Tory Councillor slams Government's changes to Feed-In Tariff

Today's post brought the latest issue of the Local Government Association's magazine, First.

On page 3 there's a comment from the Chair of the LGA 's Environmental Board, TORY councillor David Parsons, who I know from my time as a councillor on Blaby District Councillor.

He is quoted as saying:

"Local councils, and local people are paying the price for this Government department's mistakes."

I just wish this had come in time for our debate on Tuesday evening.

 

The full media release reads:

LGA Media Release 12 December 2011



Rushed solar panel cuts will mean thousands will miss out on cheaper bills

Thousands of hard-pressed families in social housing will face steeper electricity bills next year because of Government cuts to solar panel subsidies which take effect today (Monday).

The Local Government Association has found that the majority of councils which had imminent plans in the pipeline have had to pull the plug on solar panels for houses, schools, leisure centres and town halls because of the 50 per cent cut to the rate of Feed-in Tariffs being rushed through nearly four months early.

Installing solar panels on social housing would have saved approximately £190 per year off the fuel bill of an average household. But many councils have been forced to cancel contracts and break promises to thousands of tenants after the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) gave just six weeks notice they were bringing forward the deadline for getting panels installed.

Councils had been working flat out to get solar panels up before the end of the financial year to take advantage of Feed-in Tariff subsidies.

But local authorities were told in October that the deadline was being brought forward to 12 December. Solar panels installed from today onwards will only receive half the rate in subsidy over the next 25 years of those up and running yesterday or before. And if councils want to help their residents in social homes to have panels, the subsidy will be cut by a further 20 per cent.

The LGA had previously urged Government to help thousands of fuel-poor families by keeping to its original promise of giving councils until the end of March to install solar panels.

Cllr David Parsons, Chairman of the LGA’s Environment Board, said:
“Local councils, and local people are paying the price for this Government department’s mistakes.

“People trust and rely upon their local council for help. But broken promises of funding from DECC have left local authorities unable to afford to meet the promises they made to tenants who will be left hundreds of pounds worse off as a result.

“This is going to have a major impact on families who could have benefitted from cheaper energy. We have also seen that it is likely to lead to the loss of thousands of jobs as energy firms find contracts falling by the wayside.

“Councils were spearheading the rollout of tens of thousands of solar panels on public buildings and the homes of those who could not afford to do it themselves.

“By moving the goalposts at the last minute, Government has risked undermining confidence in its green agenda.”

-ends-

Changes to Fit -in Tariffs casts shadow on solar PV industry

Earlier this evening I seconded a motion, proposed by Cllr Catherine Dawson of Mincinglake condeming the Conservative/LibDem coalition governements sham consultatioj over the rushed plans to change the level of Feed-In Tariff payment to those installing solar PV panels on their roofs.

Annouced at the end of October, the changes came into effect yesterday, 10 days before the end of a consultation on the matter.

The motion:

This Council calls on the Government to reverse its cruel cuts to the tariff which will harm a lot of residents in Exeter.

They are planning to cut the tariff for solar PV installations with a capacity of 4KW or less by more than 50% from 43p/kWh to 21p/kWh. For multiple installations the rate falls to 16.8p/kWh.

Their rushed cuts to the Feed in tariff for solar PV goes too far, too fast, hits families trying to protect themselves from soaring energy bills, put thousands of jobs and businesses in the solar industry in jeopardy and give lie to the government’s promise to be the “greenest government ever”

My speech seconding the motion:

My Lord Mayor

As a long-time supporter of Green causes, it gives me great pleasure to second this resolution.

And I’m pleased that this is on a day when there are protests outside Parliament asking the Government to Cut Not Kill the solar power industry and two days before a legal challenge to the changes

But first I must declare a couple of interests.

Earlier in the year, SunGift Solar installed a Solar PV system on our roof and it’s currently generating electricity.

I’d like to thank Sungift Solar for honouring their pledge to put up Exeter’s Christmas lights for free.

The change in payments under the FiT scheme has meant they’ve been extremely busy, trying to install 6 months’ worth of orders [some 50 systems or so] in 6 weeks.

I am also a member of the Labour Party – the Party that in April 2010 introduced the Feed-In Tariff scheme [which is commonly shortened to FiT]

The FiT scheme is a process used by over 40 countries around the world that pays people to generate electricity from solar photovoltaic [PV] panels funded by a small levy on all energy bills

When the FiT was introduced by Labour in April last year, the Uk belatedly joined the party in one of the fastest growing markets of any kind globally.

The Feed-in Tariff certainly isn't perfect, but it's been incredibly successful at getting panels on roofs.

