NEWS RELEASE – time to change the unfair planning system

GREEN MSP MEDIA RELEASE

Embargoed until 00.01hrs, Friday 30 July, 2004

PLANNING CONSULTATION ENDS ? GREENS CHALLENGE McCONNELL ON ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

As the consultation on third party right of appeal (TPRA) drew to a close, Greens emphasised the need for ministers to ensure reform is radical and that First Minister Jack McConnell delivers on his pledge to champion environmental justice (1).

The consultation which ends today (30 July) has been dogged by media reports that there is no ministerial support for TPRA, the implication being that the consultation is a sham as the Executive has already decided on the nature of any reforms of the planning system. Greens argue that TPRA is a vital element in making the system fair and effective, and delivering on environmental justice.

Patrick Harvie MSP, Green Speaker on Communities, said, ?It is good to hear that the day before the consultation on third party right of appeal ends, the Communities Minister claims she wants “to see individuals and communities play as full a part as possible” in the planning system. I trust that, contrary to media reports that there is no ministerial support for TPRA, this means that ministers will respect the consultation process, carefully consider all responses and that calls for TPRA will be heeded.? (2)

Currently, developers have the right to appeal planning decisions, but campaigners ? such as local residents or NGOs ? do not have that same right. Greens argue that this makes the system inherently unfair and biased, and compromises public capacity for involvement in local planning.

Harvie has been involved in a number of campaigns in Glasgow where sports grounds and green spaces are being given over to developers despite outrage from local residents and businesses. In the city?s west end, a luxury housing development is set to go ahead on an Outstanding Conservation Area alongside the River Kelvin despite the threat to independent retailers who will lose trade.

Harvie said, ?Councils across Scotland are giving inappropriate developments to go-ahead for fear of being taken to appeal by developers. Only TPRA will do anything to bridge the gulf between the resources private developers have, and those meagre resources the Executive makes available through planning aid so communities can access advice and information.

?With TPRA, developers will be forced to negotiate fairly with communities, and bring forward better quality applications for developments in appropriate places, otherwise they are the ones who will be taken to appeal. Environmental justice and community concerns should be at the heart of a reformed planning system.?

ENDS

For further information call the Green MSPs? press office on 0771 761 8771.

Fahrenheit 911

How well my workmates know me. I arrived back at the office this Monday only to be wound up about my last Big Issue column – apparently they had read my rantings about the dire state of British television and correctly guessed how bored I had been in my fortnight’s break. This is my own fault – there are far better things to do in Glasgow than sit at home and moan that there’s rubbish on the telly. But after a hectic few months I was in couch potato mood.

However I can confirm that I did, as predicted, get out of the flat to see Michael Moore’s new film, Fahrenheit 911. Although Ray Bradbury (whose story ‘Fahrenheit 451′ referred to the temperature at which books burn) is reportedly miffed at not getting a credit for the title, Moore has indeed shown that 9/11 is the temperature at which freedom burns.

As with his last film Bowling for Columbine, Moore offers a dose of remedial American history, but even those of us for whom the lecture is unnecessary should be glad that Americans are flocking in their millions to see this stuff. Particularly in an election year, it is something they need to see.

If you are one of the many people out there who instinctively recoil from Dubya’s “War on Terror” yet worry in your quiet moments that it might just be necessary, please go and see this film.

Moore begins by reliving the events of the 2000 election – the corruption, the disenfranchised voters, the Republican fixers in positions of unaccountable power, and the nation which voted (albeit narrowly) for a centre-right oil man but got a far-right oil man imposed on them… then mutely accepted the result and flicked over to watch the West Wing instead.

The film proceeds to dissect the Bush family dynasty, its foul relationship with the Saudi Arabian dictatorship and its history with the Iraqi regime, the Bin Laden family, and the defence contractors who’re busy making a killing thanks to US foreign policy. The US Patriot Act, the Senate which passed it without even reading it, the propagandist media, and the US military all come under fire.
Coming through it all is Moore’s anger and disgust at the way his nation’s poor, including the people of his home town of Flint, Michigan are duped not only into supporting the corrupt regime, but also into sending their children to foreign deserts to kill and die for it. This is purposeful film-making, with no pretence of impartiality.

