Britain's green killing fields

Agriculture claimed the lives of sixteen people, including two youngsters aged nine and ten, between April and July last year. No parts of Britain escaped the carnage, such that despite making up only 1/60^th of the working population, the industry accounted for close to a quarter of the overall total of 67 deaths.

Those who died, with ages and locations, were as follows -

Simon Whittaker [aged 40] from Pyworthy, Linda Weir [58] Dumfries, Richard James [41] Kidderminster, Peter Coutts [53] Cumbria, Peter Cornish [59] Kent, Robert McAlister [9] Isle of Bute, Phil Gordon [48] Leicester, Peter Jones [68] Taunton, Peter Brian [44] Wimbourne, Jack Simpson [10] North Yorkshire, Philip Whiting [47] Cambridgeshire, Neil Abercromby [70] Perthshire, Malcolm Dobson [59] Hull,  Grzegorz Krystian Pieton [26] Norfolk, Ronald Clarke [58] Llandysul, Thomas Postlethwaite [81] Cumbria.

Of those killed six were classified as self-employed, four were members of the public and six were employees.

Falling from a height accounted for three of the deaths; whilst seven involved vehicles including Jack Simpson, of whom it was reported in a local newspaper was ‘helping out’ by driving a tractor. The Prevention of Accidents to Children in Agriculture Regulations [PACAR] 1998 makes it clear that a child [under 13] is not permitted to drive a tractor while it is being used in the course of agricultural operations or is going to or from the site of such operations.

Jack Simpson’s death follows that of sixteen-year old Jordan Orris from Cornwall in March this year, when the tractor he was driving went into a slurry pit. There were no witnesses. PACAR 1998 makes clear a young person aged 13 to 18 should not be permitted to drive a tractor unless a responsible adult closely supervises them.

Tories - no friends of the countryside

Despite his family owning a fair chunk of Berkshire and also being married to the daughter of an aristocratic mob with estates in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire it’s clear that Prime Minister David Cameron [*] is no friend of the rural areas.  

First he followed in Margaret Thatcher’s steps, of selling off the family jewels in the form of nationalised industries and public utilities, by trying to flog the nation’s forests. Massive public outrage thankfully put paid to that sad idea for the moment.

Now, together with his multi-millionaire chums in the cabinet, he’s drawn up plans to make everyone pay for the economic crisis - except those who caused it. Plans that will devastate communities right across Britain. Public services and the welfare state are to be dealt a mortal blow, and none more so than in the countryside.

So going in Northamptonshire are all existing rural bus services in a County Council cull intended to save £1.4 million, £300,000 less than the cuts planned by Cumbria County Council that will devastate the 109 rural bus services programme they currently fund.

Meanwhile further south in Somerset the County Council’s running of 70% of the local bus services will be cut by half. No wonder the Campaign for Better Transport has set up a Save Our Buses campaign. 

If getting around is to become more difficult then so too is finding free legal advice and representation for anyone facing unemployment, ill health, family breakdown, domestic violence and spiraling debt levels.

People in rural communities already face longer journeys than their urban counterparts to get advice. Now the number of solicitors firms able to offer legal aid is being decimated - down from 2,400 to 1,300. A system established after the war to ensure everyone can access justice wherever they live is to be demolished.

Add in the fact that many local authorities being forced to make cutbacks will certainly cut support to places such as the CAB then no wonder many people are backing the Justice for All campaign whose spokesperson admitted they “were especially worried that many rural areas will be left without any places for people to get advice when they get into difficulties.” 

Informal places for young people to get advice are also vulnerable, with a leading CYWU activist who didn't wish to be identified saying: "With many authorities still deciding where to make cuts then youth workers are waiting anxiously, like thousands of other workers elsewhere, to hear what sort of service they will be able to provide in the future for young people already struggling to find work or places to study.”

There also appears to be worrying times ahead too for many rural community schools that currently have fewer than a hundred pupils. Hertfordshire has just proposed a 25% cut in its small schools budgets.  And with the Conservatives rowing back on their elections commitments by refusing to publish figures showing how well such schools do at the Key Stage 2 level the National Association of Small Schools are concerned, with their spokesperson Barbara Taylor saying ‘that there will be a large number of rural schools facing closure.’

·   The Sunday Times Rich List estimated in 2007 that the combined wealth of David and Samantha Cameron was £30 million plus. Compiler Philip Beresford said: “Both sides of the family are extremely wealthy.”

Opposition to fox-hunting hardens

As it’s cruel, nasty and often involves trampling all over someone else’s land then perhaps it’s not surprising to find public opinion appears to be hardening against any plans to repeal the Hunting Act.

Worrying news therefore for the Countryside Alliance and hunters, whose claims that the police are not enforcing the act has rather been damaged by the release of figures showing a record number of 57 people were convicted of breaking it last year.