This doesn't just help people reduce their electricity bills and carbon emissions – there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that seeing the panels in action (and reaping the rewards) can change the way people think about energy.

They then are more likely to make climate-friendly choices in other areas of their lives.

Yet back it when it was announced  back in April 2010 it was criticised by the Conservative opposition.

Heavily criticised.

Greg Clark, then Shadow Energy Secretary said:
"FITs are essential to allow decentralised energy to play a major role in our energy mix, but Labour's proposals today lack ambition.

“Ministers should have been bolder with this scheme so more jobs could have been created and greater reductions in emissions could have been achieved."

But even before that, back in 2007, David Cameron welcomed FiT schemes when spoke [on video] to a Greenpeace conference.

Yes he was green. He was extremely green.

He was green with envy of the generous FiT scheme in Germany.

He saw how it was taking British-made technology and putting it on German roofs.

He wanted – and I quote –

“The right plans and the right political will to drive through a mass market for micro-generation”

So here’s a phrase I thought I’d never utter –

I AGREE WITH DAVID

In Opposition, both the Lib-Dems and Tories dismissed the Labour initiative as pitifully unambitious.

In Government, they pledged to do much more.

The Coalition Agreement even pledged to make FiT the centrepiece of their commitment to ‘community owned renewable energy generation'.

But you would never guess it now.

So what went wrong?

Were they got at by the Big 6 Energy Companies – and their paid lobbyists?

Did they listen to the Nuclear Industry – and their paid lobbyists?

All I know is that the solar energy industry was too busy putting solar PV panels on people roofs to have time to pay for lobbyists.

I’m proud of my green credentials to add to my socialist beliefs. I’m a Green Red

David seems to have taken his green thoughts, mixed them with his true blue blood and turned yellow.

I’m not criticising him for changing his mind –
I’m criticising him for changing his mind from being so right to being so wrong.

Let’s look at some figures:

 The UK solar energy industry employs 25,000 professionals compared with just 3,000 in 2010
 The number of solar businesses has increased from 450 in 2010 to over 3,000 today
 Since the introduction of tariffs in 2010 a total of 87,769 solar installations have been completed in the UK

All of which could help the Tory Government meet its claim of being the greenest government yet – and at the same help the private sector create new jobs.

There are even more figures being bandied around about the cost of the FiT scheme.

I believe that might cost each household about £1.50 each year.

Ofgem, the energy regulator, confirms this estimate.

But is only might because other studies say the Treasury gets more back in tax and NI (from the jobs created) than it costs to run the scheme.

Either way, it is not a sum around which the economy will crumble

Greg Barker, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, isn’t sure what it will cost.

Each and every announcement seems to put the cost higher –

First £26,
Then £28 but its assumed that was a slip of the tongue
Then it went up to £55 and now rests around £80.

However, a figure that can’t be disputed is the one for decommissioning nuclear power stations.

The UK tax payer pays hundreds of times more than this towards the cost of decommissioning nuclear power stations and looking after the nuclear waste they generate.

According to the Government’s own figures, £6.93bn of taxpayers’ money was given to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in 2010-2011. 

That figure equates to £260 per household.

We talk about micro-generation but it can generate a lot of electricity

 the energy generation of solar power now exceeds the 225 megawatts maximu operating     capacity of the Oldbury nuclear power plant

The cuts to the Feed-In Tariff will deprive the UK of a booming green industry that is driving jobs growth and providing an environmentally sustainable and long-term alternative to other fossil-fuel dependent methods of electricity.

Already leading solar firm Carillion has confirmed that some 4,500 jobs are now under threat due to the planned cut to the subsidy.

Indeed the firm that put solar panels on the Kensington roof of the Prime Minister have already laid off 2 workers.

So rashly withdrawing support from this burgeoning industry will be disastrous for both our economy and the environment.

What might not be known is that from the start it was always planned that Feed-in Tariffs were supposed to decrease annually, as the price of technology falls.

Unlike nuclear, solar does not need subsidising forever.

That was part of attraction.

There would be staged reductions in in the tariff, down to zero within the decade.

These reductions in tariff were to have been there to fairly reflect falling solar prices, and were planned so as to be not be too deep to stall the development of a domestic UK solar industry.

Cutting so far and so fast as this Government has done will put thousands of solar workers out of a job and pull the rug out from under small community groups that have already poured time and effort into their projects, but don't stand a chance of meeting the new deadline.

Take Brighton Energy Cooperative, which was due to start selling shares but has been forced to put the entire project on hold until further notice.

