  people behind the scheme were actively steering deliberately towards the cull of the Tullos Hill Roe Deer.

Scottish Natural Heritage:  A view to a cull

On 25 November 2010 (while citizens were being ‘consulted’ on Phase 2’), Scottish Natural Heritage wrote a letter to a member of the arboreal staff at the Council.  (See letter in full below this article).  This letter raises a number of serious questions as to how the scheme was handled.  The letter certainly seems to be replying to a briefing of some sort.  The writer – James Scott of Scottish Natural Heritage’s Wildlife Operations Unit –  is addressing issues which should have been made known in the consultation.

At the time of writing, Mr Scott has been informed that someone in Aberdeen Council has already taken several decisions.

an advantage of using contracted deer shooters is that it might distance the Council from the act

Fencing – It has somehow been decided by someone that fencing would be impossible, as there is a public footpath.  The UK is covered with such paths and suitable gates are used.   Fencing might not have been perfect – but oddly that is part of the blackmail offer the council now proposes.

Deer population –  If the fencing controversy is not confusing enough, the letter admits that the number of deer is unknown.   How many would be culled is apparently to be decided after SNH personnel visit the site under cover of darkness and make counts.  It is not known if such a count has taken place yet, or what the results are.  SNH say that tranquilising deer to move them doesn’t work (50% success) and then inexplicably says this would probably be illegal to do.  If the law says that killing creatures is better than moving them, then it is time to change the law.

Humane options – the SNH suggest ‘frustrating’ deer – remove gorse, implement other measures, yet our officials rejected these proposals.  Again, no recourse to the citizens here.

‘Visual Impact’ of tree protectors they are ruled out – The City told SNH that it would not be using tree protectors on the grounds that they might blow over, creating litter – and because they ‘have visual impact’.  The visual impact of something is a personal, not a scientific, issue.  It is not sufficient grounds to condemn a population of deer to death.

“there is the issue of reducing available habitat for deer and the fact that we would consequently expect a reduction cull. You have also decided not to use tree guards due to the visual impact and the likelyhood of these being blown away, possibly damaging trees they are meant to protect and creating a littering issue.” – James Scott , SNH

The word ‘deer’ does not get so much as a single use – yet it is now clear that a cull was in the cards

Without any regard to consultation, someone at the City has given this and other reasons leading SNH to conclude the deer should be culled.  No one wanted to ask the citizens if we’d rather look at tree protectors (which cost money), or have the trees elsewhere in order to save deer.  But the City and SNH were interested in keeping us in the dark….

Keep them in the dark – SNH actually says that an advantage of using contracted deer shooters is that it might distance the Council from the act:

“it may be preferrable to be seen to be doing it in house and have greater control rather than using contractors, or it may be preferable to utilise the distance between instruction and deed that comes from using contractors” – James Scott , SNH

The Aberdeen citizens should also be managed with care – with a ‘robust communication plan:-

“Having visited the site I am content that appropriate deer management can occur in a safe manner. Communicating this to access takers and the wider public may be more of a task which will require a robust communication plan. I would suggest that a suitable deer management plan will help in this regard and I am more than happy to offer assistance in this” – James Scott , SNH

It seems as if the ‘robust communication plan’ is an indication that some people might not like deer shot to save money.  If a cull were needed for welfare reasons, a reasonable person might not like the idea, but they would understand.  It seems that as no logical reason except cost savings exist for this cull – otherwise there would be no need to keep it out of the consultation or to have a ‘robust communication plan’.

Phase 2 Consultation:  No options given

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The Consultation which resides on the Aberdeen City Home page gives the reader no idea whatsoever that any of the above plans and processes were in place.
See: http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/Consultations/ArchiveConsultations/cst_tree_every_citizen.asp

There is no mention of the vandalism – only of the success of Phase 1.   The word ‘deer’ does not get so much as a single use – yet it is now clear that a cull was in the cards.  The trees are meant to start ‘making money’ in three years’ time – if there is a plan to turn Tullos into a timber yard, we haven’t been told.

A mix of private and public money is paying for this.  Public money is your money and mine – this makes it doubly scandalous that the City chose to deliberately hide mention of the deer cull.  We missed our chance to object to the consultation because of this omission – and as the petitions circulating attest – there are thousands of people who would have liked to have had the choice.

Questions for the Council

It is up to the Council – In particular, Aileen Malone, The Housing and Environment Committee, and whoever else was  involved in the details of the Tree Planting scheme – to supply answers to a few questions arising:-

  • Who made the decision to leave any deer cull out of the public consultation?
  • Who took the decision that non-lethal measures would be discounted and then communicated to SNH?
  • Who precisely decided to plant the trees on Tullos Hill, and why wasn’t the deer population immediately identified as a reason to find another location?
  • Who decided tree guards’ visual impact was preferable to a deer cull?
  • Whose aesthetic judgment decided the tree guards were unattractive?
  • How many trees were vandalised in Phase 1?
  • How much public money was spent in Phase 1, and how much is planned to be spent in Phase 2?
  • Was a consultation with Torry Community Council taken, and if so, were the deer discussed?
  • How  many deer were counted by SNH, and how many are to be culled?

Rays of hope

Thankfully animal activists, citizens of Aberdeen and people around the globe have become involved in campaigns and petition creating to stop this senseless slaughter.  Concerned people should contact their local Community Council members, the Housing and Environment Committee, Committee convener Aileen Malone, and other elected representatives to ask for answers to these questions, and to demand an inquiry into the consultation’s management, and to request a new, honest one.

A civilised government would want to put any cull on indefinite hold until this affair is cleared up.  Deer should not be slaughtered because people in government don’t want to spend money – and given the involved Councillors’  amazing ultimatum: raise funds for fencing, or we shoot animals – is it time for some changes in their number?

– Letter from James Scott ( SNH ) to Richard Nicholson ( ACC ).

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– Further reading: Critical Society quarterly e-journal.

Mark Edwards’ Hard Rain Project – Times Are A Changin’

 Aberdeen City, Articles, Community, Environment, Events, Featured, Information  Comments Off on Mark Edwards’ Hard Rain Project – Times Are A Changin’
Mar 252011
 

By Suzanne Kelly.

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Some 100 people of all ages and backgrounds packed an Aberdeen University lecture room on 22nd March; most of us were not entirely sure what to expect.

Mark Edwards – internationally known photographer, writer and witness to 40 years of global problems was there to deliver his ‘Hard Rain’ lecture and still photography presentation.

By the time he had finished it was clear that each person present had taken away food for thought on a host of global issues, however much or little they had known before they arrived.

Mark made a brief introduction explaining the Hard Rain Project’s genesis.  At the time of the first moonwalk in 1969, Mark was traveling in the Sahara desert’s unforgiving landscape, got lost, and was subsequently rescued by a nomadic tribe.  They offered him food, shelter and a fire to sit by, and then they produced a radio.  Bob Dylan’s ‘A Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall’ came out of it; a track inspired by the Bay of Pigs Cuban Missile Crisis.

Edwards considered his personal situation, the simple nomadic lifestyle, and the moonwalk and out of these events grew his idea of illustrating each line of this moving, evocative song.  Some 40 years on, the Hard Rain project was touring the world.  It features still photography taken from all quarters of our world, and illustrates the issues, which we have to face urgently.  Edwards took his Aberdeen audience:

“…on a journey through the past to a future which is ours to change.”

The photographs are as beautiful and as diverse a collection as you could possibly imagine – Edwards has captured virtually all aspects of humanity and of the earth.   These photographs and Mark both bear witness to the increasingly urgent issues we must solve now:  famine, destruction of habitats, human suffering, war, climate change, waste, disrespect and misuse of people, animals and the planet.  The things Mark has seen in his travels have not led him to despair; he retains faith in human initiative and human spirit, which he sees in the shantytown inhabitants’ resourcefulness.

