Using the nuclear option

I bumped into former Green Party councillor Charlie Bolton the other night and he ticked me off for not having enough controversial stuff on my blog. So this is my attempt to spice things up a little - I hope you appreciate it, Charlie!

The last two weeks have been a bit of a rollercoaster for lots of things, but one interesting component has been the shifts in thinking about nuclear power and nuclear weapons - some have made me happy, while others less so.

I was very happy to see the Coalition delay the renewal of Trident. My position, which I have voted for at every Lib Dem conference where it's come up, is that I want to see the system scrapped entirely. It is an anachronistic waste of money that does little, if anything, to make the UK safer in the current geopolitical environment. We are much more likely to come under attack as a national through terrorism than nuclear assault and it is difficult to envisage a proximal situation where the UK would be under attack if the US and/or France weren't. I am not implacably against the concept of a proportionate nuclear deterrent because the far future might be a very different world. However, Trident is not proportionate and it is not even independent - it's just a glue-on to the US system.

Of course, delaying is not the same as cancelling. But the announcement provides the time for the anti-Trident campaign to gather momentum and for more positive steps to be taken - hopefully towards realising that like-for-like replacement is just pointless. The other part of the announcement was that the number of warheads is to be cut by 25%, which is clearly good news too. Lib Dem policy favours a rapid reduction in the number of Trident submarines too, which would save money and reduce the nuclear threat further still. Remember that 'pure' Labour or Conservative governments would not have taken this step - it was Lib Dem bargaining that made this happen, albeit through a compromise.

However, I was less happy to see nuclear power given the green light. My position on this issue is slightly fluid. As a scientist of sorts, I believe strongly on evidence-based policy and it is stupid to rule out technologies on dogmatic grounds. However, I still have very strong concerns about nuclear, even with the promises made about the safety and economics of next-generation reactors. One thing that would make me much happier would be if the industry was in public hands and not with a private company. But it's not, so we ordinary folk are being asked to trust someone who is not democratically accountable with a technology that could kill millions.

On the positive side, the principle that the nuclear industry should not be subsidised has been reiterated. I remain angered that so much public money has been showered on nuclear power over the last 15 years at the expense of renewable energy technology - and there still a £4bn clean-up bill on the way. We would have been in a much better position as a country if the no-subsidy principle had been established earlier - and if the strategic decisions about next-generation nuclear hadn't been taken behind closed doors by the last government. Incidentally, Bristol City Council has objected to both the Hinkley Point and Oldbury plans on the basis of safety - something that I had some hand in.

I can just about stomach the coalition's position on nuclear power if it doesn't cost the taxpayer dearly and because it sat alongside significant new investment in renewables, including the £1bn going into a Green Investment Bank and more money for offshore wind. New nuclear is better than patched-up old nuclear or fossil fuels, but renewables is by far the best option. I hope that a revised Severn tidal project will emerge quickly too.

So, there we are. I guess this is what coalition politics is all about. Both policies are compromise mixes of Tory and Lib Dem - neither are perfect, but both are better than what the previous government was doing or planning to do.

UPDATE: thanks to Alex Woodman for pointing out an embarrassing typo in the first line of this post and apologies to Charlie for accidentally bringing his good name into disrepute. It's now fixed...

Licensing and planning update

Apologies for a blogbreak of a couple of weeks - I've been very busy with my 'real job' and it's been difficult to find time. A handful of planning and licensing snippets to kick the ball rolling:

• Falafel King on Cotham Road have submitted an application to sell alcohol and for live music and dancing. They have also asked for permission for 'performance of dance' that worries me slightly and I am trying to find out more. I hve objected on the basis that this is in the Cumulative Impact Area and it doesn't need any more licensed premises.
• The newsagent on the junction of Cotham Hill and Whiteladies Road has applied for permission to become a coffee shop (A1/A3 use). I've objected to this one too following the decision by the planning committee a few weeks back that the area needs to maintain its proper retail outlets. Incidentally, I'm very happy to see a new sports shop going in on Cotham Hill!
• There is an application in for nine flats in the ABC Cinema building on Whiteladies Road. I am reserving judgement on this one at the moment as I do want to see the building brought back into use. I also note with enthusiams the plans for a new theatre on the site that were in the press this morning.
• Roo Bar (by Clifton Down station) have been served with a noise abatement order after months of noise complaints from the local residents and quite a bit of chasing from me. Hopefully they will now mend their ways, but we'll have to see.

