Previous stories: 16 - 30 June 2007

CENTROS: COUNCIL OFFICIAL SUSPENDED ON CORRUPTION ALLEGATION
12/7/07: Portsmouth City Council, who agreed a development deal with Centros Miller back in late 2005 (you know, department store, retail precinct, multi-story carpark – another ‘area sensitive’ development) have suspended an officer for not declaring nights spent at private yacht parties hosted by Centros Miller executives.
The Chief Executive of Portsmouth City Council, David Williams, made the following statement on 19 June 2007:
“One member of staff has been suspended from duty pending decisions on disciplinary action.
"During an internal investigation the officer concerned had stated that they had received two one-day sailing trips provided by Centros Miller in 2004 and 2005 and that the hospitality involved on those days was by nature limited as they were at sea. The officer's line manager had approved this hospitality and the correct forms filled in, although one form appeared to have been mislaid within the city council.
"Following our dialogue with the police it became clear that the officer may have accepted more hospitality from Centros Miller than had been declared during the initial investigation. The officer confirmed that in addition to the hospitality stated at the initial investigation, the trips had also included an overnight stay on board on both occasions and a meal out on one of those occasions. “
(See www.portsmouth.gov.uk/yourcouncil/10070_10322.html).
Meanwhile Lancaster City Councillors are still unable to see full details of the secret development deal being agreed between Centros and city council officers. What’s in this deal? Well here’s a clue, maybe: At a public meeting on the Centros development in Bury St Edmunds in 2004, a retired local estate agent revealed that a secret clause in the development agreement between Centros Miller and Debenhams included a sweetener of 8 years rent free use of the new super store to be constructed on the Cattle-Market. Similar sweetener clauses in the Portsmouth agreement specify that all such inducements be covered before any payments may accrue to the local authority – ie, we pay for them.
Debenhams, who have been reporting sharply falling profits with loss of UK market share, desperately needs these sweeteners – The Observer reports that earlier this year Debenhams entered the German market, opening trial franchise stores in a handful of locations including Berlin. But their ranges were poorly received, and the stores are likely to close down at the end of August. (Read full report)

MY OLD MAN'S A RECYCLER....
12/7/07: Another 10,000 homes in the Lancaster area will be affected by improvements in the kerbside recycling and waste collections in August.
The wheelie bin scheme is being extended into central Lancaster and a new recycling scheme for plastic bottles is being introduced.
From the week beginning August 6, Lancaster City Council will be collecting plastic bottles as a separate recyclable item. Homes will be having their new wheelie bins, recycling boxes and black boxes with red lids for plastic delivered over the next month. (If you would also like a green bin for garden waste you need to contact the council on 0800 092 9705 or email recycling@lancaster.gov.uk).
The average household uses more than 350 plastic bottles each year and less than eight percent of these currently get recycled. To help increase that percentage the following will be soon collected for recycling:
Plastic milk bottles; Pop bottles; Mineral water bottles; Squash and juice bottles; Shampoo, conditioner and bubble bath bottles; Fabric softener and detergent bottles.
Residents are asked to rinse out their bottles and squash them before placing them in the box. If the box becomes full they can be put into carrier bags and placed next to the recycling box.
Unfortunately only plastic bottles can be accepted as they’re made from one of three types of polymer. Other items such as plastic tubs, yoghurt pots and other rigid food containers are made from blends of polymer or polystyrene.
Coun Barry, cabinet member with responsibility for City Council (Direct ) Services, said: “Plastic bottles have always been a problem and take up a large amount of room in bins. Ever since we introduced the new collection arrangements, people have asked us when will we start to recycle plastic so I’m delighted that we can now provide this valuable service."
And I bet you didn’t know that:
Recycled plastic bottles can be used to make carrier bags, fleece clothing, window frames and CD cases.
11% of household waste is plastic, of which 40% is plastic bottles.
Plastic production uses 7% of all the oil produced in the world.
Plastic use is now 20 times higher than 50 years ago.
Recycling just one plastic bottle can save enough money to power a 60w light bulb for 6 hours.