If the film suffers from being unfocussed, I think it’s understandable. The American electorate needs to be ranted at, and Moore is the one to do it. If the films lays the emotion on too thick at times (at one point almost wringing the tears from the eyes of a dead serviceman’s mother) perhaps he just knows his audience. I am prepared to forgive him for making me uncomfortable with his tactics. They might at times be manipulative, even exploitative, but he’s trying to rid the world of a real and present danger – the danger of a second Bush term in office. The War on Terror has demanded horrific sacrifices in America and throughout the world. If the War on Bush demands the public wringing out of a few tears, so be it.

See this film. Better still, go to your nearest tourist spot and find some Americans. Persuade them to see it, and make sure they’re back home before election time. It may be a one-sided and blatant attempt to swing an election. But hey, at least the good guys got to make a hell of a war movie for a change.

NEWS RELEASE – Demonstrate for fair development

GREEN MSP MEDIA RELEASE/PHOTOCALL

Embargoed until 00.01hrs, Saturday 24 July, 2004
Photocall: 12 noon, George Square, Glasgow

GLASGOW PROTEST IN OUTRAGE AT LOSS OF GREEN SPACES

Green Glasgow MSP Patrick Harvie will today (July 24) join campaigners in a public protest against a luxury housing development set to go ahead on an Outstanding Conservation Area along the River Kelvin in the city?s West End.

The controversial Gibson Street proposals, which include a restaurant, were given planning permission last month despite hundreds of objections from local residents and businesses.

The protest will feature speakers ? including Harvie ? a performance from a jazz band and free tea from the tea shop Tchai Ovna, one of the shops threatened with closure because of the development. Protesters will be invited to write a message on the ground in chalk to air their views on the Council?s decision to grant permission and the unfair planning system.

Harive said, ?The loss of this distinct green space is not only an environmental tragedy but also a shocking blow to many of the nearby small, independent retailers. The development will reduce trade and destroy the character of this area. This is yet another example of how the current planning system is unfair and biased because it gives developers but not residents the right to appeal against planning decisions.

?Nothing short of introducing a third party right of appeal will make the system work for residents as well as developers ? and that is what Greens are campaigning for. Across Glasgow city we are witnessing the loss of green spaces such as parks and tennis courts.

?There is just one week left for people to tell Scottish ministers that they want a fair planning system, which gives people affected by developments a real say in what happens to their communities. Please, please, visit the Friends of the Earth website and find out how to take part in the consultation. I know many people are
sick of continual consultations, but if you don’t respond to this one the business lobby will have no problem in making the planning system even more unfair and unsustainable.”

Martin Fell, owner of the Tchai Ovna tea shop, said, “This city is being subjected to aggressive development which is damaging the community, and people’s views are being completely disregarded. It must stop before it’s too late.”

ENDS

For further information call the Green Group Press Office on 0771 761 8771

NEWS RELEASE – Salmon bake!

GREEN MSP MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release, Thursday 22 July, 2004

NATIVE AMERICAN CEREMONY IN APPEAL TO SCOTTISH POWER TO STOP SALMON DESTRUCTION

Patrick Harvie, Green Glasgow MSP, today joined representatives from four Native American Indian tribes in a traditional ceremony in Edinburgh to highlight the ongoing environmental destruction Scottish Power dams are causing in North America.

The delegation of North American Tribal Nations, commercial fishermen and environment group ‘Friends of the River’, are in Scotland to press Scottish Power to undo damage to wild salmon caused by dams owned by the Scottish-based utility. Tomorrow they will attend and protest at Scottish Power AGM (from 11am, in Edinburgh Festival Theatre).

The tribes use salmon in various traditional ceremonies. Today?s event was held to thank the Scottish people for the warm reception they have received, and to send a message of good luck to members of the delegation who were meeting with Scottish Power officials this morning.