As it’s five years since foxhunting was banned the League against Cruel Sports [LACS] felt it was time to test public opinion and commissioned YouGov to carry out enquiries. 3,400 people were interviewed, and 59% were opposed to the ban being overturned, 63% disagreeing it was an infringement of civil liberties and a whopping 77% wanting the ban properly enforced.

Meanwhile with the coalition government already facing significant unrest over its cuts package it seems that now they are in power many Tories are rowing back on their support for repeal, LACS research showing only a minority of MPs - 253 from 650 - being committed to return parts of the countryside to the dark ages.

All of which rather begs the question. If the Countryside Alliance can’t manage to muster the powder to see the Hunting Bill scrapped then isn’t it time it gave up the ghost and any workers involved in its offshoot the Union of Country Sports Workers joined a proper union in Unite and began fighting for decent wages and conditions?

Office of the Countryside Alliance  

"Honest and straightforward" - RIP Phil Brown

A death certificate has finally been issued for Phil Brown, a prize-winning pig farmer from Inskip near Preston who died almost four years ago. It comes after the coroner at his inquest concluded the then 62 year-old family man, who left behind a wife and three sons, had died of natural causes after developing a blood clot while in Chorley Hospital for an operation.

Brown, described at his funeral by the Reverend David Gaskell as “honest and straightforward”, was buried in the same cemetery as his youngest son Robert, who lived for only an hour after being born prematurely in 1991 with no frontal brain, his heart inside out and intestines outside the body.

The decision ends any hope that someone in authority may finally recognise that the devastation of their once thriving family business, Phil’s health and the death of Robert were all related to the unannounced arrival of rogue pig feed on their farm towards the end of the 1980s.

Documents were to later reveal that this had had no laboratory tests undertaken in Britain before being introduced. It resulted in pigs being born with patches of flesh like raw meat all over their bodies. Afterwards sows started giving birth to dead and mummified young.

Phil Brown’s herd, from which he’d won a number of prizes at major farming shows, was to be decimated and wife Diane’s inhaling of dust when feeding the pig’s was to bring tragic consequences for the couple’s fourth son. The Brown’s were also concerned that some of the pigs they had sold and which had entered the human food chain could have caused health problems for consumers.

Determined to find out exactly what had been added to the feed Phil Brown waged a tireless campaign, seeking answers from his pig food suppliers – the South West Lancashire Farmers Co-operative, the producers of the feed BP PLC and the company responsible for its importation BP Nutrition [UK] Limited.

Faced with a brick wall he sought support from the NFU, MAFF/DEFRA and the Health and Safety Executive. All to no avail, whilst solicitors who could possibly have helped proved less than useful.

A business worth £600,000 was destroyed and in 2005 his bank wrote to say they were intending to issue proceedings to re-possess the farm.  Undeterred, with a Big Issue in the North article helping to alert others to his cause, he battled on and he was just starting to get the business on a more even footing at the time of his death. Unwilling to see all his father’s hard work go to waste his son Richard subsequently took on, with success, the management of the farm and it’s now no longer under threat from the bank.

Local Bridlington Councillor writes to health secretary on hospital concern

The Rt Hon Greg Knight

House of Commons.

SAVE BRIDLINGTON HOSPITAL.

The local community is becoming very concerned and very ‘let down’ at the lack of action in respect of the future of Bridlington Hospital, with no signs of any of the pledges being kept regarding the restoration of services i.e the Acute Medical Services and the Cardiac Unit, much of the equipment having originally been purchased through fundraising locally, and should never have been removed in the first place.

At the meeting of Dec: 16^th 2010 with the Secretary of State Mr Andrew Lansley, assurances were given that Bridlington Hospital had a future as a hospital, including his comments that “no firm decisions had as yet been taken in respect of the restoration of services“. he also mentioned the many recent advancements in heart treatment which could he said, have overtaken usage of the cardiac unit.

That still does not mean that the unit is useless, as it is still being used at Scarborough Hospital, another reason for its return to its rightful home at Bridlington Hospital .

Much is being made of future hospital services being put into the hands of local G Ps with continual references being made to all future decision making having the full support of the local community, whereby giving power back to the people, all sounds very good unfortunately nothing like that seems to be happening.

I am sure you will agree the local community in this area have, in no uncertain terms, made it quite clear what they want to see, that Bridlington Hospital should be restored to its full capacity as a local hospital with the restorations of its services, which had deliberately been taken away in order to prop up the failing hospital at Scarborough

Dec:- 16^th Mr Lansley was informed that the main operating theatre was closed for 13 weeks to allow for certain works to be carried out, it is still closed.

I felt sure at that meeting the Minister had picked up the fact that he had not been made fully aware of the true situation and had only been told what the ‘Trust’ felt necessary to keep him quiet.

