Crime and Grime

The Conservatives are now concentrating on environmental crime as part of the Vote Blue, Go Green campaign:

"Going green is not just about rising to the great global challenges of climate change and reducing pollution. It also involves taking effective local action to reduce vandalism, graffiti, and the low-level crime and anti-social behaviour which blight our communities."

Targeted Government failures on this include:

• More abandoned/burnt-out cars: The number of burnt-out cars soared by a third, from 1997 to 2004
• Rising criminal damage & vandalism: Reported instances of criminal damage have risen by 35 per cent, from 1999 to 2005
• More fly-tipping: There has been a 43 per cent increase in fly-tipping since 2001
• Dirtier streets: 79 per cent of people think that Britain's streets are dirty

The party has published a 13 page pdf detailing how innovative Conservative councils have tackled environmental crime. This might be seen as a credible way of approaching environmental issues, as the Conservatives are consistently seen as strong on crime.

Tonight's Party Political Broadcast can be viewed via Conservative TV. The first two thirds is comprised of street interviews with people on environmental issues, with Cameron coming in at the end with a positive message.

Deputy Editor

Comments

[Richard North]

Of course, the increase in fly-tipping might be something to do with the EU's Landfill Directive, which has forced a massive closures of tips and huge increases in disposal costs. But since we don't talk about the EU, we can't do anything about dealing with the real cause of the problem. We'll just throw more public money at it, and prosecute more people.

Nice one Dave!

[James Hellyer]

Similarly the number of burnt out cars has as its underlying cause the collapse in the price of scrap metal, from about £35 per tonne in 1998 to about £10 per tonne today.

[Ted]

So Richard without that awful EU we would be able to dig holes all over UK and fill them up with waste? point is surely that we don't want more landfill - its about recycling, waste powered generation etc. Its not the EU is about being socially responsible.

[Richard North]

...and the increased bureaucracy and costs involved in licensing breakers' yards. Yet, in the USA, they've solved the problem, using tax breaks and free enterprise. Here, we have the EU's End of Life Vehicles Directive, which is set to impose even more costs on an already over-burdened industry.

But hey! We don't talk about the EU, do we Dave!

[John Hustings]

I definitely prefer the Labour Party Election Broadcast to ours.

[Richard North]

"So Richard without that awful EU we would be able to dig holes all over UK and fill them up with waste?"

Controlled tipping - as it used to be called - is a perfectly viable disposal option, as part of an overall waste management system, especially where "new" technology is used, such as high density baling and methane recovery.

Not least, such tipping is invaluable for land reclamation and in providing a cross-subsisdy for the aggregates industry. As such, it is the cheapest available option, energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

However, such is the ignorance and paranoia on the subject that we seem content with producer-led waste recovery schemes which cause a collapse in the market price of re-usable materials, resulting in the export of huge quantities of plastics to China where they are burnt in the open air.

But hey! Recycling is so GREEN!

Grow up!

[Richard North]

Have a look at:

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/01/down-in-garbage.html

[Richard North]

and...

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/01/cost-of-obsession.html

[Jack Stone]

The reason the leadership steer clear of mentioning the EU is because if they do all will happen is that the Conservative Party will go back to what it seemed to becoming a few years ago a single issue party.
Unfortunatly there are some in the party who would be daft enougth to blame the weather on the EU!

[Richard North]

So we are not allowed to discuss an organisation that makes 80 percent of our laws?

And what about the environment? Shurely that is an EU competence? How do you discuss environment policy without mentioning the EU?

[wicks]

These are local elections, would be plain dumb to start going on about Europe in relation to them.

[Andrew Woodman]

I agree with wicks. We all know about the shambles of the EU but that's not the primary issue on the doorsteps in a local election. People want to know what their councillor can do to clean up their neighbourhood. A councillor can do nothing about a fridge mountain created by EU law.

[Richard North]

"These are local elections, would be plain dumb to start going on about Europe in relation to them."

