Friends of Redcar Chairman condemns "Gagging Law"

Friends of Redcar chairman Carl Quartermain has condemned the proposed Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill as a "Gagging Law" and supports 38 Degrees campaign to raise awareness.

"This bill has been condemned by most reputable charities and community groups, voluntary organisations and umbrella organisation, from the National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) to the TUC, the Royal British Legion to the RSPB, Oxfam to Christian Aid.

"I'd like to highlight 38 Degrees stark warnings about the damage that part II of the government bill would inflict on open debate."

"The gagging law introduces new rules that would prevent non politicians from speaking up on the big issues of the day. Potentially this would provide power to the government to disperse groups, shut down funding and communications and even stop non-politicals blogs like this."

Despite public outcry in civil society about the problems with this law, the government has been trying to rush it through anyway without proper scrutiny.

Groups that normally wouldn’t agree have been uniting to speak out against this law.

Carl added "Politics should not be left to political parties and local councils to decide upon. In a healthy democracy everyone should be able to express their views which is why our group can be completely transparent about issues important to us. Legislative ideas like this have been handed down from the U.S. where liberty is being seriously undermined to protect political parties from losing control to opposition parties.

"Being an apolitical group does not mean sitting on the fence over bad policy. This legislation effectively gags any group's rights of choice and is therefore undemocratic. We would therefore request that our Redcar MP Ian Swales vote against this and we have written to him in respect of this."

 MPs have another chance to vote on 8th October.

For more information please check the links below.

http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/tag/gagging-law/
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/sep/06/ministers-retreat-anti-lobbying-laws-charities
http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/stuart-weir/governments-new-gagging-law-is-serious-attack-on-britains-civil-society

Tom Harris' summation of the Bill

Redcar Flood Alleviation Scheme Complaint Part.Two

Hi all,

Following on from our original complaint (See Redcar Flood Alleviation Scheme Complaint Part.One) Below is an email we received on the 23rd September 2013 from the Environmental Agency. Mr James Mead is the project manager for the Environmental Agency who oversees the contractor's work. Above is the picture sent with this email to display that bricks were already on the beach prior to work commencing. I have replied and will show this in a new blog (Part.Three) shortly. Enjoy

Dear Carl

Thank you for your enquiry, received in this office on 12 September 2013. I have consulted James Mead who was the Project Manager for the scheme. James has made the following comments

We are confident in our contractor that they were very thorough in cleaning up during and after the sea defence works along Redcar Sea front. Further inspections were carried out as areas of work were completed to ensure no materials were left over from our works and we ensured that the material  dug up from under the beach was removed and the sand placed back where we had been.

We cannot accept responsibility for materials that are nothing to do with our works, I attached a photograph of Granville Terrace before we started work which shows the stones and shingle at the top of the beach with a number of bricks visible amongst them. The photographs taken recently do not look dissimilar to this. This we would suggest is as a result of many years of materials washing in and off the seafront and not as a result of our recent works. Re-mobilising our contractor to carry out such a beach clearance for the small quantities of materials highlighted does not seem like an efficient use of public money.

That said we are happy to check the beach once again, when we return to site next month to install the second sculpture, to satisfy all parties that  we haven’t missed anything. We would be happy for you and representatives from the council to join us on such an inspection. We will be in touch when our contractor has confirmed the timing of this visit.

I attach a copy of our "Notice" which sets out the various uses to which Environment Agency information and data can be put.

If you require any further assistance on this or any other environmental matter please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards

Gemma Alecks

Customers and Engagement Officer

So what do you think? If you would like to contact the Environmental Agency regarding this matter or have any other concerns below are their contact details.

Tel: 0191 203 4105 (Internal 728 4105)

Fax: 0191 203 4004

Email: gemma.alecks@environment-agency.gov.uk

Environment Agency

Tyneside House

Skinnerburn Road

Newcastle Business Park

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE4 7AR

This series continues here:

Redcar Flood Alleviation Scheme Complaint Part.One

Redcar Flood Alleviation Scheme Complaint Part.Three
Redcar Flood Alleviation Scheme Complaint Part.Four

Friends of Redcar Sept meeting from TunedIn

Hi all, Just to say a quick thank you to all those who attended our meeting at the TunedIn meeting last night. We shall be providing minutes soon on our new social website www.streetclub.co.uk along with all our official correspondence so that information is free flowing from our point of view.

We had a very good discussion last night regarding a number of topics around Redcar such as:

Redcar Regent Cinema
Kirkleatham Fracking Fears
Closure of the Crown Post Office
Locke Park Maintenance
Redcar Pier Association
Redcar in Bloom
Adopting StreetClub as a website platform for official documents and as a forum
and of course Redcar beach


Lots of good ideas in what became a very healthy flow of information. It was suggested we have another like this before setting out and implementing them with perhaps something for Christmas and in earnest early springtime. Come and join us at the next one and sound off your concerns and solutions to resolve our issues.

The minutes will be displayed on our new StreetClub page which is a work in progress so bear with. We also have an email mailing list so pass on your email if you want to know more about the work we do in Redcar.

More info coming soon on Streetclub.

Friends of Redcar on PalaceFM Radio

Hi all,

Just found this from the 29th August 2013. It's Carl Quartermain being interviewed by Dee Wold on PalaceFM about Friends of Redcar. Carl talks about how the idea for Friends of Redcar came about, the goals and concerns. Carl states, "I took some pictures and showed a council member who dismissively said 'Oh, you took a picture of a brick'...it was from that moment that Friends of Redcar was born."

Carl adds, "The name 'Friends of Redcar' was actually Natalie Williams' idea. I was busy playing with acronyms and trying to be clever, hence the'Beach Action Group' is 'B.A.G.' However that limited us to the beach and we both have numerous concerns that need to be addressed. So initially we are working the beach but we have plans all over Redcar. I think 'Friends of Redcar' was an excellent idea and one that sums us up very well. Well done Natalie"

We are keen to raise awareness of littering and are contacting Redcar schools to work with the kids and educate attitudes from an early age. We will be creating fun days out and competitions and trying hard to get residents and businesses to work together and feel proud. Imagine that - conscientiously feeling proud of where you live and your contribution towards how it looks and is perceived.

We will be lobbying the council to listen to residents and businesses about how we can shape our town and make it a better place to live. We are keen to get people on-board because the more numbers we have the more influence we have. We will be working alongside other community groups to find ways of helping each other physically and practically. That's what community is all about. That's what 'Friends' do.

Join us to see what were all about on Wednesday the 18th September at the TunedIn building Redcar.

http://www.mixcloud.com/PalaceFm/palace-fm-palace-drive-with-dee-290813/
http://www.palacefm.com/