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We’re European Green Capital, let’s fell some trees
It’s only February and Bristol’s year as European Green Capital is already deeply mired in controversy and hypocrisy.
While the city’s great and good gush praise for an art installation shrouding Pero’s Bridge in fog, ostensibly to draw attention to climate change (how wreathing a bridge heavily used by pedestrians and cyclists does that, I fail to see. Ed.), habitat destruction is happening in parts of the city well removed from rarefied confines in which city elite’s generally move.
Firstly, there’s the destruction of mature trees in Stapleton that’ll be taking place as part of the Metrobus project – a £100 mn. white elephant of a scheme that’ll knock a mere three and a half minutes off the journey time across the city (according to p.85 of Appendix 6 of the Metrobus Planning Statement. Ed.). The trees will be felled as soon as the protesters currently occupying them are finally evicted by the council’s bailiffs.
Allied to the Metrobus project, there’s the South Bristol Link Road project. This will result in a loss of environmental amenity for many south Bristol residents in its path. It was announced today that work on this £44 mn. act of environmental vandalism will start at Easter. Presumably more trees will be felled in the process.
Finally, work has started in the Easton area of the city alongside Easton Way to put in a new cycle facility alongside the dual carriageway. Below is a photograph of the progress of these works to date.
At this point an explanation of what can – and cannot – be seen is advisable.
The works are to provide a new cycle route alongside the dual carriageway.
The digger is sitting atop the remains of a berm originally built to provide a noise barrier to the maisonettes alongside the dual carriageway.
Over the years the berm had become covered with mature London plane trees and scrub, providing some much-needed inner city greenery and a valuable habitat for urban wildlife.
Both the trees and the berm are being removed to provide the above-mentioned cycle facility.
Being a local, I’m surprised the council has not simply adapted the footpath running alongside the foot of the now vanished berm to shared use.
That would have been the simplest and least destructive option.
I can imagine the dialogue down at the
Counts LouseCity Hall: “What do a few trees and a bit of scrub matter in the inner city? Nobody will notice!” “After all, it is for a cycle facility, so that makes everything all right!”As this year’s European Green Capital, doesn’t Bristol City Council’s putting the environment at the bottom of its list of priorities positively reek of greenwash?
Answers, if any, below please!
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Love your community
On Valentine’s Day, 14th February, Up Our Street and SPAN are organising an event entitled Love Your Community at Trinity Community Arts, Trinity Road, Bristol (map).
As you can see from the publicity, the event will run from 10.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. and will feature various local organisations setting out their wares, as well as attractions for children.
As it’s being held on a day with allegedly romantic connotations, the first 50 women through the door will receive a free rose, with a free chocolate for the equivalent gentlemen first arrivals.
For further information, contact Lorena Alvarez on 0117 954 2835 during office hours.
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Mama
The video below features very first performance of ‘Mama’, which was composed by the youth campaigners of Integrate Bristol, a local charity formed to help with the integration of young people and children who have arrived from other countries and cultures.
Integrate Bristol is also active combating violence against women and girls; this includes the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM).
‘Mama’ was written in honour of Efua Dorkenoo, also known as Efua Mama, the ‘mother’ of the movement to end FGM.
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Another sign of spring
Following on from last weekend’s catkins (posts passim), another sign of spring has just emerged: the croci (or crocuses) have burst into flower in the pocket park in Chaplin Road, Easton. On a bright, sunny day the flowers shine like beacons.
Although not native to the British Isles, crocus sativus, the saffron crocus, has long been cultivated for the spice saffron.
Indeed, such cultivation has given rise to some place names. For starters, there’s Saffron Walden in Essex, as well as Croydon in the sprawl of Greater London.
As regards the latter, the theory accepted by most philologists is that the name Croydon derives originally from the Anglo-Saxon croh, meaning “crocus”, and denu, “valley”, indicating that it was a centre for the cultivation of saffron. It has been argued that this cultivation is likely to have taken place in the Roman period, when the saffron crocus would have been grown to supply the London market, most probably for medicinal purposes, and particularly for the treatment of granulation of the eyelids.
The croci shown above are not saffron crocus, but are still a welcome sight. On a sunny day the air inside the flower cup of the crocus is said to be some degrees warmer than the surrounding air, making it a welcome place to visit for early pollinating insects.
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Red card offence?
Not being a regular reader of the sports pages, particularly not the football coverage, I’m indebted to Redvee once again for the screenshot below of an excerpt from yesterday’s Bristol Post report of the League One (that’s the Third Division in old money. Ed.) match between MK Dons and Bristol City FC.
Isn’t defecating on the pitch a red card offence? 😉 Besides this, his excrement might have hit spectators behind the goal…
The article has since been corrected.
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TidyBS5: pick your brains for litter pick
The last TidyBS5 post mentioned that a community litter pick would be taking place (posts passim).
Billed as Tidy BS5 Up, this event will be held on Saturday, 28th March from 11am to 1pm and the initial assembly point will be Lawrence Hill roundabout before volunteers disperse to clean up the grotty bits of BS5 that have been identified.