As to the photographs:  there is a bulldozer in the Amazon cutting a scar through the lush jungle; there is a sea of ghostly, dead tree stumps in an arid wasteland; there are dead and dying women and children from around the world.  I am haunted by a photo of an oil-covered bird taken in Brazil, which is accompanied by the line from Hard Rain ‘I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans’.

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This photo presumably was taken years ago, but it could have been the recent Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.   (You have to ask yourself why one oil disaster was not enough to ensure we never let it happen again).
But I am most haunted by (as were several of the students I spoke to including Deepu Augustine and Rita Lwanga) of a poignant image of a newborn baby lying on its side, small hands and feet visible, wrapped in a hooded garment, dead.  It was lying in a shallow, womb-like grave about to be buried.  The number of children who starve to death is legion.

As Mark says when addressing all the various issues:

“Perhaps our greatest mistake is taking our easy lifestyles for granted.”

Edwards explains that “we broke the first law of nature” – for instance how the death of a leaf and its natural decomposition create fertile soil on which new life will grow.  The problem is that we have created a host of chemicals, which do not break down. He does not bombard us with numbers and statistics, but those he does use are unforgettable.  In discussing our chemical dependence and proliferation of chemicals throughout the food chain globally, he says that any pregnant woman anywhere in the world today will have somewhere between 8 to 17 kinds of pesticides in the placenta.

Mark describes himself as a witness; he does not have all the answers.  But he will tell you that we urgently need to increase education around the world, end child labour (which is nothing short of slavery:  buyers of cheap imported goods and clothing please do take note), pay fair prices for crops, encourage family planning, and end extreme poverty.  Another statistic he has hit us with:  the GDP of the world’s 48 poorest countries is equal to the wealth of the world’s three richest people.

A series of photos taken in Haiti show the human impulse to slip away from rational thinking and regress to superstition (a ‘voodoo’ ceremony to pray for long-overdue rain is depicted), and later work shows a flock of brightly-clad Haitian school children.   Edwards then makes interesting comparisons between the 1930s American Dustbowl draught and Ethiopia’s similar situation today.  He compares Industrial age London’s shantytowns to today’s third world shantytowns, they both were born of similar circumstances and had similar problems and potentials.

“The past is not over and the future has happened many times”

– or put another way – those who do not know the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat its mistakes and tragedies.

His bleak, depressing photos of urban sprawl were based in Mexico City; but if we are not careful the same thing can easily happen in Aberdeenshire on a smaller scale.

The difference in the quantity of goods the Americans have is staggering and it does not make them any happier

We are, after all, getting rid of acre upon acre of (supposedly protected) green belt land to build hundreds of identikit houses, a 21,000 seat stadium where we currently have important wildlife and rare plants, and a car park/mall is planned for our only city centre green sink and beauty spot – Union Terrace Gardens.

Rather than increasing public transport, we plan to cut a highway through our countryside with the AWPR.  And we are going to shoot (sorry, cull) the Tullos Hill Roe Deer, as our elected officials have deemed that building fences or protecting saplings with plastic are more expensive options).  Mark makes a remark that some politicians are:

“…defending political positions they know are no longer appropriate…”

I think I do not need to look any further than Aberdeen City Council for an example of Mark’s assertion.  I get the feeling that 99% of Edward’s audience is receptive and probably actively concerned for our environment – I find myself wishing we could get the local Council to see ‘Hard Rain’.

Edwards shows us a family in Bhutan; they are outside their home and have all of their, not very many, possessions spread around them.  Next we switch to an American family of four – again in front of their home with all of their goods.  The difference in the quantity of goods the Americans have is staggering and it does not make them any happier:  Bhutan is, in fact, the country with the highest percentage of happy and satisfied people on earth.

Edward’s talk is part of the Aberdeen University Students’ Association Climate Change Projects.

Jamie Peters is the Climate Change Project Co-ordinator and he advised me that the Climate Change project has been packed full of events this past week including; tree planting, cookery demonstrations, gardening, meetings and discussions.  Reusable bottles and bags were distributed as well as bookmarks with tips on energy saving and recycling.  The Climate Change Project at Aberdeen University:

“aims to improve life around the campus, provide something fun for students to get involved in and at the same time save 1,000 tonnes of CO2.”

Fraser Lovie, a policy adviser at the University, congratulated the Climate Change Project for bringing Mark Edwards and his exhibition to Aberdeen and welcomed Mark’s hints that a new touring exhibition, based on Hard Rain, is in development, that will support the behavior change agenda in Universities and Colleges.

STOP PRESS:  At the time of writing, it is uncertain whether funding will be found to keep the Climate Change Project going:  I certainly hope they will continue their work.

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After a glass or two of wine and a few words with Mark Edwards and others (he is affable and keen to talk), I made my way home.  Another Bob Dylan song came into my head – ‘The Times They Are A Changing’;

“… if your time to you is worth saving, you’d better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times they are a changing’.”

Change has never happened faster in human history than it is happening now.  But exactly what are we changing our world into?

Regent Walk is the scene of the Hard Rain Project outdoor exhibition, which accompanied this lecture; it will be up for a month.  I urge you –  go and see it.

SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

Quotations from the Hard Rain Project Lecture

*     “In the next 24 hours deforestation will outweigh the carbon footprint of 8 million people”

*     “If forests are the lungs of the world, we have had one lung removed”

*     “All humanity is in trouble; time is the enemy; indifference is the enemy”

*     “We have Stone-Age impulses, Medieval beliefs, and God-like technology”

*     “There is no ‘them and us’”

 

Q&A from the Hard Rain Website:

“Mark has been traveling and taking photographs in over 150 countries in the last 40 years. He first decided to illustrate the global environmental crisis in 1969, and Hard Rain really began to take shape as a live presentation in 2000. The DVD has been in development for about a year, since interest in the presentation has exploded.

“How many cities/countries has Hard Rain been seen in?

“The exhibition has been seen in over 50 cities, with a tour of India immediately following Copenhagen. The presentation, on which the DVD is based, has been seen in hundreds of venues on every continent.

“How has Dylan lent his support?

“Dylan and his label, Columbia Records, have been extremely supportive of Hard Rain right from its public launch as an exhibition at the Eden Project in 2006. They have also been very supportive of Hard Rain by allowing us to use the lyrics in the exhibitions.

“This year, the Royal Photographic Society recognized Mark Edwards and Bob Dylan by presenting them with the Terence Donovan Award for their achievement with the Hard Rain Project.”

BrewDog: Beer – Enthusiasm – Love.

 Aberdeen City, Articles, Community, Featured, Information, Opinion  Comments Off on BrewDog: Beer – Enthusiasm – Love.
Mar 112011
 

Kerry pulls the pints at Brewdog
By Suzanne Kelly.

I was never going to be able to write an objective article about BrewDog – it is simply the most innovative and honest craft beer to emerge in the UK (or probably anywhere); I can’t think of any competition.

There is nothing out there in the beer sector that screams craftsmanship, individuality, creativity and…. well, love of beer, more than the BrewDog brand.

I am waiting for Bruce Gray from BrewDog HQ at the BrewDog pub in Aberdeen which opened in mid October.  The fashionably industrial/minimalistic bar sits across from Marischal College. People are queuing to be served and the three staff behind the bar are busy but enthusiastically offering tastes of the dozens of craft beers on offer to those customers unsure what to drink. The music is as eclectic as the clientele and the brews on offer. It ranges from Beck to Massive Attack then goes back a few decades to come forward again.

Behind the bar are dozens and dozens of bottles of BrewDog offerings as well as an international collection of beers that makes my eyes water. Beer is sold in bottles and draught – the draught offerings seem to change with some frequency and limited edition offerings come and go from the tap with speed. In addition, they sell some of my favourite cheeses from Mellis (an enlarged menu will follow soon, Bruce advises).  Bliss.

