This is the 10th anniversary of Radio 4’s Food & Farming Awards which celebrate the people and organisations behind the best of British food.

To mark a decade of the awards, this year’s finalists will be joined at the ceremony by two very special guests who will be announced shortly before the event.

The awards – nominated by BBC audiences – set out to find the Best Food Market, Best Local Food Retailer, Best Dinner Lady or Man, Best Food Producer, Best Retail Initiative, Best Take-Away and Farmer of The Year. The event also features the BBC Food Personality of the Year, awarded in previous years to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, James Martin and Rick Stein.

This year, chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc chairs the panel of judges which include farmer, cheese maker and Blur bassist, Alex James, school dinners champion Jeanette Orrey and chef and food writer Mark Hix.

Chair of judges Raymond Blanc said: “The finalists on this list are food producers, cooks, farmers and retailers who are all, in their own way, truly inspirational people.

“In every category you will find people who are not only passionate about food and farming but are also helping people in Britain to re-connect with their food.

“These awards are important because they offer a rare chance to recognise the hard work and dedication involved in producing incredible food to be recognised.”

The awards will take place on the afternoon of Wednesday 25 November at the Radio Theatre, BBC Broadcasting House, London, and will be hosted by Sheila Dillon, presenter of The Food Programme.

The finalists for this year’s awards are as follows:

BEST FOOD MARKET
Eye Country Market, Eye, near Diss, Suffolk
Riverside & Roathside weekly markets, Cardiff
The Goods Shed, Daily Market, Canterbury, Kent

BEST LOCAL FOOD RETAILER
A Ryan Butchers, Much Wenlock, Staffs
M&M Richardson, Fishmongers, Dungeness, Kent
Donaldsons Shop, Stanhope, Co Durham

BEST DINNER LADY OR MAN
Sarah Allen, The Vine Primary School, Cambourne, Cambs.
John Rankin, Penair Secondary School, Truro, Cornwall
Peter Anderson, Donaldson’s School for the Deaf, Edinburgh

BEST FOOD PRODUCER
The Somerset Cider Brandy Company, Martock, Somerset
Trealy Farm Charcuterie, Mitchel Troy, Monmouth
The Exmouth Mussel Company, Exmouth, Devon

BEST RETAIL INITIATIVE
Growfair: Pride of Cornwall
The Co-operative Food
The Rare Tea Company

BEST TAKE-AWAY
The Thali Cafe, Bristol
Chang Noi, Chester
Traditional Fish Smokery, Brighton
Patricks’ Kitchen, The Goods Shed, Canterbury

FARMER OF THE YEAR
Andrew Dennis, Woodlands Organic Farm, Lincolnshire
George Steriopulos, Isle of Mann
Rosemary Brown and Geoff Brown, Bluebell Woods Dairy, Derby

DEREK COOPER AWARD
The Food Ethics Council
The Food For Life Partnership
Ian Piggott – Open Farm Sunday

The Food and Farming Awards will be broadcast on Friday 27 November at 9.00am with special awards editions of The Food Programme on Sunday 29 November at 12.30pm and Monday 30 November at 4.00pm.

Notes to Editors

The Food Programme is on Radio 4 every Sunday at 12.30pm and repeated on Mondays at 4.00pm. Farming Today is on Radio 4 every weekday morning at 5.45am and on Saturdays at 6.35am. You can listen again online at bbc.co.uk/radio4.

The finalists in the Farmer of the Year category will be featured on Farming Today in the week of the awards ceremony.

This year’s judging panel is chaired by Raymond Blanc – chef, restaurateur and broadcaster – and features: Mark Hix – chef, restaurateur and food writer; Alex James – writer, farmer and broadcaster; Kath Dalmeny – Policy Director, Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming; Jeanette Orrey – former primary school dinner lady, BBC Food & Farming Award winner and now Food for Life Partnership School Meals Policy Advisor; Dr Helen Crawley – public health nutritionist and Director of the Caroline Walker Trust; Rose Prince – journalist, food and cookery writer; Lord Haskins – farmer and former chairman of Northern Foods; Robert Clark, Retail Analyst; Simon Parkes, food journalist, broadcaster and former Michelin inspector; and Sheila Dillon, food journalist and presenter of Radio 4’s The Food Programme.

