Diary of a Permaculturalist 10: Save Keresley Greenbelt

Follow-up to Diary of a Permaculturalist 9 from George Ttoouli, Warwick Writing Programme

I recently received notice of the following petition from Keresley Parish Council:

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To:  Coventry Council

Save our Greenbelt!

We the Undersigned, are in strong opposition of any intrusion by development within the Green Belt in the Keresley Area

• Coventry Council wants 3000 homes built on Green Belt land in Keresley
• This land is in the Ancient Forest of Arden, used by Henry XVIII, the Romans, and stone age hunters,.
• It is a treasure of the city with beautiful woods, flowers,& wildlife, recreational, educational and historical value
• It is much used and loved by children, walkers, pets, and families, and is easily accessible to all.
• Building here would greatly aggravate traffic and environmental problems – out of town suburban development is an outdated unsustainable idea

This petition is circulated by Keresley Parish Council. Information: Sandra Camwell 76 332622, merle@waitrose.com, Signatures must be collected by 6 May, very latest. The Consultation closes on 7 May and we want to present your views to Coventry Council

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

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Much better would be to recycle old, vacant homes, as promoted by charities like the Empty Homes Agency. The cost of redevelopment is often weighed up against the private management approach to new housing, though. The greenbelt can be sold off (money in), planning applications sold to the purchasers (money in) new homes developed by private investors who can sell on for profit (money in for them too) and new buyers (after they've paid any duties - money in, again) get properties on the edge of a park. Lovely.

Meanwhile, vacant properties, particularly old ones, are considered below environmental standards, but I've never actually seen the costs of restoring a property (and by costs, I don't just mean money, I mean  placed alongside the environmental, energy, etc. costs, raw materials and so on) to EC standards against building from scratch. The Empty Homes Agency does have some interesting publications however, including these articles here, especially the first listed (as of today, anyway), 'New Tricks with Old Bricks'.

Specifically in the summary:

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new homes fall into two distinct sources: “embodied” CO2 given off during the housebuilding process, and “operational” CO2 given off from normal energy use in the house once it is occupied.

The new homes each gave off 50 tonnes of embodied CO2. The refurbished homes each gave off 15 tonnes.

Well-insulated new homes eventually make up for their high embodied energy costs through lower operational CO2 but it takes several decades - in most cases more than 50 years.

And so on. Great stuff. Go sign the petition! And maybe we should see about arranging some poetry walks through Keresley greenbelt.

George Ttoouli : 27 Apr 2009 17:00 |  Tags: Anti Narrative Change Management Ecofeminism Narrative Patrick D Murphy Permaculture |  Comments (0) |  Trackbacks (1) |  Report a problem