Time to have a Green Belt: Horror of proposals to expand Truro's City Limits

Letter to the West Briton

Dear Editor,

Like many readers, I am horrified at the prospect of the proposed development of a supermarket and new housing on the eastern side of Truro ('Duchy is slammed over bid for superstore on city site' WB 4/3/10). The Green Party is totally opposed to this development, as well as other proposed developments in the Truro-Threemilestone corridor, and further commercial development  further along the Fal at Newham.

I hope I am not alone in coming to the conclusion that it is totally unsatisfactory that the Duchy of Cornwall is insisting on a 'trade off' to develop more housing and commercial property, in return for a Park and Ride scheme on the eastern side of the city. I believe it is incorrect to 'sell' the park and ride site as an environmentally friendly scheme to ease traffic congestion. The Duchy's proposal represents total hypocrisy compared with the fine sentiments of Prince Charles's recent Richard Dimbleby lecture (among other statements in a similar vein) where he argued the need to restrict development and protect the countryside.

Leave It in the Ground

Speaking at a hustings organised by Callington Fair Trade group on Saturday 6th March, in response to a question about the renewed tensions between Britain and Argentina over South Atlantic oil, Roger Creagh-Osborne, Green candidate for SE Cornwall, made an impassioned plea to "leave it in the ground".

Roger said "The presumed 60 billion barrels of oil represents less than two years of current world consumption. We know that we have already used in 100 years over half of the easy-to-get oil that there will ever, most of it in the last 30 years and we know that at current rates there will be none left for our grandchildren. We must wean ourselves off this addiction to oil - if we do not start to cut back voluntarily then nature will simply impose a solution on us.

Green candidate supports heat pumps

Euan McPhee, Green party candidate for Camborne and Redruth, visited Kensa Engineering at Mount Wellington, near Redruth last week to see how heat pumps provide efficient housing heating whilst reducing carbon emissions. This technology has been used in Europe for years but only recently has the UK begun to realise the potential of this system for heating buildings and water.

Showing Euan around the refurbished former mine buildings which now house the Kensa workshops and offices, Managing Director Simon Lomax explained how the heat pumps draw upon the ground heat and raise the temperature via a compressor and heat exchanger to provide heating. Unlike gas or oil boilers, the pumps do not require routine annual servicing, and they typically last for up to twenty-five years. The reduced lifetime ownership cost is one of the reasons that several local housing associations have decided to fit pumps to existing and new properties; it also reduces fuel bills for the tenants. Demand for heat pumps is likely to increase when the recently announced Renewable Heat Incentive commences next year.

Letter from Green Councillor Lindsay Southcombe
published in Western Morning News 4th March

	Dear Western Morning News, You appear to have a somewhat ambivalent opinion of walking.  You understandably express concern that a Royal Society of Arts study reveals that some middle-class parents have concerns about taking their children on country walks, in case they get muddy, tired or lost (WMN 23.02.10).
This is, indeed, concerning given that we have rising levels of childhood obesity and may be raising a generation who will have reduced ability to assess risk and negotiate their environs.  Recent studies have also shown that outdoor play boosts a young child's brain development and gives them a better sense of well-being and confidence.
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