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Gonzalez was chosen by Human Rights First for the 2009 Human Rights Award in recognition of his courageous defense of human rights in Colombia. He will be honored at an event hosted by legendary newsman Tom Brokaw. Instead of being part of the celebration in New York, Gonzalez may be thousands of miles away. His visa is being held up by the U.S. government, apparently because of false charges lodged against him by the Colombian authorities – despite U.S. agreement that those charges amount to nothing.

“Rather than welcoming Gonzalez, the U.S. government is letting him languish in a bureaucratic black hole.” said Elisa Massimino, CEO and Executive Director of Human Rights First. “The State Department has long supported Gonzalez’ work as well as his effort to fight the very trumped up criminal charges that may now prevent him from entering the United States. Yet, almost four months after Gonzalez first applied for his visa, his application is stalled in a seemingly endless bureaucratic back and forth between the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies. This sends the wrong message to the Colombian authorities and undercuts U.S. policy to support Colombian human rights defenders who are under attack.”

Gonzalez is a groundbreaking student activist and regional coordinator of the Political Prisoners Solidarity Committee in Colombia where he has worked to promote access to justice for prisoners and victims of Colombia’s conflict. Ironically, Gonzalez’s advocacy led to his own arrest. He was detained for more than a year on the false charge of being a guerilla leader, and now faces seven more years in prison if his test-case appeal to Colombia’s Supreme Court is unsuccessful.

Both the State Department and various UN bodies – including the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia – have expressed concern that his prosecution is baseless and intended to discredit him and undermine his work. Earlier this year, Gonzalez received support from the State Department to appeal the criminal investigation to Colombia’s Supreme Court. And, in 2007, the State Department included Gonzalez in its human rights country report citing his baseless prosecution as being emblematic of “the government’s attempts to harass human rights defenders.”

The Colombian courts have confirmed that Gonzalez is free to travel to the US.

“Gonzalez’s case is just one example of a systematic problem in Colombia. Colombian activists from all walks of life are routinely subjected to trumped-up charges intended to stigmatize and silence them,” said Massimino. In February 2009, Human Rights First released a groundbreaking report In the Dock and Under the Gun: Baseless Prosecutions of Human Rights Defenders in Colombia, that, for the first time, documented the widespread and systematic nature of the problem. Last month, after an extensive visit to Colombia, and a meeting with Gonzalez, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders decried the problem of unfounded criminal proceedings against Colombian activists.

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“My lump was detected very early” she says, going on to say “because of that I am still seen as a survivor”.  In 2007, Dorothy had a second lump discovered.  She had to endure two lumpectomies in 2002 and in 2007 to remove the lumps followed by radiation treatment.  Being diagnosed with cancer “is an incredibly scary experience,” she says. “Early detection means that the outcome is more likely to be good.

Prior to her diagnosis, Dorothy used to go for a routine medical screening once every three years.  Since Dorothy’s lump was discovered she undergoes regular screenings once a year.

Breast cancer, the most common cause of cancer mortality, accounts for 16 percentage of cancer deaths in women. However, prevention and regular screening heralds positive changes.  More than 1.2 million people worldwide will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, according to the World Health Organization.  Also, mortality rates are declining in all women and this is believed to be the result of early detectioBrin and more effective treatments because some 70 percent of the cancers are preventable.

Dorothy retains a strong echo of the prevention worldview. Her appeal is for women to get a mammogram and early screening, something that is less common in Kuwait when compared to other parts of the world.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide accounting for just over one million new cases annually. Breast cancer, the most common cause of cancer mortality, accounts for 16 percentage of cancer deaths in women. However, screening by mammography can reduce mortality from breast cancer by up to one-third among women aged 50-69 years, WHO say on their website.

Dr Nouralhuda Karmani, founder of Breast Care Kuwait – an NGO that was established in 2008 maintains that timely screening has a profound effect on mortality rates. Some 85 percentage of women who discovered the breast cancer early and get treated by lumpectomy live long enough, she says.

