Text
Page 1
Welcome to your Scottish Borders Greens branch newsletter. This Summer edition of our E-Newsletter is a bit of a bumper edition with lots of interesting articles for you to read. So much has happened in the political arena since our last newsletter in Spring, with the local council election and the snap general election, we were all a little burned out after what felt like constant campaigning after the council election but we are now all taking some much needed rest, charging our energy for continuing to work locally within our communities on issues that are important to you and ourselves. You will remember, as a branch, we were all very active in the midst of our local council election campaign. We had our first experience of concentrating our efforts in our ‘Target to Win’ ward of Jedburgh and District, where our green team of volunteers gave up their time to do door to door leaflet deliveries, man stalls and deliver eve of poll cards for our candidate Charles Strang. Most of you will know we were unsuccessful in having a Scottish Green councillor on Scottish Borders Council, this time, but we are growing as a branch and we were successful in not only creating a greater awareness of the Scottish Greens but we have some notable positive outcomes to be very proud of - we beat Scottish Labour in 4 out of 7 wards, received 1030 1st preference votes, overall increasing our vote share and raising our profile across the Borders. The Scottish Green party now have 19 councillors across Scotland, where we know individuals and communities will benefit from having a Green voice heard on their behalf. May we just take this opportunity to thank all who went out and voted Green, to all the wonderful local council candidates and all the volunteers for their amazing hard work during the campaign, we truly couldn’t have done any of it without you. This is your newsletter so please inform us of anything you would like to appear within it. if you would like to learn more about what our branch is involved in or have a local issue you think we should know about then please contact us. Our next branch meeting will be held on Monday 14th August at The Quaker Meeting House in Kelso. Further details can be found on our website scottishbordergreens.org
Regional branch of The Scottish Green Party, covering the vast rural area that is the Scottish Borders. You can find us on social media Visit us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Email us borders@scottishgreens.org.uk Visit our website Scottish Borders Greens Branch meetings are held regularly in Kelso & Galashiels. All welcome.
Donate
For a fair, just & sustainable Scotland
SUMMER 2017
Scottish Borders Greens Newsletter
Page 2
Over £23 million of the Scottish Borders Council pension fund is currently invested in Fossil Fuels. (Divest and Reinvest Scotland Report) We need our council to take an active role in protecting our environment and the health of our communities, investing in fossil fuels is out dated and contributes to continuing climate change. As well as contributing to the destruction of our planet these funds are now at risk as fossil fuels become a thing of the past - we need our council to secure these funds for their employees by investing in technologies of the future including renewable energy and investing in our communities.
This petition was started by our very own Pauline Stewart, who was our council candidate for Mid Berwickshire.
Divest Scottish Borders Council From Fossil Fuels
Water Engine Technologies by Robyn Kinsman-Blake
Water Engine Technologies (WET) Ltd is a new renewable energy company based at Caddonfoot in the Scottish Borders. Inspired by the traditional technology of a canal lock, where boats are raised and lowered in a lock by the operation of lock gates, the Water Engine uses a system of floats (boats) which are raised and lowered due to water entering and exiting a chamber (lock). A system of hydraulic rams are used to convert this motion into high-pressure fluid which can be used in numerous ways, including: Irrigation Water Treatment Hydro electricity The need for high-head (high water pressure usually created by a steep drop in elevation) for hydro power, most often requires a dam. There are a limited number of high-head sites suitable for development and dams create a massive visual and ecological impact. The Water Engine avoids these issues as it needs only low-head. It is also even more environmentally sensitive than any existing micro hydro power devices, as it does not use a bladed turbine and does not obstruct the flow of the main water course, this makes it suitable for capturing the energy from numerous sites in the river systems of the Borders. An example of this is a site on Ale Water, a tributary of the River Tweed, where a 15kW rated Water Machine is to be installed. This will be owned and operated by Water Engine Technologies and will be used to showcase the unit operating in-situ. The exiting energy producing potential of the Water Machine Technology is being increasingly recognized. VIBES awards panel were so impressed by the company’s commitment to create a product that is ‘both energy efficient and sensitive to the environment’ that WET were the winners of the 2015 VIBES awards in the Hydro Nation Award category, the company also won The Shell Springboard 2016 regional awards going on to be UK national finalists, in a competition which aims to find and support “breakthrough” low-carbon enterprises.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION
Shankend viaduct South of Hawick.