Apart from the fact that the infrastructure costs (alone) to comply with the Landfill Directive are estimated at £10 billion (one tenth the annual cost of the NHS), all of which will have to be found from Council Tax...

But, of course, it would be "plain dumb" to mention that... you might have to do something about it?

Sshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

[wicks]

We had European elections two years ago? a general election a year ago? You're speaking as if the British general public never get a chance to comment on this things. These are the local elections, concentrate on local issues.

[Will James]

It was a good broadcast, with interesting contributions, but ruined when 'Dave' pops up at the end, with a crap joke. Made him look like a 2nd hand car salesman.

[buxtehude]

"Nice one Dave!"

I like this emphasis on things-that-really-matter to ordinary people like me going about their lives. The environment is usually discussed in the abstract, but what our neighbourhoods look like is terribly important - and something on which we can have an immediate effect.

So I like this initiative. So I agree with you, Richard. But pelase, do we really have to say "Nice one Dave!"? This locution is also a blot on the (aural) environment. I'm not making a plea for Brain Sewell-type noises either, but this tone will put off the voters!

[Richard North]

"These are the local elections, concentrate on local issues."

So Council Tax isn't a local issue?

[Damian]

"the Conservatives are consistently seen as strong on crime."

They were once "consistently seen" as "strong" on many issues. The economy would be a good example. But people have long since learnt not to take such things on trust. If Cameron still thinks he can take that misperception to the bank - while simultaneously buttering up a liberal opinion that consistently demands weakness on crime - he is even stupider than I took him for.

[Rick]

its about recycling,

Really ? So we import radios from China and it is too costly to repair them relative to buying new so we junk. Same for computer monitors, same for TVs, same for most goods we import from China.

Directive on recycling - how do you recycle ? What do you do with it ?

Like the Germans we could have containers in Hamburg full of electronic waste such as PCs, TVs, etc and ship it to Nigeria where it is dumped or to China where for a nominal sum women can be hired to breathe in the toxic fumes as they de-solder and handle mercury and cadmium

Germany has a superb green record - plastics off to Indonesia and China, electronics off to China and Nigeria - a really profitable business with huge loads of containers in Hamburg awaiting export

[Rick]

A councillor can do nothing about a fridge mountain created by EU law.

Not so. The mountain is because HMG did not implement the Regulation just as it has not done so with recycling electronic/electrical waste.

If the British Govt sits in the Council of Ministers and cannot actually implement what they have agreed to it shows the duplicitous nature of these incompetents afraid to confront their own public with the costs of their secret deals..................and the Treasury which single-handedly has dismantled British industry since the 1920s............does not cough up the cash which is after all 80% local govt funding

[James Maskell]

Did anyone else feel hungry while watching the Conservative PPB? I did. Pity the TV isnt edible because Im sure it would have been great with cream crackers and a bottle of red wine.

The PPB is a complete rip off of the BP advert where members of the public talk about the environment. Come on Cameron, with experience in the media, this should be a walk in the park but all Im getting is a distinct whiff of cheese.

[Richard North]

"Directive on recycling - how do you recycle ? What do you do with it ?

Like the Germans we could have containers in Hamburg full of electronic waste such as PCs, TVs, etc and ship it to Nigeria where it is dumped or to China where for a nominal sum women can be hired to breathe in the toxic fumes as they de-solder and handle mercury and cadmium

Germany has a superb green record - plastics off to Indonesia and China, electronics off to China and Nigeria - a really profitable business with huge loads of containers in Hamburg awaiting export"

Good points. Instead of the Boy King preening himself about how good Tory councils are in meeting their (EU) recycling quotas, a little bit of honesty and rationality would be welcome.

At the moment, we have an EU-based, socialist-inspired, regulatory driven system which is proving to be a financial and environmental disaster.

The producer-led system simply is not working, which means that masses of recycled materials or having either to be dumped in landfill or stored and then exported to third countries, where final disposal takes place.