Breaking the barriers
Prevention is not very popular in eastern cultures, argues Dr Karmani.
In Kuwait, the surge in breast cancer diagnoses at a later stage stems from a two-prong trend: the lack of knowledge about breast cancer and screening, concomitant with the lack of trust in dealing with different health authorities.

Breast cancer can affect anyone – regardless of who you are or where you’re from,” says. Dr. Karmani, who is also a head of the breast imaging unit at Al-Sabah Hospital in Kuwait. She says, “People fighting against breast cancer today are mothers, sisters, daughters and friends – they are people who need our support and acceptance as they battle to regain their health. And we honor their fight when we embrace and share the message that breast cancer screening is vital for all women.

In her opinion, the prevailing mindset is changing today for the better. She advises women at 40 and older to have regular screenings for breast cancer. In Kuwait, yearly some 300 women – both expats and Kuwaitis – are diagnosed with breast cancer at advanced stage, says Dr Karmani. That is why, according to her, prevention and raising awareness are pivotal.
Awareness: Key to survival

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month which aims to raise awareness about early detection. Pink ribbons and pins that are usually associated with breast cancer awareness are distributed at various places. Kuwait is no exception. Booths with doctors and consultants as well as survivors address the deficiency of information on prevention by distributing brochures or talking to women. Responding to the disease on time has saved lives.

P&G battle breast cancer
Many companies and NGOs, join together to battle this major health hazard in support of breast cancer awareness month. This year, for instance, in a campaign slogan-ed ‘Choose Wise & Save Lives’, Procter & Gamble (P&G) is partnering with regional breast cancer associations to encourage residents across the Gulf to join the fight for women’s survival against breast cancer. Their month-long awareness campaign aims to educate and empower women to take charge of their own breast health by spreading the message
that early detection is the best method for successfully treating breast cancer. It also aims to ensure that women, regardless of their location, will be able to access information and learn about breast cancer and the importance of its early detection.

In Kuwait, common misconceptions and myths about breast cancer discourage some women from scheduling crucial screenings. In partnership with Breast Care Kuwait, P&G is addressing these barriers by giving women in Kuwait an opportunity to show their solidarity with those struggling to overcome breast cancer through the “Choose Wise and Save Lives” campaign. In Dr Karmani’s words “the partnership with P&G is bolstering our efforts to demystify the disease.
Saving lives

‘Choose Wise and Save Lives’ aims to reach one million women across the GCC by being a visible presence in the places where they do their shopping, a press release said.

In the words of Wael Al-Jamil, P&G Arabian Peninsula, globally, the number of breast cancer cases is on the rise. “Despite this troubling increase, many women are still unaware that early detection gives them the best chance of survival. This year, we are focusing our efforts by linking this important message to popular products on a woman’s shopping list. By connecting with women in the places where they shop, we hope to help raise awareness about early screening in a simple, friendly way that emphasizes
how each consumer can personally contribute to helping a woman beat the early signs of breast cancer,” he said in a press release.

The brands involved are those with which women strongly identify, and include Pampers, Braun, Always, Olay and Pantene. “By actively utilizing the reach of these brands, P&G is able to deliver key breast health messages to thousands of women across the GCC every single day,” the press release said. Brochures about breast cancer will be displayed in many of the region’s supermarkets, including Carrefour, The Sultan Centre and City Centre stores in Kuwait.

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Local authorities are spending up to £1.3m each on private barristers’ and solicitors’ fees and up to £1.2m on their own staff’s time attempting to resist the fight for fair wages.

A survey of 50 authorities by public service union UNISON found that more than £11.5m has been spent to obstruct equal pay – a figure the union believes is “the tip of the iceberg”.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, the union discovered that among the most free-spending authorities is Sandwell Council which has paid out more than £1.3m to external solicitors and barristers after refusing to negotiate equal pay with UNISON. Coventry’s bill for external legal help was more than £1.2m.