SUMMER FUN FOR YOUNGSTERS
12/7/07: Marsh Community Centre is holding summer activities for 8-19 year olds. From Monday 23rd July, the centre will be open every evening for 11 - 19s 7.30pm onwards. Monday 6th August will host a playscheme everyday 10am-4pm for the 8-13's. For further information, please contact the centre on 01524 843300 or email marshcommunitycentre@yahoo.co.uk.
This year’s council-run activity programme will take place at various venues throughout the district. From Monday 23rd July to Wednesday 29th August, children between the age of four and 16 can enjoy the wide variety of sports and arts activities on offer including raft building, kayaking and trips to exciting places such as Whinlatter and Grizedale Forest for Mountain Biking.
Due to popular demand, old favourites such as bellboating, tennis, multi-sports, buggy driving and paintballing are also featured in this year’s programme.
For the more creative, children they can try their hand at making their own aquarium, musical instruments, paper mosaics or attend the popular graffiti and pop art workshop. The council is also working in partnership with the Family Learning facility at the White Cross Adult College in Lancaster to provide arts activities, free of charge for children aged four to seven.
The Summer Activity Programme can be downloaded from www.lancaster.gov.uk/holidayprogramme or by calling Salt Ayre Sports Centre 01524 842493.
For children aged between 8 and eleven, the Summer Playschemes involve lots of fun and games to keep them active. Sports, games, crafts, trips, talents shows and parties are just some of the things to keep them entertained this summer. The children’s playschemes organised and run by Lancaster City Council are free of charge and will take place at several local primary schools
Registration forms are available from Morecambe Town Hall or by calling 01524 582827.  Alternatively you can visit www.lancaster.gov.uk

YOUR MP: WHERE IS HE NOW?
Has anyone seen Ben Wallace? Lancaster & Wyre’s Conservative MP says he is “a firm believer in small Government. People and communities should be left alone by Whitehall which too often tries to impose a "one size fits all" approach to life.”
And until recently he’s stuck to this policy, pretty much leaving his constituency in peace while busy campaigning and asking questions in the House on behalf of his recent (and possibly future) ‘defence’ industry employers Qinetiq, who along with BAE Systems funded his spring trip to Washington. However, since the City Council had an attack of sanity and decided to drop its support for the Northern bypass proposal, Ben, according to his website says:
“it is “now or never” for an M6 link after a high-profile meeting over the issue with the North West Assembly (who?) and North West Development Agency in Wigan on Friday. The gathering was called by North-West Development chiefs after Lancaster City Council voted to formally oppose the northern route of the link and shun the chance to be represented at the public enquiry (sic) on the matter.
”Ben will also be speaking at the Public inquiry into the project this week.
”Ben said: “There has been a lot of hot air and manoeuvring on this topic since certain people who sit on Lancaster City Council quite unwisely decided to oppose the northern route of the Link. However, I can safely say that the impression I got from the meeting in Wigan is it is now or never for an M6 link.”
And you can attend the Public Inquiry, (it’s public) which started on 3 July and is scheduled to last 6 weeks, at the Holiday Inn on Caton Road, on weekdays.

COUNCIL SENDS SANDBAGS TO FLOOD VICTIMS

12/7/07: While some local authorities in flooded areas were actually charging their own residents for sandbag protection, Lancaster City Council came to the aid of potential flood victims during the June floods, sending a lorry load of sand bags to the Humber region.
A call for assistance was received by the council on the Friday morning from Lancashire’s Emergency Planning Centre and by 4pm, 22 tonnes of sand in 750 sandbags (19 pallets) had been loaded onto a lorry at the council’s White Lund Depot in Morecambe bound for the east coast.
The lorry, provided at short notice by Kidds Transport of Lancaster, was instructed to meet with police at the Humber Bridge where it was escorted to areas in and around Hull most likely to be affected by further flooding over the weekend.
Lancaster City Council’s Civil Contingencies Officer, Mark Bartlett who has responsibility for emergency planning said: "We were pleased to assist the affected communities in Humberside.
"Mutual aid is a feature of emergency response and recovery planning. If Lancaster City Council ever found itself in a similar position we too would would be able to draw on assistance from elsewhere in Lancashire and beyond as the Yorkshire and Humberside authorities have done."

