Wycombe Liberal Democrats

Cllr Ray Farmer is receiving resident compaints and questions concerning  the ongoing development of the Town centre wards by backgarden and brownfield sites  . Issue appears to be one of lack of cohesive community resoures, traffic management, buses  and community service  to support the developments in the town.

Ray will be expanding on this over the coming weeks, but in the interim is pressing for out of town brownfield sites to be considered for Rural Communities and new Rural villages

Ray has identified the Molins site in Saunderton as an example of a brownfield site suitable for mixed new  and affordable housing with retail development with excellent rail road and infrastructures in place – More info to follow as Ray is currently exploring the feasability with WDC

 Any other sites that we should be considering outside of town please e mail Ray

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There has not been enough discussion of the environment in this election campaign. We know from the people we meet on the doorstep that more and more people are concerned about the environment and global warming. Scientists are telling us that the time to act is now if we want to avoid disastrous consequences for our children and grandchildren.

Liberal Democrats have been putting the environment at the heart of their thinking for many years now. Lib Dem councils like Eastleigh and Woking have been implementing innovative schemes to cut down their energy use and reduce their emissions, and this Lib Dem campaign film showcases some of this work. One of the great benefits of these green energy initiatives is that they actually save council tax payers money!

Tory and Labour are now catching on to the fact that voters care about climate change – but we say, actions speak louder than words. Whilst other parties are arguing about what to do – the Lib Dem councils are already doing it!

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Wycombe Liberal Democrats ran an EcoQuiz recently, using a quiz I had compiled two years before.

It was great fun to find out even Liberal Democrat worthies took up my mad alternatives as answers!  Tartrazine (one of those e numbers causing hyperactivity in children) being a coating for double glazing, and GAP (global action plan) being the Great Alaskan Project or Geothermal Auditing Programme.

A bit concerning that the Queen Bee is thought to lay 15,000 eggs each day.  It is 1,500 which is three times her body weight, which is why it is difficult to find her – not only is she surrounded by the workers trying to feed her and the drones trying the do what drones do, but also her abdomen may well be stuffed down a breeding cell to lay an egg, and it is by the abdomen that you recognise a queen bee!  I’m knowledgeable about bees because we have an observation beehive in The Environment Centre in High Wycombe, and I’m telling people about bees daily.  Why not arrange a visit from your constituency association!  (see www.ecobuzz.org.uk )  It was great to have Amersham Lib Dems visit The Centre recently!

More worrying is that so few quiz participants knew that most disposable nappies take some 200 years to biodegrade, and that 3 billion are sent to landfill each year.  At www.naturalcollection.com more eco-friendly ones can be found.

And for your interest – California has at least 14,000 wind turbines, and they manufacture some 30% of wind powered electricity produced in the world.  That started way before Arnie Schwarzenegger was elected.

Congratulations to Neil Timberlake, quiz addict from Wycombe, who won 1st prize, and to Alan Oxley from Beaconsfield who won 2nd prize.  They both received their prizes from Lembit Opik at our Annual Dinner.  Third prize goes to Prue Bray from Winnersh.  Congratulations and thanks to everyone who took part!
Anyone wanting the quiz to use for their own constituency fundraising, please send £10 made out to The Environment Centre and 50% will be deducted from forthcoming hirings of the Centre to Wycombe Lib Dems, and I’ll send a copy of both questions and answers.

Frances Alexander – fundraising for both Wycombe Liberal Democrats and The Environment Centre.  frances@ecobuzz.org.uk

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Climate chaos is the greatest threat facing our society. Nine of the hottest ten years on record have been since 1990. Just in Britain, we have suffered two floods in 2002 that were meant to occur only every 30 years. We have had the wettest six months since records began in the eighteenth century, and the hottest summer temperatures in 2003. Storm surges, flood damage and droughts are rising. The Thames Barrier has been raised 55 times in the last five years, 12 times in the previous five.

There is no time to lose, as the big Liberal Democrat autumn campaign on the green tax switch stresses. UK carbon emissions are rising because Labour has cut green taxes – on fuel and flights – since 2000. Tory words have yet to be matched by a single proposal that would change behaviour. Only the Liberal Democrats are honest about what is needed.

We need tough decisions at home so that we have the standing abroad to fight climate chaos. We should switch to green taxes to change behaviour, not to raise cash for the state. Green tax revenue should go back in income tax cuts. So the more we change, the more we save. Higher vehicle excise duty on new gas-guzzlers, so that we buy low fossil fuel use cars. Taxing emissions from aircraft flights, instead of taxing passengers, so that airlines fly full and save fuel. Stopping the real fall in fuel duty and the climate change levy.

Please play your part in the campaign for our planet. We have a special website to support the campaign – www.greentaxswitch.com

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