megilleland

Chicken farms may explain decline of the River Wye, tests suggest Citizen scientists find high phosphorous levels in the soil could be polluting the river in Herefordshire. Campaigners have revealed the results of farmland testing which provides new evidence of the potential link between intensive poultry units and the decline of the River Wye. Full article here.

The Long Shot: The Inside Story of the Race to Vaccinate Britain The Inside Story of the Race to Vaccinate Britain written by Dame Kate Bingham, former Chair of the UK Government's Vaccine Taskforce, and Tim Hames Link for ticket (event is free to attend) At the event Kate will be signing copies of "The Long Shot" Refreshments provided Date and time Fri, 21 October 2022, 18:00 – 20:00 Location New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering, Skylon campus Canary Drive Skylon Park Hereford HR2 6ST ___________________________________________________________________ Let's hope you don't have to be jabbed to attend!

In The Guardian 25th September 2022 Chicken farm giant linked to River Wye decline was sued over water blight in US Cargill was taken to court 20 years ago in Oklahoma over the same pollution issue it is now linked to in UK (extracts) While the legal cases were being fought in the courtrooms of Oklahoma, more than 4,400 miles away the intensive poultry production lines were being rolled out along the Wye and nearby counties. Cargill has operated in the UK since 1955 and purchased a major poultry processing plant in Hereford, more than 40 years ago. In 2013 it announced a £35m investment in the plant to increase production of fresh chicken, and five years later it combined its fresh chicken operation in the UK with poultry business Faccenda Foods to form Avara. New intensive poultry units – each housing at least 40,000 chickens – sprung up to meet the demand, and between 2013 and 2017 the number of birds in Herefordshire increased from 13 million to 18 million. Avara’s operation is estimated to account for around 85% of the total and the company processes and packs about two million chickens a week in Hereford, supplying major supermarkets and fast-food outlets, including Tesco, Asda and McDonald’s. ---------------------------------------------------------------- What happens in America today is usually adopted by the UK a few years later to our cost. Exploiting smaller countries, throwing their bombs and missiles around the world, all in the aim of controlling and to surveil us, all revolving around your smart phone. Use it wisely or throw it away.

In El Pais newspaper 8th September 2022: Juul to pay $439 million in damages over marketing e-cigarettes to teens The company used launch parties, giveaways and free samples to lure young adults, who quickly became addicted to their high-nicotine vaping products The e-cigarette brand Juul has paid a high cost for targeting teenagers in its marketing strategy. The firm will have to pay $438.5 million to 33 states in the United States, as well as Puerto Rico, as a result of a court settlement reached on Tuesday between the two sides. The plaintiffs claimed Juul was responsible for addicting minors to their high-nicotine vaping products with launch parties, giveaways and free samples. They also pointed to how the company used young models on social media to promote their products. In the United States, the legal age to purchase e-cigarettes is 21, the same age for tobacco. The multimillion-dollar settlement is just one of many setbacks facing the company, which still has nine separate lawsuits pending and is facing hundreds of personal injury lawsuits brought on behalf of underage users who say they became addicted to the company’s vaping products. What’s more, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned Juul last June from marketing Virginia tobacco flavored pods and menthol flavored pods at nicotine concentrations of 5.0% and 3.0%. It also ordered the company to remove the products from the market. Thirty-three US states and Puerto Rico joined together in 2020 to seek compensation from Juul. The lawsuit was led by Texas, Oregon and Connecticut. William Tong, the attorney general of Connecticut, celebrated the settlement in a statement on Tuesday. “[Juul] relentlessly marketed vaping products to underage youth, manipulated their chemical composition to be palatable to inexperienced users, employed an inadequate age verification process, and misled consumers about the nicotine content and addictiveness of its products,” he said. “The full public health ramifications of this misconduct are yet unknown. Through this settlement, we have secured hundreds of millions of dollars to help reduce nicotine use and forced Juul to accept a series of strict injunctive terms to end youth marketing and crack down on underage sales,” Each state will receive a different amount as part of the court settlement. Connecticut, for example, will receive $16.2 million, while Texas will be paid $42.8 million. In addition to the compensation, “the agreement also includes strong marketing, sales and distribution restrictions, including restrictions on marketing to persons under age 35,” as well as “age verification requirements on all sales,” said Texas Attorney General Tom Paxton in a statement. The $438.5 million will be paid out over a period of six to 10 years. The longer it takes to pay the settlement, the more it will have to pay. It could end up paying $476.6 million if it gets too close to the deadline. Following the settlement, Juul released a statement calling the deal an expression of its “commitment to resolve issues from the past.” It added: “The terms of the agreement are aligned with our current business practices which we started to implement after our company-wide reset in the fall of 2019.” Juul, is owned by Altria, which is also the parent company of tobacco brand Phillip Morris. The vaping company burst onto the market, using technology and design to win over customers. It sold itself as the “iPhone of vapers,” and built a niche by targeting young people. __________________________________________________________ That's a lot of financial compensation. Appears to be many people using these products, judging by the litter on our streets, and they not realising the full health effects on their bodies.