International or Union Railway? by Kevin Fergoson
Special Borders Railway liveried train at Tweedbank
On the 24 June 1862 the Union of Scotland and England was celebrated by the completion of the Borders Union railway between Hawick and Carlisle. There was, as there are today, by then already other railway lines linking our two countries. This year saw SNP transport minister Humza Yousaf announce a feasibility study, which along with road transport options will consider extending the Borders Railway via Hawick to Carlisle. The study will use the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG). The key statistic generated by such assessment tends to be the befit cost ratio (BCR). With deceptive simplicity the BCR equals the accrued financial benefits of the new line divided by the costs. If the calculated number is over one, this means the benefits are greater than the costs and project is more likely to be funded than where it is less than one. The appraisal will compare the railway BCR to those of road improvement and other alternatives like improved bus services. This seems simple enough, a mathematical way of deciding on a political problem or opportunity. However the process is not that simple. How easy is it to calculate the costs and what benefits do you include? On the cost side, they will need to estimate the cost of building the railway. So let’s get the fag packet out and have a go at working this out on the back. The Borders railway cost around £10M per mile if we simply use this number the additional 60 or so miles to Carlisle will cost about £600M. But this is a single track diesel railway if we add electrification for speed and more double track for extra capacity it could cost a lot more. This extra cost might be gold plating the line or future proofing depending on your point of view or assessment of what is required. Costs are not so easy to calculate and even once you have decided on a specification you can never estimate the real cost without a very detailed final design the expense of which would not be contemplated before the go ahead is given. There is always cost uncertainty even with a carefully planned and executed appraisal such as STAG tries to be. So then to benefits how will these be worked out? Our Victorian predecessor simply looked at the revenue from passengers and goods traffic and whether this would give them a return on their investment. They often got this wrong and ended up with railways that took many years to become profitable if they ever did. Today we look at the wider economic benefits. We try to estimate how big an impact the railway will have on the economy if the tax payer decides to fund its construction. This is not easy to do and it can always be challenged, the robustness of the figures is hard to prove. So what is the Green take on this, what do we think needs to be taken into consideration and how do we value things. We want to put people and planet at the heart of the benefits assessment. People should have equal access to sustainable transport. A road that will benefit some far more than others and does not address the problems of climate change will not be as positively assessed by us as railway line that can offer a high quality public transport system that is accessible by everybody. We will place greater emphasis on the totality of the transport system as a whole. An extended Borders railway will be assessed as part of an integrated first class transport system for the whole of Scotland. A first class system that offers comfortable, swift and affordable transport for all parts of the country Sustainability is key to developing a system that can offer improved environmental performance into the distant future and not just the short term present. A vision for a clean green way to get around without imposing cost on future generation but rather an investment in their future. So what does this amount to? Not a narrow assessment of present needs using solely the current transport model but a vision for something better that future generations can benefit from and prosper as a result of. We do not know what the future holds, whether we get an assessment of another Union Railway, or one that will look to the wider benefits to our planet. An international railway even if it never crosses an international Border.
