Power Station or Not to Power Station (not much of a question)

Good evening. I just wanted to attach the text of a speech I gave at this evenings No to Southampton Biomass community organised meeting:

The picture taken from this evenings Daily Echo,
showing a mock up of the view from Foundary Lane.

"First can I say thank you for inviting me along this evening, and be given the opportunity to address you.

I speak to you this evening not as the labour party candidate for Millbrook, but as a concerned local resident who lives within the shadow of the proposed scheme.

I don't ever miss the opportunity to talk to the people of Millbrook…when I'm out walking the dog, shopping in Tesco's or popping into the Wellington for a pint.

People have told me how worried they are about the lack of details coming forward. I am concerned about the lack of readable information coming from the developers; I am worried about the lack of information from the national Infrastructure Planning Commission based in Bristol; and I am dismayed at the silence coming from the Civic Centre.

My fear is that central government will make these decisions without ensuring that, we the residents of Millbrook are able to challenge having such an industry based at the bottom of our garden. If it is being forced through, where are our benefits? Where are our long term jobs? Our discounted energy? Our good health? Our pollution free air?

I am listening to the residents of Millbrook and I am concerned. On the doorstep, people are afraid that they are being put at risk because there hasn’t been the chance to actively engage with Helios in a Public Forum - I am talking about a formal question and answer session where we can hold the Tory run council and developers to account.

I am informed that our conservative controlled council has been in talks with Helios for months. I must have missed the leaflet in the post asking for my opinion. A bit like I missed the leaflet from Helios first time around.

Reducing our dependence on fossil fuels is something we all want to see happen. Protecting our environment for the future, the generation of new jobs to the area, and developing science are all potential positives to embrace. But there are so many unanswered questions…taking the lead from your own website, the issue for me is that currently I'm not sure if it is well planned, environmentally beneficial or appropriate for our area.

Helios acknowledge that this is a development within a high risk flood area, An air quality management area (AQMA, too many cars, not enough clean air!) and within reach of a number of national and internationally designed conservation sites.

I want to know, where are our answers? We didn’t get them after the first public consultation. We await the second. The decisions taken over the next few weeks are going to be monumental for us. This will be a legacy for the next half a century. Is this right for us here tonight? Is this right for us residents of Millbrook? Importantly it has to be right for the generations of the future..."

The meeting was well attended by around 200 local residents and a number of conservative councillors (none of which actually live in the area - unless you count Bassett as local!!!). It was a shame that the meeting became politicised as I was proud to be sitting amongst the community of Millbrook rather than a political rally, which is what I fear it became after a number of comments from the sitting conservative councillor.

This is a community issue. I said at the start of my candidacy that I would listen, learn and act on your behalf. Tonight you showed the council that they aren’t listening hard enough. The conservative run council should’ve been brave enough to deal with this issue before it became a problem. Now we must take on the Con-Dem government and get them to listen to our concerns.