From Your Herefordshire website 5th September 2022: NEWS | Lidl would like to open ‘several new stores in Herefordshire’ with potential locations revealed by admin | Sep 5, 2022 | News Lidl has revealed that it would like to open new stores in a number of areas of Herefordshire and surrounding counties. Lidl has confirmed that it is actively looking for land in the following locations: Hereford (North/West) Hereford (South) Ledbury Leominster Ross-on-Wye The company is also looking at sites in Builth Wells, Abergavenny and Brecon. Lidl says it wishes to “continue its phenomenal growth by opening further sites across the country.” Lidl Requirements: Town centre or edge of centre and retail parks Ideally main road frontage with easy access and strong pedestrian or traffic flow Freehold, leasehold or long leasehold opportunities Unit sizes between 18,000 and 26,500 sq ft and 100+ dedicated car parking spaces 1.5+ acres for standalone stores or up to 4 acres for mixed-use schemes Lidl recently revealed plans to open a store on land currently occupied by the Three Counties Hotel in Hereford. This has seen a backlash from members of the public with concerns over traffic in the Belmont Road area of the city and increased noise pollution. Asda has also said it is concerned about loss of trees and retail impact if Lidl get go ahead to build a store on Three Counties Hotel site. Asda is concerned about the loss of trees and retail impact if Lidl get go ahead to build a store on Three Counties Hotel site. A letter submitted by Jigsaw Planning on behalf of Asda Stores Limited says: The proposed development will see the demolition of the Three Counties Hotel which is a trading business. The applicants Planning Statement references policies from the Herefordshire Local Plan Core Strategy at section 5.8 onwards. One policy it refers to is Policy SCI which relates to social and community facilities. The Planning Statement dismisses this policy as not being relevant to the proposal as hotel does not fall within the list of facilities listed in the supporting text. It should be noted that the supporting texts states “social and community facilities can include:” (our emphasis). It does not therefore seek to provide an extensive list of facilities that can be covered by the policy. The hotel’s website www.threecountieshotel.co.uk confirms that the hotel has a restaurant, bar and offers weddings as well as providing traditional accommodation. The website confirms that the bar facilities are for “residents and non-residents alike”. It is clear from this that the hotel offers facilities for use by the local community through the bar and restaurant as well as hosting weddings and conferences. This is also confirmed by some of the representations to the application which confirm local residents opposition to the loss of the local facility. As such it is considered that the proposal should be assessed against policy SCI. The policy states: ‘Policy SCI – Social and community facilities Development proposals which protect, retain or enhance existing social and community infrastructure or ensure that new facilities are available as locally as possible will be supported. Such proposals should be in or close to settlements, have considered the potential for co-location of facilities and where possible be safely accessible by foot, by cycle and public transport. New development that creates a need for additional social and community facilities that cannot be met through existing social facilities -will be expected to meet the additional requirements through new, or extension of existing, provision or by developer contributions which meet the relevant tests of paragraph 204 of the NPPF. Proposals involving the provision or expansion of social and community facilities will be expected to provide publicly accessible toilets (including facilities for disabled people and baby changing). Existing facilities will be retained, unless it can be demonstrated that an appropriate alternative facility is available, or can be provided to meet the needs of the community affected; or it can be shown that the facility is no longer required, viable or is no longer fit for purpose; and where appropriate, it has been vacant and marketed for community use without success. Viable alternative facilities must be equivalent to those they replace. In terms of size, quality and accessibility.” There is no information to indicate that the existing facilities are no longer required, viable or fit for purpose. The proposal is therefore contrary to this policy. Retail Impact Planning law requires that applications for planning permission be determined in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. The National Planning Policy Framework 2021 (“NPPF”) is a material consideration in planning decisions. NPPF carries a presumption in favour of sustainable development albeit this does not change the statutory status of the development plan as the starting point for decision making. Chapter 7 of the NPPF seeks to ensure the vitality of Town Centres. In terms of retail impact, the applicant suggests that Lidl’s trading philosophies differs from a traditional supermarket by selling from a limited core range (compared to other supermarkets) of mainly exclusive own labels. Flow ever, whilst this may have been the original philosophy of the ‘deep discounter’ it is evident that there has been a slow but steady change towards that of a traditional supermarket when considering store size, ranges on offer, proportion of comparison goods, and labelled goods. This would be reflective in the turnover being more akin to that of other food store operators. The applicant has overstated the difference between the proposed operator and the existing supermarkets in the area. The proposed will compete with the town centre stores and therefore the Council must set aside the ‘discounter’ case which the applicant relies so heavily on.