Some local authorities have also spent hundreds of thousands on their in-house legal teams. Leeds, for instance has admitted incurring nearly £1.2m in internal costs and paying £300,000 to outside lawyers.

Sandwell council has spent £124 per female employee resisting equal pay, while the equivalent figure at Rotherham is £115 and in Coventry is £104.

The spending is in shocking contrast to the earnings of some of the low-paid members of UNISON. Some local government employees including cleaners, cooks, and care assistants earn as little £6.30 per hour, or £12,145 each year.

All this public money has been spent despite the introduction of the national “Single Status” agreement in 1997 which sought to end the gap between the pay of men and women in council jobs, which were either identical or required the same level of expertise or effort.

Ten years down the line, there are still far too many councils who are resisting equal pay through the courts.

Dave Prentis, UNISON’s General Secretary, said it was a “national disgrace” that local authorities were spending so much money on fighting to keep women’s wages down. Mr Prentis believes the figures that UNISON has unearthed under-estimate the total costs – because some councils “couldn’t or wouldn’t” reveal their expenditure.

He points out that others were only able or willing to provide information covering external spending over the last few years. He believes that a number of local authorities did their best to come up with the lowest possible figure when answering UNISON’s questions.

“What a waste of money. Councils are stuffing money into lawyers’ pockets to put off the inevitable. Expensive lawyers are raising tiny technical points and fighting issues the councils have already been advised they will lose. Cases drag on for years and women have died by the time legal arguments are resolved. Taxpayers’ money is being poured down the drain and low-paid women continue to be underpaid for jobs that society simply couldn’t function without.”

Brian Critchley, lecturer in employment relations at London Metropolitan University, said:

”One of the more shocking things to come out of this exercise is the total lack of coherence among councils on their policy towards equal pay.

“There appears to be no connection between allocation of resources and potential equal pay liabilities. It seems that some councils would rather defend the status quo than face the inevitable.”

COUNCILS SPENDING IN EXCESS OF £50,000 ON EXTERNAL LEGAL ADVICE/LITIGATION

Sandwell: £1,323,363.99 Coventry: £1,237,870 Cumbria: £869,448.03 (internal £421,300.42) Bury: £607,477.96 Rotherham: £473,689.96 Northumberland: £400,000 Leicester: £392,115.99 (internal £30,919.93) Leeds: £298,648.10 (internal £1,170,151.71) York: £279,802.27 Birmingham: £278,662.80 (internal £916,892)) Gateshead: £263,165.32 (since 2003 only) Cardiff: £216,332 Dudley: £167,142 Hartlepool: £165,788.75 (since 2003 only) Newport City: £138,926.47 Nottingham City Council: £131,653.60 Salford: £101,184.53 Liverpool: £90,478.89 Durham (Derwentside): £90,000

Merthyr Tydfil: £82,446.22 Brighton and Hove: £77,999.78 Flintshire: £76,695.72 Bridgend: £76,420.91 (internally 226.40 hours) Walsall: £72,975.16 (excl VAT) (since 2003) (in-house £81,762.50) Norfolk CC: £62,504.63 (internal £23,145.05) Pembrokeshire: £61,000 (internally estimated £5,250) Ceredigion: £55,184.45 Wolverhampton: £54,353.04 (internal £7,868.52) Southampton: £53,422.83 (plus VAT of £8,887.17) (internal £8,000)

COUNCILS WHO HAVE SPENT THE MOST ON INTERNAL LEGAL ADVICE – ONLY A SMALL MINORITY SUPPLIED AN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION)

Leeds: £1,170,151.71 (external £298,648.10) Birmingham City: £916,892 (external £278,662.80) Cumbria: £421,300.42 (external £869,448.03) Oldham: £164,682.30 (external £30,738) Lancashire: £157,320.90 (external £33,618.75) – figures from June 2004 only. Bolton: £100,467.98 (external £40,033.87) Walsall: £81,762.50 (external £72,975.16 (excl VAT)

