Mersey Basin Campaign Blog

Would you like there to be a tax on plastic carrier bags?

Green England are asking people to sign a petition to introduce a plastic carrier bag tax in Britain.

We use an average of 300 plastic bags every year.  Each bag lasts up to 400 years, spending the majority of that time in a landfill site.  Many are blown into the countryside.  Some find their way into rivers and spend years floating around in our seas and spoil beaches when they are washed up onto the strandline.

In Ireland, a tax of 15 cents per bag resulted in a 90% drop in plastic bag usage, and raised 3.5 million Euros which was spent on environmental projects.

Bangladesh & Mumbai have banned polythene bags altogether while Egypt and

Singapore are taking steps to discourage their use.

If you agree that a 10p tax (to be spent on environmental projects) should be introduced in Britain and you would like to sign the petition, please go to -

http://www.green-england.co.uk/plasticbagpetition .

Brockholes Design Competition

Lancashire Wildlife Trust has announced a competition for the design of new visitor facilities at Brockholes Wetlands and Woodland Nature Reserve near Preston.  The competition is open to architects and design teams and is being organised via The Royal Institute of British Architects.

It is hoped that Brockholes will become a nature conservation site of regional, national and international importance and the building will inspire and encourage people to visit the site and engage with the natural world.  

The facilities will include a café, shop, gallery, education and meeting rooms, and should aim to be a carbon neutral construction, drawing on local resources where possible.

For further information on how to enter please contact the RIBA Competitions Office tel 0113 2341335 or visit www.architecture.com/competitions. The submission deadline is Wednesday 19 September 2007.

Not in Wayne's World

Things seem to be hotting up with the Skelmersdale Vision plan, which aims to revitalise the town's town centre.

It's not just local residents who are not happy with some of the plans. Wayne Hemmingway, brought in to help form the Vision back in 2005 was asked by the Skelmersdale Advertiser what he thought of the plans which have recently been out for consultation. Click here for the whole interview

He is on the side of the residents, particularly those who live on Firbeck, an area earmarked for redevelopment.

SA: What do you think about the proposals on Firbeck?

WH: If the Firbeck people don’t want their houses demolished then the estate shouldn’t be demolished. If they feel it’s good enough to live there then it is – they are the ones living there.

Green Team 2CV reach Belgrade - and pause....

on the road to London....

early car trouble for some fellow rally-ers...

the car has reached the Czech border.

News just in from Green Team 2CV on the Mongol Rally - Graeme, Mark and Samantha the Salmon are currently spending a couple of days at a hostel in Belgrade, waiting for some early car problems to be ironed out. They seem to have passed through Prague unscathed, and above we have photographic proof that they didn't cause too much trouble at the Czech border.

Check out Graeme's account of the journey so far here....

See live text updates here...

Good luck, Green Team, we've got our fingers crossed for you - hope the car trouble is sorted out soon so that you can hit the road again.

RHS Tatton - Stockport covered with glory....

Further news about Stockport council's Mersey-themed flowerbed at the RHS Show, Tatton......we've just heard that the entry has been awarded a silver-gilt medal. Congratulations, Stockport!

No news is good news?

No news yet from our heroic Mongol Rally drivers, Green Team 2CV. However, other drivers have been texting in to the Rally homepage, so you can get a flavour of life on the road to Ulan Bator. Graeme and Mark will be sending us a report next time they're able to get online, and the blog will bring you an update as soon as we can!

Mersey flowerbed at the RHS Show, Tatton

We've just spotted this post on Snappy's Garden Blog, showing entries to the National Flowerbed Competition at the RHS Show, Tatton. Stockport Council's entry chose to represent the River Mersey, which has its start at Ford Street, Stockport, at the confluence of the Goyt and the Tame. It even features a canoeist and a leaping salmon (could it be a distant relation of our own Sammy?).

Trap adjustments

On 18th July 2007 Bruce Bendell and I met OPEC Ltd, APEM Ltd and Alan Bretherton (the contractor who is emptying the trap) to determine why the floating boom had broken again. 

The weather has been extreme for the time of year but the flows seen in the River Darwen are not unusual in winter months.  We are learning quickly about operating extremes for the litter trap, which but this has caused a few 'teething problems' such as broken boom connectors (see image below).

Metal connectors have now been fitted to try and help prevent the breakages.

   

The floats on either side of the basket have also been adjusted so that the basket effectively floats higher in the river.

There are also plans for the 'runner' on the longest boom to be shortened, enabling automatic boom release as river levels rise towards flood conditions.  This means that the trap will operate during low and medium flow but that it will release in higher flows to prevent damage to the trap and minimise the potential for flooding.

newsflash!

Just a quick post to say that Green Team 2CV's Mongol Rally adventure has been covered by the Telegraph! Read the story here...

Logo'd up!

 

With just a few days left before their departure at the weekend, Graeme and Mark of Green Team 2CV say they are too busy with final preparations to be nervous about the rally at the moment. One of the tasks is to mount the winning logos, designed by children from Elmridge Primary School in Hale Barns, onto the sides of the 'green machine'. The logos (above) were chosen from around 30 beautiful designs. After the rally, the car is due to be auctioned for charity in Mongolia, so the children's artwork will be decorating a family's car for some time to come.

According to Graeme, the solar panel is now working, and everything seems to be set to communicate via laptop during the journey. Keep checking back to follow Green Team 2CV's progress ACROSS THE WORLD......