Friends of the Earth Final Demand Campaign !!

BREAKING NEWS: 'White Elephant' HS2 project is given go ahead

News has just broken in the last few minutes that unsurprisingly, the government is giving the go ahead to their HS2 project.

Solihull Friends of the Earth would like to express their absolute disappointment at this short-sighted decision given by the government without serious consideration of the actual facts. As we have constantly made clear, the actual facts make it very clear that there is no business or environmental case. For more information, please see the response we gave to the HS2 consultation; http://solihullfoe.blogspot.com/2011/07/solihull-friends-of-earth-submit-their.html

Solihull Friends of the Earth will give a much more thorough response to this decision as more details emerge within the next few weeks.

What is your reaction to this decision ? Please feel free to leave any comments you may have on here. If you prefer, you can also email us your views on solihullfoe@gmail.com .

The Eco-Build, Solihull 

Solihull residents Peter and Paula Knott are currently in the midst of a back land development, of two green eco-homes with a predicted completion of 2013. The homes will have green roofs, rain water harvesting, photovoltaic and solar thermal panels, mechanical ventilation, heat recovery, ground to air heat pipes and heat pump technology. 

The couple are owners of a beautiful home on The Crescent in Solihull. Over the years they have been approached by property developers wishing to buy their land with the intent of building a development of 4-5 homes over this area. They however did not want to inflict such a development on themselves, or the neighbourhood, but they had found they had outgrown their home, with all their children having flown the nest. From this, an idea was born, to build their own smaller development on their land, preventing large scale property developers. The couple feel strongly about waste and improper use of energy resources, both having  backgrounds in chemical engineering and past experience in their own small scale property developments, the idea of the eco built came to them.  

Moving from imaginative idea to working progress has not been a smooth course. The original planning permission was initially turned down; however permission was eventually gained after lengthy consultation, with all points for which it was denied, being overturned by the inspectorate. General council support has been negative with comments such as “do tree huggers have this sort of money” and other issues such the effect of the development on the character and appearance of the area. However with the build being a back land development its impact is very minimal, especially garden roofs.  The majority of the neighbourhood have had no objections and the couple have been very sensitive to any issues that have arisen. The Knotts are completely dedicated to the project and intend to sell their house and move into a caravan on site until one of the homes is finished. Once both homes are finished they will reside in one and the other will be put on the market.  

The build began in July 2010, and is predicted to be complete sometime in 2013. A contributing factor towards the build was the Feed-In Tariffs, the government scheme that pays people for creating their own "green electricity”. Already within the space of the build, changes to this scheme have arisen meaning that the government intends to slash incentives for household solar electricity, and although disappointed the build may not see the benefits of the scheme Peter states that they are still fulfilling their aims to “live in a comfortable home and do the right thing”. 

Looking closely at one of the two homes, it will be fitted with 9 PV-T (photovoltaic and solar thermal) panels; these panels are a single solar collector which produces electricity, heating and domestic hot water. Predicted figures show that they will produce an average of 5.23 kWh/day of electrical energy and 8.75 kWh/day of thermal energy, with a combined carbon offset of 1416 Kg per an annum from the panels alone.  The building insulation will also be approximately double the current building regulations, and much of the water will be recycled within the property. The running cost of the house is predicted to be around 30 % less than a conventionally built home.  

When asked to comment on the issue of climate change Peter stated; “Global warming is happening, even if some disagree about the causes. It seems obvious to me that we should do what we can to make our lives sustainable, and that includes building houses of quality which minimise the use of all our precious resources. From our point of view the local authority have shown passing interest in our housing development, but have missed an opportunity to learn more and perhaps use it as a means to encourage others to do the same”. 

More information on the built can be found at www.at38thecrescent.co.uk/

Happy New Year !!!!!

We at Solihull Friends of the Earth hope that you have all had a very good christmas break.

We have been involved in a lot of things in 2011, Here are just some of these things;

* The Government's Energy bill and Friends of the Earth's national energy campaign
* Publishing a Fairtrade and Local Food directory
* HS2 consultation
* Birmingham Airport night time flying consultation
* Go Green Fair Event
* Fun in the Park Event
* Film Screenings (including increasing awareness of Durban Climate Conference)
* Plant Swap Events


AND MUCH MUCH MORE....

