Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall >>> elections Thursday 5th May

Next Thursday sees the election of a new PCC for the area:
Police and Crime Commissioner | Devon and Cornwall · Devon & Cornwall Police & Crime Commisioner
Police and Crime Commissioner Election 2016: Devon & Cornwall - BBC News

There have been hustings:
More police officers in Plymouth promised by crime commissioner candidates at local hustings | Plymouth Herald

And the candidates have given their opinions:
Opinion: Devon and Cornwall Police should serve public, not government | Plymouth Herald
The six people in the running for crime tsar job - and why they want your vote | Plymouth Herald
Police boss Tony Hogg resigns from Tory party in 'disgust' over lukewarm support for election | Plymouth Herald

The Herald has just put this piece on-line:

Six standing to be Devon and Cornwall PCC

14:09 28 April 2016

Sean Keywood

Voters will be going to the polls next week to choose the next Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall.

The vote, to be held on Thursday, May 5, will be to choose the replacement for the incumbent, Conservative Tony Hogg.

Elected in 2012, Mr Hogg has decided not to seek re-election after his first term of office.

The candidates who are standing are as follows:

Gareth Derrick (Labour)

Commodore Gareth Derrick is a former naval officer, whose appointment in command of the Royal Naval and Royal Marines Reserves completed in 2013. He has deployed on operational tours in submarines and on land in both the 1991 and 2003 Iraq wars.

Determined to bring Labour values to the role of Police Commissioner as in his military career, he emphasises the need for fairness, honesty and teamwork in the strategic leadership of policing.

His priorities are to continue the fight for proper funding, to restore effective local policing, and to ensure that the police and his own staff are truly engaged with the people of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Alison Hernandez (Conservative)

Alison Hernandez says she will: work with the Government to get the best funding deal for the people of Devon and Cornwall; put policing at the heart of communities, both on our streets and online; work with the other emergency services to greater effect; support those affected by crime: victims, witnesses and the most vulnerable in our community; improve crime reporting, especially 101, as waiting up to 45 minutes is unacceptable; review police station closures so that people don’t feel abandoned.

She says she has spent years running her own business, working alongside and getting the best out of the police.

William Morris (Independent)

William Morris says our society is built on the bedrock of integrity and compassion, which, on his watch, our police force will secure by delivering law and order through protecting the vulnerable and supporting the values we cherish through: targeted zero tolerance in areas with increasing levels of violence; community payback to reduce pressure on the criminal justice system; greater priority to wildlife and farm crime; drunk tanks; youth detox; more random vehicle spot checks; enhanced community engagement.

He says levels of violent crime resulting in injury are increasing, as are levels of rape and family abuse, often alcohol related. He says on his watch, these levels will be reversed.

Bob Spencer (Independent)

Bob Spencer said: “Having spent 30 years as a police officer, and completing my service in the role of Assistant Chief Constable, I have vast experience of management having been in command of more than 3,000 officers and having dealt with budgets of over £140 million.

“Unlike the other candidates, there will be no need for expenditure on advisers.

“I plan to halt the fall in police officer numbers and to actively recruit up to 50 new police officers paid for out of savings I have already identified.

“My second concern will be to stop the closure of police stations.”

Jonathan Smith (UKIP)

Jonathan retired from the Devon and Cornwall Police last year after 30 years as a police constable.

He understands policing and does not believe in the role of the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

He aims to replace it with a Police and Community Cooperative. This will be managed by all the agencies that have a responsibility to safeguard our communities.

He will fight along with the public for a fairer deal on police funding.

He says we must return the police to our communities, stop the closure and sale of police stations, and overhaul or replace the ‘disastrous’ 101 system.

Richard Younger-Ross

(Liberal Democrats)

Richard is an experienced campaigner and, as commissioner, he says he will make the strongest case for Devon and Cornwall. His knowledge of Whitehall and how Westminster works is going to be vital to our securing the fair funding deal that our police force needs, he says.

