Didcot Voice
"Where all the facts are checked"
"Where all the facts are checked"
What does this mean to the people of Didcot?
Privatisation of a public utility that is a monopoly is not a good idea. Thames Water turned from being the provider of clean water and good sewerage to a provider of massive salaries, huge dividends, and a licence to print money. CEO Sarah Bentley's total wage package, £1.5m for 2022-23. Not bad for failure.
The water companies all backed Brexit because it meant they did not have to comply with EU regulations on pollution and Oh Boy! they all took advantage of this with sewerage discharge into our rivers and sea’s. Between 2016 and 2021 water companies discharged sewage into waterways and the sea for a total of 9,427,355 hours, the equivalent of 1,076 years an increase of an increase of 2,553% over five years.
£14 billion worth of debt and now severely struggling to service it.
Financial mismanagement is just one of a series of accusations levelled against the company. Its problems have been in the spotlight for years, especially for its links to leaks and pollution. Its CEO Sarah Bentley stepped down yesterday, forgoing her bonus. Poor Sarah! Now the question is whether its new boss will temporarily be the government.
The company’s largest shareholder is Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, with a 31 per cent stake. Other investors include UK pension fund Universities Superannuation Scheme as well as the Chinese and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds and infrastructure fund Aquila GP. If the government bails Thames Water out it means the taxpayer is paying the above money. If I was in charge, I would tell the shareholders to refinance the company, or the company will be liquidated and renationalised with no compensation. If you and I buy share and the company goes bust, we lose are money. They have received £1.4 billion in dividends!
Labour will wave the flag of nationalisation and the Tories will continue to scream privatisation. Both parties are wedded to their donors and 19th century philosophies. There is another way, run the operation properly within a rigid set of rules that puts the quality of the product for the end users first. For that you need a party that puts ALL the people on an equal footing – LibDems.
Last year OCC decided to join the national ‘No Mow May’ campaign organised by conservation charity, Plantlife. Their campaign aims to encourage people to mow less during May to help enhance biodiversity.
When lawns and other grassy areas are kept short through very regular mowing, wild plants don’t get the chance to grow, flower and seed.
So in May 2022 they had an initial idea to support ‘No Mow May’ and did a trial and let the grass grow on sections of land they owned on the Ladygrove estate in Didcot and at Radnor Road in Wallingford, with one or two cuts at the beginning and end of the growing season. This allowed wild plants and flowers to grow, which was good news for insect life, particularly pollinators such as bees and birds.
This year they extended this trial further with new Let It Bee project includes a total of eight sites across the district.
These are carefully managed and monitored with the aim of increasing wildlife, as well allowing the existing plants to thrive by not being cut so often. This should make the plants and soil better able to withstand periods of extreme weather.
Why do we need biodiversity?
Humans rely on biodiversity to survive. We are intertwined in a big natural system, and each element supports and enables all of us to thrive.
It is easy to see why humans need nature: we need fresh water, clean air, and plants and animals for food. But what we need specifically is biodiversity. Nature around us isn't enough - we need a natural world that is complex, resilient, thriving, and full of variety.
This is not a belief, but a fact backed by well researched evidence tested by the proven scientific method worldwide repeatedly. It is time to trust the science and not those with vested interests.
More Info
I can do small video with interview and it stays there as long as we like. Newspapers are bird cage liners after a couple of days
A by-election will take place on Didcot Town Council following the departure of the only Tory councillor last month.
By-elections cost money – lots of money! Thousands! Tories and Labour (more to come on Labour wasting money - it will shock you- watch this space) are very good at wasting taxpayers’ money.
When the LibDems took over South Oxford District Council it was over £3 million in debt now bought back into budget without major cuts.
Voters in Park Ward will have the chance to select a new representative after Karen Durman failed to sign the paperwork to take up her position as councillor by the required deadline on May 15.
The poll will take place on Thursday, July 27.
People don’t like bad news and in ancient Greek mythology the messengers were killed. The equivalent of killing the messenger today is spouted by government’s spokes people like Michael Gove calling scientists Cassandras trying to belittle them. Cassandra was a Greek Goddess and if Gove had done his research, he would see the flaw in his argument as Cassandra’s prophecies came true!
Most scientists accept that the biggest cause of climate change is human activity and we have been pumping massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution by burning fossil fuel and if we don’t do something about it the future will be very bleak – for everyone – including you the reader because there will be no future for mankind. Yes, a horrible message that nobody wants to hear, and our present government would rather win the next election than put in place measures to reduce climate change. The Tories are opening coal mines and drilling for more oil in the North Sea and marching backwords on a pledge to allow more on shore wind farms.
In Didcot we see the new homes on large estates being built around us without solar panels on acres of south facing roofs. All these new housing estates could have been carbon neutral, but the Tories imposed them on us ignoring any advice from environmentalists. I dread to think what effect it’s going to have on our clapped-out sewage system that can’t cope now pumping sewage into our local stream 40% of the time last year come rain or shine. You should be aware that building companies are among the biggest donors to the Tory party.
We need new homes and that is a problem Labour ignored when they were in power. In the 10yrs Blair was PM less houses were built including social housing than Thatcher did EVERY year of her reign. We all know that the unions are the biggest donors to the Labour Party and some of them are about as carbon neutral as a Saturn 5 rocket.
Didcot Town Councill and the South Oxford District Council is now under the control of the LibDems, and they intend to do everything possible in their power to combat climate change. They will make it as easy as possible for people to walk, cycle or use public transport and in every new building application planning consent will favour those who use clean renewable energy and good insulation.
You can make a difference. One person making small changes doesn’t make much of a difference, 10 people do, 34,598 the population of Didcot makes a tremendous change. Those changes don’t have to be massive, walk, cycle, use public transport when you can, eat less meat and try to switch to a more vegetable based diet, repair rather than renew.
One action could be a life saver and might mean you are changing the habit of a lifetime in the soon to be here General Election. Let’s get our LibDem candidate Olly Glover into Parliament. The LibDems have sound realistic climate policies driven by science not donors because we only answer to you the people.
Climate change is real, and the only question is, what are you going to do about it?