Reading Council announced that they'd be drastically scaling back their school solar programme.

Even this Council’s own programme for solar PV panels on nearly 500 council homes was in doubt – but thanks to quick negotiations from our officers that one, at least, was rescued

Do these cuts need to happen at all?

Unlike other government programmes, the FiT scheme isn't funded from general taxation – the costs are covered by a levy on energy bills.

When the Labour government was designing the scheme, they came up with an estimate of how much it would cost, and planned to revisit this figure once they had some proper take-up data.

When the coalition came into power and kicked off the spending review, they took this estimate, cut it by 10% and set that as the overall budget for the whole programme.

It's not clear why the scheme was included in the spending review at all, since it isn't funded directly by the treasury and doesn't increase the deficit; but whatever the reason, it means that the whole idea of a Fit 'budget' is an invention of this government.

Decisions like this are really just a question of priorities – if a government really wants to do something it wil always find a way of financing it.

But in any case the impact of the Feed-in Tariff is tiny compared to spiraling gas prices and energy companies' profits

And even if we rule out any bill increases, there are plenty of other ways to meet the cost – from a direct levy on energy company profits, to reallocating money from other programmes that have underspent.

Yet it recently emerged that climate minister Chris Huhne never even asked the treasury whether they could provide emergency funding to allow the cuts to be phased in gradually.

The real measure of a government lies in the choices it makes when there's no easy option. Ministers need to ask themselves: when all is said and done, will these cuts bring us closer to a truly low-carbon economy, or will they push it further over the horizon?

Any government that wants to be remembered as the "greenest ever" must put this question at the heart of every decision, but especially over this particular decision.

I say “From the greenest government ever to the meanest government ever”.

The co-coalition has done a huge U-turn and is now doing nothing less than demoralizing – and demonizing – the solar power industry as a matter of course.

Over the weekend I was speaking with Caroline Flint, Labour’s Shadow Energy Secretary and we agreed that history will record that Labour began this growth industry and the Tories will all but kill it off in its infancy if these mindless changes to the FiT scheme are not reversed.

It gives me great pleasure to second the resolution

A lively debate followed with the motion falling to a Lib Dem amendment suggesting sending comments from the City Council to the very consultation I believe is a sham - only passed by local Tories and Lib Dems voting together and the casting vote of the Lord Mayor.

For me, the most pleasing comment came from Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group, who commended Labour "Central Office" for supporting us both with all the facts and figures.

No James, that was all our own intelligent factual research! We both hae enquiring minds that we like to put to good use.

20's Plenty For Us

One issue that seems to unite the Ward is that of speeding - from Barley Lane to Bowhay Lane, when asked about local issues affecting them always mention speeding

Two weeks ago, at Devon County Council's Exeter HATOC [Highways and Traffic Orders Committee] meeting, the Labour Councillor of Pinhoe, Moira MacDonald, asked if the committee would join some 20 other Councils in declaring their City a 20 mph speed linit area.

As I heard it, the Chair said there was no need as Exeter was for all intense and purpose already one. It's not quite minuted like that.

But here's that map I've been sent to reference this. The RED areas show where a 20 mph speed limit is already in place and the PURPLE lines show major arterial routes where the limit is 30 mph.

It's good to see that Cowick is in the designated 20 mph speed limit area - but of course none of this is enforced or monitored.

Cllr MacDonald and I are already discussing plans based around the 20's Plenty For Us campaign,

In the New Year, Cllr Morris and  I plan to launch an intiative throughout Cowick to try and tackle the problem of excess speed in the Ward.

Hampshire Close street letter on grit bins

Here are the street letters delivered earlier this week to residents in Hampshire Drive and nearly dwellings in Dorset Avenue about the recently installed grit bin.

E&E reports on First and Last congestion

Express and Echo reporter Ann Byrne has been following my campaign over the junction at the First and last pub and here's her latest report in the Community News section of this week's paper.

Meeting bid to cut congestion

Cowick Councillor Paul Bull is continuing his fight to ease congestion at a busy junction.

Cllr Bull has visited the junction Cowick Street and Buddle Lane at the First ad last pub on many occasions and  with fellow Cowick Councillor Heather Morris, and is organising a site meeting with Stagecoach, Highways officers and other West Exe councillors.

Cllr Bull said: "The First and Last junction is a diamond junction which stops all traffic and allows pedestrians to cross the junction in all directions.

"To do this safely the yellow box junction must be free of all traffic, yet many motorists are not considerate and try and jump the lights.

