Thursday, 8 October 2015

Funding system for road schemes needs overhaul

Wednesday 7 October 2015 / Letters

READERS may be familiar with a catchy tune by country music artist Chris Rea called The Road to Hell.
Whenever I listen to this song I am somehow reminded of the roads of Oxfordshire with its endless roadworks. These gridlocked roads truly are roads to hell.
One may reasonably question why it is that the highways department always has ample funds to conduct countless road schemes and roundabout innovations in times of alleged austerity.
This paradox has often left me perplexed.
One day an opportunity arose for me to ask this question of a highways engineer.
He was digging up a perfectly-good stretch of hard wearing stone kerbing and replacing it with a far inferior and weaker concrete kerbing. I was frankly appalled at the wastage.
He agreed the replacement kerbing was inferior and told me that the next year’s highways budget was contingent on the amount spent during the previous year.
Therefore, there is a perverse incentive for the highways departments to spend as much as possible on road schemes in order to secure a larger budget for the next year.
Thus, when all other essential services are being cut left, right and centre, the department of highways will always have enough cash to ensure that endless traffic schemes prevail.

In fairness, sometimes the results are pleasing, as in the fancy brick pavements in Cowley Road and St Clement’s.

However, more often than not the end result is chaos on the roads and inconvenience to road users, pedestrians and local traders.
SUSAN THOMAS
Magdalen Road
Oxford

Thursday, 3 September 2015

Energy policy destroying our rural heritage

Thursday 14 August 2014 / Letters

OUR wonderful national parks are a vital part of our rural heritage that need to be cherished.
I was, therefore, horrified to read that the Government had considered granting licences to drill for shale gas in our national parks.
Has this country gone barking mad?
One only has to look at the American drilling sites to see what an infernal mess is being inflicted on the landscape. America is also a giant continent in comparison to our tiny country. I very much doubt that America would allow drilling in its fine national parks.
We have leapt out of the frying pan and into the fire. Now that Didcot Power Station and others are gone, there is a predicted energy shortfall.
Hence, the rash dash for gas at all costs.
We need to take time out before making rash decisions.
Drilling for shale has the potential to destroy our beautiful countryside and pollute some aquifers.
At the moment we import very cheap American coal for much of our energy. However, this is soon to change as the coal power stations are closed or blown up.
Soon, our energy bills will shoot up to pay for new nuclear power stations. Frankly, our energy policy is a shambles.

Support for Corbyn's backing of coal power

Monday 24 August 2015 / Letters

Support for Corbyn’s backing of coal power PARTICULATE airborne pollutants from vehicles and open wood or coal fires etc kill about 50,000 a year in the United Kingdom and more than two million people worldwide.
As I have written previously, Ed Miliband’s 2008 Climate Change Act may have resulted in an increase of particulate induced deaths due to incentives for diesel vehicles.
The closure of our coal fired power stations was another strategic public health error as their emissions were mostly steam and particulate free.
The new incentive to burn wood in fireplaces also greatly increases airborne particulate pollution and is best left to heat rural dwellings rather than close-knit city areas.
In Wales we have the best coal in the world and many proud miners who would rather use their skills than languish on the scrap heap.
So far not a single politician has stood up for the mining industry since the closure of the mines in the 1980s, even though the miners’ unions were once very powerful.
Until now that is.
I was absolutely thrilled to hear Jeremy Corbyn praise our wonderful reserves of Welsh coal and voice his support for the miners.

Today's Letters

Tory move will under-fund county’s schools for years

Churches are more than just places of worship

Welfare cuts attacking families with children

New group launched to look after our pensioners

Cutting bus fares would solve traffic congestion

Emergency sirens spoil evensong at colleges

Coal may seem dirty but when it is used in coal power stations all particulate pollutants are removed by scrubbers.
Coal is only harmful to health when burnt in open hearth fires.
Yes we do need to explore many alternative forms of renewable energy such as wind and solar.
However it is foolish for this government to waste £24bn on constructing new nuclear plants such as Hinckley that will cause a meteoric rise in energy bills to pay for its construction, when we have one thousand years worth of free coal here.