Brewdogs Bruce - A man who loves beer
Bruce gets free from the bar and joins me; the first thing we discuss is the BrewDog philosophy. He extols the virtues of craftsmanship and explains that the company’s willingness to take risks and experiment has been key to its current considerable success.  BrewDog opens in Edinburgh in March (Bruce had been down yesterday and reports it may open earlier than scheduled) and other pubs will soon emerge in Glasgow and London. I think they will be coining it in.

The company was started by Martin and James who sold their ‘Punk IPA’, ‘Paradox’ and ‘Trashy Blonde‘ offerings initially at the Aberdeen Farmers’ Market on Belmont Street. The next stop for the Dog was the export market where the following grew as the products’ quality spoke for itself.

Collaborations with international breweries followed as did a mountain of awards. These two founders are currently employing some 50 people, and BrewDog has experienced a profit increase from last year to this of some 260%. Unprecedented.

Bruce puts this down to the quality of the beers and to the skills of the guys in marketing. I can’t argue with that. Courting controversy has brought publicity – some negative – but it has not hurt the firm. You may recall scandalised newspaper stories on ‘Sink the Bismarck’ and ‘Tactical Nuclear Penguin‘ extra strong beers.

Sam enjoying his Punk IPA
The press would have you believe that children would be buying bottles of these strong beers (some as powerful as 33% ABV) and getting paralytic in the streets.

Having tried the ‘Sink the Bismarck’ – these strong beers are only sold as ‘nips’ by the way – I can promise you that no one would sooner guzzle this down than down than they would a gallon of whisky. It’s like nothing else – a concentrated rich, cordial of a beer, a nip of which took me about twenty minutes to finish.

It is the flavours which really excite. While I love beer and attend beer/real ale festivals, I don’t have the vocabulary to fully describe just how unique these beers are. The ‘Trashy Blonde’ is described on the label as being a ‘statuesque fruity ale’ and I certainly can’t do better than that.

I love the honey notes in ‘Paradox’, and the classic ‘5 a.m. Saint’ is a strong ale which was the winner of the top overall award at the Hong Kong International Beer Awards in 2010.

Bruce and I discuss ‘Bitch Please’ which comes out at the end of 2011 – if you think you taste shortbread and toffee when you get your hands on this one, that will be because they’ve thrown some in. One of my favourite offerings so far was ‘Eurotrash’ – they took the ‘Trashy Blonde’ recipe and substituted the type of yeast used.  The result of making this one change was, well, delicious – and completely different in taste to the original Blonde. You are left in no doubt that the brewers are ruled by their imaginations, not profit margins. Don’t look for ‘Eurotrash’ any more – it’s all gone. I ask Bruce to please consider bringing it back; watch this space.

I feel I must ask Bruce some grown-up business questions so I ask what kind of demographic they are targeting; the answer is that they are not after any one group at all and they find women are very interested and want a taste of everything (a wooden pallet holding 4 x 1/3 pint beer tasters is a popular seller).  In fact, the place is devoid of the stereotypical real ale fan; I see no obligatory man with beard, beer gut and woolly jumper.

I’ve added a few things to my ‘must do’ list; namely, getting the soon-to-be released ‘Beer School’ booklet and the new collection of four single hop IPA – ‘IPA is dead’.

I thank Bruce for his time, and come away (well, go to the bar to buy a half of Camden Town Brewery’s wheat beer and a half of ‘5 a.m. Saint’ ) impressed by the genuine enthusiasm that permeates every aspect of this operation. I should probably be trying to think of some clever pun or other for an article headline – no doubt something about ‘bark’, ‘hop’, ‘every dog has its day’ – but it is totally unnecessary. BrewDog is Beer for Punks and everyone else who honestly loves an honest beer.

 

What is Urban Sprawl and Why Should I Care?

 Aberdeen City, Articles, Community, Environment, Featured, Information  Comments Off on What is Urban Sprawl and Why Should I Care?
Mar 042011
 

The Aberdeen City and Shire landscape today bears little resemblance to the landscape of the past.  Voice’s Suzanne Kelly asks – Is this progress, or is this progress towards ill health, lack of biodiversity, and urban sprawl?

Back in the late 1950s, NASA (the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration) started its missions  and started photographing our planet from space.

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Over the decades a major change in our planet became apparent to the NASA scientists:  we were rapidly destroying green areas, quickly expanding the surface area our cities, and covering previously green areas with non-porous material – usually asphalt and concrete.
The face of the planet was visibly changing, and the term ‘Urban Sprawl’ came into being.

Urban Sprawl is not just an ambiguous catchphrase – it is a very real phenomenon recognised by scientists and environmentalists from NASA through National Geographic.

If any of these items sound familiar to you,  you will understand Urban Sprawl and why it has to be slowed if not halted:-

  • increased air pollution and ‘particulates’ from car use, and associated health problems (asthma, heart disease, effects on unborn, types of cancers)
  • Increases in other forms of pollution, including light pollution
  • Inadequate facilities, e.g.: cultural, emergency, healthcare, and so forth for population size
  • Inefficient street layouts
  • Inflated costs for public transportation
  • Lost time and productivity due to time spent commuting; less personal time for relaxation and recreation
  • High levels of racial and socioeconomic segregation; deprived neighbourhoods
  • Low diversity of housing and business types (identikit houses packed closely together)
  • Health problem increases e.g. obesity due to less exercise and more time in cars
  • Less space for conservation and parks
  • High per-capita use of energy, land, and water
  • Loss of biodiversity

Urban Sprawl is changing Aberdeen and the Shire – and it is virtually irreversible

Last week I received an email from J Leonard, an Aberdeen Planning official.  He explains that we need to kill (or cull if you prefer) the small number of deer on Tullos Hill in order to protect trees the City has a grant to plant (£200k value in total).  He explained that when the trees are grown, deer and squirrels can then live in the area (thankfully the deer have been spared), and that Tullos Hill is ‘in the heart of an urban environment’.

This is what Urban Sprawl does – it takes over the greenbelt land bit by bit, until there is only a bubble of natural land left here and there, or what builders euphemistically call ‘wildlife corridors’ – small areas of land connecting remaining green areas. I was speaking to an older Aberdeen resident who distinctly remembers a time before the Altens Industrial Estate existed, and tells me of a green paradise teeming with many types of wildlife.

Now we have a few open areas but notably south of the city centre, we have turned part of the coast into a waste tip we had to cap just recently, and we added a sewage plant to the coast and are planning hundreds of houses in this sensitive area. Aberdeen Football Club intends to put a 21,000-seat stadium on land adjacent to Loirston Loch in the River Dee SAC (Special Area of Conservation).

We are failing to listen to the residents in these areas who currently enjoy a relatively rural area and whose lives will change greatly

The area holds remaining pockets of creatures such as (apparently protected) otters and bats as well as rare plants and animals (as per the Council’s own sign on Loirston Loch).  There will be no real environmental benefits associated with this stadium (indeed the pre-planning reports come up with about 40 negative permanent environmental impacts – but says we will get a ‘wildlife corridor’ where we now have open fields and an uninterrupted SAC).

However, we are told we will get ‘job creation’ and an ‘iconic building’ by Margaret Bochel of Aberdeen City Planning who endorsed the stadium plan.  Somehow, the only place the Council and AFC are willing to put this building is on greenbelt land, which we will never get back and which will never be the same.

We are told that Aberdeen needs to ‘ensure its future prosperity’, and our elected officials, builders, planners and business organisations tell us we must keep building and expanding.  The Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, a new runway / airport extension, the 21,000 seat ‘community’ stadium, and of course transforming the Victorian gardens of Union Terrace Gardens into a ‘public square’ are large examples of proposed new structures — structures which we are meant to believe equate to economic prosperity (despite costing the taxpayer tens of millions or more per project).