Patrick Harvie, Green Glasgow MSP, said, ?I was delighted to accept the invitation from Friends of the River to join them for their ceremony – I am only sorry that they cannot perform it in its traditional setting any longer. Scottish Power claims to believe in taking full responsibility for the environmental impact of its business – I hope that at the AGM tomorrow they will acknowledge that this means making good the damage done to the River Klamath.

?I know that Scottish Power didn’t build these dams (they were acquired in a takeover) but when one company buys another it takes on their liabilities as well as their assets. Scottish Power must now take responsibility for the social and environmental liabilities which they have taken on. If they do so, perhaps one day our guests will be able to invite us to join their ceremony in its traditional setting.?

Robin Harper, Greens parliamentary leader, has urged all of Scotland’s political parties to support the North American Tribal Nations campaigning to oblige Scottish Power to establish the ‘highest environmental standards’ in their dam operations in North America.(1)

The campaign comes as a new book, The End of the Line, by Charles Clover, highlights the problems in the marine environment worldwide.

Harper said, ?Clover?s book adds to the ongoing debate and is essential reading for any politician that has influence over fishing and maritime affairs.

?We need to protect fishermen?s jobs and livelihoods ? and the only way to do this is to ensure we do not over-fish, to stay in a reformed Common Fisheries Policy with regionalised decision-making, to ensure stock regeneration occurs alongside support for communities.?

ENDS

For further information call the Green MSPs? press office on 0771 761 8771/0131 348 6360.

1. Motion lodged with the Scottish Parliament by Robin Harper MSP:
S2M-01583 Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): That the Parliament
welcomes to Scotland a delegation of representatives from North American Indian tribal nations and US fishermen?s and environmental organisations; recognises their quest to obtain justice from the Scottish-based multi-national, ScottishPower; backs their campaign to oblige ScottishPower to establish the highest environmental standards in its operation in North America; regards the damage done by dams now owned by ScottishPower on the River Klamath in California and Oregon, which have blocked 350 miles of historic salmon spawning grounds, as unacceptable; recognises that this damage has had a serious and detrimental impact on the native peoples? social, cultural and economic situations; regards ScottishPower?s failure to include salmon restoration strategies in its future plans as a failure, and calls on ScottishPower to lead the way in taking active measures to reverse the decline in salmon numbers in what was once America?s third greatest salmon river.
Background information

The dams in question are owned and operated by PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of Scottish Power, and are currently being re-licensed for 30 years by the US Government. The delegation members are demanding the restoration of the River Klamath in North America, which they claim has been severely damaged by a complex of Scottish Power owned dams, blocking over 350 miles of historic salmon spawning grounds, degrading water quality, and playing a major part in a huge decline in salmon numbers in what was once America’s third greatest salmon river.

The Karuk, Yurok, Hoopa, and Klamath Tribes have lived along the banks of the Klamath River for thousands of years. Their economies, cultures and religion revolve around the annual return of the salmon. Since the construction of the Klamath River dams, the number of salmon returning to spawn has plummeted. Once, over a million fish would return annually. Today, 100,000 returning fish is considered good and two salmon species have already been driven to extinction.

NEWS RELEASE – Stay of execution for Homoeopathic hospital

GREEN MSP MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate use, Tuesday 20 July, 2004

HARVIE WELCOMES INVESTIGATION INTO PROPOSED HOSPITAL WARD CLOSURE

Following this morning?s meeting at Greater Glasgow NHS HQ, Green MSP Patrick Harvie has welcomed the NHS board?s commitment to look further into proposals to close Scotland?s only in-patient homoeopathic unit.

At the meeting, former patients and consultants of the Glasgow Homoeopathic Hospital gave evidence to board members, including a particularly personal testimony from a patient.

Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, said, ?I welcome the frank admission by some board members that they are not fully aware of the benefits homoeopathic care offers patients, many of whom have not responded to conventional treatment.

?As the board now looks closer at the proposed cuts, it is vital that they remember to listen to the patients whose lives have been turned around by the nature and quality of care on offer at the Glasgow Homoeopathic Hospital.

?One argument that has been used against keeping the in-patient service is that patients can face a long wait for a bed. However, this is further evidence of the need for this service, not a reason to close it. You do not reduce waiting times by taking away the service. I have argued since these proposals were first made public that homoeopathic services must be extended to meet demand, not scrapped altogether.?