This means that Councils (and therefore us) are having to pay twice... first for segregated recovery, and then for disposal, the whole process consuming much more energy than direct disposal.

I would be much more impressed with the Boy King's "green" credentials if he came up with a scheme in the tradition of Conservative thinking, of introducing market led (i.e, demand-led) recycling schemes, which ensured there was an economic incentive to re-use materials.

As it is, he is simply indulging in contemptible gesture politics.

[Richard]

"It was a good broadcast, with interesting contributions, but ruined when 'Dave' pops up at the end, with a crap joke. Made him look like a 2nd hand car salesman."

It made me laugh :P

"Unfortunatly there are some in the party who would be daft enougth to blame the weather on the EU!"

I thought your IP had been banned, Michael?

[Patsy Sergeant]

No Will James the secondhand car salesman is definitively Tony Blair, and as my late partner used to say, would you buy a secondhand car from him, having watched him in action? NO, NO, NO!

[Rob Largan]

I was actually quite suprised by our broadcast, I was fearing the worst, but it was actually very good. When compared with Labour's it clearly is the more positive. It also had the benefit of showing where Conservative councils had really done something.

What is vital though, is that the campaign is balanced. The next broadcast should focus on how Conservative councils have lower council tax, and the final one on education, healthcare or more focused on crime. If the campaing fails to move off the environment however, we will appear nothing more than gimmick merchants and more importantly, irrelevant to the more immidiate concerns of voters.

[Will James]

Patsy, completely agree with you about Blair. I just think Cameron comes across as a bit too cheesy for my liking.

[Esbonio]

Well said Richard North and Rick.

BTW I did not think mch of PMQs today either.

[Ted]

Richard North - as it happens I agree with you about the competency of the EU in this field and whether its directives achieve the objectives of an ecologically sound policy.

However I also take the position that the UK has not been at the forefront of moves to drive forward a more ecologically sensible approach to waste management. We are after all members of the EU and instead of lying back and closing our eyes perhaps should take the intiative sometimes.

The example of Germany and others in putting the pain elsewhere so as to meet targets is reprehensible but I personally think we need to be looking at what we do in this country in a more critical light. Forget the EU and concentrate on what we need to do to make this a better country for our children & grandchildren - so lets not bury waste that decomposes and produces methane, lets not pollute with cadmium & mercury, lets not bury tyres when we could re-use them to lower road noise, lets compost material rather than bury it.

And when it comes to fridge, car, battery etc disposal then lets look at how Local Authorities could help rather than just "manage".

Take action ourselves don't just say it's their fault.

[Richard]

"The next broadcast should focus on how Conservative councils have lower council tax, and the final one on education, healthcare or more focused on crime."

Agreed. I have always felt that the Tories don't do enough to show how well Tory-run councils are. They should also point out that some of the worst councils are run by Labour - a form of negative campaigning that might actually work if balanced with the "Tory councils are best" message.

[Observer]

Nice of Richard North to drop by and say hello.

Must have lots of free time on his hands. I don't suppose his EU Referendum blog is getting much traffic.

[Richard North]

"...And when it comes to fridge, car, battery etc disposal then lets look at how Local Authorities could help rather than just "manage"."

Ted:

You seem to labour (if I may use that word) under the impression that Local Authorities can or should have a role at all. Yet, before local authority intervention, 98 percent of car batteries were recycled - the highest proportion in the world, in one of the most efficient (and profitable) lead recovery plants in the world.

Now we have a regulatory scheme in place, the proportion has dropped to just over 60 percent.

Similarly, by introducing an inspired system of tax breaks, the USA has manged to solve the car disposal problem without any intervention from local authorities.

As to British approach to waste mangement, in the development of pyrolysis, in anaerobic digestion and some other technologies, Britian is and has been the world leader. The current regulatory system, however, is wholly malign in its ability to retard technological development, and is preventing the development and introduction of new technologies.

Given that we have restored a benign market and regulatory framework, we are quite capable of dealing with waste issues without the intervention of local authorities.