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Dear Mr Knight,

Enclosed comments are of a great deal of concern within the local community, even the hospital staff are finding it difficult not to voice opinions on the present situation, .it is very unsatisfactory all the way round.

Are you able to give any assurances on the future of Bridlington Hospital?

Thank you for passing on to the Secretary of State my comments regarding the meeting of Dec: 16^th sadly I have not even had an acknowledgment, I do hope he did find time to read them.

Yours sincerely,

　May Sexton

The fight by Durham residents that helped force changes in lap-dancing laws

It’s good news that Hackney Council voted last month to ban any new strip/lap dancing venues. 

The local authority's clampdown derives from the 2010 Policing and Crime Act, under which councils were given greater licensing authority and removed sex establishments' rights of appeal if a licence renewal is refused.

The law was changed only after hundreds of local campaigns brought pressure to bear on politicians to change it. One of the most important - and certainly most successful was that undertaken in Durham City. Three years ago I wrote an article for the Big Issue in Wales - due to a major re-organisation taking place at that time, it was never published. So here, for the first time, is the story of those who fought and won.

Originally written in 2008

Kirsty Thomas, and husband and wife Desmond and Ann Evans, recently became the first residents in the UK since the introduction of the 2003 Licensing Act to successfully challenge plans to open a lap dancing club.

Vimac Leisure had hoped to open the club in the historic city of Durham in north-east England. The company however was forced to concede defeat in June after the High Court in London dismissed their application for a judicial review of North Durham Magistrates earlier decision to refuse its application for a new premises license.

The victory by the 3 residents and the dozens who stood alongside them in a year - long struggle should give heart to others fighting to prevent similar establishments being considered elsewhere. Success came in spite of a lack of support from organisations responsible for ensuring the public’s safety.

It is only thirteen years since the first British lap-dancing club, For Your Eyes Only, opened in 1995 in London. There are now over 300 such ‘Gentlemen’s clubs’, the numbers having doubled since 2003. In Wales there are now close to 30 such clubs. Cardiff itself has its very own ‘For Your Eyes Only’ that is open seven nights a week charging £5 before 11.00pm and £10 after and where clients enjoy continuous stage shows and can choose to additionally pay to ogle a dancer in a private booth. A topless lap dance typically costs £10; rising to £20 for fully nude.

It was Ann Evans in July 2007 who first became aware that Vimac Leisure were hoping to turn ‘The Loft’, a night club close to Durham City’s main bus station, into a table or pole dancing club. Walking through the cobbled streets of the ancient city that is dominated by the magnificent Castle and Cathedral she spotted a blue notice on the door.

“I was shocked, I immediately rang the City Council up and they confirmed my fears, but they would only let me take a look at the application in the company of a council officer. I took down notes and when I got back I wrote off a letter to register my objection. We live locally and I was concerned about the affects such a club would have on the community” said Ann Evans, a retired law lecturer.

Under the law anyone wanting to object only had 21 days to do so and   had to be ‘materially affected’ – so a resident living more than ½ a mile from the premises would have found their objections ignored. Despite this the City Council received 51 letters, all from local organisations and people including parents of children and teenagers.

The Licensing Act of 2003 established a single integrated scheme for licensing premises that are used to regulate alcohol, provide regulated entertainment or late night refreshment. Responsibility rests with local authorities. In Durham there are 11 councillors on the licensing committee, it is a regulatory committee expected to take decisions on the face of evidence and not on a political whip. Council officers who said that there were no legal reasons why the application could be refused advised them.

Although the voting figures have never been formally released it is widely rumoured that it took the casting vote of the committee’s chair to grant VIMAC a license. However perhaps conscious of the strength of local feeling restrictions were placed on the days and times when lap dancing was to be permitted – Thursday’s, Friday’s and Saturday’s between 8.00pm and 2.00pm.

In the event neither side were happy with the verdict, the objectors wanting no dancing and VIMAC wanting a lot more. The appeal was heard before Magistrates at North Durham Court in December last year, by which time the campaigners, now backed by a number of local councillors including their own County Councillor Liberal Democrat Nigel Martin and Labour Mp Roberta Blackman-Woods had formed themselves into a vocal campaigning organisation. They appear to have been backed by most local people – the local free newspaper the Durham Times publishing hundreds of letters supporting them with only two against.

Two well- attended meetings were held, at which the well-known women’s rights campaigner Julie Bindel spoke. “She had a great influence after she gave an excellent speech showing how lap dancing exploited the women” said Kirsty Thomas.

“The licensing committee had, wrongly in our view, said our objections had ‘predominantly emanated from a moral stance” said Nigel Martin “but no-one could say that at the appeal. True many people did have moral objections, but the Liberal Democrat position is that as long as these premises are regulated and properly sited then they should be allowed to get a license. What everyone agreed was that the site chosen was inappropriate”.

