To receive any questions, statements or petitions from the public in accordance with Council Procedure Rules 14, 15 and 16. The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.
For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.
Minutes:
1. Councillor Rod Williams (Somerset County Council) made the following statement in relation to Item 9 – Taunton Garden Town Vision:-
It’s a privilege to speak to you this evening in support of the Vision Document for Taunton Garden Town. I speak in strong support of it and urge you to adopt the Vision Document as policy. We should be clear about the scale of the undertaking and also the size of the opportunity. We in Taunton live in one of the very few places in England that can decide in the next year or two what it will be like to live here for generations to come. This is a vision for twenty years or so, perhaps to 2040. Therefore it is an extremely substantial undertaking and before you adopt this as policy, I would remind you of the scale of the task and the need to stick at this for some years to come.
The thinking for the Garden Town started two years ago. A number of us recognised then that it needed to encompass every aspect of living in Taunton, not just Economic Development or House Building. We had to take an all-round view. The vision so far consists of a number of elements or components that fit together to make a coherent whole. Therefore the design of the Vision Document is to achieve a synergy so that the whole Garden Town is worth more than a sum of the constituent parts.
To outline why you should make this your policy, I will highlight the reasons why the document is very good. First, we are aiming at the right thing. It is ambitious. We are not aiming to make Taunton just better, but at making it excellent. We want to raise the quality of every part of living in Taunton. An excellent Taunton must be a town for everybody. The Vision Document is Strategic in the proper meaning of the term. It considers Taunton as a whole, it is long term, and it correctly identifies the essential components. It understands that this vision is just the first part in a process of delivery. The process doesn’t end with the Design Guide, the Delivery Plan or even the Delivery itself, but with the benefits from realising the Vision. The Vision is deliverable and it is realistic provided we commit to it and stick to it over some years. How people live their lives will change over the next twenty years, so we must make the Garden Town adaptable, but we can do that.
In summary, we need to do three things to make the Taunton Garden Town a great success. First, you need to endorse this vision as your policy. Second, Members and the Strategy team need to make a Delivery Plan that will realise this vision. Third, we need to build on the public’s strong support so far into a sustained commitment so we all in partnership will make Taunton’s Garden Town a reality.
Councillor Rigby thanked Councillor Williams for his comments and for all his work undertaken to getting to this point with the Garden Town Vision Strategy. The piece of work before us would form the basis of the development of the Town for some years ahead and would echo Councillor Williams’s comments.
2. Beverley Milner-Simonds made the following statement on behalf of EAT Taunton:-
EAT festivals is a social enterprise. Our aim is to reconnect people with the land. One of the main things we do is deliver multi-award winning food and drink festivals in towns within your area. We have been running for around seven years now and this year we are delivering 16 festivals. Some of you may have come along to our event in Taunton on Somerset Day on 11th May. On 7th September our fourth festival will be held in Wellington. All our events are free to attend. We are working in Minehead for the first time year at the invitation of Minehead BID and the former West Somerset Council. Our first festive festival will be in Taunton this year on 13th November 2019. As a social enterprise it is very important to us that entry is free and that no-one is excluded from learning about great food and drink. We have won awards for our sustainability. We are 100% single-use plastic free and all our waste is fully compostable. We are very happy to work with other local community groups and events to share our knowledge in this area on environmental policies. We look forward to welcoming you to any of the events in the area.
3. Carol Lydiate asked the following question related to 5G:-
5G technology uses electromagnetic radiation at high frequencies of between 30 - 300 GHz compared to below 6GHz for 4G frequencies.
It is marketed as enabling greater coverage than current 3G and 4G, faster download speeds and larger data transfer in order to cope with the insatiable appetite for the ‘Internet of Things’ as seen in smart meters, smart devices and smart cars, etc.
5G uses shorter wavelengths than 4G therefore a completely new infrastructure is required to support it. This will include larger masts, closely packed small cell antennas every 100 metres on lampposts or houses on every street. These super high frequencies work only if there is a clear direct line of sight between the antenna and the device receiving the signal, which could result in trees having to be felled to give a clear path.
Some masts may need to be placed close to schools with the added concern that young children and babies absorb up to 60-70%% more radiation than adults.