The housing developments springing up like mushrooms are, we are told, going to be ‘modern’, ‘competitive’, and ‘attractive to inward investment’.  We are failing to listen to the residents in these areas who currently enjoy a relatively rural area and whose lives will change greatly:  they have resoundingly said they do not want development.  We are told there is a housing shortage (although many homes and office buildings in the city centre are vacant), and these developments are needed from Stonehaven to Inverurie and throughout the shire – on any bit of ground available.

Whether or not such building works will ensure future prosperity (can you ensure future economic success at all?), there is one truth about all of these projects:  they are all examples of Urban Sprawl.

What’s so important about Air Pollution, Light Pollution, and Biodiversity? Air Pollution

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The link between air pollution and forms of heart and respiratory disease is now well acknowledge and documented.

There are cities such as Los Angeles and Hong Kong which issue daily air quality reports – recognising that bad air quality can directly cause illness such as asthma attacks.

Vehicle exhaust is a considerable factor in creating air pollution; ‘particulates’ created as a product of combustion engines are a part of the air pollution cocktail as are carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and sulphur.  A brief search of the British Medical Journal yields results such articles as:

And a quote from ‘Air pollution and daily mortality in  London:  1987-92 reads:

“The 1952 London smog episode was associated with a twofold to threefold increase in mortality and showed beyond doubt that air pollution episodes could be harmful to health.”

Car parking lots are coated with various chemicals associated with vehicles; these get into the soil with rain and snow.  And thus these pollutants can enter the food chain.

Light Pollution:  Really?

Until the Industrial Age, the planet was dark at night.  Now (as satellite photos demonstrate) city areas emit light all night long.  The problem with this is it is definitely affecting the breeding cycle of birds, insects including butterflies and moths, bats and other creatures.  We are changing an integral part of our ecosystem.  These creatures are largely responsible for pollinating our crops and keeping other insect pests in check.

Light pollution is a real and worrying phenomenon, and we need to reduce night-time lights.  If nothing else, saving electricity and energy will help save cities money, and global warming certainly is not helped by lighting up large portions of the night sky.  There is also research to show that light pollution can slow down the way in which air pollution breaks down.

It is safe to say that having a red, glow-in-the-dark football stadium on what is now greenbelt open land in Loirston will be detrimental to creatures that can currently live and hunt there.

each new housing estate is eating up our greenbelt land and urban sprawl threatens our health and well-being on several fronts

Mark Parsons, Mark Shardlow and Charlotte Bruce-White are all experts in the fields of insect life and conservation; they have authored an article ‘Light pollution – a menace to moths, and much more for Butterfly Conservation.  In it they present strong evidence from around the world that manmade light pollution is interfering in a very negative way with insect ilfe cycles.

Recommendations the article makes include:

  • Light should be kept to a functional minimum in all areas
  • Lights that emit a broad spectrum of light with a high UV component should be avoided
  • Aquatic environments and areas of high conservation value are potentially particularly sensitive to light pollution.  Lighting schemes in these areas should be carefully planned to avoid negative impacts

This last point is totally contrary to what is proposed at Loirston Loch.

Biodiversity

Again, the ecosystem is being changed at an alarming rate.  We are removing habitat – and without land to live and forage in, we will continue to lose animal populations and whole species.

What alternatives are there to continuous building and more urban sprawl?

How accurate are these assertions we have to keep building and using up the greenbelt?  The stadium for instance – how necessary is it?  The existing stadium at Pittodrie could be modernised.  Norwich FC recently rebuilt its stadium – the same is most definitely possible for Pittodrie.  Cities across the UK have lost millions bidding for, and hosting international competitions; prosperity is not automatic with a stadium.

We have to keep pumping money into the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.  As to reported housing shortage, we know that there are thousands of empty houses both in the public and private sectors, and rather than new builds, using some of our vast quantities of unused offices and converting these to homes would be the more economical and more ecologically sound way forward.

Aside from the tens millions of pounds of taxpayer money any one of these new structures will drain from the public purse from consultation through to design, execution, use and maintenance, there is another price to be paid.  Each of these projects, and each new housing estate is eating up our greenbelt land and urban sprawl threatens our health and well-being on several fronts.

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Wildlife tourism could be encouraged – as it is, the RSPB estimate that Scotland is visited by thousands who want to see our unique birds and other wildlife – perhaps we could preserve habitats, encourage our existing wildlife, and promote our natural resources more widely?

The EU is taking this very real problem seriously, and the US is realising the ramifications as well – perhaps it is time for Aberdeen’s planning and development professionals to wake up to urban sprawl’s threats as well.

Further resources:

  • EU Environment Agency publication, “Urban Sprawl in Europe – the ignored challenge”
  • Butterfly Conservation (Magazine of the Butterfly Conservation) Issue No. 106 ‘ Light Pollution – a menace to moths, and much more’

Want to take action?: Write to your local community council, city council planning department, MSP and MEP to express concern Visit your local wildlife sanctuaries, the city’s coastal areas, Loirston Loch Support conservation charities such as the RSPB, Butterfly Conservation, the John Muir Trust

Dog-fighting – No Room For Complacency In Aberdeen

 Aberdeen City, Articles, Community, Featured, Information  Comments Off on Dog-fighting – No Room For Complacency In Aberdeen
Feb 252011
 

By Suzanne Kelly.

Rescued dog scarred from being forced to fight
The Council said organised dog-fighting is not happening here (at least they put that in writing to me a few years back).
The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the BBC and the police are not so sure.  Back in 2007 there was an allegation that men were deliberately hunting the streets of Aberdeen with Staffordshire type dogs, looking for cats for the dogs to attack.

There was the recent incident in Seaton where a pet cat was held down by two men so a dog could savage it. Unfortunately, the police don’t seem to have found anyone for this crime yet.

Dog-fighting equipment and dogs were found in several areas north of Aberdeen not long ago as well. Two swans were recently found badly injured near Bridge of Dee (they are recovering), and on 14 February a swan was found in this same area – dismembered.  While this last crime (injuring wild animals is a criminal offense) must have been done by a person, it was in the same general area that the dog-injured birds were found. Given these incidents it seems we do have a problem. The problem can be solved if people come forward and let the authorities know (anonymously if they wish) who is involved.

It is bad enough that there is such a visible increase in the number of dogs which could be classified as ‘pit bull cross breeds’ or ‘fighting type dogs’ under the Dangerous Dogs Act. In addition, many of the dogs in the ‘dangerous’ category which we see on the street are not on a lead and a few seem to be owned by people who are simply not interested in the dog’s welfare. The Dangerous Dogs Act was intended in part to counteract the proliferation of types of animals which were frequently involved in incidents where people were injured.

The psychological makeup of the people involved in dog fighting makes them a danger not just to animals, but to people as well

A dog ring in England was broken up not long ago; the dogs were trained to exhaustion, given live cats and other animals to tear to shreds alive and were made to fight in a pit in a woman’s back garden.

Dog-fight attendees are known to film the dogs torturing cats on mobile phones – the purpose of the cats is to rile the dogs up to fight.

If the dogs would not fight (and frankly, any well-treated dog does not normally want to attack another animal), they were tortured with electric shocks.  In one case which involved nationals of several European countries, an English woman in was eventually jailed and fined. Dog-fighting is (obviously) illegal, and penalties include jail and fines – but some say the existing law is not strong enough.

The psychological makeup of the people involved in dog fighting makes them a danger not just to animals, but to people as well. They are detached from suffering, concerned only with money the dogs earn for them;  have abnormal emotional development that make the fights seem ‘thrilling’ and such people are completely ‘beyond the pale’ of what is acceptable behaviour. Getting these people identified, and hopefully convicted will make animals as well as people safer.