HELLO from Friends of Bartonsham meadows The big news is we had a great AGM! Thanks so much to everyone who came along and shared their enthusiasm for creating a biodiverse floodplain meadow at Bartonsham. We’ve written it up as a blog which is available on our website here and follows various updates in our newsletter. THE HEADLINES * The Church Commissioners told us they would be signing a 25 year lease with Herefordshire Wildlife Trust in September or early October at the latest! There will be a ban on ploughing it up again 🙂 * Huge gratitude to the 437 of you who have filled in our survey! Some results are included in the blog. We have shared the full anonymised results with HWT to assist them in applying for lottery funds to support the restoration of Bartonsham Meadows. * A whopping 60 odd people attended our AGM to hear about the project, share enthusiasm and questions, and eat and drink goodies including Fran’s dock seed cake. * In response to requests from local residents and FoBM the Commissioners cut a fire break along the back of Park Street (days before a fire broke out on the adjacent farm across the river). *Last weekend the Council mowed the river path to ease access, in response to requests from Jeremy Milln. * Want an information-rich one minute on floodplains? Check out this video Caroline Hanks of Herefordshire Meadows recommended from the Floodplain Meadows Partnership.

Reading Litter Festival - No hope with these sort of people - couldn't care less. Leave it for someone else to clean up

Thought I would rub some salt into the wound. Staggering new data shows that in the first year of the covid pandemic, 187 of the most senior civil servants had a cumulative pension pot of £123 million - an average of £657,128 each. This was equivalent to the annual state pension for around 13,464 pensioners. Campaigners say the eye-watering figures show it’s time to end the “Whitehall retirement racket”. Research from the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) shows that former Foreign Office mandarin Lord McDonald banked the largest pot valued at a whopping £2.2 million. Sir Philip Barton, who was castigated over the UK’s chaotic exit from Afghanistan last year, saw the largest increase in the value of his pension pot, growing by £321,000 to £1.7 million. Cabinet secretary Simon Case had a pension pot of £450,000 in 2020/21, while Treasury boss Tom Scholar had a pot of £1,411,000. Ministry of Justice permanent secretary Antonia Romeo, who is tipped for a senior role in a new government under Liz Truss, enjoyed a pot valued at £745,000. Former head of the civil service, Lord Sedwill, had a pension pot equivalent to £102,500 per year in retirement, which was over three times the average UK salary. A further five mandarins were entitled to annual pensions of between £80,000 and £95,000 per year. These are permanent secretaries Matthew Rycroft, Tamara Finkelstein, Christopher Wormald and Simon McDonald, and first parliamentary counsel Elizabeth Gardiner. Bet it's warm in their homes.

