West Dorset district council (WDDC) are encouraging local people and visitors alike to explore the breath-taking scenery that is on offer by taking to your bicycle and hitting the trialways. The WDDC have created several FREE informative cycle guides availble to all. Some of the guides follow the  National cycle networks (NCN)  with one in particular covering the spectacular 30 mile ride between Lyme Regis and Dorchester.

Rural West Dorset has so much to offer with exciting exploration and the sightseeing possibilities are endless. But why do it trapped in a car behind glass windows using up fuel and adding to the carbon emmissions? Looking after the countryside is a key part of enjoying it and prolonging its beauty for others, and so the new initiative to promote cycling with these new cycle guides is well on its way to helping look after the environment and peoples health.

These cycle routes and guides are perfect for families, tourists and those wanting to get outdoors and get healthy. The guides are being promoted as a greener and healthier way to visit west Dorset and so there is no better way to experience the Jurassice Coast, picturesqe riverbanks, market towns and quaint villages that are all featured in the guides.

A list of Dorset’s information centres is availble on the Visit Dorset website and PDF files of the cycle guides are available to download by clicking HERE. Five shorter circular routes called the West Dorset Pedal are also availble to download.

So get on your bikes and ride!

Dorset county council recently put in planning permission to have a new £2million recycling centrebuilt in Swanage. It has now been confirmed that the planning has been given the go-ahead and building is due to start this summer.

It is going to be the first of its kind to allow both household and small to medium business recycling waste to be deposited at the same site. An estimated 3,000 tonnes of household and trade waste per year will go through this new centre.

Local households and businesses are going to benefit from the modern, clean, efficient and enhanced recycling facilities at the new centre. The aims for this site will not only encourage more people to recycle but will help Dorset to reach their target to recycle 60% of waste by 2015. It will be money well spent for the local people of Swanage and the local area as they will have a clean and reliable site to go to with their recycling waste and therefore sending less to landfill.

The existing recycling site at Panorama Road, Swanage has been labelled as unsuitable for long-term use and is a very small site making it difficult for trucks to unload. The original site is due to stay open until December 2011, allowing for the purpose built recycling centre (pic above) to be completed at Prospect Business Park, off Victoria Avenue. Expected opening to the public is Autumn 2011.

The housing project application is said to be for 450 student flats and 378 homes and is to sit alongside the heathlands in Poole. A protest has been lodged to the Poole Borough Council and they along with other Dorset councils have committed to safeguard the heaths from any residential development within 400 metres, under a planning framework.

The RSPB have fears that this huge development will do a lot of damage to the unique wildlife that live on the heath. It is going to cause a huge disturbance and put immense pressure on the heathlands and the inhabitants it supports like the Dartford Warblers and the rare sand lizards. Not only is it going to have an enormous effect on the heathlands and wildlife, this development is only going to add to the already traffic congested Wallisdown Road. 

Talbot heath is not only a protected site, has countless statutory designations being named a UK site of special scientific interest, European special protection area and special area of conservation it is also a wetland site of international importance under the RAMSAR convention.

The RSPB are standing alongside the local residents, Natural England and Dorset Wildlife Trust who are all against these housing plans.

Given last December’s COP 15 debacle, there has never been more proof that our glorious leaders are not listening to us; that they cannot be trusted to act in our best environmental interests when they keep getting distracted by pretty shinning things like money and popularity and that they are no longer taking much notice of physical protests.

There is of course always the lobbying aspect, where campaign groups converge in the paperwork, littering MP’s desks with letters of concern, petitions for action and cluttering up their hard drives with online petitions and e-mails threatening not to vote…

The 1990’s saw a raise in more dramatic feats to get heard, with handfuls of the more adventurers, steadfast protestors scaling huge buildings, tying themselves to things often in fancy dress or taking up residency in trees or on sites of environmental  interest.

Although I am being flippant in my descriptions, all of the above represent large swaths of people, action groups and protesters who feel incredibly strongly and are desperately trying to make a difference.

It seems that in 2010, with the rapidly gaining prevalence of groups such as Transition Towns, Transition Heathrow and 10:10, a new form of action is being put in motion. Not surprisingly given the disillusionment of environmentalists following Copenhagen, this new style of making change happen operates on an individual, grassroots level, cutting out government and attempts to change legislation and instead focusing on the reality of modern day living and the price we will all have to pay for it.

The Transition Towns movement is a superb example of this; having lost all hope that local government will lead the way, and acknowledging the fact that fossil fuels are a limited resource, the movement prepares communities for a low carbon future, gradually yet effectively weaning towns off of fossil fuel dependency through a united and conscientious approach.

So are the days of protest marches well and truly over? Certainly not, any positive action will always have its place, however since we can’t trust the government to make the difficult decisions for us, we will simply have to start making changes to our own lives, doing what little we can to make a difference and leading by example – who knows one day they might just catch on.

It seems that a local barber, Jeff Stone from Blackburn in Lancashire, has been banned from taking hair clippings and salon newspapers home to compost: Why I hear you ask?

Is he stealing from the people whose head it once belonged?
They left it behind happily so apparently not.