The Dangerous Dogs Act saw four types of animal outlawed – but there are now so many cross breeds, it is virtually outdated to say that the fighting is limited to any one breed at all.  As far as breeding goes, a bitch will be bred constantly to produce puppies, kept in complete confinement. One day the exhausted bitch will be so weakened that she and her last litter will be killed, and another bitch takes her place.

Rescued from dogfighting ring - only to be euthanised as rehabilitation is deemed impossible.
This ‘killer instinct’ is drilled into the pups from their first hours.

They are treated with great cruelty, forced into gruelling exercise regimes (which kills some of them in the process), beaten, starved, tortured and ‘rewarded’ by being given live animals to maul.

There is absolutely no place for dog-fighting or for anyone involved in this inhumane, illegal crime in a civilised society.

It is important to remember that even well-treated dogs have ‘turned’ – and attacked, mauled, and killed people – and statistics for these types of attacks are rising year on year. Dogs that have been treated cruelly to deliberately make them vicious are a serious threat to everyone’s safety.

A massive raid in 2007 in Merseyside saw twenty-eight dogs rescued from this fighting culture, and dozens or arrests, brought about by the public confidentially contacting police and animal welfare organisations.

When to call the authorities:

  • Do you see any dogs bearing obvious scarring?
  • Are dogs, cats or other small animals in your neighbourhood disappearing?
  • Do you hear the sounds of animals in pain?
  • Neighbours acting suspiciously and keeping either dangerous dogs or large amounts of dogs?
  • Has a neighbour with a dangerous dog suddenly not own the dog any longer?
  • Suspect something however tenuous?

Scottish SPCA Chief Superintendent Mike Flynn said:

“We believe that any dog, regardless of its breed, can be made aggressive through an owner’s lack of training or through deliberate encouragement of bad behaviour.

“The breeding, trading and owning of a dog banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 is not only extremely irresponsible and reckless but is also a criminal offence. Anyone caught doing so can expect to face prosecution and a court may order the destruction of the dog.

“We rely on members of the public contacting us as soon as they become aware of any information relating to dog fighting and urge them to contact our animal helpline on 03000 999 999. We can assure people that all calls are dealt with in strictest confidence and information can be left anonymously.”

Just to get the message home:  anyone with information or with any possible tips – however large or small about animal cruelty should call the SSPCA animal helpline on 03000 999 999.  You don’t have to give your details and any information just might stop animal cruelty.

 

Silver City Surfers – Opening Up A New World To Over 55s

 Aberdeen City, Articles, Charity, Community, Featured, Information  Comments Off on Silver City Surfers – Opening Up A New World To Over 55s
Feb 252011
 

By Suzanne Kelly.

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Technology is evolving at an amazing pace; just think how many mobile phones you’ve had in the past 10 years; and how many different music players and ways to watch movies there are.

It’s daunting keeping up with these fast-paced technological developments, even for the children of the ‘Information Age’.

For the older person the idea of the World Wide Web, email, Skype, digital photographs and so on can seem out of their reach.

There are common misconceptions the computer newcomer may have – ‘it’s too complicated,’ ‘I know nothing about computers or computing,’ ‘I’m too old to learn,’ ‘why would it benefit me to be online,’ and so on.  The Internet can bring your shopping to your door, let you book tickets in advance, keep in touch with loved ones  – and once these benefits which you and I might take for granted are made clear to the first-time surfer, a whole world opens up.

Happily the Silver City Surfers are on hand to make it all accessible to those over 55 years old who want to get started.

Silver City Surfers is a registered charity that provides free one to one support for people over 55 years who have little or no experience of IT.  It currently operates from 10.00 to 13.00 hours every Wednesday and Friday in the Salvation Army Citadel.  They also run outreach services in Seaton and Torry, and more details can be found on their website, http://www.silvercitysurfers.co.uk/ .

I visited the Silver City Surfers at the Tullos Community Centre; Chris Dunhill, Coordinator, introduced me to some of the tutors and the surfers.  There were about a dozen people – some working alone, some chatting, some in training.  The training sessions are one-to-one, and after a few basics are mastered, the learner tells the tutor what they want to accomplish or learn:  the training is always delivered to the individual’s needs, and there are no forms or tests.

people are getting skills, knowledge, pleasure and socialising as a result of the Silver City Surfers

Betty was doing some creative graphics on her own; she has a mastery of Photoshop I would like to have myself.  I also spoke with Jim Thomson, who proudly detailed how he and his tutor had created impressive family tree using special software and online resources.

I spoke to Irene – a brand new Silver City Surfer – her story is quite a common one for the older computer ‘newbie’.  A relative had made her a gift of a computer, but she had no training and no real idea what to do – so she used it to play ‘Solitaire’ for nearly a year.  A friend told her about the SCS group, and she was extremely glad she came along. When I met her, she and her tutor were looking for broadband providers which would meet her budget and needs for her home computing.  She looked quite at home on her computer even though she was just getting started.

Other members were keeping in touch with relatives around the globe using email and Skype – one person explained how his daughter in California was his own personal ‘helpdesk’:  if he had a computer problem, he would contact her by Skype, and she would get remote access to his computer – either fixing the problem, or teaching him what to do.  Clearly these people are getting skills, knowledge, pleasure and socialising as a result of the Silver City Surfers.

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Along with the advantages are potential pitfalls – security and safety online are crucial.  There are many sophisticated illegal schemes out there such as ‘phishing’ scams in which criminals pretend to be legitimate businesses (particularly banks), and email the unsuspecting victim, demanding passwords and personal information.

While the more experienced ‘surfer’ will be aware of such cons and know what to look for, the older person is apt to be more trusting.  By educating its clients, the Silver City Surfers give new users clear, concise help for staying safe on line.

Margaret Smith, Chairperson of the Silver City Surfers adds:

“…people are coming out to the Silver City Workshops and are enjoying themselves, then when they get back home they can use their new skills, and have a less isolated life.”

Margaret noted that more and more government/public services are contactable by email and use websites, so it is important that older people know how to do basic computer communications so they do not get left out

As I was leaving the Tullos Centre, a lady who was in her seventies remarked  she ‘…was only about 20 years old in her head.’  With an attitude like that and a computer, there is probably nothing she can’t achieve.  If you know someone who would benefit from learning about computers with other over 55s, the Silver City Surfers is the way forward.

 

Freedom Of Information? – Not In Aberdeen

 Aberdeen City, Articles, Featured, Opinion  No Responses »
Feb 112011
 

Voice’s Suzanne Kelly tells of her attempts to  use Freedom Of Information (FOI) Legislation to find out exactly what property the City of Aberdeen has sold to Stewart Milne/ Stewart Milne companies.

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Stewart Milne Construction and its related companies certainly seem to own a fair amount of land in Aberdeen and surrounding areas.

I formally made a Freedom of Information request to the City to find out what public properties were sold by the Council to Milne-related companies.

After a nine week wait for a reply to the original FOI request submitted by e-mail on 9 December 2010, the City declined to supply any information.   The City information office sent two documents explaining the rationale for declining the request; the reasons given in these documents can be summarised as follows:-

  • it would cost too much (£1200) to answer, and
  • making this information public would damage the Council’s relationships with its suppliers.

(   Copies of response letters can be viewed below. )

The public should have the right to know how its assets, in this case land, are disposed of.  It must be remembered that  the City and Mr Milne have recently been in court over one of these deals. It appears that land in the west of the city was sold to a Milne company for less than market value,  and that there was an agreement that any sale profits would be shared with the City. After legal action on the Council’s part to recover some of the perceived profit, it came out that Milne sold land from one branch of his empire to another, and claimed no share was therefore due to the Council.

Oddly, the courts are thus far not sharing Milne’s opinion. However, Milne is reportedly taking the City, and therefore the taxpayer, back to court to appeal this latest judgment:  this is why it is imperative that we are told what else he or his companies bought from the City, and what the sale prices and actual values were.

What exactly lies behind Aberdeen’s lack of transparency?