A new price cap of £3,549 has been announced by Ofgem, the energy regulator, an 80% rise on the current cap. The cap comes into effect on 1 October and will determine how much 24 million households pay for their energy. Analysts at Cornwall Insight have said to expect further increases in January, when the price cap is due to be updated again. They predict the cap will rise to £4,650 a year. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile our MPs are still on holiday and won't return to parliament until 5th September. Maybe they should turn off the heating in the Commons and Lords as we head towards winter.

I can recommend the Over 50s for us old uns at The Kindle Centre on the 3rd Tuesday of each month that starts at 2pm. The 20th September meeting has the return of the Singing Vicar - Steve Hollinghurst. An entertaining afternoon for all. Other meetings to watch out for: 18th October 2022 - My work at Cadbury - Colin Bates 15th November 2022 - Hop picking in Herefordshire - Marsha O'Mahony 20th December 2022 - Christmas Special 17th January 2023 - Lunch at Burghill Valley Golf Club Further information from Jeff Jones, Secretary, Telephone 01432 851029 Why not bring a friend or two along, I am sure you will enjoy it.

UNINFORMED CONSENT An in-depth look into the Covid 19 narrative, who's controlling it, and how it's being used to inject an untested, new technology into almost every person on the planet. The film explores how the narrative is being used to strip us of our human rights while weaving in the impact of mandates in a deeply powerful story of one man's tragic loss. Hear the truth from doctors and scientists not afraid to stand up against Big Pharma and the elite class who profit from mandates. Written & Directed by Todd Harris, Matador Films.

Hail Mary! Statue’s trip down the Wye raises chicken pollution issue In The Guardian today: Artist Philip Chatfield hopes river journey will alert people to damage being done by poultry excrement.

It makes you wonder about the mentality of people who have no regard for their own environment and that of the countryside. Photo taken of discarded cigarette ends on grass area behind Sherborne Close, Newton Farm electricity sub station 14th August 2022.

; 11TH AUGUST TO 18TH SEPTEMBER 2022 Canwood Gallery, Checkley, Hereford HR1 4NF Open Thursday to Sunday 11am to 4pm Canwood Gallery has asked the incredible creatives from Wales, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to celebrate and highlight the River Wye’s plight and give personal insights into what the river means to them, individuals who love it. Canwood Gallery are teaming up with River Action UK to help the raise the profile of the urgent action needed to immediately implement plans to save the River Wye. Don’t miss this fantastic exhibition!

Just had OVO send me an email stating that they are taking £328 a month to pay for my electricity and gas. "We got in touch recently to ask you to increase your Direct Debit, so that your monthly payments match your energy use and costs – and you won’t have to pay a lump sum at the end of your contract. Because you haven’t increased your Direct Debit, we’re now doing it automatically for you. Starting with your next payment date, your Direct Debit will be £328 a month. In 3 months’ time, we might run another Direct Debit check-in on your account to make sure your new monthly payments are keeping up with your energy use and costs. In the meantime, sending meter readings is important If you have a traditional meter, remember to send readings every month (if you’ve got a smart meter, we’ll get them automatically). They help us bring you accurate bills, make sure your payments are manageable – and keep your energy account nice and healthy. If you feel this new amount is too much, get in touch – we’re here to help We don't want energy to be another thing to worry about right now. Please call us on 0800 408 6615 (Mon-Fri 8am-6pm, Sat 9am-2pm) and together we’ll find a payment plan that feels manageable. There are lots of ways we can support you." At the beginning of the year I increased my Direct Debit from £110 to £150 and again to £200. I was always in credit through 2020 to 2021. What annoys me is that OVO tell me how much and when to pay on the basis that suits them. I have tried to get through to OVO but the phone lines are continually engaged. So I replied to their demanding email, but got this reply: The response was: The group no-reply@ovoenergy.com does not allow posting through email. This country needs to get people elected who can sort out the never ending mess we are in. Cambo above has hit the nail on the head. My monthly electricity charge 8th July to 7th August was £102.69 and the gas was £12.35. If there was a case for building the Severn Estuary Barrage to generate electricity this must be it. After all the tide comes in and goes out every day, although the environmentalists wouldn't be happy.