We understand that these masts and antennas, along with the radiation from the 20,000 new satellites which are to be launched in space to support the infrastructure, will produce a ‘blanket’ of 5G microwave radiation covering every area of our planet, including our community in Taunton.
a) In the light of this information, does the West Somerset and Taunton District Council share concerns regarding the health and safety of 5G and in what ways might they be prepared to apply the Precautionary Principal and make a stand to protect the citizens of West Somerset and Taunton from this potentially harmful technology?
4. Warwick Lydiate asked the following question related to 5G:-
Not so long ago, water companies and householders were involved in the expensive process of removing thousands of miles of lead water pipes. Warnings about them were often ignored until the health concerns became too numerous and problematic to ignore. Millions of pounds were spent all over the country changing to safer materials.
Not so long ago cigarettes were given the all clear by health experts and they became fashionable accessories to a sophisticated lifestyle. Until the health warnings became too frightening to ignore. Health warnings and smoke free zones are now the norm.
Not so long ago petrol contained significant quantities of lead which was considered safe until eventually health warnings were noted and millions of pounds were spent converting vehicles to be able to use lead free alternatives.
Not so long ago, thousands of tons of asbestos had to be removed from buildings all over the world after health warnings about lung diseases were finally heeded. Millions of pounds has been spent since on the hazardous task of its removal.
In all these cases scientific doubts about the safety of these products were set out and sadly ignored, until people got sick or died from them.
In addition to these concerns which seriously affect both health and the economy, we understand that the 5G rollout affects the environment in ways that are contrary to the government’s own global climate goals…
It utilises a significant increase in energy use and consumption of natural resources;
It creates a larger carbon footprint in the manufacture of satellites and other infrastructure
It encourages more consumerism;
Furthermore, it creates undue waste as usable household gadgets will need to be discarded and replaced by so called ‘smart’ appliances.
a) Does the West Somerset and Taunton council share these concerns and in what ways is it considering the green impact of the 5G technology and the impact it will have on Taunton’s carbon emission goals as well as the health and wellbeing of its citizens. After spending vast sums of money rolling out 5G, will it all need to be removed in a few years when we all wake up to its many problems.
5. Karen Cave asked the following question related to 5G:-
Knowing there are doubts behind the safety of 5G does the council think the 5G masts and cell antennas are safe for the residents of Taunton?
6. Louise Thomas asked the following question related to 5G:-
Due to the World wide opposition to 5G technology, the appeals by scientists , doctors and environmentalists, the peer reviewed research indicating biological harm to humans and the environment especially the bees and the fact that both Glastonbury, Frome and now Rosscommon Ireland town councils have issued a moratorium on the rollout of 5G and have set up 5G advisory committees , I would like to ask the council as they have a health and wellbeing department if we can have a full council meeting or a meeting with the councils scrutiny committee to thoroughly investigate 5G technology, so the council can be absolutely certain they are protecting the citizens and environment of Taunton?
Councillor Allen responded to the four questions related to 5G, and thanked the members of the public who had spoken on this matter. He noted the concerns regarding the health aspects related to 5G. The Council was not in a position to rule on the safety or otherwise of 5G. The Council’s remit extended to the allowing of planning permission of certain towers, most won’t require planning permission at all. This Council was not in a position to stop the implementation of 5G even if we wanted to.
Councillor Wren as Chair of Scrutiny was happy to add it to the list of matters for consideration. Scrutiny had re-oriented its role and would carry out investigations into things that affect the district and the people that live within it. We would be quite happy to look into this and come back to the member of the public.
7. Nigel Behan asked the following questions which had been circulated to all Councillors prior to the meeting:-
a) We recently submitted questions to Somerset County Council (SCC) about the Climate Change Emergency and Extinction Rebellion (XR) - proposed practical activities during the week beginning 15th July. In the (shortened) text below SCC has been replaced with SWT.
