High Speed rail line must go further

Commenting on today’s proposal from Network Rail for a new £34 billion high speed railway line linking Scotland and London via Birmingham and Manchester, Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“The Government must ensure that any new high speed line helps shift passengers from short haul flights and onto the trains rather than simply adding capacity. If the Government is serious about meeting tough targets for reductions in carbon emissions, then unnecessary domestic flights have to stop, and high speed rail is by far the best alternative.

“Any new high speed rail line linking Scotland with London must serve both Glasgow and Edinburgh, and then carry on to the north of Scotland. It should dovetail with the existing Scottish rail network and allow travelers from the north of Scotland a fast link to the central belt, then south to London, and beyond into mainland Europe. It must connect all of Scotland to mainland Europe and not stop short of serving some of those who will pay for it.

“This is especially important as longer distance rail journeys are more likely to replace short haul flights. For example, cutting the travel time between London and Manchester will not reduce and replace short haul flights as few people fly between these destinations. Six out of every seven journeys between Scotland and London are by plane, though. The train already competes on comfort and convenience, but it must be able to compete on price and speed as well.”

Notes

1. See: Network Rail

Marine energy – Scottish Ministers must stop prevaricating

The Scottish Government today published the Scottish Marine Energy Road Map (1), which shows how marine renewables could become a £2.5bn-a-year industry, employing 12,000 people. The Scottish Greens have long had concerns about the inadequate funding for wave and tidal power, and about the necessary grid connections to the north of Scotland. Today’s report confirms these concerns, and urges Scottish Ministers to go further.

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“We have known for years that marine renewables have the potential to make a substantial reduction in Scotland’s carbon emissions and to help move us towards energy security. We also knew that wave and tidal power could create substantial numbers of jobs and boost the Scottish economy. As this report confirms, the main obstacles continue to be the Governments in London and Edinburgh, with both putting plenty of effort into press releases on marine renewables while providing next to no financial support.

“It is vital that a significant increase in funding for marine renewables is made available by the Scottish Government. Assistance with research and development is required, as it is for the initial commercial deployment of these technologies once proved. Finally, there are long overdue improvements to infrastructure, upgrades which are vital if clean energy is to supply the rest of Scotland.

“Negotiations on next year’s budget will be starting very soon, and a key test will be whether the Scottish Government implements the recommendations from this report. We will want to see them reintroduce a significantly improved Wave and Tidal Energy Support scheme as part of a package of new funding to support the development of renewables in Scotland.

“Since the SNP came to power they have talked a lot about renewables, but the reality has been Ministerial approval for new coal and waste-to-power incinerators, both of which are unwelcome and unnecessary. We now have a road map for clean energy, but the trick will be to get the Scottish Government to follow that map rather than continuing to back these other dead end technologies.

“Funding for renewable energy has in the past, been too little and too piecemeal. The much-vaunted Saltire Prize won’t pay out a penny for years to come, and is simply inadequate. What this report recommends, and what Greens will be supporting, is a significant, coordinated and focussed round of new funding to allow Scottish marine renewable developers to get their devices tested and deployed. This is an industry where we can still lead the world, and one which can provide clean power for the people of Scotland, but only if Ministers stop prevaricating, and soon.”

Notes

1. See: report and press release

MEGRAHI: MACASKILL DECISION JUSTIFIED, BUT AN INQUIRY IS VITAL

Patrick Harvie MSP, co-convenor of the Scottish Green Party, today backed calls for a full public inquiry into the conviction as well as the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi. While supporting the decision taken by the Justice Secretary to grant release on compassionate grounds, Greens believe there are many questions still to be answered. Patrick Harvie today urged the UK Government to initiate a full public inquiry to examine the case, including the UK Government’s negotiations with Libya and others around the decision to release Mr Megrahi, and all aspects concerning the original conviction.

Speaking after the Cabinet Secretary’s statement to Parliament, Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“Compassionate release is a normal part of the Scottish justice system, and Kenny Macaskill’s decision was the right one. The UK Government and the Americans are both normalising relations with Libya, who, we are told, commissioned the attack on Pan Am Flight 103. If Tony Blair can take tea and sign oil deals with Colonel Gaddafi, who paid a settlement for the crime he apparently ordered, justice does not demand a dying man be held until the end for carrying out those orders.

“However, there are still serious and troubling outstanding questions in this case, questions with far longer-term consequences than this release. They still need to be answered through a public inquiry, and it’s vital that the UK Government releases all the relevant information it holds so that the truth can finally be known. The families deserve nothing less, and future politicians and diplomats would benefit from knowing what really happened. I was therefore pleased to hear the Justice Secretary commit today to cooperate with any such inquiry.”

Notes

1. See:http://tr.im/wZfu

Glasgow City Council lose the plot over community gardeners

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE NORTH KELVIN MEADOW CAMPAIGN:

LOCAL RESIDENTS AND MSPS CONDEMN GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL’S ABSURD LEGAL ACTION AGAINST COMMUNITY GARDENING GROUP

Glasgow MSPs and local residents in Maryhill have reacted with anger and disbelief to Glasgow City Council’s decision to take the North Kelvin Community Meadow Campaign to court for cleaning up and improving derelict land on the site of the former Clouston Street playing fields.

Douglas Peacock, chair of the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign, and Karen Chung, treasurer, have been summonsed with the ‘North Kelvinside Green Space Initiative’ (sic) to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday, 21 August at 12 noon. Glasgow City Council is seeking to prevent the community group caring for the land, which has never had building on it and has been left derelict by GCC for over two decades, in order to facilitate its sale to a property developer.

Commenting on the court action, Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“The City Council have seriously misjudged popular feeling about the North Kelvin Meadow, and they will regret this absurd legal action. Local people are being taken to court for improving their public space, for working together and for growing their own fruit and veg, something which Glasgow needs to do much more of. The North Kelvin Meadow Campaign are Glasgow at its finest, and the Council should be listening to them, not prosecuting them.”

The court action appears to contravene directly Glasgow City Council’s own policy towards derelict land. A motion passed last year states: City Plan 2 encourages the use of vacant and derelict land as temporary greenspace. Council [...] resolves to work with site and property owners to temporarily use vacant land for energy crop production and failing that to landscape vacant sites to create simple, but well maintained grassed areas open to the public.

The local community is particularly angered by the court action because Glasgow City Council has consistently refused to meet with the community group, which has some 200 active members, despite frequent overtures and attempts by Bob Doris MSP to broker a meeting.

Local resident Gordon Barnes said:

“I am shocked to learn that Glasgow City Council have decided to take members of the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign to court. I am thoroughly appalled at this grossly disproportionate action and I am utterly amazed that our local authority desires to pursue legal action in Court in preference to discussing and resolving the matter calmly and rationally. Their heavy-handed actions do nothing constructive to resolve the issue and only serve to demonstrate how out of touch they are with the people they represent.”

Some members of the community have also criticised the way negotiations regarding the future of the land were handled in the past. Local resident Ian Black said:

“Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel? This huge overreaction by Glasgow City Council to a handful of their own citizens trying to grow a few vegetables and the odd flower on disused land is beyond senseless. What exactly is it that makes the Council act in this way? Is it that close examination of their dealings will reveal irregularities in their negotiations with previous objectors to their rush to rid us of this green and pleasant place?”

The North Kelvin Meadow Campaign also has the support of Glasgow Region MSPs Robert Brown and Bill Kidd, as well as Canal Ward councillors Billy McAllister and Kieran Wild. A petition protesting at Glasgow City Council’s decision to sell the land has attracted over 500 signatures. A strong turnout of supporters is expected at the Sheriff Court on Friday.