The City disagrees with this assessment, so an appeal will be lodged to its Information Officer over the refusal to answer the FOI request.   The City also seems to have confused its dates somewhat.

The official letters denying my information request refer to the request date as 22 January. Is this inefficiency, or a deliberate attempt to obscure the original 9 December e-mail request date?

The City asked me to clarify my request on 23rd December, which I did the same day.      It is most definitely relevant to the citizens of cash-strapped Aberdeen to know what kind of deals have been done.  Aberdeen citizens are facing millions of pounds’ worth of services cuts; local schools are closing, and children and people with special needs are being told to expect yet more cuts.

If the City is continuing to sell off assets at less than market value (despite Audit Scotland’s recent criticism), then something is greatly amiss.   The facts are these – I first sent an e-mail on 9 December asking for information as follows:-

“I have tried unsuccessfully to find the following using your website – please provide it to me under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, many thanks.

1.  List of property (including but not limited to land, buildings, building services, material goods, etc.) Aberdeen City sold to the Stewart Milne Group, Stewart Milne Homes and/or any associated companies, and/or directly to Mr Stewart Milne. List to show property name/description, date of sale, sale price, minutes/reports of the City Council approving/recommending the sale, and if available the market value at time of sale.

2.  List of property or services (including but not limited to land, buildings, building services, material goods, etc.), the Stewart Milne Group, Stewart Milne Homes and/or any associated companies, and/or directly to Mr Stewart Milne sold, managed or built for Aberdeen City Council. List to show property name/description, date of sale, price, reports/minutes of the City Council recommending the purchase, and if available the market value at time of sale.If any aspect of this request is not clear, then please contact me directly for clarification.”

Information Not Held - Click to Enlarge
The Council responded by email on 23 December, asking what I meant by Stewart Milne companies, and what time frame I had in mind (which may indicate the sales cover a long period of time).

When I received the request for clarification, I immediately visited the Companies House website, and immediately replied with a list of near a dozen entities bearing the Stewart Milne name which are registered in Scotland.

I also reminded the City’s Information Officer that I wanted a complete list and had no dates in mind.   Weeks passed; I sent two further reminders and finally wrote that I would be contacting the Scottish Information Officer.

Excessive Cost - Click to Enlarge
This prompted a next-day reply which was a refusal to comply.   The Freedom of Information Act is meant to give all citizens access to data held by elected officials and public bodies.

In cases where disclosure of requested information would be too costly or would prove a serious breach of security or confidentiality, or would damage fiscal relationships, information may be withheld.

If the requestor is not satisfied with the response received, they have access to the non-partisan Scottish Information Officer, who can order disclosure of information.

.. 

Notice Of Refusal - Click to Enlarge
What exactly lies behind Aberdeen’s lack of transparency?   What ‘supplier relationships’ are under threat if the transactions are revealed?

How can it cost £1200 to supply a list of property sold and Council Committee Minutes approving such sales, keeping in mind most Minutes are already on the City’s intranet site?

Who has been involved in the transactions and the decisions regarding my request?

 ( Click on images to enlarge )

 

Libraries Under Threat Of Cuts And Closures

 Articles, Community, Featured, Information  No Responses »
Feb 112011
 

For thousands of years the world’s great civilisations have understood the importance of libraries:  storehouses of knowledge, exchanges for ideas and philosophies and essential developing technologies, social centres, and sources of inspiration. However, as Voice’s Suzanne Kelly reports,  our libraries may yet again be facing the threat of cuts and closures.

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The great library at Alexandria housed the factual and philosophical literatures of all the cultures of the times. There is historical evidence to suggest that any ship docking in the Alexandrian port had to declare the books it had aboard, and any that the Alexandrian library did not have were ”borrowed”, copied and translated, and the original returned to the ship in due course.

The importance of storing and sharing knowledge in various languages was paramount in the Classical world.  It was a major loss to civilisation when this great library was burnt, but the concept of libraries was entrenched in civilisation, and the storage and sharing of knowledge has been central to all of mankind’s great advances.

The great European libraries, including the world-famous British Library are looked upon with pride and respect by scholars, researchers, writers, and those who seek both knowledge and entertainment.  However, this view of the library’s importance is under threat throughout Europe, as governments look for soft targets for budget cuts.

Library hours have been cut, book buying budgets slashed, and library buildings – some of which are of considerable historical and architectural value – are being converted to other use or even destroyed in the pursuit of valuable development real estate.  Books are often sold to raise funds and swept aside to make space for newer media, unfortunately this has meant important collections being split up or sent to storage.

Elaine Fulton, Director of CILIP in Scotland:
“Contrary to what is widely reported in the press, Scottish libraries are not experiencing a decline in demand for services. In fact, the past two years have seen the number of visits to our public libraries rise by 2.4 million. This is a clear indication of the support that exists for libraries and the value that people place on our services within communities across Scotland.”

Along with the out-and-out direct attacks on libraries, the insidious attacks are just as damaging.  Libraries have quite rightly branched out into lending music and DVDs, and the advent of Internet access available to all via library computers is likewise welcome.

But rather than expanding the importance and diversity of the library, many local governments are deciding that books and other printed works are of secondary importance. An offer Councils frequently make is that libraries can stay open if non-professional ‘volunteers’ are willing to staff them. As a professional librarian would tell you, there is more to running a library than just putting books on shelves.

The management of vast stocks of printed works, the ability to find information quickly and efficiently, the understanding of the cataloguing numerical system, and best practice are but a few issues which need professional attention.

Some years back Aberdeen City ordered its library services to cut £100,000 out of its budget, from any area it chose

A volunteer staff could not be expected to show the same commitment to professional development, and would doubtless fall short of offering the reliable, consistent service that library users are accustomed to. Furthermore, there are perhaps risks associated with the limited accountability of volunteers – the worst case scenario is that this could give rise to stock depletion, whether through mismanagement, under valuation and subsequent disposal or even theft.

It is emerging that a museum in Glasgow has suffered numerous thefts over the years, which are only now coming to light, largely due to low staffing levels and poor stock management. In fact the British Library itself was the victim of vandalising theft:  a library user was removing extremely valuable pages from ancient books and whole books in some cases – removing knowledge from common access, and destroying volumes of books in the process. If professional librarians had not been operational, who knows how long this could have gone on and how much more damage would have been done.

Alan Reid, President of CILIP in Scotland:
“All support for libraries and recognition of the need for professional and well trained staff is welcome. It highlights the passion which many in Scotland share for their libraries and the rising tide of concern at what the current public service financial cuts will mean. I am sure there will be many more protests of this nature in the next few months.”

Some years back Aberdeen City ordered its library services to cut £100,000 out of its budget, from any area it chose.

Rather than losing jobs or cutting down the annual book budget, opening hours were cut. This had an immediate detrimental effect on resource availability for the elderly, children, people who do not have English as a first language, students, and young people with either family or financial issues who depended on the libraries for so very much more than books.

Any of the options open to the library services would have been detrimental, but there was no choice than to make this cut.  This Aberdeen City Council has spent millions on consultants in the past, and has written off millions of pounds in bad debts. Surely funding services such as libraries should be seen as both possible and desirable.

There are countries which deny their citizens this important asset, and people who would desperately love to have libraries

On Saturday 5th February I visited Aberdeen’s Central Library. I was trying to research ‘Urban Sprawl’, a topic for which many associated books, articles and pamphlets have been written by scientists and EU officials. Our library had nothing.   However, the librarian’s assistance was invaluable, and it is planned to get some items in on the subject – budget allowing.

One of the benefits of being in the library was the physical access to the collection:  it was possible to spend an hour or so wandering the well categorised shelves, and finding titles that were of interest to me which otherwise I might never have known existed. I also found information on community events that I hadn’t known of, posted on a bulletin board.