The phasing of the traffic lights remains constant throughout the day and Cllr Bull believes that rush hours giving longer timing to traffic travelling in different directions may help alleviate the problem.

The situation is exacerbated by having one of the city's busiest bus stops at this end of Cowick Street

"I understand Stagecoach's reluctance to move this stop" says Cllr Bull, "but do all buses that currently stop here need to? Eighteen buses an hour stop here at peak times, that's one every three minutes. No wonder traffic backs back up into Dunsford Road, Buddle Lane, and Cowick Lane.

"Four services currently stop here, and perhaps Stagecoach might consider reducing the number of services that use this stop."

Cllr Bull is hoping that the meeting will take place in within the next few weeks.

True grit for Hampshire Drive

For many months I've been lobbying Devon County Council for a grit bin for Hampshire Drive.

During the snow last winter, the residents felt isolated and cut off.

Now if the snow descends in the same quantities this year, they should be able to get out and about.

For more information on how to cope in extreme weather conditions, vist Devon County Council's Winter Weather pages, and in particular have a look at the "Keep Devon's Roads Moving" factsheet.

Congestion still at First and Last

There's still no progress over traffic congestion at the First and last.

Tomorrow there is a meeting of a combined Devon County Council and Exeter City Council - HATOC which stands for Highways and Traffic Orders Committee.

At this meeting, both Committee members and City Councillors are able to put questions to a senior Representative from Stagecoach.

I hope to attend but various other commitments make it uncertain, so I am loathe to ask to speak under standing orders,

I am asking Cllr Rob Hannafordhope to ask the following of Stagecoach rep?

Many people are aware of the traffic congestion that can occur throughout the day at the traffic lights at the First and Last junction.

Some of this can be caused by more than one bus stopping at the in-bound bus stop.

Stagecoach tells us that this is one of the busiest in the city.

I do not dispute this - but what I do question is the fact that at least 4 regular services use this stop . A - E - F1 - F2 which equates to 18 buses an hour - one every 3 mins.

My observations reveal that although there is frequently a queue to board buses, very few alight here - and of those that do, a sizeable majority head towards St Thomas health centre which is also served by another stop equidistant along Cowick Street

Would there be any merit in reconsidering which services stop at the First & Last? A and E and not the 2 F service?

I am sure many councillors west of the Exe would welcome a site visit with stagecoach representatives. Could this be arranged?

COWICK WARD NEWS | November 2011

Summary of Sylvan Heights resdients meeting

Earlier this month Cllr Heather Morris and I convened a meeting of intereste parts involved in the new Sylvan Heights development on the site of the Old Crossmeads Conference Centre.
On Wednesday 5 October, residents met with ECC staff responsible for Community Engagement and Parks, PCSO Darren Wallis and representatives from Taylor Wimpey [the developers] and Deveon & Cornwall Housing [who are the social landlords]

We've now sent out a letter to all residents with a summary of the meeting

Letter to Exonia Park residents

"Welcome to Cowick" letter to new residents of Sylvan Heights

COWICK ROSE June 2011

Since being elected, the work up at Exonia Park continues.But the fact that they now have 2 councillors working alongside the Exonia Park Residents' Association appears to be paying dividends. So much so, we are both anxious to see this work rolled out to other Park Home sites across Exeter.

At last week's Scrutiny: Community committee meeting, Heather and I pushed for a Park Homes Residents' Forum to represent the views of Park Home owners in a similar way to the Tenants and Leaseholders Committee [TALC] does.

And we succeeded.

Anne Byrne followed this up with an article in today's Express & Echo.

EXETER housing bosses are to look into forming a forum for residents of mobile homes in the city.

The move follows pressure from Cowick councillor Heather Morris who has been working with residents of Exonia Park.

Cllr Morris said that she has been working hard in Cowick to help all residents but recognised early on that residents in park homes can have different problems.

She added: "Exeter City Council are the authority responsible for issuing the licence to park site owners, and therefore as a council we have a duty to ensure that the licences are not being breached.

"Given that the Residential Tribunal Service now has jurisdiction to deal with disputes between mobile home site occupiers and park site owners, it is time for the council to support residents in park homes."

Following the meeting, Cllr Morris said she was delighted that Councillor Rob Hannaford, the city's portfolio holder for housing and community involvement, had agreed to the setting up of the forum as she felt it would help residents understand their rights and help them to resolve matters.

She said: "It also sends a clear message to site owners that the council will not accept any breaches of site licences."

Cllr Hannaford said: "The park home developments in Cowick, Topsham and St Loyes already have their own residents' associations that deal with on-site issues.