But, overall, it is the EU that imposes the regulatory system and thus, unlike the permanent ostriches, I prefer to see the world as it really is. I thus tend to address the problems as they exist, rather than indulge in woolly sentiments about making "this a better country for our children & grandchildren".

I have spent most of my professional life trying to make this "a better country" and see the current wave of "cosmetic environmentalism" as nothing other than harmful.

The road to hell, as they say, is paved with good intentions. A variation of this is: "God preserve us from well-intentioned amateurs".

[Richard North]

"Nice of Richard North to drop by and say hello.

Must have lots of free time on his hands. I don't suppose his EU Referendum blog is getting much traffic."

Observer - in the unlikely event thay you are capable of understanding figures larger than ten without taking your socks off, you could always look at our hit counter.

[Chad]

Richard, glad to see you like my Cameron ad and are using it on your site.

It's very poor form to use online work and not credit the source though.

[Richard North]

"Richard, glad to see you like my Cameron ad and are using it on your site.

It's very poor form to use online work and not credit the source though."

Chad... I didn't like it... I loved it. Sorry I didn't acknowledge. That was it because someone else nicked it and sent it to me without attribution. Now I know who it is from, I'll put up a special link when I use it again... and again... and again... It has to be THE defining picture of the Boy King.

[Ted]

Richard

You don't seem to have noticed this thread is about local authorities - I didn't say they were the ONLY solution, and as it happens I prefer private enterprise & technological solutions - but they have a part to play in ridding our streets of graffitti, rubbish, rusting or burnt out cars.

I do not remember though a Britain which was world leader in emission controls, its beaches washed by clean sea water, its power plants not producing sulfur dioxides and other pollutants. Britain seems always to ask for more time, for derregation.

It shouldn't be the EU which ordains solutions or, except perhaps for cross border pollution, sets standards but the issue at heart is not Europe it is our responsibility in this real word to take action - and yes the actions we take should be more than cosmetic.

[Observer]

Observer - in the unlikely event thay you are capable of understanding figures larger than ten without taking your socks off, you could always look at our hit counter.

Mr North, charm as well as wit. I bet you always get on well with your employers. Who are they these days?

[Richard North]

"Mr North, charm as well as wit. I bet you always get on well with your employers. Who are they these days?"

Dr... to you.

[Chad]

Thanks Richard. :-)

[Richard North]

Ted: "You don't seem to have noticed this thread is about local authorities..."

Perhaps you haven't picked up the Boy Kings' desire to give us a "green revolution", to which effect he is recruiting local authorities in his fantasy - and wanting us (as Council Tax payers) to pick up the bill.

Thus, one of the points which has emerged is that it would be much more honest of the Boy King to promote sensible solutions to environmental issues, instead of pursuing the current ineffective and expensive strategies.

In this context, local authorities perform as agents to central government and, therefore, the best thing the Boy King could do - as wannabe prime minister - is pledge to get this ridiculous EU legislation off our backs.

[matt wright]

Environmental crime - This is a very much better way of talking about the environment. It is practical and builds on our strengths on law & order. This is what will appeal a lot especially in the local elections. If DC gets more of this advice we will do very much better,

Matt

[Serf]

Unfortunatly there are some in the party who would be daft enougth to blame the weather on the EU!

Unlike the Guardian who blames George Bush ;)

[Rick]

Good points. Instead of the Boy King preening himself about how good Tory councils are in meeting their (EU) recycling quotas, a little bit of honesty and rationality would be welcome.

Do you think Dr North it is worth relating what an excellent job your local Metropolitan Borough Council does in missing every recycling target; in collecting garden waste with the same frequency in Winter as it does in Summer; how it fails to recycle cooking oil; how it has no provision for recyclin computer waste, NiCd batteries, and it so tardy in arranging for newspapers to be removed that the collection containers are regularly ignited by vandals.

Of course the fact that it might be a Conservative/LibDem administration would not be something David Cameron would be inclined to be aware of.