Paul Mobbs knows his stuff well and has kept a close eye on what has been happening around the country, including around here.
He references the Vale Says No! and No Fracking UK websites in the closing credits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Hdy_8yRfFhk

Donald Sadoway is working on a battery miracle — an inexpensive, incredibly efficient, three-layered battery using liquid metal.”

Why you should listen to him:

The problem at the heart of many sustainable-energy systems: How to store power so it can be delivered to the grid all the time, day and night, even when the wind’s not blowing and the sun’s not shining? At MIT, Donald Sadoway has been working on a grid-size battery system that stores energy using a three-layer liquid-metal core. With help from fans like Bill Gates, Sadoway and two of his students have spun off the Liquid Metals Battery Corporation (LMBC) to bring the battery to market.

“How do we attack important problems? Pose the right question.” Donald Sadoway

http://www.ted.com/talks/donald_sadoway_the_missing_link_to_renewable_energy.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2012-03-28&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email

Thank you Greg Clarke (Planning Minister): “It [the planning system] has become so complicated that it is actually increasingly a matter for specialists. It is very hard for people in communities to engage with the planning system; to protect the places they want to see protected. So the reason we are making these reforms is that e are transferring the power from the distant unelected bodies to local communities” (Transcript of Radio 2 news bulletin at 8am this morning). This could be tantamount to a match point in the Vale of Glamorgan Public Inquiry!

How can they dismiss the overwhelming will of the community of the Vale now?

The sample size is now a very impressive 300,000 (almost) and it shows that on the basis of policy alone the Green party would actually be the biggest party with 23.67% of the vote overall.

Clicking on the ‘Parties & Policies’ tab reveals that the Green party scores the highest of all on Crime, Education and Environment (three issues that should resonate in Bridgend in the forthcoming local elections). We also come second highest on Democracy, Economy, Health/NHS and Welfare, meaning we score first or second in 7 out of 9 policy areas. (Labour manages 6 out of 9 top two ratings, Lib Dems 3, Tories 2)

Locally, looking at the Bridgend and Ogmore constituencies that make up Bridgend CBC, we come second to Labour in both – about 3 points behind.

I would encourage all to take the survey and vote out of conviction for the policies parties represent.

For those people who feel that Plaid Cymru should not be ignored, you can visit this alternative site: http://www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com/wales.php
The data I have seen would suggest that they would take more from Labour than they would from the Green Party, but their nationalist aspects would also pinch a few from parties like UKIP and the BNP, thereby not having much impact on the overall patterns shown.

Food for thought!

It is anyone’s guess how successful we will be, but success need not be measured purely in terms of seats won. We can already claim a degree of success as there has never been more than one Green Party candidate at previous local elections in Bridgend.

This will be an opportunity to gauge our base level support around the County and a valuable way of raising awareness that the people of Bridgend now have a new, progressive, eco-socialist option to consider.

It is clear that our time is coming. The Green Party currently has 130 councillors across 43 Councils in England & Wales; 10 on three Councils in Scotland and three in Northern Ireland. Just like our MP, MEPs, Scottish MSPs and Irish MLAs and London AMs, wherever Green councillors are elected, they are acknowledged as making a real difference.

All Greens share certain core values. These include:

1. The Earth’s physical resources are finite. We threaten our future if we try to live beyond those means, so we must build a sustainable society that guarantees our long-term future.
2. Every person, in this and future generations, should be entitled to basic material security as of right.
3. Our actions should take account of the well-being of other nations, other species, and future generations. We should not pursue our well-being to the detriment of theirs.
4. A healthy society is based on voluntary co-operation between empowered individuals in a democratic society, free from discrimination whether based on race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, religion, social origin or any other prejudice.
5. We emphasise democratic participation and accountability by ensuring that decisions are taken at the closest practical level to those affected by them.
6. The success of a society cannot be measured by narrow economic indicators, but should take account of factors affecting the quality of life for all people: personal freedom, social equity, health, happiness and human fulfillment.
7. Electoral politics is not the only way to achieve change in society, and we will use a variety of methods to help effect change, providing those methods do not conflict with our other core principles.

These values are not about short term political goals, but about the long term future we bequeath to our children and grandchildren. The values that the major parties have been living by have created the world, the country, the county and the town we live in today. Do not tell me they could not be so much better.

In standing for elected office we are taking the first steps in presenting a route to a more positive, more hopeful and more sustainable future.

We will flesh out more details of how we would achieve these goals as this and future campaigns unfold.

(National policies are available for all to see and scrutinise here: http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/ )

The main outcome was that we have established what is to be known as the Anti Fracking Network.