"To assist and support these groups, the city council will convene and set up a new Park Homes Forum to help bring people together, discuss issues, give advice and ensure that site licences are not being breached. We already have similar meetings for council tenants and housing associations, so it is logical to extend this format to park homes.

"It's my intention that these meetings will also involve local city and county councillors, community police teams, housing and environmental health officers, and other agencies as agreed and suggested by the residents."

Lights on main road fixed but delay angers councill

A week ago the traffic signals at the First & Last failed. They were fixed FIVE days later after much traffic chaos during the peak travel times.

Cllr Heather Morris and I are still pushing for many questions to be answered.

The Express & Echo have joined us in this quest and this is today's contribution.

Lights on main road fixed but delay angers councillor

TRAFFIC lights at a busy junction have been repaired after being out of action for several days.

Devon County Council has confirmed that the signals have been "switched back on" but not before a number of concerns were raised by resident and city councillors.The problem developed at the junction of Buddle Lane and Cowick Street.

It is understood that all four sets of lights had failed.

Issues with the lights began on Friday, continued through the weekend and were still affecting traffic early this week.

A Devon County Council spokesman said: "We can confirm that the matter was resolved at 6pm on Tuesday night. Engineers had been working to fix the signals but this was delayed as spare parts had to be ordered from the contractor's central depot in Leicester.

A number of people expressed concerns about the delays in fixing the lights, including the city councillor for Cowick, Heather Morris, who said: "It was unacceptable that this well-used crossroads was out of action for so long and it showed little respect for the residents, school children and commuters in Exeter.

Cowick Street is one of the main routes in and out of Exeter and gets congested at busy times – even when the lights are fully functional.

Enjoyed reading the lead letter in today's Express & Echo as I travellled on the train to London - it was my contribution to to the continuing debate on the faulty traffic lights at the First & Last junction [where Cowick Street. Cowick Lane, Dunsford Road and Buddle Lane all converge].

The sorry saga of faulty traffic lights

I WOULD like to apologise to pedestrians and commuters for the disruption caused by the failure of traffic lights at the junction of Buddle Lane, Dunsford Road, Cowick Lane and Cowick Street at the outer edge of my Cowick ward (Children's 'lives at risk' after traffic lights go out, Express & Echo, 14 June ).

However, as an Exeter City Councillor it is not for me to apologise – the root problem needs to be laid firmly at the feet of Devon County Council.

Despite this, I have received many comments of concern from residents about the problem.

I believe that these traffic signals first failed on Friday, when I hope the self-diagnosis system reported the fault directly to the urban traffic control computer in County Hall.

I saw that these traffic signals were out of action on Saturday morning as I was carrying out a ward walk around Cowick.

At the time I was not unduly worried as there were signs indicating the lights were out of action and an engineer was on site trying to rectify the problem.

On Sunday, I received a copy of an email sent to the Highways Department looking after Exeter from my fellow councillor for Cowick, Cllr Heather Morris, indicating that the traffic lights were still out of action.

Mid morning on Tuesday I returned from another ward visit and wrote to the county council's Highways Operational Control Centre informing them that I was extremely concerned that the situation still persisted.

Also, there seemed to be little, if anything, happening to resolve the fault.

I understand that Devon County Council's policy on traffic management and traffic signals states that "serious faults will be attended within four hours and non-serious within 13 hours" and it goes on to say: "Portable traffic signals are used whenever there is a need to manage traffic whilst work is carried out..."

So what happened at this junction? Not four hours, not even 13 hours. Nearly five days! Why the delay?

I am led to believe that a part was specially driven down from the Midlands to rectify the fault. Again why the delay? And at what cost?

If the part had been ordered early on Monday, an overnight courier service would have guaranteed delivery before 10am for about £50.

At the time of writing both Cllr Morris and I are still awaiting a response from Devon County Council about this matter.

Cllr Paul Bull

Labour and Co-operative City Councillor for Cowick

0recommendations

Since being elected, the work up at Exonia Park continues. But the fact that they now have 2 councillors working alongside the Exonia Park Residents' Association appears to be paying dividends. So much so, we are both anxious to see this work rolled out to other Park Home sites across Exeter.

At last week's Scrutiny: Community committee meeting, Heather and I pushed for a Park Homes Residents' Forum to represent the views of Park Home owners in a similar way to the Tenants and Leaseholders Committee [TALC] does. And we succeeded.

Ann Byrne followed this up with an article in today's Express & Echo.

Chance to air views thanks to new forum

EXETER housing bosses are to look into forming a forum for residents of mobile homes in the city.

