No 41, December 2001
Save our woodland!
Durrington residents are ready to fight horrific Titnore Lane
proposals
A MASSIVE battle is shaping up to save unique ancient
woodland in Durrington which is under serious threat from property developers
and road builders. Angry residents are determined to save the countryside
around Titnore Lane, but London-imposed housing "quotas" mean it
will be an uphill struggle to stop the tide of concrete and tarmac.
Disillusioned with the gutless local authorities, who are too scared to stand
up to Whitehall and prevent the rape of our countryside, some locals are
already talking about a direct action campaign to stop the bulldozers
moving in to one of the last remaining green spaces in the Worthing borough.
The horrific plans before Worthing Borough Council at the moment involve 875
new homes, a 9.1 acre industrial development and a new dual carriageway
version of Titnore Lane scarring the landscape to connect the A27 with the
Northbrook College roundabout on the A259 Littlehampton road. The proposed
road would plough through rare ancient semi-natural woodland that has been
thriving there since the last Ice Age. It has been designated a Site of Nature
Conservation Importance (SNCI) and is completely irreplaceable. Several
hundred trees would have to be felled, many over 150 years old and comprising
oak, ash, birch and willow. The woods are home to many species of wildlife,
including dormice. Titnore Lane itself is a historical droveway, reaching
back at least to the Anglo-Saxon period and most probably way beyond that. It
was part of a longer track that reached northwards across the Downs and is
rich in archaeological remains. The woods below Highdown, the important iron
age hillfort, are an important amenity for local people and their quality of
life would be severely affected by the proposed massive housing estate - and
by the increase in traffic that would be generated in the area. As a first
response, residents can write to Head of Planning, Portland House, Richmond
Road, Worthing or e-mail planning@worthing.gov.uk to object to the bid for
planning permission, quoting reference number WB/01/01041/FULL. They might
also like to pop in for a chat with landowner Clement Somerset, who lives at
Holt Farm off the A27 Arundel Road opposite Castle Goring, and ask him
politely why he is so enthusiastic about this massive multi-million pound
scheme. And they might like to start to think now about what they are
actually going to DO when all their protests and petitions are ignored and the
big machines move in to destroy the woodlands and their wildlife for ever.
If anyone wants to get in touch with like-minded people over this issue, drop
us a line at PO Box 4144, Worthing BN14 7NZ.
Business plans to bulldoze democracy
ONE of the great things
about living in this country is supposed to be that we have a democratic
system, where there are channels for everyone to have their say in the way
things are run. Of course, in reality it doesn't really work like that at all,
as once someone has crept their way into a position of power they are no
longer under any obligation to listen to or act on the opinions of the public
they claim to represent. But now things are set to get even worse - with our
increasingly despotic rulers using the cover of the "war against terrorism" to
finally do away with even the pretence of giving the public a chance to
challenge their corrupt manoeuvrings. This major change is being dressed up as
a "streamlining of the planning process", but it is a lot more sinister and
fundamental than that, as the Federation of Sussex Amenity
Societies explained in their October newsletter. The article warned
that the changes "could end up gagging local opinion and eroding
democracy". It added: "The suggestion is that major projects, such as
motorways, airports and nuclear power stations, will be removed from the
public inquiry process. The alternative would be for Ministers to make their
decision in principle and then to seek Parliamentary approval. Any subsequent
public inquiry would focus on local details only, thus ruling out arguments
over the merits of a scheme." Needless to say, the Federation is totally
opposed to the move, as are groups like the Council for the Protection
of Rural England and Friends of the Earth. But their
opposition may not count for anything with a Government that seems prepared to
listen to only one voice- that of its beloved "Business Community". Naturally
the latter are completely behind the proposal - it was their idea in the first
place! The CBI submitted a report to the Government complaining that "British
competitiveness" was being put at risk from "planning system hurdles" -
otherwise known as democracy and public opinion. The British Chambers of
Commerce have also got in on the act. November's issue of Sussex
Enterprise Business News quotes them as complaining that "UK
productivity growth is being held back by a complex, inefficient and
bureaucratic planning system and ministers must introduce fundamental reforms
to ensure planning policy better supports competitiveness". Translated into
plain English, this means that nothing must ever be allowed to stand in the
way of the rich getting richer. The capitalist elite are counting on Tony
Blair's New Labour to crush every last vestige of opposition to their
tyrannical quest for more and more profits - and there's no indication their
obedient poodle is going to let them down.