COUNCILS WHO COULD NOT SUPPLY INFORMATION OR WANTED IN EXCESS OF £450 TO SUPPLY IT

Hackney, Central Bedfordshire, Waltham Forest, Trafford, Warrington, Lewisham, Blackpool, Staffordshire, Caerphilly, Stevenage NO EXTERNAL COSTS

Telford & Wrekin: £8,910.00 (internal) Haringey: £18,860.08 (internal)

NO COSTS AT ALL

East Lindsey District Council, Anglesey County Council, Isle of Wight, Wirral Council, Guildford, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Lincolnshire and Herefordshire

Editor’s notes: In 1997 unions signed a national deal with local authority employers covering more than a million workers to even out disparities in pay and conditions between white collar and blue collar workers and between male and female council employees. Individual councils and unions then attempted to thrash out pay systems to suit their own local circumstances. No government money was made available to fund the new pay arrangements because the incoming Labour Government adopted budgets laid down by the previous Tory administration.

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The final details of the Government’s scheme to save organisations money on fuel bills and to reduce carbon emissions have been unveiled today by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme is a new regulatory incentive to improve energy efficiency in large public and private sector organisations. Large energy users in business and the public sector will be required to take part in the scheme from 1st April 2010.

Following extensive consultation with businesses and trade bodies, DECC has made some improvements to the scheme:

• To smooth the introduction of the scheme and to help ease the upfront costs, organisations will only have to report emissions in the first year (2010/11). In subsequent years organisations will have to buy allowances corresponding to their emissions from energy use, and then surrender them by the end of the year.
• In the second year (2011/12) extra weighting will be given to organisations which take action early to improve energy efficiency.
• Recognition will be given to organisations which use onsite renewable energy like wind turbines or solar panels by publishing the increased carbon savings from such measures.
• Organisations will be given greater flexibility in how they participate. Subsidiaries who are large enough to qualify in own right (at least 6000MWh) may opt to do so separately from their organisational group.
• Given the primary focus of the scheme is energy efficiency, the CRC will now be known as CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme.

The CRC will help to ensure that large organisations play their full role in contributing to our emissions reductions of at least 34% on 1990 levels by 2020 through improved energy efficiency.

The scheme is mandatory and will save participants around £1billion per year by 2020 through cost effective energy efficiency measures that are not yet being taken up.

By 2020 the scheme is expected to have delivered emissions savings of at least 4.4 Mt CO2 per year.

The scheme will target organisations whose annual half hourly metered (HHM) electricity use is at least 6,000 Megawatt hours (MWh) will qualify for the scheme – typically those that spend £0.5 million a year on electricity. The Environment Agency will publish the qualification and registration guidance for potential CRC participants by November.

The basic timeline for CRC remains;

First phase – The three year ‘Introductory Phase’ starts in April 2010. An unlimited number of allowances will be available at a fixed price of £12/tCO2. From the second compliance year onwards, participants will annually have to purchase allowances, monitor energy use, report emissions and surrender allowances. Participants will also receive a revenue recycling payment each year.

Phase 2 –From 2013 Government will cap the number of allowances available each year and all allowances will be auctioned. The cap will be set taking into account advice from the Committee on Climate Change which they will provide in 2010.

-ENDS-

Case Studies

The below organisations fall within the remit for CRC and would be happy to be contacted for media purposes;

• HILTON HOTELS
  Press Office contacts 020 7856 8076 or email: Jules.Kerby@hilton.com
• GUY’S AND ST THOMAS’ NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
  Press Office contacts 020 7188 5577 or email: press@gstt.nhs.uk
• THE NATIONAL THEATRE
  Press Office contact details: 020 7452 3235 or email:   press@nationaltheatre.org.uk
• LONDON FIRE BRIGADE
  Press Office contacts: 020 8536 5922 or email: press@london-fire.gov.uk

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London, England, September 10, 2009 — 24/7 Moneybox who specialise in providing instant payday loans of up to £800, now invite customers to tweet to them on Twitter.

Twitter is a social networking and micro blogging site where you can keep in touch with friends, give suggestions and leave comments. Read 24/7 Moneybox’s posts to get to know them or post to make comments and leave suggestions – it’s all about making their service personal and fun.