Richard has three main priorities: to secure a fair funding deal for the Devon and Cornwall police force; to maintain and improve the visibility of our police force and improve the 101 service; to protect the force from a forced merger with Somerset and Avon which would ‘only make decision making more remote’.

Six standing to be Devon and Cornwall PCC - News - Sidmouth Herald
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Beach Management Plan: compiling a short list of options

There are concerns that things are not looking too good at the Eastern Beach:
Futures Forum: Pennington Point: "erosion is going about 10 times faster than it used to before 1990."
Futures Forum: Pennington Point: "If action is taken to manage the beach erosion - that should contribute to managing erosion of the cliffs as well."

And several issues are connected:
Futures Forum: Alma Bridge and Pennington Point: "There’s no point putting a beautiful new bridge there if the eastern end is cut off because the cliff has eroded."

The Beach Management Plan seeks to address most of these:
Futures Forum: Sidmouth Beach Management Plan >>> and Pennington Point: "We need to do something before it’s too late."

The BMP's steering group has now forwarded its findings to the District Council's consultants for consideration:

Beach plan list under review

By Peter Hodges -

April 26, 2016

0

12

A CONSIDERATION period for long list of options for Sidmouth’s coastline has ended and East Devon District’s consultants will now review any comments made from the steering group.

The list is being developed to deliver the aims of the Sidmouth and East Beach Management Plan (BMP), which aims to maintain the standard of flood protection provided by the existing sea defences and reduce the rate of erosion at East Cliff, was revised in response to comments made by the steering group, following a meeting on January 15th.

Members of the group (which comprises representatives of the local community, local interest groups, as well as the Environment Agency, Natural England, South West Water and Devon County Council) had asked to see more detail about how the options for the short list would be decided and to understand why some options had been discounted for technical or environmental reasons.

Once the proposed short list has been agreed, CH2M, an engineering company working as EDDC’s consultants on the project, will be undertaking more detailed analysis of the options, which aim to protect Sidmouth from East Beach along through to Jacobs Ladder.

Consideration will be given to options such as altering the existing rock groynes along the sea front, or adding more offshore breakwaters. Following this more detailed appraisal, further consultation with the steering group and members of the public will be undertaken during June to agree a preferred option. This will include a public exhibition in Sidmouth, the purpose of which will be to gain as much feedback as possible to help inform the plan.

By the end of the summer, it is anticipated that the draft BMP will have been produced. This will be followed by further consultation and the finalisation of the plan itself in the Autumn.

The council will then prepare a detailed business case to access government funding for the scheme.

Councillor Andrew Moulding, who is the Chairman of the BMP steering group said:

“All the long list options have been appraised technically, economically and environmentally and the overall project aim is to develop one single integrated scheme for the seafront from Jacob’s Ladder to East Beach, and to inform a separate scheme for the River Sid that will be led by the Environment Agency at a later date.

“In the summer we will be consulting with the public at large on the proposed options and we look forward to hearing the thoughts of the community on the practical measures that we hope will ensure sustainable management of the beach and continued protection from flooding and coastal erosion.”

Beach plan list under review
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Pennington Point: "erosion is going about 10 times faster than it used to before 1990."

Last Wednesday 20th April, an event was held at Plymouth University where scientists looked at the dramatic changes to the coastline over the last decade.
MEDIA RELEASE: Event highlights 10 years of South West’s changing coastline - KOR Communications

It was featured across the media, including this blog:
Futures Forum: Pennington Point: "If action is taken to manage the beach erosion - that should contribute to managing erosion of the cliffs as well."

The report itself came out last month:

Winter storms the most energetic to hit western Europe since 1948, study shows

Researchers found that extreme wave conditions occurred up to five times more frequently in 2013/14, with wave heights up to 40% higher than average

Extreme waves impacting on Chesil Beach in Dorset, UK, on February 05, 2014. Image credit: Richard Broome

The repeated storms which battered Europe’s Atlantic coastline during the winter of 2013/14 were the most energetic in almost seven decades, new research has shown.