Following the board?s investigation, it is expected a public consultation will be launched. Harvie said, ?This must be a genuine and honest consultation ? not a repeat of the Queen Mother?s Hospital debacle when a huge public outcry fell on deaf ears. As the board listened to professionals and patients this morning, so Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm must agree to listen to public responses ? it is the public after all who have to live with the effects of the cutbacks.?

ENDS

For further information call the Green MSPs press office on 0771 761 8771.

NEWS RELEASE – Decision time for Homoeopathic Hospital

GREEN MSP MEDIA RELEASE

Embargoed until 00.01hrs, Tuesday 20 July, 2004

Photo opportunity: 09.15am, Greater Glasgow NHS Board, Dalian House, 350 St Vincent St, Glasgow, G3 8YY.

HOMOEOPATHIC HOSPITAL CAMPAIGNERS PRESENT PETITION

Patrick Harvie will today (20 July) join campaigners in presenting a petition to Greater Glasgow NHS Board as part of their fight to save Scotland?s only homoeopathic in-patient unit (1).

The Glasgow Homoeopathic Hospital is facing cutbacks as part of a cost-cutting plan by NHS Greater Glasgow. The Centre for Integrative Care is the UK?s only in-patient homoeopathic treatment unit. Mr Harvie said plans to close the in-patient wards may be a false economy as those suffering long-term illnesses would still need conventional treatment elsewhere.

Mr Harvie said, ?I have called for the Centre for Integrative Care to be saved – indeed for its funding to be increased – because of the excellent work being done there and the profound impact on patients’ lives. We should be proud of developing this unique service ? we are doing work in Glasgow that cannot be matched anywhere in the UK.

?Sir John Arbuthnott, chair of NHS Greater Glasgow, has explained to me that the cutbacks have only been proposed because the Centre is so unique! What a lack of ambition for our health care. Just because services are being run down everywhere else in the country doesn’t mean we have to do the same here.

?The Centre provides a model of care that achieves results in both human terms and cash terms, helping people who cannot be helped elsewhere, and cutting the future drugs bill for the NHS. You just don’t throw something like that away.

?More than half the Parliament has already expressed its support for this service, by signing my motion and that of Bill Butler. NHS Greater Glasgow needs to recognise that the people of Glasgow will not just sit by and watch cut after cut after cut.?

ENDS

For further information call the Green MSPs? press office on 0771 761 8771.

1. Motion lodged in the Scottish Parliament:
S2M-1289 Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green) : Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital – Centre for Integrative Care? That the Parliament acknowledges the unique service offered at the in-patient unit of the Centre for Integrative Care at Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital; recognises the value to patients and to the NHS that the ?whole person? integrative approach offers; expresses concern at the suggestion that this service will be closed as a result of funding cuts; believes that such a closure would result in the loss of an effective model of care and a consequent long-term increase in other health care costs, and urges the Scottish Executive to promote the availability of homeopathic care within the National Health Service.

End of term

The SNP’s leadership race has been dominating political coverage in the last week or two. If it’s to be a worthwhile exercise, it must focus not only on ‘who’ but also on questions like ‘what’ and ‘how’. While the candidates lay out their agendas, while the pundits make their predictions and while the party members watch a more public and media-driven leadership election than ever before, I’ll be wishing the party well. I’ve never been drawn to ‘nationalism’ as a concept, but I do want to see Scotland leave the UK and become a full member state of the European Union. That will never happen unless the idea of independence gains ground, not just the short-term electoral fortunes of any one of the parties which advocate it. There are many people in the SNP who also see this. I hope that the new leader will be one of them.

But without wanting to decry the importance of the SNP and its leadership election, there may be another interesting debate going on in the internal workings of a Scottish political party over the summer recess. The Liberal Democrats too have some choices to make. Unlike junior coalition parties in some parliaments, they have not suffered much in the polls through loss of identity or compromised principles (despite GM crops, no emisson reduction targets, dispersal powers for the police, and other issues) and barring major reversal of fortunes they look set to be a likely choice as junior partner for some time to come. But will they always feel that it’s the best option for them? After all, who wants to be junior partner for ever?