Twitter also offers a great facility for 24/7 Moneybox to inform clients about financial news which may affect them and updates to their services. Simply join their group to get to know the team and so they can get to know you.

“Twitter is a great way for us to interact with you and to network with people using our services,” says James White of 24/7 Moneybox. “Just search for ‘247Moneybox’ on Twitter and chat to us – look out for news and product updates too.”

To find out more about 24/7 Moneybox visit: www.247moneybox.com or call 0871 312 0247 (calls cost 10p per minute).

About 24/7 Moneybox:
Established in 2009, 24/7 Moneybox is the trading name of Active Securities Limited. They offer a financial helping hand, providing fast and reliable loans until your next payday. It’s a simple way to catch an advance to help you cover unexpected bills and avoid incurring additional bank charges. Apply easily online and money can be transferred to any UK bank account the same day. Poor credit history isn’t necessarily a problem and clients can borrow up to £800.

Press Contact:
James White
24/7 Moneybox
305 Linen Hall
162-168 Regent Street
London, W1B 5TD
0871 312 0247
customer.services@247moneybox.com
http://www.247moneybox.com/

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Met Office Hadley Centre scientists investigated how often decades with a neutral trend in global mean temperature occurred in computer modelled climate change simulations. They found that despite continued increases in greenhouse gas concentrations, a single-decade hiatus in warming occurs relatively often.

Jeff Knight, the article’s lead author, commented: “We found about 1 in every 8 decades has near-zero or negative global temperature trends in simulations which would otherwise warm at expected present-day rates. Given that we have seen fairly consistent global warming since the 1970s, these odds suggest the observed slowdown was due to occur.”

But why do these anomalies occur at all, whether in climate models or in reality? The answer lies in something called ‘internal climate variability’ — the capacity for slow natural variations in the oceans to temporarily modify climate. Computer models used to make climate predictions reproduce this intrinsic character of our climate because they successfully represent many of the necessary fundamental climate processes.

One such internal fluctuation over the last decade could have been enough to mask the expected global temperature rise. However, the Met Office’s decadal forecast predicts renewed warming after 2010 with about half of the years to 2015 likely to be warmer globally than the current warmest year on record.

Commenting on the new study, Vicky Pope, Head of Climate Change Advice at the Met Office said, “Decades like 1999–2008 occur quite frequently in our climate change simulations, but the underlying trend of increasing temperature remains. We cannot be complacent. Indeed, other signals of climate change are increasing as fast, or even faster than ever due to the combined effects of global warming and natural variability — the rapid loss of summer Arctic sea ice is one such example. Early action to reduce the extent and impacts of climate change remains vital.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

For further information contact Met Office Press Office 01392 886655 or email pressoffice@metoffice.gov.uk

Notes:

· The Met Office Hadley Centre is the UK’s foremost centre for climate change research. Mainly funded by DECC (the Department of Energy and Climate Change), Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and the Ministry of Defence, it provides information and advice to the UK Government on climate change issues.

· The American Meteorological Society (www.ametsoc.org) is the USA’s premier scientific organisation for those involved in the atmospheric and related sciences.

· To request a copy of the paper, send your name, organization, and phone number to Stephanie Kenitzer at kenitzer@ametsoc.org

· ‘Do Global Temperature Trends Over the Last Decade Falsify Climate Predictions’ by J. Knight, J.J. Kenney, C. Folland, G. Harris, G.S. Jones, M. Palmer, D. Parker, A. Scaife, and P. Stott is published in a supplement to the August issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Contacts

NDS Enquiries
Phone: For enquiries please contact the above department
ndsenquiries@coi.gsi.gov.uk

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“MMP has delivered representative democracy to New Zealand. It is a modern, fair system which is under attack from small, right wing groups that want to see a return to the 1980s,” said Green Party Co-Leader Metiria Turei.

“People can be proud of our current democracy. More women are represented in Parliament and it has increased representation for Maori, Asian and Pasifika communities. It allows a wide range of views to be heard in Parliament.”