I had no sooner left the library than I ran into a group of pro-library protesters belonging to  ‘Cilips’ – the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland.  As their leaflet and their spokeswoman explained:

“Not only do libraries make a valuable contribution to our society, they stand for important values in our society including intellectual freedom, equality of opportunity, engaged citizenship, informed democracy and a society in which people have the chance to achieve their potential.”

There are countries which deny their citizens this important asset, and people who would desperately love to have libraries.  Let’s ensure they are not taken for granted or worse, taken down.  It is an amazing arrogance on the part of the budget-cutters to think they know better than all of the past societies and conclude that libraries are a luxury.

Let’s not let them get away with closing our libraries.

Loirston Loch – What The P&J Didn’t Tell You

 Articles, Community, Featured, Information, Opinion  No Responses »
Jan 212011
 

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By Suzanne Kelly.

An epic eight plus hour public hearing was held on Friday 14 January at the Town House to discuss the future for the greenbelt land and wildlife at Loirston Loch. Will the wildlife haven  continue to exist or will a 21,000 seat football pitch for Aberdeen Football Club be built?

The Press & Journal covered this matter the next day with two articles on Page Two, and an editorial. No prizes will be given for those who guessed the P&J are fully behind the AFC Stadium scheme.

Before going further I will put my cards on the table:  I am against building in the greenbelt in principle, particularly when such a giant scheme is proposed, which clearly will have a negative effect on the whole area.  I will explain my opinions more later – but they are based on environmental and social concerns.  I do not stand to either gain or lose a cent if it is built or not.  Sadly, there is no hint in the Press & Journal pro-stadium articles that a source of stories as well as advertisements are AFC and Mr Milne, whose homes are often featured or advertised.  You might ask yourself if their support of their advertisers is wholly based on journalistic integrity.

Ms Kate Dean convened the meeting.  At least one Community Council had formally objected to her taking this role (as did I by e-mail).  A list of facts and allegations at the start of the hearing were presented which seemed to imply she would carry a bias towards the planning application going through.

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The City (it was alleged) had favoured the Loirston site; City money had been spent towards the proposal’s investigation, a possibility of land ownership conflict may have existed, and Kate’s connection to Cove Bay were all cited as grounds for her not to act as convener or even attend this hearing.

Indeed Ms Dean had declared her interest at a different ACC meeting, and decided on that occasion she would not be able to take part.

At this hearing she merely said she was not and had never been on the Cove Rangers Board (although she did not take the opportunity to clarify her role in the Cove Rangers Supporters’ club).

Having said she would show no bias, how did she do?

At some points Ms Dean allowed questions that called upon the individual objectors to make conclusions. It was clear that most objectors had never been in such a formal situation before.   For instance, community council representatives were asked to explain how they concluded that there was little or no support for the stadium.

this document did not mention that MSP Richard Baker had written in opposition to the plan, or that MP Anne Begg had forwarded correspondence from her constituents against it.

Some of those questioned said that they had asked at their community council meetings for opinions, had canvassed the wider community, and that they had received many comments against and found a solitary comment in favour.  Some mentioned apathy, and were asked to expand on this term.  It was repeated at different points that there exists a view, rightly or wrongly, that Mr Milne seems to get his own way in Aberdeen.

Ms Dean offered that this was untrue.   Well, maybe he doesn’t win 100% of the time with planners – but his goal average so far looks impressive.

One of the points raised by objectors concerned traffic and pedestrian safety.  This issue had also been one of many raised by the police.  Some of the councillors who seemed in favour of the proposal asked whether any objections from statutory consultees had been received.  The answer to this in black and white was no.

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The real answer was that the fire services had chosen to abstain from giving an opinion, and that the police had raised at least half a dozen serious safety/policing concerns.  Not saying ‘No’ is not the same as giving approval. Also, the Council document prepared for the hearing stated that MSP Brian Adams had given the project his blessing.  For some reason, this document did not mention that MSP Richard Baker had written in opposition to the plan, or that MP Anne Begg had forwarded correspondence from her constituents against it.

The RSPB was not a statutory consultee.  It wrote to me – which I quoted at the meeting – to say that from an early stage it had been against the Loirston site’s selection.  They used the phrases in writing to me that “no real mitigation was possible” and that “no sensible person” could favour building this stadium on Loirston.

How was this summarised in the Environmental Statement (which taxpayers seem to have contributed to – the Council spent £180K so far on investigating the stadium)?  The RSPB position was summarised as ‘not to build too close to the Loch’.  Ms Dean as convener did not seek to clarify how such a disparity could occur.  Nor did she seek to investigate how the environmental council expert and the environment survey said that there would be no significant air pollution risks.  My speech to the hearing referred to the City’s own data which clearly say that Wellington Road already has air pollution problems.  I asked how getting 21,000 people into 1400 car parking spaces and using 80 buses (the applicant’s estimate of how many buses would be needed) down to the site would result in no increase in pollution.  Ms Dean did not express any interest.

Ms Dean described her experience at the Thistle. She said she was there, and a man near her ‘nearly put his  hand up’

On the subject of danger to pedestrians on Wellington Road, Ms Dean asked the objector ‘What is the difference between Wellington Road and King Street – current  home of Aberdeen FC?’  The objector was able to explain the obvious difference in terms of speed limits, road type and presence of HGVs on Wellington Road.

Three community councils jointly held a meeting the previous evening at the Thistle Hotel, Altens.  Everyone was welcome; it was standing room only.  (See Aberdeen voice article published 14th Jan. )

When a show of hands for or against the proposal was asked for, virtually all present voted against it.  When this was brought up at the hearing, Ms Dean described her experience at the Thistle.  She said she was there, and a man near her ‘nearly put his  hand up’.  She said that he seemed to be afraid to do so, and ‘only half put his hand up’.  Dean also felt that there were probably a few more present that likewise felt afraid to vote in favour of the stadium.

I cannot quote her verbatim on this point – but the objective, impartial convener clearly concluded that people were for the stadium in her mind, but afraid to say so.  So – a meeting room filled with hundreds of residents might have had one or two people afraid for some reason to vote in favour – this obviously still shows the majority were against it.  Whether or not you are for or against this proposal, does anyone think that a convener of an important hearing should add her personal conclusions as to how someone might or might not have wanted to vote, which coincidentally favours her perceived bias?

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This meeting had many eye-openers.

I for one had taken it for granted that Pittodrie could not possibly have been remodelled or improved: the papers said it, and I made the mistake of believing it.

One of the 23 opponents gave an excellent speech stating how Norwich FC managed to improve its facilities one side at a time.  Why Pittodrie can’t do the same was back as a legitimate question – no one had an answer for it.

Amusingly, along with 80 buses to be supplied by First Bus to whisk people to Loirston, we are apparently given some sketchy parking options – Businesses in Altens take note:  approximately half of the 1400 spaces are promised to club officials and employees.  Since there is not sufficient car parking on the actual site, the plan seems to now include either making Cove and Altens open season for parking and making residents buy parking permits, then having parking spaces for rent at the oil industry sites and sites of other users of Altens Industrial estate.

I do not know how the oil companies will react, but considering the commercial and strategic value of their property, I doubt having concert goers and football fans coming and going at all hours of the weekend will be seen as a security bonus.  No obvious risks to the oil companies there then – just hundreds of happy, well behaved people parking at all hours of the nights and weekends on normally secured oil industry premises.

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Yes, I personally don’t want the stadium on Loirston:  I intend to profit instead by having owls, buzzards, osprey, various other birds, protected species such as otters and bats, badgers and wild plants including orchids flourish there instead.  The question is where do your elected representatives sit?  If they are not representing you, then perhaps it is time to get new representatives.

The press is meant to be ‘the fourth estate’ – an impartial witness to what goes on in the branches of government and business.  I have admitted I am partial – but I’ve read both sides and made a conclusion not based on what I can gain from it financially or otherwise.