And they were part of a growing trend in stormy conditions which scientists say has the potential to dramatically change the equilibrium state of beaches along the western side of the continent, leading to permanent changes in beach gradient, coastal alignment and nearshore bar position.

Winter storms the most energetic to hit western Europe since 1948, study shows - Plymouth University
Winter storms the most energetic to hit western Europe since 1948, study shows -- ScienceDaily

ITV did a piece on last week's Plymouth event, focussing on Sidmouth:

1. ITV REPORT
 
2. 19 April 2016 at 4:44am

Striking data show dramatic coastal changes over the last decade

Striking images from the South West Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme show some of the dramatic changes to the coast over the last decade at Sidmouth in East Devon.

Striking images show the rate of coastal erosion in Devon Credit: ITV West Country

Resident Paul Griew told ITV News he used to think it would be 300 years before his home was threatened - now he thinks it could be 30 or even less.

It's going about 10 times faster than it used to before 1990.

We've lost what was the South West Coast path, some land beyond that and about 10 metres of my garden. A place I used to sit out there no longer exists.

– PAUL GRIEW

This image from the Plymouth Coastal Observatory shows the rate of change here since 2007. Data suggest parts of the cliff top have retreated some 15m in 8 years.

This image shows the rate of change here since 2007. Credit: Plymouth Coastal Observatory

The concern is not just for the residents at the top of the cliffs, but also for the people of Sidmouth below as the protection from tidal surges dimishes.

Scientists from the University of Plymouth are leading a programme monitoring more than 12,000 miles of coast around the South West. It looks at things like the height of beaches, and how the coastline moves.

12,000

miles of coast around the South West being monitored.

Scientists from the University of Plymouth are monitoring more than 12,000 miles of coast Credit: ITV West Country

The information gathered is becoming increasingly important as plans are drawn up to manage erosion and flooding.

In Sidmouth, scientists say the beach has dropped by more than two metres, further exposing the cliffs to erosion.

Two

metres - the amount the beach has dropped by in Sidmouth.

The research is being used to help draft a beach management plan to be finalised in the Autumn.

But residents like Paul Griew are warning that authorities need to take urgent notice of what the coastal research is revealing - monitoring it properly and acting rapidly.

Last updated Tue 19 Apr 2016

• SIDMOUTH
•  COASTAL EROSION

Striking data show dramatic coastal changes over the last decade | West Country (W) - ITV News


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Planning: "for professionals by professionals" >>> >>> "Local communities feel disenfranchised by a complex, constantly changing process led by non‐elected Local Enterprise Partnerships and implemented by LPAs with little evidence of effective consultation with local communities."

Last month, a report on the planning system was presented to the government:
Local Plans Expert Group: report to the Secretary of State - Publications - GOV.UK
Local Plans Expert Group report to government | Planning Resource

This is part of a general review of planning - with  the Communities and Local Government (CLG) Committee making recommendations at the beginning of this month:
CLG committee recommends review of NPPF | The Planner

- and a gathering of key players at a 'summit' last week:

Government must not 'cherry-pick' local plan report recommendations | Planning Resource

Meanwhile, the 'non-official' bodies have been giving their input:

From the Campaign to Protect Rural England:
Futures Forum: Greenfield vs brownfield >>> "There are enough suitable brownfield sites for at least 1 million new homes."
Futures Forum: "The proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework would further weaken the control of planning authorities over local development."

From the Community Voice on Planning:
Futures Forum: "Councils need to do more to identify suitable brownfield sites and to protect their communities against the threat of undesirable development"

CoVoP has just issued its response to the latest report:

A National Alliance to provide communities with an effective voice on planning

Representation on the Report from the Local Plans Expert Group, April 2016

1. Executive Summary

1.1. We are concerned that this report suffers from at least one of the faults listed in the problems with Local Plans in that it is long, with a number of appendices which make it difficult to understand and to comment on.

