Splendid photographs of Bridport Hat Festival by the brilliant portrait photographer George Wright, who lives in Bridport. Check out a big crowd photograph to see lots more people and read more about Guy Heathcote (pictured above).
Posts tagged “Leon Edwards”
I DECIDED some time ago to ignore what Leon says, but as he mentioned me in his piece I thought I should respond.
Marked in green; the land at Gore Cross, just off the A3066 north of Bridport, that would be used for a Waste Transfer Station, if proposals to put one at Gore Cross are ever approved.
Leon seems to think that the money spent on the Gore Cross site is because of the objections by local residents and others. That’s strange, because Dorset County Council don’t agree, they say that the money was a necessary expenditure as a result of their decision to put the Waste Transfer Station (WTS) there and that all the investigation and preparatory work would be required for any site.
Leon also says that the Highways Agency recently lifted their block on sites off the A35 “without explanation” and that the “nimby opponents” (which presumably includes me) failed to mention this previous restriction. I find this strange as when we asked the Highways Agency some time ago about this restriction they said they had no objection, in principle, to such a site. They said they couldn’t comment on any site until they had received a proposal and that no such proposal had been received. (That is, the county hadn’t specifically asked them!) It seems that Leon has just taken what the County told him as the truth and repeated it as such.
The fact is that when the county finally got round to asking about the A35 restriction it miraculously disappeared, because it was never really there in the first place. As Leon rightly says, any new site will bring forth objectors who want to question decisions and have their say. He doesn’t seem to like this and says it is “stretching democratic rights”. I wonder who decided to let him judge how far people’s democratic rights extend, I certainly don’t agree with that decision.
Why did no one “kick some butt”?
Leon then goes on to attack Councillor Coatsworth. He mentions our “13 year waste centre dilemma” and asks if the councillors’ expenses shouldn’t be added to the costs of the project. Maybe, but not just Ron Coatsworth, what about all the other councillors? For years DCC waited for SITA to fulfill the terms of their contract and provide a WTS. It was obvious to everyone that it was not happening, yet the county did nothing. They sat on their hands and said, “It’s not our problem, SITA are contracted to do it, blame them”, as if that was enough. Why did no one “kick some butt”? No one managed the process, no one at the county pushed it forward. Of course later, the county didn’t want SITA to do it; they wanted to build it themselves. You can’t just pick out one councillor. It was a collective failure by the county administration as a whole that made this drag on so long.
Of course Leon has attacked Councillor Coatsworth in the press before. You may have missed it, because when he stood against him in the local elections, he did it under another name. [Editor's Note: Leon Edwards has stood for election in the past as Leon Sea]. You’d think that someone so concerned with “honesty and reality” in public office would make a point of mentioning that. He wants people to be prevented from serving on several councils at once. If that were to happen it would free up a lot of spaces for candidates at election, I wonder who he might have in mind for the job? Leon is very concerned with Councillor Coatsworth’s expenses; he’s gone to all the trouble to add it up. I’m confident if Leon were ever elected he would make sure that every penny he received would be well spent!
Finally, Leon suggests that if Gore Cross had been approved as the Waste Transfer site we “may well not have the new Lidl/Travis Perkins monstrosity”. I cannot believe he’s that naive. WDDC are responsible for traffic on that road and have always said (clearly and on record) that the road can handle all the traffic from the WTS and Lidl with minor mitigation measures. Putting the WTS at Gore Cross would not alter the position with regard to the Lidl application at all. (By the way Leon, if you ever stand for election again, you would do well to remember that lots of people in Bridport want Lidl, remember how the Lib Dem candidates changed their tune?)
So to sum up. Leon is wrong, he quotes the opinion of the county council without checking it, he speaks from a position of undeclared self-interest and attacks someone because he wants their job. I think I’ll go back to ignoring him.
Editor’s Note: This is a copy of a letter being sent out by Mr Edwards of Bridport TLC to parish councils in the Bridport area. Will they be able and willing to provide support, or could it already be too late? This is the time of year when parish councils finalise their budgets and decide how much to charge their council tax payers. If no help is provided, it looks like Bridport TLC may soon have to close. More will follow on this story.
BRIDPORT TLC is at a crossroads. Our volunteer-led community recycling project is now in its fifth year, having implemented a wide range of reduce, re-use and recycle schemes aimed at supporting the wider Bridport population to ‘do their bit’ and collectively we have kept over 1,000 tons of materials out of Dorset landfill sites.
We consistently reach the top three in National Community Recycling Awards, are the present West Dorset District Council ‘Environmental Champions’, and only last month came runner-up in the Resource/Novelis Community Project awards.
Bridport TLC needs stronger community backing
We know that we (27 active volunteers) are an asset to local businesses and organisations as well as a growing army of individuals from all local parishes who bring in some of the additional recyclable materials that we collect and process – from plastic wrappings and waste cooking oil to milk bottle tops and electrical items – but now need to know if we have full community support before deciding whether to keep going. Contrary to popular belief the financial fundraising from waste materials is very small, particularly when concentrated on a local level as our project is.
To this end we are writing to all local Parish Councils asking for a) indication of support and b) contributions towards the not-insignificant costs of providing the services we provide. As well as local Councils we are seeking feedback and support from other community organisations, needing responses by March 1st to gauge whether we continue from April 1st. If your organisation can support us by pledging a grant/donation for the next financial year, or sponsor a specific area of cost (see below) we may yet continue to operate and will highlight your support on our website and elsewhere.
Our basic running costs are £18,750 per annum of which £15,000 is raised through membership of our collections scheme, donations and the small returns on recyclable materials. Since Jack & Ollies Crisp factory closed we can no longer raise funds through biodiesel sales but the shortfall over the last two years was met with a one-off grant from Grassroots Awards and we include a breakdown of our running costs attached.
DEFRA recently published research highlighting the major contribution that Third Sector Waste Organisations such as ours make to their communities, from productive volunteer placements and community ‘feel good’ factor to environmental and financial benefits to the wider community – showing that every pound invested invested in them is worth up to £5.89 to the local economy.
With the HWRC [Household Waste Recycling Centre] in South Street due to close this summer we need to know whether we can keep going or be swamped with materials we do not have the time or personnel to deal with. We could continue our work towards Zero Waste if we could meet the shortfall in our running costs and purchase a replacement collections vehicle as ours is on its last wheels. Understandably, having already contributed over 16,000 volunteer hours and nearly £18,000 of our own finances and fundraising since 2005, unless we know we have wider public support we feel our significant efforts and achievements are not worth continuing.
Having already introduced bicycle rickshaws, the gull-proof bin bag, a Scrapstore, an affordable waste reduction scheme for businesses, behavioural change promotions, community biodiesel production and plastics recycling to Bridport we are keen to develop more beneficial schemes including community composting and collection ‘hubs’ in surrounding villages. Please support the ‘do-ers’ because we can’t do it on our own anymore.
We would be most grateful if you could give this letter your full consideration.
In Sincerity
Leon Edwards
Project Co-ordinator (Volunteer)
Annual Running Costs of Bridport TLC
- Rents & Water Rates (£1,211pcm), £14,532.00
- Rates (100% Rate relief WDDC), £ NIL
- Full Public Liability Insurance, £ 1,263.68
- Vehicle Insurance, £290.00
- Vehicle Tax & MOT, £260.00
- Electricity, £456.00
- Volunteer Expenses @ £25 pw, £1,300.00
- Baler Servicing & Twine, £166.00
- Office: Phone, Postage & Admin., £480.00
- TOTAL, £18,747.68