Anyone hoping to use moral objections to prevent a lap-dancing club is sure to be disappointed as the licensing authority has only to take into account four factors when deciding on an application. These are crime and disorder, public safety, prevention of public nuisance and the protection of children from harm.

“I objected to the lap dancing club because it would have affected the institutions in the local vicinity such as the churches and also local residents who use that area to catch a bus. Furthermore the Shakespeare Hall community centre has a lot of classes for children and this is directly opposite The Loft. Because the sort of clients who use these clubs are sexually aroused and will be walking along the street where there are children and elderly people then I don’t think that is a good mix to create a good atmosphere where people feel free and safe” said Kirsty.

Initially the campaigners had sought to obtain legal advice from licensing specialists in the north east only to find that all of them are working for VIMAC in one form or another. In the event legal advice was provided by the Christian Legal Centre from London who provided a solicitor and a barrister who presented the case put together by the residents at court. There was an outside chance that if they lost then Desmond, Ann and Kirsty would have been left with a large legal bill. “Some people told us we’d be left penniless” laughs Desmond. 

“Our case stuck to the four points. We had hoped that some of the authorities charged with public safety would have assisted us. We worked hard to get the police behind us, some officers supported us on a personal level but when we argued that a lap dancing club was bound to bring with it additional crime and disorder the police said there was no evidence of lap dancing clubs in other parts of the country doing so. It undermined what we were saying. We also approached those charged with child protection at the County Council, but they wouldn’t get involved” says Kirsty Thomas.

“Vimac were able to make great play of our inability to get support from any responsible authority” says Ann.

Backing them however were local students. “We campaigned from the angle of the welfare and safety of the city rather than we don’t want a lap dancing club. North Road is quite a dangerous place, there are assaults on there every weekend, students tend to avoid it at night because of confrontations with locals” said Emma Carter, the education and welfare officer at Durham University Students Union.

“We decided that the main objection would be on public nuisance – people going to the bus station, that the club would be just 150 metres from the Cathedral, which is a world heritage site and that it would over the road from the community centre. We were also able to get our representatives to speak with authority about the local area, the residents who lived there, their ages and how they would be affected. No-one could say we hadn’t done our work” said Nigel Martin.

In the event the Magistrates agreed with them throwing out VIMAC’s appeal, refusing the application for a new premises licence stating the  objectors had ‘focused on the particular entertainment proposed in this specific location’ such that they have been influenced by ‘the relevance and weight of the arguments’.

Now having seen VIMAC’s application for Judicial Review fail Kirsty says hey are “absolutely delighted to have won this case on behalf of the local community.” 

They are also pleased to see that their local MP Roberta Blackman- Woods campaign to change the law to give councils the power to license lap-dancing clubs as sex encounter establishments appears to have been successful. She had argued that the very people most affected by the clubs, the residents who have to walk past them every day, needed to be considered when authorities decide whether to grant a license. Now Gerry Sutcliffe, Bradford Mp and licensing minister has stated that

"The Government is concerned about the current increase in the number of establishments which are putting on lap dancing and similar forms of adult entertainment, and we are aware that these concerns are shared by many local authorities and other stakeholders. It is clear that the protections and regulations set out in the 2003 Act and elsewhere do not go as far as some people would like to control the proliferation of lap-dancing clubs and similar establishments."

Sutcliffe has written to council leaders asking them to tell the Government what powers they want to limit the number of clubs.

Forgiving father

A 13 year-old boy from Crewe recently imprisoned for two years after sexually abusing a seven year-old girl last year needs help and support. So says the victims’ father, feeling that without which the one time family friend will remain a danger to society and himself.

Describing the teenager’s attempt to rape his daughter as “any parent’s worst nightmare” the father added that what was “especially worrying is the boy has yet to show any real remorse. He needs to be assisted into recognising what he has done. Only then can he get appropriate treatment such that when he returns to society his follow up care can ensure nothing like this happens again in the future.”

Despite this concern the father believes his daughter’s assailant should be looking to live elsewhere. He’s adamant he’s not making any threats, but believes many people are angry at the incident and that in the circumstances a different location should be found for the youngster to live in.

On a wider level he’s concerned that far too many young people’s knowledge of sex comes from what they pick up “on the street or catching glimpses of pornographic, often violent, movies at home, where any idea of a loving relationship is absent.” He’d like to see much more being done in schools to giving young people a more balanced view.

Meanwhile he’s continuing to show support to his daughter saying she now found it difficult to sleep in her own bed or use the toilet and that whilst counselling was helping “it was a slow process. One I suspect we might never know has properly worked such that it would make it appropriate to stop.”