“Relates to a week of events from 15 July across the UK “Summer Uprising – ACT NOW. IT IS TIME TO REBEL”
The Bristol Occupation by XR Southwest state on their “Events” page that: “Parliament and many UK councils have declared a climate and ecological emergency, but their actions do not match their words. The government’s commitment to cut carbon emissions to zero by 2050 is an alarmingly insufficient response. In the Global South, water shortages, famine, extreme weather and conflicts over dwindling resources are already commonplace. Britain’s food security is at risk. Our children’s future is at stake.”
There are XR groups in Somerset including:
“Extinction Rebellion FromeAnd “Extinction Rebellion South Somerset”
i) What will SWT (Elected Councillors who decide and the Officers who advise) do practically to highlight the “Climate Change Emergency” issues as the XR “demand is……………… that national and local governments ACT NOW to halt biodiversity loss and cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.”?
b) We also note the “Report of Councillor Peter Pilkington – Climate Change” in this meeting’s Agenda. Whilst George Monbiot recently stated that: “The threatened collapse of our life-support systems is bigger by far than war, famine, pestilence or economic crisis, though it is likely to incorporate all four. Societies can recover from these apocalyptic events, but not from the loss of soil, an abundant biosphere and a habitable climate.” And “As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to recognise two things. First, that it is the system, rather than any variant of the system, that drives us inexorably towards disaster. Second, that you do not have to produce a definitive alternative to say that capitalism is failing… Our choice comes down to this. Do we stop life to allow capitalism to continue, or stop capitalism to allow life to continue?”
i) Does SWT believe that it must “act politically as if climate catastrophe were impending as the best hope of preventing it.”?
ii) And will SWT support and promote (amongst Service Users, Electors, Citizens, Residents, Council Taxpayers and Elected Councillors) the Day of Action on the 20th September?
(The 20th September is a global school strike day of action, ahead of the UN Climate Summit in New York. There will be a week of action on climate, with further strikes taking place on 27th September and decentralised actions during the week focusing on key targets such as fossil fuel finance.)
Councillor Pilkington responded that the Council had established Climate Change as a top political priority. Governance arrangements to drive change were being established as outlined in a recent report to Scrutiny. These arrangements would involve all elected members. In regards to supporting a day of action, that would be up to individual Councillors to decide to support.
8. Alan Debenham made the following statement:-
As a Green Party activist, with Green Party Councillors here today continuing my work as a Green Socialist Councillor from 1991 to 2003, I much welcome the importance this Council has placed upon saving my great grandchildren from a fate worse than death, by not only adopting a comprehensive Climate Emergency motion so promptly, but also putting in place a special Executive Councillor and backing organisational structure to meet this existential climate chaos problem head-on.
What worries me, and hopefully this Council, is that not enough is being said, nor planned, to both realise and answer the fundamental underlying causes of this threat to our very continued existence on planet Earth.
a) First and foremost is the well-entrenched British establishment’s obsession with the private individualised materialist greed of capitalism and all its extremes of rampant class-structured material inequality and its anti-democracy monarchy and lords-based government, with no written constitution to defend the rights of ordinary citizens either in parliament, at home, or at work, nor fair voting system where votes roughly match seats.
b) Secondly, is the way in which establishment religion works as an embedded partner in this oligarchic, undemocratic parliamentary government - Marx’s so-called “opium of the masses”- basing itself on the self-aggrandisement, self-destroying theory of white male humans being born in the image of a male god and bound for eternal life and heaven if they’re good subservient citizens. “Mother Nature” and all its undestroyed, unpolluted, rich biodiversity and life sustaining atmosphere should be our god, if ever we needed one.
c) Thirdly, economic growth, prosperity, consumerism, materialism – plus their demand for protection and militarism - must become subordinated to basic ideas of frugality, sustainability, ‘communal undevelopment’ and co-operative housing and business in our whole lifestyle system.
d) Lastly, new Prime Minister Johnson’s narcissistic, bombastic, and arrogant promotion of hard-right conservatist capitalism – as opposed to community based socialism – is about as crazy as his hair-ruffling mental state and the words of the new Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson (“this man is not fit to be PM”) ring very true when one considers the personal insults and relentless smear campaign of the hard-right against old respected colleagues, Jeremy & John. Please could everyone do their best to send Johnson packing ASAP?
Councillor Allen thanked Mr Debenham for his statement.