Therefore I feel that Jeremy Corbyn’s support for the coal industry has the potential to save the UK billions if he does indeed revive the mining industry.
SUSAN THOMAS

Magdalen Road,
Oxford

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Comments (4)

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Support for Corbyn's backing of coal power

the wizard says... 11:04pm Mon 24 Aug 15 Quote, In Wales we have the best coal in the world. Not true enough for what you intend. Aberthaw B Power Station was designed specifically to burn coal from South Wales. Its comparitive low calorific value caused many issues including 'clean burn' . Many millions of pounds were spent in modifying the boilers, de sulphurisation and upgrading of all the plant around flue gas treatment and still a good 'clean burn' could not be achieved. The fact is we do not experience the fall out from these high chimney stacks in this country. It historically falls in Scandanavia where it caused havoc with vegitation and wild life. Many of Britains coal fired power stations run on imported coal which has a higher clorific value and attains a cleaner burn than the home produced ore.
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If Corbyn wants to do something useful around power generation then he should seriously look again at a Severn Barrage, its the second highest rise and fall of tide in the world. A massive capital investment, no emmisions, would provide rafts of employment and be ongoing for generations. The wildlife issues would have to be sorted but these projects have been priceless where implemented. Mining will always have dangers because of what it is, and the costs of moving coal around the rail network will only ever increase.
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The amount of extra equipement needed at a power station to burn coal is hurrendous, as are the maintenance costs to keep it going. You have to transport it to site, unload it, conveyor it to storage. You then have to move it back to the conveyor system to transport it to huge bunkers within the station itself. Prior to burning it you must pulverise it to a fine dust to enhance its combustion value. From the mill it has to be fan blown into the boiler. The boiler itself has to be a massive construction which is maintenance hungry, and has to be lit on gas or oil first. When the steam is eventually generated it has a limited life cycle and can only be used in one complete pass cycle before being reheated or condensed back to water before being reheated. All the processes are through physically large pieces of equipement which need maintaining at high costs, and they are very non effiecent. Go back to coal and the cost of energy will rocket substantially. Somebody somewhere who makes these wild inaccurate statements need to realize what is involved first. Coal is a non starter, dangerous to mine, dirty to burn, costly to handle and very ineffiecent all round, and the cost of a 600mw steam boiler and turbine, mind boggling.
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Corbyn or anyone else who says they are going to revert back to coal definately need either education or mental examination, obviously a fine line between madness and shear genius, and the latter he isn't.

Score: 2

Oxford rabbit says... 11:25pm Mon 24 Aug 15 We should stop subsidising vanity projects such as the Osney Hydro, too much of our tax is being wasted on subsidies.

Score: 1

the wizard says... 7:41am Tue 25 Aug 15

Oxford rabbit wrote…

We should stop subsidising vanity projects such as the Osney Hydro, too much of our tax is being wasted on subsidies.

Vanity project it is not, if fact more projects like this should be welcomed. It's almost free power. Power will always come at a cost. It is dangerous to handle and maintain, but there are risks with almost all types of generation, but seemingly renewable sources often offer the lowest risks. Solar, wind and hydro are all friendly to the environment in comparison with most types of generation of a power station derived output.
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Nuclear, Coal and Oil all have environmental issues with their residue. they all feature in global warming, and they all leave a pollutant residue behind them. Being big doesn't make it better, it just leaves a bigger mess to be cleaned up.

Score: -2

Oxford rabbit says... 2:48pm Tue 25 Aug 15

the wizard wrote…

Wednesday, 2 September 2015

Labour leadership vote has not been infiltrated

Leadership race: Labour contender Jeremy Corbyn

11:00 Wednesday 2 September 2015 / Letters

SUSAN Thomas (September 1) is not correct when she claims members of other political parties are able to vote in electing the Labour leader.
The new rules allow people to register as supporters and to vote alongside party members, but they must declare that they support the aims and values of the Labour Party and do not support any organisation opposed to Labour.
A few have chosen to make mischief, including former Conservative county council leader Keith Mitchell. who has written: “If 100,000 good Conservatives were willing to invest £3 each and hold their breath when they signed the Labour support declaration, we might well have a good result... We would have a good chance of getting Jeremy Corbyn elected and then we could simply go home and enjoy a long time of Conservative rule!”
Where applicants are members or clear supporters of other parties their votes are cancelled, but they constitute a very small minority. The response has been overwhelming. Labour has gained tens of thousands of new supporters since the General Election and in Oxford alone, full membership has doubled.

The next leader and deputy leader will have been elected by more than half a million individual voters – an unprecedented mandate and all MPs and all members will work with them to help move the party forward.

ANN BLACK
Secretary
Oxford & District Labour Party
Member, Labour Party National Executive Committee

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Comments (1)

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Labour leadership vote has not been infiltrated

Andrew:Oxford says... 1:01pm Wed 2 Sep 15 This is not true.

Conservative party members who are also members of a Trade Union such as Unite are being relentlessly pestered to vote by Labour and their Union.

Score: -3