NO VERDICT ON BNP DENTIST
12/7/07: The 9-day retrial of former Lancaster dental locum David Jackson (62), of Trent Road, Nelson, and his friend Robert Cottage (49), of Talbot Street, Colne, a school bus driver and previously a BNP candidate in three local elections, has come to an end at Manchester Crown Court with the Jury failing to reach a verdict on the charge of conspiring to cause explosions with intent to endanger life, after deliberating for a day and a half.
Cottage’s wife, Kerena (29), reported her husband to her social worker after he became controlling and extreme in his religious views, listening exclusively to ‘radical’ religious programmes on the internet and removing the TV ariel so she couldn’t watch ‘brainwashing government propaganda’. She said she was scared that they were going to test chemical bombs in countryside near Preston.
Jackson, who met Cottage at BNP meetings, wrote Cottage a letter instructing him what explosives to buy on the internet. Cottage took delivery of 11 boxes of chemicals and police also found him in possession of BB guns, a cross bow, gas masks, two 56 kilogram bags of sugar, a box of mini flares, half a ton of rice, 34 gas canisters, a selection of pellets and an air pistol, plus printed bomb recipes from "The Anarchists’ Cookbook". He said that he and Jackson was planning to make fireworks with them, but Jackson told the police that they were for Cottage to teach his son chemistry.
A previous jury failed to reach a verdict in February. The Crown will not seek a further retrial.
The charge of conspiring to cause explosions with intent to endanger life was dropped for both defendants.
A formal not guilty verdict was also entered for Jackson, with respect to the charge of possession of explosives that could reasonably be suspected to be for an unlawful purpose.
Cottage, told the Court he had stockpiled the items as he feared immigrants were swamping Britain and bringing it to the brink of civil war. He pleaded guilty to the possession charge during his first trial and will be sentenced on July 31. He faces a maximum jail term of 14 years.

FIRE THE GRID
12/7/07: This Tuesday 17 July sees Lancaster hosting a Meditation Gathering from 12 noon to 1.15pm at the Lancaster Friends Meeting House, Meeting House Lane. Fire the Grid is an international project that aims to have as many people as possible in meditation at that time, either in groups or individually, or at home or at work. 12.11 (11.11 GMT), at the end of the Summer Solstice Lunar cycle, is the time chosen to create a grid of energy that will begin to transform the world for the better.  Visit www.firethegrid.com for more details and for the background to this event. Join with your neigbours and with people all over the world in this opportunity for personal and planetary healing. If you can, please come, if not, please join in spirit. Tel: Bryony 01524 32237 / 07812 024614