The move follows pressure from Cowick councillor Heather Morris who has been working with residents of Exonia Park.

Cllr Morris said that she has been working hard in Cowick to help all residents but recognised early on that residents in park homes can have different problems.

She added: "Exeter City Council are the authority responsible for issuing the licence to park site owners, and therefore as a council we have a duty to ensure that the licences are not being breached.

"Given that the Residential Tribunal Service now has jurisdiction to deal with disputes between mobile home site occupiers and park site owners, it is time for the council to support residents in park homes."

Following the meeting, Cllr Morris said she was delighted that Councillor Rob Hannaford, the city's portfolio holder for housing and community involvement, had agreed to the setting up of the forum as she felt it would help residents understand their rights and help them to resolve matters.

She said: "It also sends a clear message to site owners that the council will not accept any breaches of site licences."

Cllr Hannaford said: "The park home developments in Cowick, Topsham and St Loyes already have their own residents' associations that deal with on-site issues.

"To assist and support these groups, the city council will convene and set up a new Park Homes Forum to help bring people together, discuss issues, give advice and ensure that site licences are not being breached. We already have similar meetings for council tenants and housing associations, so it is logical to extend this format to park homes.

"It's my intention that these meetings will also involve local city and county councillors, community police teams, housing and environmental health officers, and other agencies as agreed and suggested by the residents."

Co-councillor Heather Morris is quoted in today's Express & Echo as the traffic signals at the First & Last were still not functioning until they were finally fixed at 18:00 yesterday evening.

I plan to keep asking questions - as it is important to get to the bottom of why this has taken so long to resolve.

Councillor sees red as lights problem goes on

ENGINEERS say they are working to repair faulty traffic lights at a busy Exeter junction "as soon as possible".

Concerns have been raised about the problem which has developed at the junction of Buddle Lane and Cowick Street. All four sets of lights had failed.

ssues with the lights began on Friday, continued through the weekend, and were still affecting traffic yesterday.

A Devon County Council spokesman said: "Engineers are working to fix the signals but they have so far been unable to fully resolve the problem.

"Some of the necessary spare parts are being ordered from the contractor's central depot in Leicester. The signals will be repaired as soon as possible."

But the county council's position was described as unacceptable by city councillor for Cowick Heather Morris.

She said: "I got a message to the county council on Sunday which clearly stated my concerns regarding the traffic lights and the severity of the problem, and that I hoped would have been resolved prior to Monday morning.

"It is unacceptable that this well-used crossroads is still out of action and I am awaiting an explanation.

"This shows little respect for the residents, school children and commuters in Exeter and no respect from Devon County Council towards Exeter city councillors."

Cowick Street is one of the main routes in and out of Exeter and gets congested at busy times – even when the lights are fully functional.

Cllr Morris added: "I am aware that a sign has been placed stating that the lights are not working but we need to be fully advised why they have been out of action for such a long time with clear advice on when they will be operational."

Her comments reflect the view of residents who have also spoken to the Echo.

Pensioner Terrence Bulley, 70, said he feared for the safety of pupils who were making their way to school.

He said: "My greatest concern was for the children on their way to the school. They were dicing with death because there was no way of telling which car was going to move."

It's now Tuesday and the traffic lights still aren't working at what is universally acknowledged as a busy junction. Why haven't Devon County Council arranged for temporary signals is this hotspot of chronic traffic congestion?

The Express & Echo has an article on the problem.

Children's lives 'at risk' after traffic lights go out

LIVES were put at risk because faulty traffic lights at a busy Exeter junction were not repaired immediately, a resident has claimed.

There was rush-hour chaos at the junction of Buddle Lane and Cowick Street yesterday, where all four sets of lights had gone out.

Pensioner Terrence Bulley said the problem happened on Friday, and should have been fixed on the same day.

Cowick Street is one of the main routes in and out of Exeter and gets congested at busy times – even when the lights are fully functional.

But Mr Bulley has said that for the last three days the lights were left off, and motorists have been left to work out who has right of way.

The 70-year-old resident of New Hayes, near Clyst St Mary, regularly drives to St Thomas to look after his grandchildren.

He said he feared for the safety of pupils who were making their way to school.

"When there is a fault on a junction as vital as that it is crucial it gets fixed immediately," he said.

"The authorities clearly knew about it because there were signs around the lights indicating that they were down, but there were no temporary lights in their place.

"My greatest concern was for the children on their way to the school, they were dicing with death because there was no way of telling which car was going to move."

The fault was one of a number in and around Exeter causing problems for motorists.

At Pinhoe, gas works on the B3181 are continuing with three-way temporary lights at the junction with Station Road and Church Hill.