Pyrolysis plant gets green light

And another piece of Bristol's green jigsaw goes into place!

Yesterday's planning committee also signed off the building of a gasification/pyrolysis plant at Avonmouth. This is a waste disposal facility that, in simple terms, superheats organic material in the absence of oxygen and then uses the gases to create electricity - follow the links above if you want the science. The plant will handle 100,000 tonnes a year, create 7MW of power... and the only residue is a non-toxic ash.

This is the second phase of the plant, with the big composter already being built and taking Bristol's waste from April 2011. The pros of this approach to waste management are obvious - it avoids landfill and creates renewable energy. I understand that it might even be able to handle sewage in the future!

There is perhaps no better symbol for the difference between the Lib Dem and Labour approaches to running the city.

• Labour (originally backed by the Tories) wanted to build a dirty mass-burn incinerator on a 25 year PFI deal - hungry for burnable stuff like plastic, little energy back, toxic ash and financial shackles for a generation.
• The Lib Dems have supported new technology on a flexible contract which will give us green energy without undermining recycling and the ability to shift to new approaches in the future if and when they emerge.

The planning committee also agreed another three wind turbines at Avonmouth, on land owned by the Port Authority.

Planning decision protects shops

I was very happy to hear yesterday that the planning committee turned down an application for the former fruit and veg shop on Cotham Hill to become a late-night takeaway. I have spent a lot of time demonstrating and arguing that planning officers were being far too laissez faire about applications of this type and I vigorously opposed this one. Forgive me a slightly boring background explanation...

Each building has a certain legal 'use' in planning law which are expressed as 'use classes' - codes that say what type of activity can go on in there. This is to enable planners (and through them, residents) to prevent inappropriate uses - like a sewage works next to houses. For example, shops have a use class of A1, light industry is B1, a private house is C3 and so on. If you want to change the use, you need planning permission. (If you are changing within use, you don't need permission, so a veg shop can become a supermarket or a clothes shop or a bike shop whenever someone wants.)

To change a veg shop into a takeaway, you need to swap use class A1 for A5. In fact, yesterday's decision was to block a switch from A1 to A3/A5 - you can have mixed uses and this represents a restaurant and take away on the same site.

This was an important decision for two reasons. Firstly, local people are fed up with the problems that come from takeaways, including late-night noise and litter. Secondly, it helps to prevent the slow (but accelerating) drip-drip-drip of shops switching to catering uses in Cotham. This is a serious risk to the viability of local shopping areas. Shops need to have a footfall of people passing them to make them thrive. To get this, you need to have destinations that people want to specifically go to. Takeaways (and other food uses) don't provide this. They are generally closed (or empty) during the daytime and are effectively dead space from a retail perspective and very few are destinations that draw people in - they are walk-by outlets. In short, too many takeaways in an area makes it more likely that shops will fail and you can see this in various shopping arcades around the city.

I am determined that Cotham Hill won't go this way too as I believe that the vast majority of people really value the eclectic range of small shops it hosts. I visit Cotham Hill two or three times a week myself and I've probably used all the shops at some point - especially the hardware shop, the newsagent and the barbers. I think (and yesterday's decision supports me) that Cotham Hill has just about got to the number of catering outlets that it can handle without spelling the death knell for actual shops.

The other outcome is that the reason that the application was refused was that the planners and the committee specifically agreed that it was harmful to retail viability and residents' quality of life. This will be very useful to me in my on-going work to require existing catering outlets to abide by the planning permission that they have. We have a problem locally with people having A1 permission, but doing A3 or A5 things while hoping no-one will notice. I can now push for a proper clamp down on this - yesterday's decision will give new strength to the enforcement officers.

P.S. I also understand that the application for a new off licence on the site of the small furniture shop next-door-but-one to the Penny Farthing pub has been withdrawn. I had opposed this as it is in the Cumulative Impact Area and there are already ample off licences nearby.