We have responded to the call for representations as much as we can but are concerned that this type of document is designed for professionals by professionals and that the planning process also affects local people in local communities with little relevant expertise.

2. Paragraph S2

This paragraph is a reminder that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) provides that “Local Plans should be the key to delivering sustainable development that reflects the vision and aspirations of local communities”

2.1. Our experience is that local communities feel disenfranchised by a complex, constantly changing process led by non‐elected Local Enterprise Partnerships and implemented by LPAs with little evidence of effective consultation with local communities.

What consultations do take place seem merely to pay lip service to the process with few, if any, changes being made to plans as a result of the community feedback.

16.2. The most common complaint of our members is that, contrary to claims from proponents of the NPPF, the local community voice has been ignored.

It is clear from evidence presented to us by our members, many of whom speak for large numbers of people, that the shared experience is one of frustration and that there is a perception of institutional contempt for local opinion and democracy.

Community Voice on Planning | A National Alliance to provide communities with an effective voice on planning, enabling them to protect their greenfield and green spaces.
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Energiewende: energy transition 30 years after Chernobyl

Back in 2013, this blog looked at what was happening in the German energy sector:
Futures Forum: “Energiewende” – energy transformation... reducing dependence on fossil fuels and changing the role of the large traditional utilities.

Radio 4's Costing the Earth also looked at the phenomenon in 2013:
BBC Radio 4 - Costing the Earth, Berlin's Big Gamble

It's now thirty years since the accident at Chernobyl happened - but this was not the defining moment:

Nuclear written off before Chernobyl

26 Apr 2016 by Craig Morris

30 years ago, Chernobyl made the public fear radioactivity, thereby setting back the progress of nuclear technology – most articles you read today about the accident probably say something along those lines. For Craig Morris, that reading is a major accomplishment for the nuclear sector. The real story looks much worse.

On 26 April 1986, the Chernobyl reactor in Ukraine began melting down. Soviet officials did not report the event. Two days later, radiation meters in Sweden went off, however. Nuclear plants across Europe had such detectors for their own safety. The cloud from Chernobyl reached Sweden first and quickly engulfed the rest of Western Europe in the next few days.

Countries throughout Europe warned citizens of the risks. Italy banned the sale of fresh milk for two weeks for children and pregnant women along with the sale of fresh leafy vegetables. Austria temporarily banned the sale of fresh vegetables from Eastern Europe. The German government advised the public to feed powdered milk to babies and wash fresh vegetables thoroughly. It also reassured the public that “no such accident can happen in Germany” because that particular reactor type did not exist in the country.

Readings of elevated radioactivity levels taken across the continent were made public – outside France and the Soviet Union. At the time, Pierre Pellerin headed the SCPRI, an organization within France’s Health Ministry in charge of radiation issues. He publicly claimed that “the radioactive cloud did not pass over France.”

The radioactive cloud from Chernobyl over Europe a few days after the accident. The text reads, “Part of the cloud clearly passed over French territory between April 30 and May 5.” The emphasis in the text can only be understood against the backdrop of the history of lies. Source: Le Monde

Nonetheless, the nuclear cloud that allegedly stopped at the French border also set off alarms at nuclear facilities in Cadarache, Marcoule and La Hague. Pellerin instructed his staff to keep this information secret for their entire professional life. He remained at the helm of that organization from 1959 until 1996 – for 37 years.

Italy phased out nuclear immediately after Chernobyl. The Germans took a more deliberated stance, creating an Environmental Ministry and negotiating phaseout detailsuntil 2002. Chernobyl led the Germans to talk about shutting down existing reactors; no new ones had been proposed for years. The accident led to greater governmental accountability in Germany.

In contrast, the French (as researcher Karena Kalmbach points out) associate Chernobyl with state intransparency. As one French scientist who had been in Munich when the accident occurred put it, “Everyone was talking about it [in Germany]. In France, nothing!” Only in Alsace, the area of France with a German-speaking population, did local officials react – perhaps because they had access to media reports in German – by banning the sale of spinach.