Traders have complained the works, which are being carried out by Wales and West utilities, are affecting their business.

Also affecting the B3181 are works to improve the highway and drainage in Cullompton.

Contractors for Devon County Council started work in Fore Street on February 21 and are not expected to be complete until Friday, June 24 – two weeks later than scheduled.

County council contractors were repairing the lights at the Buddle Lane/Cowick Street junction yesterday. No one from the council was available for comment.

To and fro over traffic signals

On Saturday, on my way to Cowick for a walk around the ward, I noticed that the traffic lights at the end of Cowick Street were out of action. But not problem, I thought as there was an engineer busy fixing the problem.

No such luck, Heather Morris, my Cowick co-councillor, contacted the East Area Highways Management team of Devon County Council yesterday to find out what was happening here. To date she has had no response.

Today, I've been back in Cowick - and the traffic signals are out of action. On my return home I contacted the Highways Operational Control Centre [HOCC].

Since then there have been many e-mails to-ing and fro-ing to Devon County Council. Well mainly to-ing as some 8 hours later, I still heard nothing back.

Questions will be asked...

UK’s ‘most Conservative council’ to retain AWC

An article on the letsrecycle site has been brought to my attention - "UK's 'most Conservative council' to retain AWC" from 01 June 2011.

It states that Waverley Borough Council in Surrey, with 56 out of 57 [the other is an Independent. Indeed although the Lib Dems are listed on the Council website, there are none on the Council. Labour doesn't even warrant a mention!]] has pledged to defy Communities Secretary Eric Pickles over his call for a return to weekly waste collections. It intends to stand by its own alternate weekly system.

On the offer of £100 million funding to entice councils back to weekly bin collections, Mary Orton, chief executive of Waverley, said "It is the pseudo-micro-mangement of councils for a quick Daily mail headline. The amount of money [allegedly] on offer is nowhere near enough to even scratch the surface of getting councils to go back from forthnightly to weekly collections"

Waverley decided they wouldn't countenance the change due to £650,000-a-year savings under AWC and the additional capital costs in returning to weekly.

More Rubbish

Today's Sunday Telegraph has more on the debate about weekly collections of rubbish under the heading "Weekly bin collections killed off by Tory revolt".

Apparently, 46 authorities [including 37 Tory councils] have confirmed that they plan to keep forthnighly collections despite a bribe from Local Government Minister, Eric Pickles, to revert back to weekly waste collection.

And one of these councils is West Oxfordshire - where Prime Minister David Cameron has his constituency home.

Indeed, London's largest borough, Conservative-led Croyden, last week became the latest council to cut weekly rounds. Cabinet member for the environement, Phil Thomas, said "it will reduce landfill costs, making us more efficient for our customers, and improve our recycling rates. Those are CONSERVATIVE ideals."

Just over half of England's 326 councils now have forthnightly waste collections for unreyclable 'black bag' rubbish, including 10 who have switched since the Coalition came to power.

The article went on to say that Exeter City Council, which was severely criticised for its handling of winter bin collections by Bob Neill, the Local Government mi9nsiter, las week said the cost of returning to weekly collections in its area alone would be £1.7 millon [for the first year] and then £1 million every year [thereafter].

No return to weekly bin rounds

Today's Daily Mail admits that the Tories appear to have lost the battle to re-introduce weekly refuse collections with the headline "No return to weekly bin rounds".

After coming to power last may, the Coalition demanded the reinstatement of weekly services. Indeed Eric Pickles declared: "It's a basic right for every Englishman and woman to be able to put the remants of their chicken tikka masal in their bin without have to wait 2 weeks for it to be collected."

So the climb-down on this issue is another U-turn to add to the many of the Coalition promises abandoned since they came to power over a year ago.

Scrutiny - Community Committee

So here we are - the cut and thrust of Committee meetings.

My first on was today - Scrutiny - Community.

Back in January, this Scrutiny Committee asked officers for a report on the cost of returning to a weekly waste collection. This was asked for by Tory Cllr John Winterbottom, who no longer sits on this committee.

It appears that he is still the best brain to present the case for the opposition as he was allowed to introduce the debate under Standing Order 44.

Much discussiion ensued including my contribution - as follows:

In respect of this, why are we listening to the VOCAL MINORITY who want a return to weekly rubbish collections. I want to speak up for the SILENT MAJORITY.

When campaigning in Cowick [especially at the height of the furore over the early january period] almost everyone welcomed the fortnightly collection. maybe a handful of people wished to revert to weekly collections.