The Government has indicated that it is likely a referendum on MMP will be held on or before the next election.

“MMP works. It has delivered Kiwibank, paid parental leave and home insulation. These types of initiatives would not have happened without MMP.

“The Government needs to review, with full public consultation, how MMP is working before it spends millions of dollars on a referendum. A good independent review would help New Zealand voters make an informed decision about what voting system is best.

“MMP helps to keep Government honest. New Zealanders deserve a modern democratic system that is fair for everyone,” said Mrs Turei.

For more information on MMP visit: http://www.elections.org.nz/voting/mmp/

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“While the Greens have suggested slowing down controversial cuts to tree protection, National are hell bent on fast tracking changes. They are using urgency in Parliament and are moving an amendment that will remove tree protection almost immediately,” Green Party Co-Leader Russel Norman said today.

“Ring fencing tree protection – not the ring barking approach taken by the Government – is what’s needed. Sadly the Labour Party has decided to vote for this bill which weakens environmental protection.”

Trees bring a city to life, and are an important amenity for residents, but the Government seems intent on taking that away from the public, Dr Norman said.

The Resource Management (Streamlining and Simplifying) Amendment Bill will be debated under urgency in Parliament this week. Clause 52 of the Bill bans all general tree protection rules from 2012. Only trees specified in a Council’s plan will be protected.

In a last minute amendment, the Government will bring forward the removal of protection from trimming from three years away in 2012 to just three weeks away.

“The Government shows extreme arrogance by fast tracking removal of protection for our cities’ beautiful trees, allowing anyone to hack away at them from 1 October this year,” Dr Norman said.

The Green Party will table amendments today to protect Auckland’s trees, including compromise options and new ministerial powers to permit general rules protecting types of trees, i.e. all pohutukawa on the Auckland City coastline.

“Trees clean the air, provide a home for birds, and make cities like Auckland great places to live, work and play. Why on earth would we want to allow them to be axed?”

Aside from reducing tree protection, the bill also cuts environmental protection and community participation in a number of ways.

* Link to the Green Party’s minority report on the Bill: http://www.greens.org.nz/misc-documents/green-party-minority-report-resource-management-simplifying-and-streamlining-amendmen

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“The National Government needs to get serious about keeping New Zealand’s air clean and introduce regulations around fine particle pollutants. These pollutants pose serious health risks to all New Zealanders,” said Dr Russel Norman Green Party Co-Leader.

In answer to a written question from the Green Party Environment Minister Nick Smith has admitted that New Zealand does not have any standards for monitoring air pollutant particulates that are 2.5 microns or smaller.

Fine particle pollution is particularly dangerous for people who are exposed to vehicle pollution in and around tunnels.

“Land Transport New Zealand is claiming our air quality in and around tunnels is fine but the research they have conducted is flawed because it has not taken into consideration fine particle pollutants that pose serious health risks,” said Dr Norman.

Scientific studies have found an association between fine particle pollution and significant health problems, including: aggravated asthma; chronic bronchitis; reduced lung function; irregular heartbeat; heart attack; and premature death in people with heart or lung disease.

It is international best practice to monitor fine particle pollutants. Both the United States and the World Health Organisation have introduced monitoring and health standards for fine particle pollutants. But New Zealand which prides itself on being clean and green has no regulations, standards or guidelines, said Dr Norman.

In Wellington, residents who live near Mount Victoria tunnel are outraged. Jessica Closson from the local residents association said she was “shocked to hear that LTNZ didn’t measure particulates less than 2.5 in size. It’s pretty meaningless to simply measure above that level – that covers things like road dust, tyre wear and brake linings only!”

For further information

Fact Sheet: Final Clean Air Fine Particle Implementation Rule For Implementation of 1997 PM2.5 Standards – www.epa.gov/air/particlepollution/fs20070329.html

World Health Organisation – Air quality guidelines – global update 2005- www.who.int/phe/health_topics/outdoorair_aqg/en/

Good Practice Guide for Assessing Discharges to Air from Industry, Ministry for the Environment – www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/air/assessing-discharges-air-industry-jun08/html/index.html

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