No 43, February 2002
Defying the bulldozers
ANGRY local people are
gearing up for a massive campaign of resistance against plans to wreck the
countryside around Titnore Lane in Durrington. A protest walk is to be held -
watch this space for details - and individuals are signing "Direct Action
pledges" to indicate the strength of their resolve (e-mail pledges also
accepted, simply declaring you are prepared to take direct action to stop this
development). Protect Our Woodland (POW!) has already set up its own web pages
on the internet http://www.worthinga27.freeserve.co.uk
and made important links with people fighting similar campaigns elsewhere in
the country. It is reporting significant interest in the issue from outside
the area, with a Newbury-style national protest camp a very real possibility
if the scheme is pushed ahead. While houses are being built over green fields
all the time, the plans for Titnore Lane are particularly shocking. The 800
houses, plus new road and industrial estate, would be built over a precious
area of ancient woodland that is a green oasis in the middle of our urbanised
coastal metropolis. Explained a POW! spokesman in a special press briefing:
"Titnore and Goring are one of only two ancient woodland complexes surviving
on the coastal plain of Sussex and the other one (Binsted Woods at Arundel) is
also threatened by development, from the proposed Arundel A27 bypass. This
woodland gives the lie to the notion that Beech is the only real tree of the
South Downs. It shows the way our Downland woods would have looked 200 years
ago, before the age of regimented plantations." As usual, this desecration of
our heritage is being engineered by people for whom money seems to be the one
and only thing worth having. The land at Titnore, and nearby Clapham, is all
owned by the Somerset family - relatives of Lord Raglan - who
have dominated the area for generations and now stand to make millions. The
"proposed urban extension" is being plotted by an unholy trio of property
developers - Heron, Persimmon and Bryant Homes -
who are also out to maximise profit by flogging executive houses to rich
yuppies commuting to London. Said a POW! spokesman: "At best 25% of these
homes will be (arguably) affordable or social. The prospect of their own home
is already beyond the reach of many poorer people in Sussex towns (let alone
the posh countryside). This will only distort the housing market against the
interests of those most in need." Another POW! supporter has told us that,
although it is hoped the planning application could still be halted, it may be
that the deal has already been stitched up between the money-men and their
chums who run the planning authorities. Opponents realise full well that
direct action - non-violent but effective - will in all likelihood be needed
to halt the march of the bulldozers, he said. He added: "Who knows if we
can win. We’re up against some very powerful forces. But you just
can’t sit back all your life and watch your world being destroyed by
these evil b*****s. You have to draw the line somewhere and a lot of people
are deciding to draw the line in Titnore Woods." Contact POW! by email at
pow@worthinga27.freeserve.co.uk or by post c/o PO Box 4144, Worthing BN14 7NZ.
There is a POW! meeting upstairs at The Downview pub opposite West Worthing
station on Tuesday March 5, 7.45pm.
Kids get one-to-one with cancer
HOW many people are going to
have to suffer disease and even death before our complacent authorities will
take seriously the threat to health from mobile phone masts?
Internationally, alarm is growing over the menace. A sudden outbreak of cancer
at a primary school in Valladolid, Spain, led to parents pulling their kids
out of classes until the masts were shut down, reported The
Guardian on January 12. Said local doctor and parent Luis Martin: "In
32 years there had never been a case of cancer here but since they installed
the antennae in 2000, four children have fallen seriously ill. We don’t
believe this is a coincidence. The antennae were placed so close to the
playground that the children have been affected by the electromagnetic waves."
The International Agency for Research on Cancer has shown a link between child
cancer and electromagnetic fields and the World Health Organisation recognises
them as a probable or possible cause of cancer. In this country, even
establishment scientists are advising children to keep their mobile phones
away from their heads and laps as much as possible. Biologist Sir William
Stewart is hardly a maverick or an alarmist - he chairs the management
committee overseeing research funded by the government and the mobile phone
industry. But he has admitted (The Guardian, January 26) that he
is not prepared to let his grandchildren, aged five and four, use mobiles
because of health risks. Meanwhile, Worthing Borough Council is seemingly
oblivious to the danger signs (or too scared to upset powerful
telecommuncations firms?). Reported the Worthing Advertiser
(January 2): "Borough planners have approved plans to install two
telecommunications masts on the Northbrook Trading Estate and the
Littlehampton Road in Worthing." This was despite a petition by 80 residents
and objections by staff and students at Northbrook College. The permitted
mast, you see, will be just 45 metres from the college creche, which serves
children between the ages of two and five. But then what does the health of
little children matter next to the need for corporate profits and economic
growth?