Concrete aid for the uncivilised world
WORTHING could be a
key model in the rebuilding of Afghanistan following the current war. That's
the view of successful local businessman and councillor Eric Backhander. He
said this week: "The war will be over by Christmas and then it will be time to
turn our thoughts to the positive task of reconstructing the infrastructure of
Afghanistan. The country will obviously be crying out to be brought bang up to
date into the 21st century and what better role model for this than our fine
town of Worthing? "One of the first emergency tasks facing the Freedom
Rebuilding Coalition will be the erection of multi-storey car parks - frankly
an essential for anywhere with claims to a progressive and modern outlook. I
happen to know that there are a number of experts in this field in the
Worthing area who have helped make the town what it is today and I have
contacted them to sound out their views on helping our Afghan friends. "They
told me they would be more than happy to be flown out to Kabul at the
taxpayers' expense to offer their advice - obviously once the area has been
made safe for the business community by the Allied Forces of Liberation." Mr
Backhander said that, despite their poor record on human rights, the Taliban
had at least made a start on the modernisation of Afghanistan by demolishing a
number of "frankly outmoded" ancient monuments, a forward-looking initiative
that would no doubt be further helped by the Americans' humanitarian carpet
bombing. He said he was optimistic that, with the right people in charge, the
capital Kabul could one day become as modern and civilised as Worthing itself.
But Mr Backhander cautioned: "Obviously the correct democratic procedures will
also have to be in place, as they are already in Worthing, to ensure that all
the contracts for the development work go to my mates."
Secret identity plot
SINISTER totalitarians at Whitehall are
secretly plotting to impose complusory ID cards on us all, despite the idea
having apparently been dropped a couple of months ago. This was the worrying
picture presented on November 5 in a front-page exclusive in The Daily
Express. It revealed: "The photographs and signatures of 10 million people are
being stored on a Government computer which could form the heart of a new
national identity card system. A secret group of senior officials from key
Whitehall departments is also discussing the possible introduction of ID cards
despite a widespread impression that the idea had been shelved." Asked Roger
Bingham from Liberty: "Why are they doing it in secret? The Government
shouldn't be looking at anything that would have this much impact on every
individual by a back-door route. Identity cards should surely be openly and
democratically debated." What an absurd thought! If the issue was
democratically debated the public might democratically decide to say no. And
that would be no way to run a democracy... * DEFENCE of individual liberties
is "airy fairy" according to Neo-Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett
(The Guardian, November 12), announcing a new raft of
suppressive police state measures under the cover of war. Freedom is Weakness.
Slavery is Strength. Who needs satire?
It’s not such a fair cop, guv
A WONDERFUL example of
our splendid local boys in blue in action was presented by The Worthing
Herald on October 4. It told how Gary Syphas, a local postie driving a
Royal Mail van, was harrassed by the cops after they drove into the back of
his vehicle. The insurance people would hardly have blamed Gary for the crash
- after all, he wasn't even moving at the time! But the shocked postie found
himself being breathalysed by police from a second car - surely not a rather
pathetic attempt to shift the blame off their mates? These bright sparks even
asked Gary "if he owned the Royal Mail van he was driving". More powers for
the police, Mr Blunkett? We hope not.
Dallying on the Downs
THE GOVERNMENT is stalling on its plans
for a South Downs National Park under pressure from rich landowners and Tory
county councillors. The scheme could now could be delayed until 2006. Chris
Todd, campaign officer for the South Downs Campaign, said: "The Countryside
Agency is undertaking an unprecedented amount of public consultation on the
future of the South Downs and the answer from the public has always been a
resounding yes to the national park. Any public inquiry should focus purely on
those few boundary disputes left unresolved at the end of the process. That
would ensure that a National Park Authority could be up and running by 2003."
