Thursday 8 September 2022

to Ed Lawrence, Chair, Future Council Scrutiny

Dear Ed

My wife is whisking me off to visit our daughter and her family on her birthday today, so I cannot have my three minutes in the public forum at 6 pm.  Would you be so good as to read this out in my absence, please?

STALLED SITES
With the multiple crises affecting our nation, region and borough, consumer champion Martin Lewis is warning of the poorest getting into such financial debt this winter that it will bring some of them into such serious difficulties that their lives will be at risk and, certainly, their health will suffer.

I am, therefore, asking that the decades of neglect over the housing designated land at High Plateau and Daniel's Land at Merry Hill must immediately be given to the poorest for very low energy cost housing of flats, apartments and terraced housing of the kind that my wife and I have lived in for the last 46 years in Halesowen.  Our energy bills remain very low.

Who owns the High Plateau and Daniel's Land?

I would suggest that our council and the WMCA follows the example of Germany's striking measures to reduce energy demand, by doing the following:
Cut flood lighting of buildings and reduce street lighting.
Turn down the thermostat to 19C for central heating of public buildings.
Do not reopen the swimming pool in Halesowen and, perhaps Stourbridge closed too over the winter.  Reduce the water temperature at the Duncan Edwards Centre swimming pool.
In Hanover, Germany showers at pools and at public sports centres will be (or, now are) cold water only.
Certainly, bring in shorter and cooler showers in public leisure centres.  Cold only in Germany.
Cut/reduce the car mileage allowance for officers on official council business.
Cancel the Dudley Tram leaving the mainline railway at Hart's Hill and keep it running down to Stourbridge Jct to connect it, once again, to the railway network.
Scrap the £15 billion (Feb 2020 figure) to 2040 for the 150 miles of eight lines and 380 tram stops of Metro tramlines.

No comments:

Post a Comment