Old cage pensioners
A STUNNING and imaginative new scheme has
been devised to solve Worthing’s hospital and nursing home bed crisis. A
humanitarian Holiday Camp X-Ray for the borough’s excess old folk
is to be built near the sewage works in East Worthing. The project is to be
masterminded by American firm Enruin Inc which has a proven
track record with a similar prestige project in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Under
a miraculous Private Finance Initiative (PFI) arrangement, Worthing’s
council tax payers will pay nothing towards the cost for the first six months
- and then £2,000 billion a month (each) for the next 875 years. If the
camp does not get the go-ahead, say experts, Worthing could face bed-blocking
bedlam and a repeat of the notoriously violent retirement home uprisings and
OAP intifada of the late 1970s. Enruin chief executive George W Pretzel
brushed aside criticism from some quarters that the Holiday Camp scheme was a
total outrage. He said: "As far as I’m concerned, the hand-wringing
liberals and terrorist appeasers can go back and live in Littlehampton where
they belong. "These are not just ordinary excess labour units we’re
talking about holding at X-Ray, but illegally antiquated 20th century models
that have no place in our progressive modern democratic corporate paradise.
"For too many years these evil Grey Block parasites have been eroding the very
basis of our sacred economy with their incessant and selfish demands for money
to keep themselves alive. "I do not think anyone in their right mind would see
anything wrong with chaining these hard-line old-age-pensionists in outdoor
cages with concrete floors and dressing them in orange boiler suits bearing
the legend ‘Worthing - Centre for Business, Leisure and
Shopping’. We are respecting their culture by providing a back copy
of Reader’s Digest in each and every cage. They should just be grateful
we have not shot them dead or even made them attend Thursday afternoon
Wurlitzer organ recitals at the Pavilion Theatre."
Jobsworth joy
WHAT a wonderful country this is becoming. The
latest splendid development is that a "a new army of uniformed civilian
patrols and community support officers" is to be unleashed on us all
(The Guardian, Jan 26). Under the new police reform bill these
"police auxiliaries" will have the power to issue on the spot fines for a
range of "anti-social behaviour offences" such as disorder, littering
and the heinous crime of cycling on the pavement. They will be authorised to
steal alcohol from people enjoying a drink in the street (remember - only the
rich are allowed to have fun in Blairite Britain) and nick fags from under-age
smokers. They will also apparently be able to stop and demand the name and
address of anyone who has been "acting in an anti-social manner" - and detain
them until the police arrive if they decline to co-operate. Here’s one
to mull over at home. What kind of people do you think are going to be
attracted to a job as a uniformed busybody with the power to stick their nose
in other people’s business and pass judgement on what is or isn’t
"anti-social behaviour"? Who are their prejudices likely to favour and
target? Is the cause of justice and quality of life for all likely to be
enhanced or undermined by their existence?
Protesters in court
FIVE people were up at Worthing
Magistrates Court on January 23 following December’s peaceful protest at
Euromin at Shoreham docks. The protest had been organised by the Simon
Jones Memorial Campaign following the acquittal of Euromin and its
general manager, James Martell, on manslaughter charges over the young casual
worker’s untimely and unnecessary death at work (see issue 42).
The five have been charged under section 241 of the Trade Union and Labour
Relations Act 1992 for ‘besetting’, to which they will be pleading
not guilty, and the case was adjourned. One of the accused, Carly North, 25,
of Craven Vale, Brighton, a single mum and friend of Simon’s, said: "My
friend died and the company that killed him gets off with a fine. I sit in
their office for a couple of hours and get charged as if I’m the
criminal. It was when I was getting fingerprinted and DNAed I thought,
‘no, this isn’t right’. I just wish the police and the
powers that be would put more effort and resources into arresting managers who
risk their employees’ lives without people having to organise protests
to make them. I’m no legal expert, but it seems to me that that would
make a lot more sense than charging people who are trying to prevent more
deaths."