The idea I that small local groups like The Vale Says NO! can claim affiliation to this national network as a way of boosting credibility and gaining weight to their activities. It is hoped that this will be particularly useful in our efforts to push for a national moratorium/ban that we all recognise as the main goal.
It is also hoped that the AFN will be a way of connecting groups and sharing experience and resources.
We hope to run regular conference calls for delegates of each group; develop online tools and resources; and issue press releases.

There was a lot of awareness and interest in our experiences here in South Wales, such that the workshops I hosted were very well attended. I co-hosted these sessions with Laura Gyte, who is Friends of the Earth’s in-house solicitor. At about 4’10” we made quite a double act, and she is very keen to help and advise on the Public Inquiry. Tony Bosworth, who is FoE’s chief energy and climate change campaigner, is also following the case with interest and is encouraging Laura’s involvement. It was very encouraging to talk with them. Laura seems to think we still have plenty of scope to develop the case and prevail at the Public Inquiry.

Watch this space!
Andy

1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Apologies for Absence
3. Minutes and matters arising
4. Officers’ reports
5. Campaigns update
6. Elections – BCBC 2012
7. Green Wales
8. AOB
9. DoNM

NOTE – Venue is 2 minutes walk from both the Bus and Train stations in Bridgend.
See map: https://bridgendgreens.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/next-meeting

PS – Responses to the survey sent out to members a couple of weeks ago would be very welcome, especially from those of you that do not come to meetings.

We have just days to save the NHS. Opposition from doctors, nurses and patients has rocked the government. Our massive outcry now can persuade undecided members of the House of Lords to say no to the bill on Monday and get the government to publish its report on the risks of these changes. Sign here to save the NHS:

On Tuesday, I was happy to share the platform with a guy called Ed from FRACK OFF (who had come all the way from Brighton with a few colleagues) at a well attended public meeting (70+) held at the Environment Centre in Swansea, sponsored by Swansea FoE and Swansea Green Party.

Between us we ran through the key implications of the mad rush to exploit extreme fuels. Ed focussed on UCG (Underground Coal Gasification) – planned for Swansea Bay – while I focussed on tight gas (such as Shale Gas) – sites to the north of Swansea – which can both involve fracking and whole range of serious consequences.

This was followed by a lively Q&A session which covered issues ranging from CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) to planning issues.

The whole tone of the meeting was about informing people and making clear what we DO know and what we DO NOT know. Both Ed and I tried to keep things factually grounded and rational. It has long been clear to me that there is no need to exaggerate or misrepresent things with these issues. We can leave these tactics to the the ‘other side’ as they get increasingly desperate to secure their crocks of gold at the expense of all of us and future generations.

There was a clear sense that the attendees see the need to oppose all such developments and I challenged them to follow the Lllandow model of grass roots opposition and offered them my support in doing so. I hope someone over there will now pick up and run with it!

On Thursday, Neil, John and I went down to the Windsor Arms in Penarth for a Green Question Time sponsored by Gwyrddio Penarth Greening. This was again a packed room (60+) showing yet again that there is a growing appetite to engage with these issues.

There was a high quality panel (https://bridgendgreens.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/green-question-time-penarth/) that grappled with issues such as renewable energy, fracking, incineration, nuclear power and food. Our very own Pippa Bartolotti was outstanding, showing a passion and knowledge that the other panelists had to acknowledge. Eluned Parrott (Lib Dem AM) and Leanne Wood (Plaid Cymru AM) both exhibited a clear commitment to the Green agenda on these issues. David Melding (Con AM) waffled on and sat on the fence most of the time.

Vaughan Gething (Labour AM) was the biggest shock, to me at least, as with only the evidence of their utterances at this event, you would have sworn that he was the Tory!!! At national level this not even remotely surprising any more, but I constantly hear from Labour activists that here in South Wales they still cling to their socialist heritage. Well not in Mr Gething’s case he doesn’t, despite his Union and Co-operative connections. He kept banging on about being ‘honest’ about the shortcomings of renewables and the need for nuclear and the probable need for incineration and the slow gestation of new technologies etc. It would have been nice if he had had the decency to ‘honestly’ say that the reason he thinks all this is because he knows there is no intention of the Labour Party (or any shade of Government likely to gain power) making the commitment and putting in the investment to create the renewable energy infrastructure, that we all know we will have to rely on sooner or later, while we still have the relatively cheap quick fix of fossil fuels to exploit. Shameless and shameful. That he sits on the Environment and Sustainability Committee worries me after this evening. Maybe, as a GMB member, he is hoping to see a big comeback for Boilermakers!!

P.S. One unexpected fun twist was the revelation that Pippa has been starring in Come Dine With Me on Ch4 this week!
Here is the episode where “Pippa Bartolotti hopes to work her magic with an ‘Up-cycling’ dinner party, including locally-sourced vegetarian food, charity shop dress, and fortune-telling with witch doctor’s bones!”
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/come-dine-with-me/4od#3296343