The Gap that was the railway embankment and Bridge across the river Teviot at Hawick
Page 3
The inside story on driving an electric car by Beth Landon Ever wondered how practical it really is to use an electric car in your day to day life? I am a busy mum of 4, who lives over 2 miles from the nearest town, and 25 mins from any decent shops. I often have to nip into town for a meeting and become “mum’s taxi” almost every day of the week. I’ve been driving round the Scottish Borders almost silently for nearly three years now. That’s what it sounds like from inside anyway, but in fact our Renault Zoe makes a harmonic humming noise as you drive below 30mph, so pedestrians can hear you coming! In the last few years I’ve gained a niche knowledge of where the car charge points are and how far I can go in different temperatures...and also how to drive in such a way that when my car is warning me that I won’t make it home, I still can with some miles to spare. Well, so far anyway! I won’t bore you with all the details, but I’ll give you a few pros and cons of driving a Zoe, on top of the obvious environmental benefits:
PROS Charges on our home charger in a couple of hours and only costs £1 to £2 per full recharge The range is more than adequate for most day to day driving around the Borders (even though we have the old model with half the battery capacity of the newest ones) At the moment you only pay £20 per year to access the public charging network and so far you don’t pay to charge, although charges are being introduced to prevent cars parking in charging spaces all day! SO easy to nip in an out of town and park in tricky places Free fitting of the charge point at home from most dealers With the plug in car grant, the lease/HP cost is similar to a petrol car of the same league The look on the faces of those you give a lift to when they see how many miles you have spare! Renault promise to come and rescue you if you grind to a halt, although I’ve never had to test that out
For us having a Zoe as a second car, the pros far outweigh the cons, and we’re definitely looking to get a new one when the lease is up later this year. If you were really committed, you could have this as your only car. So what could we as Greens campaign for to make electric cars more feasible for folk? How about these three ideas for starters? Extend the plug-in car grant beyond 2018, some joined up thinking on the charge point networks and just loads more of them. Keep in-line with the EU regulation, even post-Brexit, that all new houses must have an EV charging port as of 2019* *https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2017/02/uk-needs-better-charging-network-for-electric-vehicles/
Page 4
"We need better provision in urban areas in particular, where air quality is a health hazard and people can't really have charging points attached to their homes. The technology exists, it just hasn't been deployed, see this terribly interesting recent video on retrofitting lamp posts in West London for example - CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO. What would be really useful though would be if the charging point providers could get together to agree on one single card or app that works everywhere or at least agree to accept other provider's customers. The cost savings of such an approach would allow an area to be saturated with charging points, doing away with the need for EV-only parking spaces and the associated opposition from local non-EV drivers." - Ronan Burnett
CONS More inconvenient for long journeys so we still use our diesel for the minority of trips Even when you’re got your head round 6 miles left on the battery when you arrive home being good margin of error, you find that other people aren’t quite so laid back (let’s face it, usually around 30 - 40 miles left in the tank still when your fuel light come on!) Occasionally you think you’ll get home, but then realise you won’t quite make it, so have to take a detour to a charging station ...and sometimes there is someone else there already ...and sometimes they stay there for a very long time ...or the charge point has a different shape plug to the one you have! ...and then you have to drive like you’re out viewing the countryside to eek out the mileage
Logs for labour is the principle behind the scheme offered by Tweedgreen’s Woodfuel project. Aiming to reduce fossil fuel consumption and encourage people to make use of local wood supplies for their domestic heating, more than fifty families are members of the group. Project organiser, Joe Wilton, explains, “On the first Saturday and Sunday of every month, members gather to scavenge wood from local clear fell sites. We have negotiated a scavenging licence with the Forestry Commission which enables people to gather woodfuel from the sites which have been clear felled and make use of the left-over wood for domestic fuel”. The Woodfuel Group, part of the environmental group Tweedgreen, has built a log drying area close to the site which is shared by families without space to dry their wood at home. Chain sawing is available on an hourly rate by a qualified chainsawer and members organise transport of the logs from the site. To coincide with the scavenging weekends, woodland children’s activities, for example tree planting, are sometimes offered by Nature Unlimited. New members are welcome. The cost is £20 per annum to cover the the scavenging license fee and some equipment. If you would like to know more and/or are interested in joining please contact them on tweedwoodfuel@gmail.com…… It’s an opportunity to gather virtually free firewood and meet other like-minded people and families.
Logs for labour