Is human hair somehow toxic to our delicate eco-structure?
No, in fact quite the reverse, apparently all environmental agencies recognise human hair as fantastic, highly biodegradable compostable material, perfect for adding nitrogen to the soil.

Perhaps he’s taking home so much of it, it’s upsetting the neighbours?
Nope – only one small swing bin every two or three weeks.

Well then, obviously it’s because Blackburn and Darwen Councils have invested heavily in establishing domestic and retail recycling programs and by taking the hair home Mr. Stone is somehow confusing the system?
Absolutely not, documentation received by Mr. Stone confirms that the waste will be emptied at landfill sites at Whinney Hill, near Accrington, and Withnell just outside Blackburn.

Well then, what could possibly be the problem…? Surely it would have nothing to do with money? Surely no council would stoop so low as to force Mr. Stone to buy one hundred Council issued waste sacks, which he doesn’t need and which cost £100, in order to ‘comply’ with their guideline?
Apparently so.

Reassuring isn’t it that Councils have so little to do; that crime levels are so low, housing so abundant, local facilities so immaculate, that they have nothing better so spend our council tax on than paying people to search through our dustbins checking for people who might be ‘illegally’ trying to save the planet…

The main concerns for the area (15 sections of coastline between Devon and Dorset) are storm damage, erosion and rising sea levels. In fact, only last year a huge landslide destroyed 400 metres of the world heritage coastline near Lime Regis. Clearly, the councils realised it was time to act.

£376,500 is now available to Devon and Dorset in order for them to assist the most venerable communities in the area. However, the money will not, as you would imagine, be going to improve sea defences, but to help the inhabitants gain a better understanding and ability to adapt to the impact of inevitable coastal changes. Debates will be held at local level, contingency plans devised and there will be the introduction and development of training programmes for conservationists.

Is this a case of forearmed is forewarned? Although it’s a positive nod by the government, towards recognising the dangers facing an island nation from the ravages of global warming, perhaps more should be being done to slow erosion and raising sea levels in the first place.

The council’s plans are detailed in a 12 page ‘Climate Change Strategy’ document, which explains the lengths they are prepared to go to, to achieve their aim.  Their proposals to reduce emissions include looking not only at the councils own use, but that of the community as a whole. Areas of concern are as follows;  domestic/workplace energy consumption, use of fuel, public transport issues,  sustainable procurement principles, energy conscious building development and environmental awareness education, to name but a few.

If Harrogate Council are prepared to adopt these strategies, shouldn’t other councils now follow suit?

Following complaints about the volume and speed of cyclists, the council in their wisdom have laid 14 speed bumps in the alleyway of a residential area in North London. The move came in fear, that one day a pedestrian would be injured by a careless cyclist.

As expected the cyclists are absolutely outraged and there is the added dimension of the implication these obstacles will have on the disabled, elderly and mothers with buggies and prams.

Who’s at Fault…?
A move has been made by Government advisors to make motorists legally responsible by default, should they be involved in an accident with a cyclists, even if the motorist is not a fault.
The idea stems from regulations in place in the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.  It seems a little extreme that a motorist should pay for an accident caused by the dangerous manoeuvre of a cyclist, however if a  realistic compromise could be reached, as cyclist groups point out, it would encourage more people to get out of their cars and make more journeys by bike, on foot or by public transport.
On a lighter note…
 A German brothel is offering cyclists a 5 euro discount, if they travel to the establishment by bike.  The owner said, ‘it’s good for business, it’s good for the environment and it’s good for the girls!’

These sites provide green spaces which are the ‘green lungs’ of the town, contributing to improving people’s physical and mental health by providing places for informal recreation – walking, sitting, socialising and children’s play; breathing spaces to take time out from the stresses of modern life.  Yet these beautiful areas have been subject to a recent spate of arson attacks.

A particularly bad fire in April damaged one-third of Talbot Heath in Poole.  There were 20ft flames which the wind swept from one end of the heath to the other, destroying protected wildlife and wrecking the habitat of one of Britain’s rarest birds, the Dartford Warbler.  It is believed that this land will not recover from this alleged arson attack for 10 – 15 years!

Because of the increasing number of these incidents desperate measures have had to be taken.  These fires which happen with alarming regularity during the spring and summer months are at best started carelessly and at worst deliberately. The situation has got so bad that the Dorset Police are now offering a £250 reward to anyone who can provide them with any information on the perpetrators.

The RYA have come out in defence of the yacht owners, by stating that they are ‘normally very pro-environmental’.

None-the-less Natural England have organised for an area to be cordoned off with buoys to protect the threatened species.

This ‘anchor-free’ zone will be voluntary, but policed by wardens.  The boat owners however, are concerned, that should they be caught in the wrong place, at the wrong time their boat details will be published on the internet.  Natural England have denied that this is the case and explained that the wardens are only there to monitor the situation and they are confident that the cordon will be respected.

The Seahorse Trust has recently begun tagging seahorses in an effort to track and monitor their existence.  Currently there are believed to be 40 in Studland Bay.

Last year, seahorses were registered as a protected species for the first time.  Steve Trewhella of the Seahorse Trust, welcomed the study and said a ban on anchoring was just what was needed.