Last but certainly not least, we have gained many new members. Why not come and join us to make a difference to the local community in Solihull in 2012 and beyond ? New members are welcome. Please drop us an email on solihullfoe@gmail.com or by entering a comment on this blog for more information.

Find out soon our stated aims and priorities for 2012. It will be to carry on some of the campaign themes of 2011 and previous years but also to launch new campaigns which will be announced on this blog.

So finally, we at Solihull Friends of the Earth would like to wish you all a very happy new year and would like to thank everyone other parties who have worked with us during 2011.

ENERGY UNION FILM SCREENING!

Solihull Friends of the Earth provide a formal response to Birmingham Airport's Night Flying Consultation

Solihull Friends of the Earth has provided a response to Birmingham Airport's Night Flying Consultation. A copy of the document is available at http://www.birminghamairport.aero/meta/about-us/environment/night-flying-policy-consultation.aspx.This is regarding being able to change noise limits and the method with which this is done.

The consultation closed on Wednesday 24th August 2011.

Our response is as follows:

'We do recognise that consultation events took place at various locations in June and July. However, we are concerned about the low-key nature concerning potential changes in night flying policy that we believe will overall have a detrimental environmental effect on the population.

We welcome the reduction of the night noise violation limit from 87db - 85 db. However, the revision of annual limits for ATMs annually based on the previous 5 years is worrying. Despite showing noise trends of a reduction of noise impact on the population, there appears to be no commitment or strategy to reduce overall noise levels at night. Exempting Quota Count 0 aircraft which in themselves can have a noise classification of anywhere up to just under 84 EPN dB, and therefore the vast majority may have a noise of for example 83.9 EPN dB.  The increase in frequency of aircraft (particularly now there is a runway extension) can possibly outweight the general welcome shift towards lower quota aircraft that has occurred. It is also surely reasonable to give projections of noise impact on the population; in business, financial and non-financial projections of operations have to be made and therefore there is very little rationale to not do something similar for projections of noise levels and impact.

Solihull Friends of the Earth believes that to assume that noise levels have to increase or decrease based on recovery or recession is not part of a commitment to decrease noise levels and its impact on the population.

Solihull Friends of the Earth don’t believe that there is an insufficient strategy to attempt to mitigate for increased noise levels. It’s very well to respond that any fines collected from exceeding the noise violation limit is put into ‘community projects’ but it is necessary to know what is going to be done as a result of increased noise because of the actual change in the night flying policy.

We would also like to learn more about the number and type of flights that have moved from Coventry Airport to Birmingham as a result of the closure of that facility. We welcome the news that a new consultation period would be put in place if flights were ever to recommence from Baginton. We would appreciate if more detailed information and greater clarity could be provided regarding this issue.

Finally, we do have some concerns about removing the seasonal splits in ATMs (76% Summer and 24% Winter), and therefore would appreciate any greater clarity though we do also appreciate the reasons why Birmingham Airport are proposing this.'

Our response covers the important points and expresses our dismay of a almost non-existant strategy of noise reduction and/or reduction of the impact of noise on the surrounding areas. The presentation of data by Birmingham Airport showing an overall reduction in noise impact on the local population in the last ten years shows little relevance as to the impact on noise as a result of the changes resulting from the proposals in the consultation document.

Did you respond to the consultation ? Do you have any comments to make concerning this issue or is there anything to add? Please feel free to make comments either via the blog or emailing us at solihullfoe@gmail.com.

Come and be a part of Solihull Friends of the Earth

Interested in green issues? Want to make a positive difference to Solihull and the community? Then come and be a part of Solihull Friends of the Earth.

We're campaigning on a variety of important issues such as local food, Energy, Transport and much much more. As you may see, we've recently been analysing the HS2 issue and we submitted our views to the HS2 consultation that closed on Friday 29th July. Our submitted response is shown in the previous post in this blog. 

We've worked closely with Solihull Borough Council to publish the Fairtrade and Local Food directory (See relevant post at http://solihullfoe.blogspot.com/2011/07/solihull-foe-proud-as-fairtrade-and.html

To spread our message, we take part in public events such as the recent Plant Swap and Go Green Fair events. We are due to take part at the Fun in the Park event at Tudor Grange Park on the 25th September.

Want to find out more ? It's simple. Email us at solihullfoe@gmail.com and we can then arrange for you to join us at the following monthly meeting.