There are some in the LibDems who would prefer that they break the coalition deal well in advance of the next election, and now that the Local Governance Bill is passed, they may find that the time is right to make their case. Proportional representation has long been a LibDem totem, and even though the new system we’ll use to elect our councils is less fair than it might have been, it’s a huge step forward. So what’s the next big prize? Which issues would they force Labour MSPs to accept in the next Partnership Agreement?

It might sitll be tempting to try for another handful of individual policy achievements, but perhaps the greater prize would be regaining a distinctive voice and the ability to openly oppose the Executive.

I personally think that a period of minority government would a good thing for Scotland, for the Parliament, and indeed for the Labour Party. Although I don’t doubt the sincerity and passion of many in Labour, there are some who express little but contempt for the idea of political opposition. Many haven’t really had to put up with it much, coming as they do from councils where 30-40% voter support ensures 80-90% strength in councillor numbers. Such dominance by any single group is unhealthy, which is why the fairer voting system will have such a positive impact in the long run.

A trial separation between Labour and the LibDems would also help to remind those who are a bit too used to feeling like a majority that in a truly representative system we are all minorities. The icing on the cake would be a greater need for genuine debate and dialogue.

Parliament breaks up for the summer recess this week. By the time we come back, some of these matters will be settled. The first week of business in the new Chamber down the road at Holyrood might show the signs of some new dynamics in Scottish politics.

Pride Scotia

I was once accused of using this column to promote the sin of lust as a virtue. I’d now like to use it to promote another – pride.
Every year and all over the world people from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities march together in the name of Pride, to celebrate diversity and the work of combating inequality and prejudice. Last Saturday I had the pleasure to speak at Pride Scotia, Scotland’s national Pride event. I was given to remember the advice which had been offered to me shortly after the election last year, when as a new MSP I was contemplating getting involved in the Civil Partnership issue – the current proposal to give marriage rights and responsibilities to same-sex couples who want them. “Don’t go near it” I was told, “People will just see you as that gay MSP”.
Scotland doesn?t yet have any black MSPs, but if I had been one I doubt that anyone would have advised me not to say anything about racism for fear of becoming known as ‘the black MSP’. Such a suggestion would have been ridiculous.
So I ignored it, and continued to push for debate in Scotland about civil partnership. We achieved limited success ? it will still be Westminster rather than the Scottish Parliament which passes the legislation, but we’ve had rather more than the few minutes of debate which are often allocated to such buck-passing Sewel motions.
But walking through Glasgow behind the Pride banner, I was proud to have put my head above the parapet, risked a kicking in the tabloids, and pushed the issue.
The huge progress which LGBT communities have made in the last few decades cannot be underestimated. Well within living memory, people in this country were arrested, imprisoned, forced into humiliating and violent ‘therapies’, and rejected by society simply because they liked to go to bed with people of the same sex, or didn?t conform to the gender stereotype given them at birth. Now in 2004 transgender people can change their birth certificate gender, and next year some of them will be ordering their wedding cakes. It’s enormous progress in legal reform, and social attitudes have changed too. But it wasn’t magic. It didn’t happen by accident. It happened because people came out – in their lives, in their families, at work, at college, and in public life. In doing so they expressed pride in themselves and in their identity.
It also happened because people came out on the streets at Pride marches. For some the motive was celebration of the Stonewall riot, in which sexual minorities in 60s New York fought back against police raids. Others looked forward rather than back, and for them perhaps the act of building a cohesive community with the confidence to organise itself was more important. For others still it was just an excuse to get together to share a celebratory and affirming event with friends and partners. Whatever their individual motives their actions were part of the movement which shook off overt oppression and is making major progress against all forms of discrimination and prejudice. There is still some way to go – injustices and those who defend them remain. There’s a huge job to do in removing discrimination in the heart now that it is disappearing from the law. Pride – in both senses of the word – will still be a big part of that work.
Many thanks to the Pride Scotia organisers and volunteers for their work this year, and to everyone who took part and made the day a success.