Signs of madness
WHAT a load of old pigswill the borough
council talks. Latest example surrounds the spending of £150,000 council
tax money on 12 signs showing the number of spaces available at the
town’s four multi-storey car parks. David Chapman, who enjoys the snappy
title of "executive member for economic development and marketing" (which can
probably be translated as "chucking money in the direction of businesses and
pretending it’s not a waste of our money") told the Worthing
Herald (January 10): "This will reduce unnecessary journeys around the
town centre and improve environmental conditions." On the other hand, making
it easier to find a parking space might actually encourage people to drive in
to town, where they might not have done. A more effective use of the dosh
might have been to build a few cycle lanes or even to improve the bus service
into town - but then cyclists and bus passengers can’t carry away as
many bags of shopping from the town centre shops run by the council’s
business chums...
China crisis is no choke
COUNCIL sources are strenuously
denying reports that a leading councillor had serious problems swallowing on a
fortune cookie brought back by the recent controversial delegation to the
international towns in bloom contest in China. Said a spokesman: "It would be
extremely libellous to suggest that a senior borough figure could have
virtually choked to death on his own future."
Not so fare on buses
WEST Sussex County Council
has strange financial priorities. On November 23 a Rustington resident
received a reply from chief executive Paul Rigg about a complaint she had made
over reduced bus services. He explained that the cuts had come "in the light
of our budget situation, which regretfully means withdrawing financial
support for lightly used bus journeys throughout the County." Later he added:
"I appreciate the problems caused to passengers who rely on the bus service
for work or leisure purposes, but I hope you can understand that we have been
left with little choice in making these withdrawals." Can this be the same
West Sussex County Council that, in its latest
Connections propaganda-sheet, is astonishingly up-beat about the
prospects for public transport? Mark Miller of Transport Planning Services can
hardly contain his excitement at the news that a new study is to be carried
out which "will initiate surveys, establish focus groups and hold meetings
across the county to seek and analyse the views of those who use passenger
transport as well as those who are non-users." He adds that "the overall aims
of the review include an assessment of the levels and quality of service
required to meet the travel aspirations of all residents..." All this
vital work is to be carried out not by the council itself but by "a company of
leading consultants". Given the "budget situation" at county hall, does it
seem wise to spend huge amount of our money on consultants to tell us that our
"aspirations" are for buses that actually turn up and take us where we want to
go? Could it be that the money would be better spent on providing more
actual buses, or paying bus drivers a decent wage? Why not let Mark know
on 01243 777811.
PORK-SCRATCHINGS
ARTISTS and performers from Worthing are
making plans for a bigger and better Fringe Festival for 2002. A long term aim
of Sunny Worthing Arts Group, or SWAG, is to see an arts centre
in the town. For more info contact Dick on 01903 232875.
* * *
A BOOK for Sussex soil lovers. Seedy Business - tales from an allotment
shed by Warren Carter contains interviews with ten people who used to
live in the Moulsecoomb and Hollingdean area when it was a mixture of
allotments, small holdings, orchards and pig farms. The final chapter talks
about the Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Wildlife Project community gardens and
tries to link the past with the present and how allotments and growing your
own are enjoying something of a renaissance. Copies of the book are available
for £3.50 from Brighton Peace Centre or check it out on the web http://www.seedybusiness.org
* * *
A NOSTALGIC item in the Worthing Herald (January 17) recalled
the comments of Worthing police superintendent SC Holmes regarding the crowds
for the 1935 royal jubilee celebrations. He said: "I have never seen a
better-tempered crowd in my life. We had no trouble at all - they were as good
as policemen." Seven decades on, in an age of armed riot-cops, shootings,
deaths in custody and widespread thuggery and corruption, his description
might not exactly be taken as a compliment...
* * *
IF you prefer your vegetables pesticide-free and don’t like giving your
custom to the supermarket fat cats, why not order a regular organic
veggie box? For a pick-up point in West Worthing, phone 01903 206527.
Warning: The gloves are off
Everything has changed since
September 11 2001, comments a spokesman for the Ministry of the Brave
New World. He explains: "Thanks to the public’s heart-warming
gullibility in the aftermath of the Twin Towers attack, we now realise it is
possible to get away with doing anything we like, anywhere in the world, for
as long as we like and for no good reason. War is Peace. Dissent is Terrorism.
Power is Democracy. Profits are Justice. Obedience is Freedom. Long Live the
New Thousand Year Reich of Totalitarian Capitalism!"
Sty level view of Worthing
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and finally ...
Reclaim Your Town, Reclaim Your Life!
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