xPRESS Digest

Goodwill Payments - Do they Benefit Communities or Bring Planning into Disrepute?

the.newsroom — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:55:08 -0500

A growing number of local communities across England are being drawn in to accepting offers of ‘goodwill payments’ from wind farm developers. Countryside campaigners CPRE are today calling on the Government to take action to stop this practice from bringing the planning system into disrepute. This call is backed by a new survey of this growing practice issued today. CPRE has found that: the sums involved are a fraction of the amount that the developers are making from the public, as electricity consumers, in subsidies; the payments are often used for purposes such as lunch clubs and sports pitches, which bear no relation to providing much-needed renewable energy; and local authority planners have little or no oversight of these payments. Paul Miner, CPRE’s Senior Planning Campaigner, said: ‘These offers of community benefit do not go through the proper procedures of the planning system, unlike similar offers from most other developers. By accepting them, communities may also be getting a worse deal than they would if wind farm developers were made to offer them through the planning system.’

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7 October 2008
© CPRE

Benchmarking service is launched next week

the.newsroom — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:44:38 -0500

A new online benchmarking tool will allow charities and social enterprises to see how they measure up against their peers for free. The Acid Test programme was developed by social enterprise support specialist The Camberwell Project. Organisations that use it can anonymously measure The cost-effectiveness and strength of their finance and governance functions. The project has been tested with social enterprises across Yorkshire before a launch on 16 October.

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7 October 2008
© Third Sector

FixMyStreet RSS Feed

the.newsroom — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:41:16 -0500

FixMyStreet has a lot of RSS feeds. There’s one for every one-tier council (170), one for every ward of every one-tier council (another 5,044), two for every two-tier (county and district) council (544), and two for every ward of every two-tier council (20,296) – two per two-tier council because you might want either problems reported to one council of a two-tier set-up in particular, or all reports within the council’s boundary. Then there’s an RSS feed every 162m across Great Britain in a big grid, returning all reports within a radius of that point, the radius by default being automatically determined by that point’s population density, but customisable to any distance if preferred. That’s, at a very rough approximation assuming Great Britain is a rectangle around its extremities, which it’s not, 19 million RSS feeds, lots of which will admittedly be very similar. Every single one of those feeds can be subscribed to by email instead if that’s preferable to you, and are all accessible through a simple interface at http://www.fixmystreet.com/alert

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7 October 2008
© My Society

Nominate your Rural Heroes Now

the.newsroom — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:38:05 -0500

The Countryside Alliance Awards started life as the Best Rural Retailer competition. For the first time in 2008, the awards are being run here in Scotland, as the Scottish Countryside Alliance Awards. In previous years we have received hundreds of entries from across Scotland, and this year - to celebrate the unique ‘Scottishness’ of our food and our communities - we are keen to see even more. The competition has a simple aim: to recognise and celebrate Scotland’s rural businesses. These businesses and the people behind them are ambassadors not just for their local produce, but also for the communities to which they are central.

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7 October 2008
© Rural Gateway

CAF welcomes increased protection for banked funds but reaffirms call for all charity funds to be protected

the.newsroom — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:35:18 -0500

The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) welcomes the news that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has raised protection on deposits to £50,000 in the event that a bank fails. However, this is still some way short of CAF’s proposal for all deposited charity money to be protected. In August 2008, CAF wrote to the Chancellor and the FSA asking that their proposals include full-protection for deposited charitable funds due to the particular nature of their work. John Low, Chief Executive of the Charities Aid Foundation said, “We welcome the raising of limits on protected money from £35,000 to £50,000. “Although many small charities will be relieved to see this increase, for the majority of charities even £50,000 would not be enough to keep them afloat. We will continue to contact the Government about this important issue so that it isn’t forgotten.”

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7 October 2008
© CAF

Innovative low carbon vehicle programme launched in the region

the.newsroom — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:22:46 -0500

An innovative £100m programme to research and develop low carbon vehicles has been launched by local and national Government today. John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, launched the Low Carbon Vehicle Integrated Regional Delivery Programme with One North East announcing it will be a key partner in its development. Speaking at the regional development agency’s Annual Review Meeting at The Sage Gateshead, One North East Chairman Margaret Fay said: “I’m delighted to announce today that we are partnering with the Government to support a £100m funding package that will speed up the production of new low-carbon vehicles in Britain. “This will see us building on our automotive assets and harnessing the expertise in our universities to put the North East and the UK at the forefront of global green vehicle production.” The Low Carbon Vehicle Integrated Delivery Programme will co-ordinate the UK’s low carbon vehicle activity from initial research through collaborative research and development, leading to the production of demonstration vehicles.

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7 October 2008
© NWDA

Cracking the sector code - Voluntary Arts

the.newsroom — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:20:33 -0500

Voluntary Arts Network has a new Briefings sheet on ‘Voluntary and community sector jargon’, explaining some of the most common terms and acronyms used. Pdf, 171KB, http://www.voluntaryarts.org/uploaded/map7823.pdf

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Turning favours into youth volunteering

the.newsroom — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:18:17 -0500

A campaign titled Favours, from youth volunteering organisation v, aims to transform the face of volunteering among 16 to 25year-olds whilst making it accessible and a natural lifestyle choice. The campaign web site is at http://www.vinspired.com/, news item at http://www.wearev.com/index.php

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Social Enterprise Day: Transforming Lives

the.newsroom — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:15:27 -0500

20 November 2008 is Social Enterprise Day: a national day to celebrate and promote social enterprise. We’re currently holding a national competition across England to find the best photographs that show how social enterprise is transforming lives. Maybe you work for or volunteer at a social enterprise, or maybe you or someone you know has benefited from one - simply take a photo that captures how social enterprises are changing the world one community at a time - we want to hear from the people who experience it every day. Read on to find out about our fantastic prizes for the photographer and the featured social enterprise. Enter now by emailing your photograph to photocompetition@socialenterprise.org.uk Deadline for entries: 28 October 2008 - winners will be announced on Social Enterprise Day.

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A click in the ocean

the.newsroom — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:05:08 -0500

From today, users of Google Earth can see the splendour and beauty of England’s undersea landscapes thanks to a new layer available from Google Earth Outreach. This layer has compelling video streams, photo galleries and stories, showcasing the network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) around the world including a fascinating insight into life below English seas courtesy of Natural England. For this unique enterprise, Natural England has provided information about 43 marine sites situated around the coast of England that offer limited protection to rare and threatened species and habitats such as the world’s second largest fish, the basking shark; nine species of coral; two species of seahorse and over 800 species of algae. Lundy Island, off the North Devon coast, is one of these marine sites that can be visited ‘virtually’. It is England’s only statutory Marine Nature Reserve and all fishing activities have been prohibited across its 3.3 square kilometres, known as a ‘no take zone’. This protection has given this spectacular undersea region the chance to recover and thrive. Dr Helen Phillips, Chief Executive of Natural England, said: “There needs to be a sea change in attitudes towards protecting our oceans. The diversity of marine wildlife around England’s coastline is exceptional; we have everything from whales through to microscopic phytoplankton. But we need an enhanced marine protection system to help conserve our undersea environment. “Now, through this new MPA layer in Google Earth, a network of Marine Protected Areas will be available to millions of desktops for the first time, bringing the marine environment to life and raising awareness of the need to conserve and enhance it.”

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