Why did French officials lie?

In 1986, the French were committed to constructing 170 reactors and going 100 percent nuclear for energy (France reached 40 percent). French president François Mitterrand won the elections on an anti-nuclear platform in 1981, promising a moratorium on new construction. In 1978, he had contributed to a publication critical of nuclear entitled “Towards a different nuclear policy” (in French).

In office, Mitterrand did not slow down nuclear, however; he ensured its success in France. The elections apparently aged Mitterrand quickly, for he announced after entering office that “ecology is an illness that afflicts the young.”

Mitterrand decided to use nuclear towards recreating the grande nation. Obviously no longer a superpower, France was quickly falling behind the UK as well in the 1980s. The British had just discovered gas and oil in the North Sea. And unlike Germany, the French lacked cheap coal. Nuclear seemed the only option left. Once a leader of the anti-nuclear movement, Mitterrand was uniquely positioned to break opposition to nuclear – just as Angela Merkel, once a leader of the anti-phaseout camp, broke opposition to it in 2011.

For new projects, nuclear got too expensive for bankers. By 1976, after years of subsidies, it was clear that nuclear power would not be competitive.

New nuclear plant construction peaked in 1976; cancellations, in 1978 – even before the accident at Three Mile Island (1979). France was the only Western European country to continue ordering a significant number of new reactors well into the 1980s (Germany started building its last one in 1982). Source: World Nuclear Report

Chernobyl allowed the nuclear sector to claim that uninformed hippies blocked nuclear by spreading irrational fear. The claim not only overlooks Wall Street, but also supposes a level of influence that the environmental movement never had. Had Chernobyl not happened, we would all know that Wall Street, not fearful environmentalists, abandoned nuclear – in ‘76, not ‘86.

Nuclear written off before Chernobyl – German Energy Transition

This piece is from the Energiewende project in Germany:

German Energy Transition

And this evening, Radio 4's Costing the Earth returned to Germany:

After Chernobyl

Costing the Earth

Listen in pop-out player

When radioactive particles from the Chernobyl disaster landed in Germany's Black Forest one woman decided to change her country's relationship with nuclear energy forever.

Julian Rush meets Ursula Sladek, founder of EWS Energy and prime mover in Germany's abandonment of nuclear energy.

Following the story from the first detection of radioactive particles, through the persistent impact of radioactive caesium in the soil to the rapid development of renewable energy after the Fukushima disaster of 2011, Julian tells the story of the transformation that's known in Germany as the Energiewende. With Ursula's son, Sebastian he discusses the future for renewable energy in a nuclear-free nation and considers the influence Germany may have on the rest of Europe.

Related Links

• EWS Energy Co-operative (www.ews-schoenau.de)
• Federal Office for Radiation Protection (www.bfs.de)
• Ritter Chocolate Energy Policy (www.ritter-sport.de)
• State Institute for Chemical and Veterinary Analysis of Food (www.cvua-freiburg.de)
• Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Research(www.ise.fraunhofer.de)
• FELIS University of Freiburg (www.felis.uni-freiburg.de)
• Costing the Earth on the Energiewende

BBC Radio 4 - Costing the Earth, After Chernobyl

Meanwhile, in Germany:
Security alert at German nuclear power plant after computer systems are found to be infected with viruses  | Daily Mail Online
Viruses affect German nuclear power plant | East Devon Watch

And at Westminster:
Mps call for explanation of further delay on hinkley point nuclear power station | Daily Mail Online
EDF recalled to Parliamentary Committee to explain further delay to Hinkley C | East Devon Watch
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Climate change >>> increased flooding in UK is "driven by soaring temperatures in Greenland"