‘When I see kids vaping, I warn them: that’s what killed my daughter’ “She would go into the local shop and buy these vaping liquids but you would never see the same bottle twice,” said Rachel Howe, 45, her mother. “There would be coconut, cherry, bubblegum vapes. It was constantly in her mouth.”

Struggling NHS, rising energy costs, rising food costs, banks being closed ready for digitisation. Unfortunately all this is deliberately planned and unless you are totally committed to your smartphone you will be left behind and no one will care. All this happening under a Tory government which is no surprise as they will always go where the money is. However what are the alternatives - all political parties appear to offer little hope of returning to a Great Britain, everything is in chaos and the message appears to be Everyone for Themselves. An example is my energy bills. I pay by direct debit each month and have increased my payment from £100 a month to £150 and then to £200. OVO now want me to increase my direct debit to £324 a month to prevent me being £3,092 in debt by the end of my fixed rate 2 year plan. At the moment I am in credit and read my meter each month, send the readings to OVO and usually get a bill within a couple of days, a straight forward process. If you want to increase your Direct Debit on their website it will only increase it as their suggestion. I tried to increase it to £200 as I didn't want to pay £324 at the moment and had to phone them to stop their suggested increase. Also since November last year I am getting bills staggered over two months with different invoice dates and the bills consists of 7 pages compared with 3 pages before. I have been with OVO for many years and found everything to function well, however in line with the chaos created by this government and supported by corporations and financial institutions we need a radical change to stop this "We are Alright Jack" mentality. How is everyone else coping?

This tells you how bad things are getting. In The Guardian today. Tiny turtle pooed ‘pure plastic’ for six days after rescue from Sydney beach A baby green sea turtle rescued from a Sydney beach had eaten so much plastic that it took six days for the contents to be excreted, according to Taronga zoo’s wildlife hospital. The 127-gram hatchling was found lying on its back in a rockpool near Sydney’s Tamarama beach. It was missing one of its four flippers, had a chip in another, and had a hole in its shell. Carers said that aside from these injuries, the turtle appeared to be in good physical condition and had no trouble swimming. “But then it started to defecate, and it defecated plastic for six days. No faeces came out, just pure plastic,” the Taronga veterinary nurse Sarah Male said. “It was all different sizes, colours and compositions. Some were hard, some were sharp, and with some, you could tell the plastic had writing on it. This is all some of these poor little things are eating. There’s so much plastic around they’re just consuming it as their first initial food,” she said. States including New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, have all brought in tougher bans on single-use plastic, but the scale of the problem is at times overwhelming. More than 8m tonnes pour into oceans around the world each year. The majority is carried out to sea by rivers, dumped along coastlines or abandoned by fishing vessels. A study of a beach on Henderson Island, one of the world’s most remote places, found nearly 38m pieces of plastic strewn across the sand. However, CSIRO researchers reported in June that local actions were making a difference with the amount of plastic pollution on Australia’s coast decreasing by up to 30% on average as a result of work by local governments to reduce litter. “If everybody just takes a little bit of their time to pick up a bit of rubbish – it doesn’t have to be on the beach – then hopefully we can make a difference,” Male said.

