LGA warns gov plans could create 'eco-slums'

The Local Government Authority (LGA) has warned the government, the proposals for the creation of ten eco-friendly communities could end in the creation of ten 'eco-slums'.

Warning the plans for the development of ten new eco-towns were "seriously flawed", the LGA argues local democracy and planning processes are being by-passed to impose the schemes on an unwilling public.

"The whole planning process is undemocratic. The government are the promoters of this scheme but they are also the judge and jury," said councillor Gillian Brown of Arun district council, when asked about the proposal to build one of the new developments at Ford, West Sussex.

"They will decide whether it will go forward to the next stage. We are just consultees."

The report - Eco-Towns, back to the future? – finds the government has not learned the lessons from the creation of the last generation of new-towns, which included Milk and Beans.

While initially choosing "highly unsuitable locations", eco-towns will also have unelected management bodies to help develop and manage them, effectively neutering the role of local government, argues the LGA.

"Councils are determined to fight their corner because they know only too well that by-passing the planning process will allow developments to be built in isolated areas without the essential facilities needed by people in their everyday lives," said Sir Simon Milton, chairman of the LGA.

"These schemes are set to include up to 50 per cent social housing, but could become eco-slums of the future if they are built without regard to where residents can get to jobs or training."

Plans bypass usual planning process and ride roughshod over locally agreed development plans, argues the LGA, with previously rejected settlements now back on the agenda, having been repackaged as eco-towns.

"If eco-towns become dormitory towns with poor public transport connections, any carbon reduction achieved by the design of home and community facilities will be more than offset by people driving miles to buy a loaf of bread or take their children to school," argued Mr Milton.

"Added to that, developers are concerned that the highest criteria for zero-carbon homes could add £30,000 to building costs. Housing minister Caroline Flint has admitted that the new homes could be built at a much lower standard, little different to those set for all new development.

"Without local councils being involved in their development, the future looks bleak for eco-towns and for those who will have to live in them."

Floods rebuilding effort goes on

A year on from the floods that devastated swathes of the UK, people in the worst-hit areas are still trying to rebuild their homes and lives.

The flooding in June and July 2007 forced thousands of people from their houses, prompting the "biggest recovery operation since the Second World War", according to Floods Recovery Minister John Healey.

While the majority of people have managed to return to their homes in the 12 months since the disaster, more than 4,700 households are still in temporary accommodation, caravans or the top floor of their house.

One of the worst-hit places in the UK was Hull which was inundated on June 25 last year following heavy rain. On the Orchard Park Estate, residents remain relatively positive although many have lived in caravans for nearly a year while their homes are refurbished or partly rebuilt.

Former hospice worker Jean Wright, 71, has lived on the estate in Hull for 43 years but has been in a caravan with her husband Alan, 76, since the floods.

She said: "I was lucky to have contents insurance but work only started on my house about two months ago. I kept ringing up my insurer and eventually when I told them I could take no more they sent one of their men out to me. From there the work started on rebuilding my home."

In the village of Toll Bar, just north of Doncaster, many streets are still crammed with contractors' vans as work on dozens of homes continues. On the special caravan park built by the council to house around 50 families whose houses were devastated, around half of the temporary homes are still occupied.

In Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, flood campaigner Julie Irwin said her partly-refurbished house felt "like someone else's home", after spending 10 months in a caravan with her husband and three children.

Ms Irwin, 43, who created a range of Christmas cards designed to remind Gordon Brown of flood victims, said she still felt "displaced" after six weeks back in her home. And she warned: "We have to stop building on the floodplain. I'm not scaremongering, just being realistic."

Around 500 families in Gloucestershire are still living in temporary accommodation. The majority of those are in Tewkesbury, whose historic Abbey surrounded by water became a symbol of last summer's floods.

Obese man fetes birthday on bed

Mexico's Manuel Uribe, once the world's most obese man, celebrated his 43rd birthday on Wednesday with a very short trip outside his house. In only his third outing in six years, Mr Uribe, sitting on his huge reinforced bed, was dragged outside his garage bedroom and onto the pavement outside his house in Monterrey in northern Mexico. Presents of suckling pig and lamb arrived.

Still weighing the size of three hefty men, Mr Uribe sat on his bed wearing only a bedsheet, drank a beer and chatted to his mother, girlfriend and neighbours in the cool evening air, waiting for a cake.

"I'm happy that it is my birthday," he told reporters interviewing the man who weighed 324 kilos in May after losing 235 kilos since March 2006 on a diet of grapefruits, egg-white omelets, fish, chicken and vegetables.

Mr Uribe is still unable to move his swollen legs and his dream is to walk again and visit the mountainous countryside around Monterrey. He had spent the 1990s eating pizzas and burgers in the United States where he worked as a computer repairman. Addicted to junk food, he eventually tipped the scales at 560 kilos back in Mexico, binging on greasy tacos.