Porky Pie’s Top Tip of the Month!
HOW TO DEFEND
DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM
- Abolish democracy
- Abolish freedom
PORK-SCRATCHINGS
AN AMAZING victory is being claimed by the
organisers of Da Big Smoke, a pro-cannabis picnic in Worthing on
the August bank holiday Monday. Within a couple of months, the Government was
forced to announce it would be de-criminalising the evil weed. Clearly they
knew that if staid old Worthing could muster 100 people for an event like
that, the days of public support for its laws were well and truly over...
* * *
POLITICAL prisoner Neil Bartlett wants to thank everyone who has
been writing to him in Lewes jail. He said: "The support I've had has been
amazing. It's getting me through the grind here for certain." He reports that
three new bomb hoax charges have been added to his existing five, meaning a
theoretical 56 years maximum sentence for allegedly making phone calls - well
before September 11 incidentally - to environment-polluting and animal-abusing
businesses. Write to: Neil Bartlett FW7083, HMP Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1EA.
* * *
PLANS to bring hundred of market stalls into already over-crowded
Montague Street, Worthing, every Saturday are bizarre. Will
anyone be able to get through the street at all?
* * *
THE NEXT meeting hosted by Worthing eco-action will be at 7.45pm
on Tuesday December 4 at the Downview pub opposite West Worthing railway
station.
* * *
NEWS from the bureaucratic bedlam of the NHS, where bosses are
looking for three mental health "user" representatives to cover their South
East Region. The problem is that the region stretches from Southampton and
South West Hampshire in the west to East Kent in the east, from the Isle of
Wight in the south to Northamptonshire in the north. Presumably the health
chiefs will be providing the helicopters...
* * *
SPIN doctors' attempts to paint privatisation of housing benefit services as a
big improvement have been exposed as a lie. A report by the Audit Commission
suggested that privatising the work could be the solution to "error, waste and
fraud". But an investigation by The Guardian (October 31)
revealed "a clear link between the worst performing benefit services and
privatisation". It reported: "There are 14 local authority areas in England
where new claims took more than 100 days on average to process in the last
financial year. In nine of these, benefit was administered by a private
contractor rather than the council."
The profits of war
WHO said war was all bad news? In his
"Straight talk" column in the November issue of Sussex Enterprise
Business News, SE’s chief executive Ken Caldwell looks very much
on the bright side. There are "real business opportunities" to be had
from all the terror and destruction, he explains. "We are committed to working
with businesses in Sussex to help you identify and capitalise on those
opportunities". And what exactly does the shrewd Mr Caldwell have in mind?
Here's a clue. He declares that "while market demand is likely to weaken in
the short-term in some industry sectors, others, such as defence and
security, are likely to see growth in demand." Of course - make more guns
and mines and bombs and flog them to all sides in the conflict, making a small
fortune out of the deaths and mutilation of men, women and children across the
world! No wonder the global population is so grateful for the civilised
western business value system of which Mr Caldwell is such a straight-talking
local representative.
Warning: Titnore Terror
DORMICE who have made their homes in
the woods by Titnore Lane, Durrington, could belong to terrorist groups
sympathetic to Osama Bin Laden, warns the Ministry of Truth and Justice. Said
a spokesman: "After the events of September 11, nobody can possibly defend
these vermin. The sooner we send in the bulldozers the sooner the world will
be made safe for our generous sponsors in the Business Community. We recognise
that other creatures, such as badgers and foxes, may not be directly involved
in terrorist activities but they have made no statements condemning the
dormice and this silence must be interpreted as guilt. Let’s not get
airy-fairy about this. They all must die."
Pork out for a subscription!
THE PORK-BOLTER is an
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for Worthing folk that nobody has really heard of these days. If you want to
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No copyright. No countryside.
and finally ...
Reclaim Your Town, Reclaim Your Life!
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