Inner city grit bin transformed into grot bin If there’s a particular grotty bit of BS5 that you believe needs a good litter pick, then send it in as a suggestion to Lorena (email: lorena (at) eastonandlawrencehill.org.uk) at Up Our Street by Friday, 20th February.
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Greenwash Capital moves to non-existent website
In a new move Bristol City Council has started advertising websites for non-existent domains as part of its tenure as European Green Capital 2015.
I’m indebted to Redvee for the photograph below.
Not only does the solar park itself not exist, neither does the domain shown on the sign, as a simple whois search reveals.
I wonder how much money has been wasted on the publicity for a non-existent solar park and its accompanying (and equally non-existent) website.
Would anyone from Bristol City Council care to comment?
Update 02/02/2015: a subsequent whois search today revealed that the domain in question was registered by a PR person working for Bristol City Council this morning and that the registrant contact details are currently awaiting validation.
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Sign of spring
As we enter another month and a chill northerly wind drives temperatures down, it’s encouraging to know that signs of spring are appearing.
Along with the appearance of snowdrops (posts passim), the swelling of hazel catkins is another early sign of an impending change of season.
The photograph below was taken yesterday at the junction of Stapleton Road, Trinity Road and Lawford’s Gate in Easton.
A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated (anemophilous) but sometimes insect-pollinated (as in Salix). They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged closely along a central stem which is often drooping.
Hazel catkins are the male flowers of the plant.
The female flowers – as shown in the photo below – are much smaller and harder to spot.
The change from winter to spring was admirably encapsulated by the final couplet of Percy Bysshe Shelley‘s 1819 Ode to the West Wind.
The trumpet of a prophecy! O, wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? -
TidyBS5 round-up
It’s been a while since there’s been a Tidy BS5 post on this blog, but that doesn’t mean the campaign has been dormant.
So let’s deal with recent developments in chronological order.
On Thursday 22nd January Bristol Mayor George Ferguson was on a walkabout of the Ashley, Easton & Lawrence Hill Neighbourhood Partnership area.
Picture courtesy of Stacy Yelland TidyBS5 campaigners met the Mayor at the junction of Stapleton Road and Milsom Street – a notorious fly-tipping hotspot – to express their concerns about litter and fly-tipping locally, as reported by Bristol 24/7 (bit different from North Street, isn’t it, George? Ed.).
The Bristol Post also reported on George’s visit to Stapleton Road, managing in its own inimitable, cock-eyed way to describe TidyBS as a “street-cleaning community group“.
Although your ‘umble scribe was unable to attend due to other commitments, feedback has been positive. Witnesses report that George seemed genuinely shocked by the stinky bin by which he was confronted/ambushed. In addition, he gave a commitment to bring one of the Make Sunday Special events to Stapleton Road.
Local resident Hannah has posted some more videos of George’s visit on YouTube.
On Tuesday this week, local councillors Marg Hickman and Afzal Shah, together with local residents and Lorena from Up Our Street took Bristol’s Assistant Mayor for Neighbourhoods Daniella Radice on a walk around the Stapleton Road area to acquaint her with our local litter and fly-tipping difficulties.
One thing that shocked Daniella was the way the council’s contractors May Gurney dump the plastic liner bags from litter bins on the pavement for later collection (sometimes the next day. Ed.), which also contributes to making the BS5 area look grotty; this was a practice Daniella undertook to investigate and/or change. We also drew her attention to concerns in reporting street cleansing problems via Twitter, the council’s online reporting system and by telephone (0117 922 2100 if you’d care to give it a go. Ed.).
Daniella was also alerted to the totally inadequate – if any – recycling facilities provided for residents of the city’s tower blocks. For instance, Twinnell House in Easton houses hundreds of people. Their recycling “facilities” are illustrated below.
That’s right, a mere 6 wheelie bins!
Marg Hickman also pointed out that millions of pounds are and have been spent in refurbishing the city’s council-owned high-rise blocks. However, the refurbishment plans include no provision for recycling facilities. This is incredible for a city that allegedly prides itself on its green credentials and is the current European Green Capital!
Another item raised with Daniella was the lack of recycling collections for residents living on the lower part of Stapleton Road above the shops. They’re being charged for recycling collections in their council tax, but these collections are not provided. If I lived on Stapleton Road, I’d report Bristol City Council to the police for fraud and/or obtaining pecuniary advantage! 🙂
On Wednesday evening this week Up Our Street hosted a TidyBS5 task force meeting, which attracted about a dozen local residents from across the BS5 area, as well as councillor Marg Hickman and representatives from the local ACORN branch. Various priorities from the Residents’ Rubbish Summit (posts passim), planned forthcoming activities (e.g. consultations, litter picks, etc.) and discovered what skills attendees could provide to benefit TidyBS5.
Afterwards, we had the compulsory campaign photo taken.
Picture courtesy of Lorena Alvarez