Flooding is becoming more of a regularity - and it's clear that it's linked very closely to changes in the climate:
Futures Forum: Climate Week in Sidmouth: Dr Ewan Woodley and how communities will have to manage flooding and the effects of extreme weather
Futures Forum: Climate change: rising sea levels and developing Exmouth

Today's Independent reports on the latest findings:

UK flooding driven by soaring temperatures in Greenland, study says

Parts of Greenland have seen a 10C rise in the last 20 years and the resulting effect on the jet stream is bringing floods and Arctic weather to the UK

• Ian Johnston 
• 10 hours  ago
• 74 comments

The Greenland Ice Sheet is melting at a rate of 250 gigatonnes a year GETTY

Soaring temperatures in Greenland – one of the fastest-warming parts of the planet – are causing storms and floods in Britain, according to a new study that provides further evidence climate change is already happening.

The west coast of the island has seen temperatures rise by up to a staggering 10 degrees Celsius during winter in just two decades.

This surge helps create static areas of high pressure that can block the jet stream which heavily influences the northern hemisphere’s weather. If forced to go south, the jet stream picks up warm and wet air – and Britain can expect heavy rain and flooding. If forced north, the UK is likely to be hit by cold air from the Arctic.

In the summer of 2007, the jet stream split into two and the resulting effect on the British weather was dramatic.

In June of that year, five people died as parts of the country, particularly Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Worcestershire, saw record rainfall and heavy flooding. Two months later, England had its coldest August since 1993.

READ MORE

• 
  
• Hillary Clinton rejects Charles Koch’s endorsement over climate change
• Nasa calls out climate change deniers on Facebook 
• 97% of scientists agree on man-made climate change, study finds 
• Global warming to be far worse than predictions, cloud analysis shows 

The new study, by researchers at Sheffield University, suggests the problems caused by Greenland are getting worse.

Professor Edward Hanna, lead author of a paper about the research published in the International Journal of Climatology, said Greenland was “one of the hotspots of warming in the northern hemisphere” and the rising temperatures were increasing the blocking effect on the jet stream.

And they found that seven of the strongest 11 blocking effects in the last 165 years had taken place since 2007.

“This is resulting in an increase in the occurrence of warm air in the region and it is also affecting weather systems downstream of Greenland, such as over the UK,” Professor Hanna said.

“The unusually wet weather seen in the UK in the summers of 2007 and 2012, for instance, is linked to these stationary high pressure systems over Greenland.”

He said computer models used 10 to 15 years ago to predict the extent of sea ice in the Arctic had significantly underestimated how quickly the region would warm.

“It’s very interesting to look at the observed changes in the Arctic … the actual observations are showing far more dramatic changes than the computer models,” Professor Hanna said.

“You do get sudden starts and jumps. It’s the sudden changes that can take us by surprise and there certainly does seem to have been an increase in extreme weather in certain places.”

(Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Greenland, the majority of which is within the Arctic Circle, is an example of how quickly the climate – and the weather – can change.

“Between 1960 and 1990, Greenland was actually cooling in contrast to many other places in the northern hemisphere,” Professor Hanna said.

“Since the mid-1990s, it has been warming very strongly – by up to 10 degrees Celsius in the last 20 years in parts of the west coast in winter and by several degrees in summer.”

White snow and ice reflects more sunlight than darker water and land, so as it melts the warming process speeds up. Sea ice also has an insulating effect on the water below that is lost when it melts.

In Pictures: Floods hit the UK

• 17show all

According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre, the extent of sea ice in the Arctic this year is tracking significantly below the average between 1981 and 2010.

In February, Dr Peter Gleick, of the Pacific Institute in California, warned the rapid warming of the Arctic could have a“catastrophic” effect on the planet’s climate.

• More about: 
• climate change 
• Global Warming 
• Greenland 
• flooding 
• Weather 
• storms 

UK flooding driven by soaring temperatures in Greenland, study says | Science | News | The Independent

See also:
Futures Forum: Climate change: and flooding >>> 'Lack of planning leaves coastal services vulnerable'
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