On my litter picks notice there is a new product on the streets. These contain nicotine and should not be sold to under 18s. They come in various flavours which appeal to the younger generation. The worst aspect of the packaging is the small rubber stopper to the container, which like the plastic drink bottle tops wash down the drain, although most drains are blocked and kerbs are overgrown. The manufacturers, Chinese and the marketeers, Romanian don't care and the local shop keepers display the products at the point of sale encouraging their use. The packaging warns users with a skull and crossbones graphic as part of its design. Vaping packages and rubber stoppers Plastic drinks bottle tops

Good idea to improve the environment. Bartonsham Meadow Management Plan Vision The vision of Friends of Bartonsham Meadows is to transform a small, suburban, riverside farm from intensive agriculture to outstanding natural habitat delivering a broad range of social and environmental public goods. Our focus centres on biodiversity and regenerative land-management practices to deliver benefits such as: Flood mitigation Carbon sequestration Biodiversity Improved river water quality Leisure and quality of life Sustainable agriculture and food production The management plan highlights how we could deliver these public goods. See the plan here:

Noticed some workmen outside the Three Counties entrance with what looked like theodolites looking across the A465. Could they be marking out a new road layout in connection with a proposed new store for Lidl and do we know when this application is being considered by the council?

Tesco suppliers must raise standards to avert death of River Wye, say campaigners River Action warns of phosphates in excrement produced by intensive chicken farming suffocating life River campaigners are calling for urgent action from Tesco to immediately raise standards within its poultry and egg suppliers in the Wye valley, as they say the river is at risk of ecological collapse. Tesco is the biggest customer of Wye valley egg producer Noble Foods and chicken producer Avara Foods. The environmental campaigners say since the supermarket giant switched to Avara as its main supplier of poultry in 2019, the food supply company has expanded its poultry factory in Hereford to meet the demand. Avara last month applied for permission to expand its hatchery in Shobdon and is waiting for a decision in the next fortnight. The Wye valley has become one of Europe’s largest concentrations of intensive livestock production. Poultry production has soared, with more than 20 million birds housed within permitted intensive poultry units alone, each of which holds more than 40,000 birds. Water quality throughout the catchment continues to fail current standards due to high phosphate concentrations. Evidence from Lancaster University research suggests there are 3,000 tonnes of excess phosphorus caused by agriculture in the Wye valley. Full article in Guardian 7th July 2022 here

Another bag of cat litter dropped again (5th July 2022) behind the garages at Muir Close. About time a concealed camera was put to catch this person.

NEWBrew beer in Singapore is made from recycled sewage water This has got to be taking the pi$$! Possibly the future for all of us. NEWBrew isn’t the first beer that uses recycled sewage. Swedish brewer Nya Carnegie Brewery collaborated with beer giant Carlsberg and an environmental research institute to create a pilsner made with purified toilet water. A Canadian brewer, Village Brewery, teamed up with US water technology firm Xylem and researchers from the University of Calgary to create their own ale.

Special Protection of the Highly Polluted River Wye. Wye not? After all clean water is an essential requirement for modern living. We don't want the River Wye to be the drain for The Marches. Clean water is more important to humans than oil. If we ruin our water supplies then we risk our nation's health. The Rivers Trust Useful site for river sewage discharges. The Rivers Trust are conservation experts with a wealth of data and expertise at our fingertips. We work with our member Trusts to make our shared vision a reality: wild, healthy, natural rivers, valued by all. We want all life to thrive in and around our rivers. Whether you enjoy fishing, swimming or a riverside stroll, our rivers need us more than ever to recover and revive. Raw sewage in our rivers We want to help you find out where sewage is discharged into rivers, enabling you to take action and to make informed decisions about where you swim, paddle, catch and play. Our Sewage Map shows where the sewerage network discharges and overflows into rivers. Be warned: you might not like what you discover! County of Herefordshire Local Authority District data Use filter and click on cluster to zoom in for specific instances.