Cllr Crow recently did a well-published stint with the refuse collection team - and in all her reports in various bits of media [e.g. E&E 03 June 2011, "Councillor calls for weekly bin rounds"], she mentioned that within 2 days black bin ags were appearing in the back alleys.

Back in January, the Chair convened a Special meeting of this Committee [I was one of 3 people not a councillor sitting in the public gallery at what one of the others there referred to as "the best show in town tonight"] and heard clearly what Robert Norley had to say in his excellent report [appended to the printed minutes]

On the constraints, he said: " The Council is a waste collection authority, and its role is to collect household waste from homes, which presented for collection in the right place, at the right time and in the right receptacle."

Clearly what Cllr Crow saw was one out of three conditions met.

In the same vein, I ask why the press and other media are so interested in the BAD news regarding rubbish collection. They only seem to be interested when it goes wrong. over the extended Easter break it all went so well - but where was the news in the national media?

I'm much more interested in the GOOD news. The good news when recycling rates are up, giving us an income of over £1million from selling recyclets and gaining recycling credits along with the reduction in landfill tax.

All this is achieved by the Alternate Weekly Collect [AWC] - collecting recyclables from the green bin one week, and waste from the grey bin the next.

Using reseach from BusinessGreen, [James Murry "Greenest Government Ever - Has no-one told Eric Pickles?" 01 June 2011] I've read a recent report by WYC Environment ["Review of Kerbside Recycling Collections Schemes in the UK in 2009/10] which found that the vast majority of the top 30 recycling councils, and all of the top 10, use AWC, whuile repeated reports have shown that the more residual rubbish collection you provide, the more garbage people throw out.

And there is [anecdotal] evidence to suggest that those few Conservative councils that have moved back to weekly collections after trailing AWC have seen recycling rates stall, or fall again.

I want to see our recycling rates conitnue to rise..and that's why I will continue to support AWC."

The Tory motion was rejected, especially when my speech helped convince Lib Dem Cllr Sheila Hobden of the continued success of AWC. She said returning to weekly waste collection would be "a retrograde step".

Much else was discussed in a long, long meeting. And I had to return to work up at the Exeter Northcott at the conclusion of the meeting at 21:15.

THANK YOU LETTER

Hard work to come after election win

So after all the hard work, time for some thanks.

Of course, the residents of Cowick who put their faith in me.

Co-councillor, Heather Morris, for the foundations she has laid sine her own election in September.

Labour organiser, Dom Collins and the wonderful team at Clifton Hill.

The numerous people who have phoned, delivered, canvassed, knocked on doors, sat on polling stations and worked in the Committee Room.

The many Labour Councillors for their invaluable encouragement and support.

And to my wife, Rachel, herself a Councillor, who eased me through the many highs and a few lows.

You all know who you are - many thanks.

And to make it public, my letter was published in today's Express and Echo.

Hard work to come after election win

I was proud and honoured to elected on Thursday as Labour and Co-operative Councillor for the Cowick Ward of Exeter City Council.

My success was the result of commitment over many months - from my family, friends, colleagues and supporters. It was hard work, but I am aware that the harder work is yet to come - as I strive to do my best for the residents of Cowick in particular, and Exeter city as a whole.

I look forward to representing you all.

Paul Bull

Labour and Co-operative Party Councillor for Cowick

Elected!

It's the early hours of Friday morning, and I am proud to say that I was elected.

The results:

PAUL BULL [Labour} 981

Arabella Fraser [Green] 140

Helen Bray [Lib Dem] 185

Jake Donovan [Tory] 774

A majority of 207, with 47.16% of the vote.

Tomorrow's delivery

All systems GO. Have the material I need to take to the polling station on Merrivale Road for 7 am tomorrow morning.

Then it's head to the Committee Room at 9, a quick cup of coffee, then have these to deliver to Labour supporters throughout the ward.]

Candidates make an appeal for your vote

In their guide to the local elections, the Express and Echo are publishing 50 word statements from each of the candidates.

Today, along with Alphington, Duryard and Exwick, they feature my ward of Cowick.

Paul Bull, Labour

I've already heard the voices of Cowick residents on inconsiderate parking, speeding in 20 mph zones, the problems of the P bus routes and potholes throughout the ward. As a councillor, I want to be the listening voice for Cowick in tough times - to ensure efficient delivery of quality services in times of public finance cuts.

My Tory rival is quoted as saying "Throughout my election campaign I have learned just how hungry for change the residents of Cowick really are."

Since the seat contested is currently held by a Tory, I treat that as a ringing endorsement for me!