Month: June 2013

Peterborough Wind Turbine Plans Condemned By Leading Experts

07:41 Friday 7th June 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Much heated debate on the show yesterday about this new proposed solar and wind energy farm at Newborough, and development of it on that land North of Peterborough could spoil archeological remains of international significance, unless proper work to preserve them is carried out. That’s according to a letter from Professor Charles French, Head of the Division of Archeology at Cambridge University. It was read out at a meeting on Wednesday, which urged  City Council to conduct archeological investigations before beginning any building work. To recap, Peterborough City Council wants to put solar panels and wind turbines on 900 acres of farmland they own at a cost of about £400 million. Well Dr Francis Pryor of course is the archeologist to Flag Fen, worked with Professor French in the past. Morning.
FRANCIS PRYOR: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Do we know yet what the significance of this site could be? Continue reading “Peterborough Wind Turbine Plans Condemned By Leading Experts”

Mike Greene Outspoken On Peterborough Council “Dictatorship”

07:07 Thursday 6th June 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridge

PAUL STAINTON: Let’s start with that thorny issue of solar panels and wind farms. Around 150 people turned up at a meeting last night to fight plans for this renewable energy park that’s been proposed for prime farmland around Peterborough. The Council want to convert 900 acres of land into solar and wind farms they claim will generate millions of pounds in profits which will benefit everyone in Peterborough. But locals are not happy. Earlier I spoke to the man who chaired last night’s meeting, businessman Mike Greene. Continue reading “Mike Greene Outspoken On Peterborough Council “Dictatorship””

Peterborough Council Energy Scheme Bowled A Bouncer

08:27 Thursday 6th June 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Now let’s return to our main story this morning, Peterborough City Council’s plans to build a green energy park using both solar and wind turbines. But the whole project could be thrown into disarray this morning after the Government announced it wants to give local residents more power to block onshore wind farms. The new guidelines say that national targets for green energy shouldn’t automatically override the views of local communities. If these guidelines are approved, it could be disastrous for Peterborough City Council, because it’s budgeting on the wind farm aspect of the energy park making nearly four times as much profit as the solar panel part. So without wind, the project will only make around £30 million, and not the £140 million that the Council are banking on. By that take then, they’d have to invest £400 million to get back £30 million, if they don’t get the wind turbines. That’s what we’re saying here.Well here to tell us more about the new guidelines is our business guru Yuan Potts. Morning Yuan.
YUAN POTTS: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: This is going to certainly throw Peterborough City Council’s plans a bit of a spanner, isn’t it? Continue reading “Peterborough Council Energy Scheme Bowled A Bouncer”

BBC Cambridgeshire Breakfast Show Programme Summary 6th June 2013

A summary of the final two hours of the BBC Radio Cambridgeshire Breakfast Show broadcast on Thursday 6th June 2013. Topics include Peterborough City Council plans for solar and wind energy from converted arable land, Government attempts to maximise occupancy of rented public housing and sightings of celebrities locally.
Continue reading “BBC Cambridgeshire Breakfast Show Programme Summary 6th June 2013”

PM Praises Southwold Pier Rescue

17:44 Wednesday 5th June 2013
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: David Cameron has paid tribute to Sufolk’s volunteer coastguards, who rescued more than fifty people during a charity swim that went wrong. Organisers have apologised for going ahead with Southwold’s Pier to Pier swim nearly a fortnight ago, when more than a hundred and thirty swimmers ended up getting into difficulty. Therese Coffey the Conservative MP for Suffolk Coastal, thanked the rescuers during Prime Minister’s Questions. (TAPE)
THERESE COFFEY: The weekend before last Mr Speaker there was a community swim off the coast of Southwold, which actually could have become a tragedy, were it not for the brave efforts of our emergency services, and in particular the volunteer coastguards and the RNLI. Can the Prime Minister My Right Honourable Friend join with me in thanking our volunteer coastguards, and in particular helmsman Simon Callaghan, crewmen Paul Barker and Rob Kelsey, in pulling out fifty six people from the water and averting a tragedy. (LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: David Cameron agreed. (TAPE)
DAVID CAMERON: I certainly join the Honourable Lady that the Royal National Lifeboat Association do an extraordinary job for our country. They are really one of our emergency services and should be treated as such. And I think she’s absolutely right to raise this case, and I join her in paying tribute to those brave people.

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Kings Lynn Incinerator – Option To Cancel

17:18 Tuesday 4th June 2013
Drive BBC Radio Norfolk

MATTHEW GUDGIN: Let’s hear from County Hall today. The controversial contract for a waste incinerator in Kings Lynn has come under renewed criticism today. Councillors on the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee said they still haven’t had a reliable report on how much it would cost to get out of the contract. They’ve called for an independent report outlining both the costs and the savings which would be made if the County Council cancelled the contract with Anglo-American consortium Cory Wheelabrator. Well our West Norfolk producer Jill Bennett was at the meeting at County Hall today, and is with us in the studio. Jill, why were members of the Committee not happy with the estimates that hed been given by their own officers? Continue reading “Kings Lynn Incinerator – Option To Cancel”

Hempsted Land Marco Cereste

Looking at the article on the row between Gillian Beasley and Stewart Jackson MP concerning backroom plans to import the homeless from Kensington and Chelsea,  there is a PDF file of documents that relates to that which includes a document which runs as follows:

“News from Peterborough City Council Communications Team PR4121 Open Letter Kensington & Chelsea An open letter from Marco Cereste Leader of Peterborough City Council about the recent reports about a partnership etc. etc.

6th March 2013″

It talks about development land, building houses, bringing people in etcetera. The full version is available at the PDF link above. It is difficult to copy all of it into text from that PDF so view there if you wish.

It’s listed as a PCC media statement, but doesn’t seem to appear at the date of writing on the media archive at PCC.
Continue reading “Hempsted Land Marco Cereste”

Proof Of Concept – The New Listener

[U]sing only a simple website and Twitter feed, this site appears to have clearly shown that valid projects can be conducted using broadcast interviews, and that there is a significant audience for the text output. Audio and video output is becoming increasingly prevalent, but its current disadvantage is that the information cannot easily be fully indexed by search engines. In this respect, text is paramount. Google loves text.

This particular project set out to examine broadcast output from BBC local radio, with a view to quantifying the weight that BBC local radio has within the local media theatre. In retrospect, it appears to have been channelled to an inquiry into Peterborough’s green ambitions, since from the beginning they featured largely in the local content. At the beginning of the project, BBC local radio broadcasts were confined to the North of the area. These were later combined into a single Cambridgeshire-wide station. One abiding conclusion drawn from the transcripts, together with some 1,200 engagements on Twitter and numerous comments, appears to argue that these green ambitions are in a state of decay and possible collapse, and may prove to be effectively an illusion, based on a fiction, supported by the valiant efforts of those involved. This will be unwelcome news to those who owe their living to one or other aspect of those green ambitions, but ultimately the truth is there, and it’s usually better to deal with the truth rather than flights of fancy. This conclusion may be proved wrong at a later date, and if so that news will be published right here.

The final pieces in the jigsaw appear below the line. Continue reading “Proof Of Concept – The New Listener”