MEYNARD FRIEDMAN – NEW CITY OF THE 21ST CENTURY
12/7/07: David Morris, the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Morecambe and Lunesdale has affirmed his full support for Conservative policy on scrapping the rigid density rules as laid down by housing legislation introduced by John Prescott in 2000.
David said: "In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult for families across Morecambe and Lunesdale on modest incomes to buy a home suitable for children to grow up but house prices don’t change in isolation from government policy. Labour’s national planning rules laid down on high from Whitehall, have in many areas created a surplus of pokey flats and shortage of family homes with parking spaces and gardens.
"Conservatives would scrap these rigid density rules. We would allow local communities to decide what developments are best suited for their neighbourhood and let the market build the homes that people want and need."
In response to the debates about the housing shortage in the UK, and the wrangles that have developed over planning issues and the question of where to put new houses, and at whose expense, a new Vision Think Tank, renamed the Blue Sky Outside The Box Creative Thinking Mental Solutions Team [1] has been assembled at Lancaster University to confront these issues and Virtual-Lancaster is priviliged to be the first to bring you their excitingly vibrant new plan:
"Meynard Friedman, New City of the 21st Century!
"Þ    In the 19th Century, mill-owners would construct model towns around their factories in order to totalise the work experience of their employees.
"Þ    In the 20th Century, New Towns were built to house new populations in concrete monstrosities and unsustainable suburbs, often with an unnecessary number of giratory traffic solutions.
"Þ    In the 21st Century, the Century in which over half the population of the planet lives in a city, the answer is clear: build a new City from scratch!
"Think of the stimulation for the building industries, the architects, the tarmac-spreaders, the huge army of yellow-jacketed employment that would result! (not to mention consultancy opportunities in growing the concept to a reality!)
"The solution to the housing crisis would be synergised with the need to promote the creative, retail and creative accounting industries: everyone's a winner!
"It is unsustainable to build ever more houses on greenbelt land or on dangerous brownfield plots, and to expect the newly consuming households to fit into the retail, entertainment and other essential services that pre-exist them (how crowded can a tanning studio get?!). So, Meynard Friedman™ will develop all the essential services along with the necessary parking spaces and security infrastructure in a central "Consumer Cathedral" -  a themed 10 sq mile shopping zone, patrolled by MF branded ex-servicemen to ensure that the citizens of tomorrow can fulfil their retail experience unconcerned by the security threats posed in decaying 20th Century cities[2]. In fact, when you think about it, by creating a new city, we will be CREATING new greenbelt around it! How green is that?!

"At MF we will primarily be stimulating the growth industries of UK Ltd: the retail, financial and services sectors, in order to create the world's first designer city filled only with vibrant people wearing vibrant clothes and certainly with vibrant haircuts and fingernails! Entertainment provision centres will in-stream diverse and vibrant entertainment provided by our entertainment solutions partners (Corporate deals are in process with Warmer Brothers and Dinsey). In short: no polluting factories, no scruffy manual labourers, and no buskers or provincial 'musicians'! Only the colour, vibrancy and diversity of today's young professional consumer class!

"To synergise the economic potential of MF will require maximising the transport potentials. We have toyed with the concept of avoiding the cost and disruption of building radial routes to connect MF with the surrounding (so 20th Century) car-based transport solution network, and instead making MF the first truly 21st Century City, a vertical-thinking city, with helicopter pads on the roof of each 'city-block' and its own system of mini-airports to whisk you away to Thailand on a whim at the end of your hard day's consulting or whatever it is you do....

"You know you share our vibrant and daring thinking! Come and grow our concept with us at Blue Sky Outside The Box Creative Thinking Mental Solutions Team, soon to be MFI!"
NOTES
[1] formerly Floggit and Scarper Consultancy Ltd, and currently re-branding as 'Meynard Friedman Inc', or MFI for short. We are experiencing copyright issues but are brainstorming hard for a creative solution to this exciting challenge!
[2] including, but not limited to, terrorism, poor people begging, illegal immigrants, anti-capitalists, tree huggers etc.

ANTI-ACADEMIES ALLIANCE: PUBLIC MEETING TONIGHT
11/7/07: For those concerned about plans to close down three Lancaster schools to make way for a new city academy with a private 'partnership' deal that would place it outside public control, the newly-formed Lancaster Anti-Academies Alliance will be holding its first Public Meeting tonight at 7.30pm at Lancaster Town Hall. Speakers include: Terry Wrigley (author of 'Another school is possible' and National Anti-Academies Alliance speaker), Michael Lavalette (Founder member of Preston Anti-Academies Alliance, Respect Councillor and parent of a child potentially destined to attend the proposed academy); Mary Winter (teacher at Hornby School, founder member of Lancaster Anti-Academies Alliance; Julie Dixon (parent of child at Central Lancaster High, AA Alliance member and Health Worker) and speakers from the floor to include local councillors and trade union representatives. It is hoped to hear more about academies and campaigns against them elsewhere, agree a statement and also agree a plan of action for the campaign. Bring as many people as you can.