Better food in Cotham

A quick plug for the new branch of the Better Food Company that opened at 94 Whiteladies Road (formerly Oddbins) on Monday. They specialise in high-quality and mainly locally sourced fresh food. I'm looking forward to my first shopping trip - my girlfriend has already been three times! They've had a store in St Werburghs for several years now and I wish them all the best for their new shop here on Cotham's doorstep.

Tesco application refused

I've just heard that Tesco's application for an alcohol licence for their putative new store in Stoke Croft has been refused on the basis of the negative impact it would have on problematic street drinking in the area and an over-concentration of existing off licences.

I have to say that I am very pleasantly surprised by this decision by the Licensing Committee - it's very rare that a supermarket is denied permission for alcohol sales. I was one of the many objectors, but I didn't expect to get such a comprehensive result. I understand that the Police also objected strongly and this will have had a big impact.

I hear on the grapevine that the Localism Bill that is due to be published shortly is going to have some very useful content about supermarkets and planning applications, re-empowering local people to have a proper say about what goes where. Fingers crossed!

Whiteladies bus improvements

It really is the season for consultations! Hot on the tail of the Cotham parking review and Cotham Gardens consultation (both still running), we now have a consultation about improvements to the bus route that runs up Whiteladies Road.

This is part of the Greater Bristol Bus Network (GBBN) scheme, part of which is to invest in the key 'corridors' to make them better for buses and for bus users. This can include features like new bus lanes, more and better bus stops, changed traffic priorities and so on. Improvements are also put in for cyclists and pedestrians too. The best example so far, in my opinion, has been the route out from Old Market through Lawrence Hill and out through Church Road in Easton and St George. The result has been more reliable buses, more passengers and less congestion. A knock-on effect has also been more customers for the local shops - another good win!

It is now the turn of Whiteladies Road and my initial position is to welcome the plans, although there are going to be items of detail to work through. I'm a bit miffed at not seeing what's being proposed in advanced (!), but maps have been delivered to several thousand houses over this week - I got mine at home on Saturday.

If you haven't had a paper copy through your door - or if someone in your family has helpfully recycled it already - there is a copy online that you can download. There is also going to be a project office open at 146 Whiteladies Road from Saturday just gone through to 12th November, where you can drop in and talk to officers about the plans on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

As with the other consultations mentioned at the top of this post, this is a genuine and open consultation and the Council wants to get people's thoughts on what is being proposed. It is a big step and there could well be things that have not occurred to the officers before this point - local knowledge is a very valuable thing.

Congestion down - public transport up

I've been meaning to post this for ages, but keep forgetting! A while back, the latest progress report into the Joint Local Transport Plan was published. This is showing some really positive outcomes for transport in the city and hinterland. The main headlines:

• Car use dropped for the first time last year
  
• Key journey times are down by 13% since 2006
• Bus usage is up since 2005 (though it dipped slightly last year) and bus punctuality is improved
• Park-and-ride use is up since 2005, though it dipped slightly last year
• Train use is up by a massive 56% since 2003
• Bike use is up by nearly 60% since 2003, partly as a result of the Cycling City project - though most of this work won't yet have filtered into the statistics.
• Driving to school has dropped for the second year running.
• Serious road accidents have more than halved since 2004, with even better results for children - down by two-thirds

These are clearly very positive results for the city, though there is always more to do! What it does show is exactly how far Bristol has come in the last ten years. When I arrived here in 2000 it was a complete transport disaster zone, so I'm happy to see things on the right track.

The consultation is just closing on the next Joint Local Transport Plan, but there is still time to comment at this stage if you're quick. This lays out what is being prioritised for Bristol and the surrounding areas for the coming 15 years.

Applications needed - grant for older people

We had our latest Neighbourhood Partnership meeting last night and one thing that stood out for me is that we are having difficulty in spending a small pot of money that we have been given to support older people in this area. We've given out one grant to a GP's surgery in Redland that is running a weekend support group for socially-isolated older people, but we haven't had any other applications.

There is about £4,000 in the pot and any community organisation (and commercial ones, I guess, if the outcomes are positive) can bid for some of it. It is intended to help improve the quality of life for older people, so the criterion is pretty broad. If you're involved in a charity or other organisation that works with older people in Bishopston, Redland or Cotham, then drop me a line (neil.harrison@bristol.gov.uk) and I'll let you know how to apply.