Did the P&J tell you this development is planned for legally protected greenbelt land?

Did the P&J explain how crowded the Thistle Hotel , Altens meeting was with virtually no supporters for the plan?

Did the article mention the wildlife that depends on the site for food?

Not a bit.

It’s editorial page was only slightly more openly in favour than the ‘articles’ – it accused opponents of the AFC scheme of ‘nimbyism’ – i.e. ‘not in my back yard’ as the reason for the objections.

Those of us at the hearing (and I didn’t see a single person in favour of the development at the hearing in the public gallery of the 20+ people present) do not want the greenbelt destroyed – which is a far cry from ‘nimbyism’.  But when have the P&J let facts get in the way of a good story or indeed of revenue.

Old Susannah writes…

 Articles, Community, Creative Writing, Information, Satire and Humour  No Responses »
Jan 212011
 

Old Susannah has been constantly on the go the past week. Here’s her travelogue…

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On Friday I attended most of the public hearing on the Loirston Loch proposal at the Town House. Admittedly, I left before the full meeting ended, so missing Kate Dean’s concluding remarks, but I would have lost the will to live altogether, and I had to be at Peacock for 6pm.

Sorry I only lasted 8 hours at the hearing, but seeing as Kate was doing a great job of being impartial as convener, I left, in the knowledge that the stadium was in safe hands. See the article elsewhere in this edition of Voice.

Next day, the P&J printed an article favouring the stadium development which ignored all the practical problems and local objections, alongside a piece on Cove Rangers being allowed to move to new premises. Of course, these two developments in the Aberdeen footballing world are completely unrelated. Old Susannah must have wandered into a completely different public hearing from the one the P&J wrote about, as I missed the parts that proved how this stadium will not only make us all rich, but also make us the envy of the northern hemisphere. I came away with the subtle feeling that one or two of the residents might not be onside with putting a 21,000 seat stadium on their greenbelt.

The Peacock exhibition features Alicia Bruce’s photographic portraits of the residents facing potential eviction through compulsory purchase, so that Mr Trump can have the world’s most kitsch – sorry – most excellent, perfect, wonderful, swell, expensive golf course. A review and photos of the exhibition is elsewhere in Voice.

Finally, George Galloway and his moustache are in the news this week. He seems to be saying he will end his political career in Scotland. Has no one told him that his political career well and truly ended when he was on Big Brother pretending to be Rula Lenska’s cat?  Respect….?

..and she shares the week’s defining moments in her Dictionary, Part 21

Embezzle

(Verb) To embezzle is to appropriate goods, property or money fraudulently when in a position of power, rather like when we pay Council Tax to local government with the false promise we’ll get something of value in return. Now it looks as if a City Council employee has been taking his work home with him literally – to the tune of somewhere between £300,000 and £400,000. It is understood the person and his wife are now ‘helping police with their enquiries’.

there is no fraud to worry about really, except the odd half million pound case like this one

Yes, it’s hard to understand how our well-run, efficient, properly audited and controlled City could have allowed such a thing to happen; ‘financial impropriety’ and ‘Aberdeen City Council’ are words you’d never expect to hear in the same sentence, I know.

Stringent controls are in place to prevent, for instance, property being sold below market value, property being sold to private developers when the City thinks it is really selling property to the NHS, or building work contract values escalating out of control, and the like. In fact there are ‘Investigation Managers’ and ‘Budget Analysts’ on the City’s efficient payroll.

But relax –  there is no fraud to worry about really, except the odd half million pound case like this one, which clearly is a one-off and will never happen again.

Incandescent (Adjective) Incandescent is the ‘condition of glowing or emitting heat and light’. Indeed, it is often associated with lightbulbs but presumably less so with the new mercury-filled ones which don’t give out quite enough light for my taste. John Major famously took the word ‘incandescent’ and coupled it with his anger, coming up with the phrase, ‘not inconsiderably incandescent with rage’ to describe how he usually felt. This may have been his greatest contribution as Prime Minister, although we might want to ask Mrs Edwina Currie her opinion.

This adjective is still being used by the brightest stars in the political firmament, as no less a luminary than our own Kate Dean has told the press she is incandescent. No, not just her natural glow of warmth, charm and beauty; she is incandescent with anger.

Who’s upset Kate? The Scottish Government transport authorities have had the gall to criticise Aberdeen’s public transport management – the nerve!

outsiders might mistakenly think we have problems. I hope that an apology to Kate is on the way

As if there was anything to criticise. Kate’s main problem is that she didn’t have a chance to defend the City’s sterling record on public transport. The frequent bus services, the low prices, the potholes, the bus lanes.Apparently we’ve created one million pounds worth of bus lanes recently, part of the reason traffic moves so swiftly.

The well thought-out transport arrangements for Union Square and the bus and railway stations are greatly appreciated by people with mobility problems as well as car drivers and bus passengers, who, in rush hour or late night shopping days, can spend ages window-shopping at Union Square from the comfort of their own cars. Building the new AFC stadium is going to add 80 buses at current estimate and 1400 cars to the mix on Wellington Road, pollution levels on which can be higher than national recommended levels, but with the new bus lanes, well, it will be fine.

Part of Ms Dean’s problem is that Aberdeen wasn’t invited to the particular meeting where the criticism was levelled, so she could not defend our excellent system. Clearly a system as perfect as ours would not be able to stand on its own merits for others to marvel at – outsiders might mistakenly think we have problems. I hope that an apology to Kate is on the way.

Joined-up government.

How do things in the public sector work so well?

How do our governors manage to accomplish so much good with our tax money so efficiently?

The answer is that we have ‘joined-up government’.

The term ‘joined-up government’ is defined as ‘a method of governing wherein all departments and branches communicate efficiently with each other and act together purposefully and effectively towards well-defined objectives – but you don’t need me to tell you that’s what you’ve got in the ‘deen.

It is little wonder that international property developers want to come here when they see how ‘joined up’ we are.

It’s hard to pick out just one example pertaining to our government in terms of its ‘joined-up’ thinking, so I’ll take the most recent one. In the P&J on 19 January, there’s a story of how Scottish Enterprise and Aberdeen City Council work in harmony to our benefit.

Peacock Art Gallery, you may recall, had managed to secure a large grant from the Arts Council to build new premises. Like vultures smelling blood, the City and Scottish Enterprise moved in to offer assistance. They assisted Peacock right out of its plans for the Union Terrace Gardens arts centre it had proposed.

But what becomes of the grant from the Arts Council? It’s now probably lost forever, and we have the amusing spectacle of Aberdeen City v Scottish Enterprise. The blame game is on.  Who did what and when is being argued over in the press as these two entities try to blame each other for the loss. Strangely enough, many years back, the Arts Council had ring-fenced a few million for an arts centre in the Castlegate. This money too was lost forever. A deadline approached, and the City Council seems not to have known anything about it, despite having a Council representative attending the relevant meetings. It is little wonder that international property developers want to come here when they see how ‘joined up’ we are. They know when they see examples like the latest drama over Peacock funding unfold, that we are people to be reckoned with – smart, astute business minds working in conjunction. There is no way we will be fooled or taken advantage of when great minds are in control. Not here.

On a serious note

Spare a thought for Sandy Ingram, the 79 year-old man found severely beaten in June of last year. He will now need full-time care, and can never return to the home he knew. Apparently he had seen two men on his property before he was assaulted. Whilst the residents in his area of Newmachar are now more vigilant regarding strangers, and are reporting suspicious behaviour to police, it comes too late for the Ingram family.

Someone out there knows what happened to him which is still a mystery to the rest of us. If you don’t come forward you are as guilty as if you’d hurt this elderly man yourself. And the next time someone else gets permanently injured or worse, you’ll have to live knowing you could have prevented it.

Even if you just suspect something, make an anonymous call. Do the right thing.

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