"COUNCIL WEBSITE is CENTROS ADVERT" CLAIM
9/7/07: Lancaster City Council is breaching government guidelines by spending public money "on the sole promotion of the developer's view of how Lancaster city centre should be developed" according to local resident Alan Hutchinson, who has lodged a complaint about the council's removal of all letters objecting to the Centros Miller planning applications for the Canal Corridor development site from the City Council planning website as well as ongoing site malfunctions preventing public access.
The council originally published the objections, but then removed them following a complaint to the Information Commission, as they had published objectors' personal addresses and email contact details.
Andrew Dobson, Head of Planning, said, "Whilst the Information Commissioner does not go so far as to say there is a breach of the act, he recommends that e-mails and telephone numbers are best deleted from information placed on the web. Doing this for around 400 letters in this case is of course impractical with a small admin team so we are removing all neighbour consultation letters from Public Access forthwith. We will explain that this is due to the receipt of complaints, and will ensure that the letters are available for inspection in hard copy in the office in the normal way. We will also modify the neighbour letter to advise people not to put their e-mail and telephone numbers on responses.
"Incidentally, we understand that the Information Commissioner has a six month backlog at the moment in respect of requests for rulings."
Mr Dobson, who, at a public meeting last year was named by Centros Miller's PR guru Steve Bryson as their 'Champion in the City Council', may not be feeling any urgent compulsion to comply with public access requirements but Alan Hutchinson believes that until the online planning process for the Centros Miller proposal has been fully compliant for the requisite 28 days the council will not have fulfilled its duties under planning regulations and the proposal will not be eligible for consideration by the Planning Committee until then. He says in his complaint:
"The guidance from the Department of Communities & Local Government (DCLG) states:
3.16 "An applicant, agent or person commenting on a planning application might object to their personal information being published on the Council's website, even though your authority will have included the necessary warnings. As noted in the Information Commissioner's
guidance (Appendix 1) however, consent is not generally being relied upon by the authority when information is placed on the web. It is therefore perfectly valid to publish information on the Internet without consent."
3.18 "...as comments on applications are generally regarded as forming part of the Statutory Register the Council has a duty to make this information available ... on the Council's website."
In addition, Mr Hutchinson notes that when comments were originally being made available they were all lumped together into one huge file, making it difficult to download, while the Centros information had been helpfully broken up into convenient download portions.
Also he noted what Virtual Lancaster has already had cause to notify the council about - that for extended periods (up to three weeks or more) various elements of the site were inaccessible, with broken links and a number of listed documents being unavailable.
Mark Cassidy, Senior Planning Officer has responded as follows:
"The letters from all residents are still available for viewing in the office. This information remains available. This was made available after a series of complaints about personal details left on planning application comments. This decision is supported by our management team.
" Until the computer software is available and is implemented corporately, this will remain our stance.
" Should you wish to view the neighbour comments please telephone our Development Control Admin Section (582381) and we will make those files available for you.
"Two other important points - (i) All statutory consultee letters are still available online - because they don't contain sensitive information. So if there are objections from, for example the County Council, they appear on the Public Access system.
" (ii) Notwithstanding any investigation by our Systems Analyst, I have accessed the Council's Public Access system today from both my home PC and from my work terminal. I have clicked upon the plans and the comments from statutory consultees (such as Lancaster Civic Society etc). The system is working from both PCs and these documents remain available.
" Our Systems Analyst will look into any technical problems when he returns from leave.
However Mr Hutchinson pointed out that although he and many other people have given their consent to have their details published, their objections are still being withheld from the website, against all Public Access guidelines. he says, "The authority is contravening very clear government guidelines covering the publication of public comments on planning applications. In doing so, the authority is, to quote from the guidance, "open to charges of maladministration in relation to withholding information germane to the application"."