Friday 13th not more unlucky
Unlucky for some? Dutch statisticians have established that Friday 13th, a date regarded in many countries as inauspicious, is actually safer than an average Friday. A study published yesterday by the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) showed that fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays.

"I find it hard to believe that it is because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home, but statistically speaking, driving is a little bit safer on Friday 13th," CVS statistician Alex Hoen told the Verzekerd insurance magazine.

Manhole memo prompts mutterings
Mumbai city officials are upset by an American warning about the risks of falling into manholes in India's commercial capital during the monsoon season.

An item posted on the US consulate website said that municipal workers in Mumbai sometimes open manhole covers at times of heavy flooding and then leave them unattended and unmarked.

"It's possible that you could inadvertently step into an open manhole," said the warning, issued after the monsoon rains arrived at the weekend.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation rejected the statement, and said it had e-mailed the US consulate stating it had cast the city in a bad light. Elizabeth Kauffman, speaking for the consulate, said they did not mean to hurt anyone's feeling. The consulate has since added a single sentence to its online advisory, saying open manholes are sometimes marked with tree branches.

Jail break foiled by air vent
A woman who attempted to escape from jail in Sydney had to be rescued by police after she became stuck in an air conditioning duct, police said yesterday. The 22-year-old woman had just been refused bail by a Sydney court when she attempted the escape, but then spent about an hour stuck in the air vent before she was rescued.

Police in the New South Wales state said the woman would now face an extra charge of attempting to escape.

'Spiderman' defends skyscraper climb
The man known as the French "Spiderman" bristled at accusations his feat of scaling a New York skyscraper encouraged novice copycats and said the act of "free speech" was a tribute to the city.

"This was not about, 'Alain Robert is climbing the building.' This is a fight against global warming," the climber, Alain Robert, 45, told reporters outside New York State Criminal Court, after appearing briefly before a judge on Wednesday.

Mr Robert scaled the 52-storey, 348-metre skyscraper last week, and six hours later another climber, Renaldo Clarke, made an apparent copycat ascent to raise awareness of malaria that was broadcast live on television. Both men appeared before separate judges on Wednesday on misdemeanour charges of criminal trespass and reckless endangerment as well as disorderly conduct, a violation. The charges carry a maximum penalty of one year in jail.

Robert has climbed more than 80 skyscrapers and landmarks including Chicago's Sears Tower and Taipei 101 in Taiwan, the world's tallest building.

The recovery begins

by Mike Morgan
Staff Writer


WHITE BEAR LAKE — In the days after a deadly tornado ripped through town, Hugo officials and residents made significant strides in cleaning up, as a family grieved the loss of their 2 year old and others were left to literally pick up the pieces.

Countless volunteers, from local residents to representatives of national relief organizations to public servants, have offered an outpouring of support and help for victims.

At last count, 27 homes in the Waters Edge and Creekview Preserve neighborhoods west of Highway 61 in northern Hugo were decimated in the storm, which the National Weather Service categorized as an "EF3" that caused winds of up to 165 m.p.h.

According to the Red Cross, 61 homes were destroyed or sustained major damage and over 700 were affected in minor ways. Personal property damage has been estimated at $25 million.

"The kindness and generosity being shown by so many people is overwhelming and very much appreciated," City Administrator Mike Ericson said.
Three people remain hospitalized, including the father and sister of Nathaniel Prindle, a 2-year-old boy who was killed in the storm.

Another woman died, of an apparent heart attack died May 24 while cleaning up her tornado-damaged home. The victim, a Fridley firefighter, was in her 50s or 60s, according to the Associated Press.

Her identity was being held until family members were notified, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

Though residents of 150 to 200 homes in the neighborhood were temporarily evacuated on May 25, the majority were allowed to return home by May 29. Some 34 homes were red-tagged by building inspectors as uninhabitable, however.

Ericson said city officials and residents believe it’s miraculous more people were not seriously injured or killed, and credits the fast response time of emergency workers and the eagerness of neighbors to help during the storm’s immediate aftermath.




Families who lived in homes the twister destroyed are beginning to get a sense of what the tragedy means for their future.

"There’s nothing left," Marcel Linders said of his home. "I’m just starting to realize how long this process is going to be."

Linders, who lived next door to the Prindle family, was at home with his stepdaughter and her friend when the storm hit. All three ended up buried in debris in Linder’s basement and were helped free by neighbors.

"It puts in perspective how much people care," he said of his neighbors’ rush to help.

Linders, staying at a friend’s house, spent the week working to clean up the rubble of his house and is using a real estate agent to find a rental property for his family, he said.

The Salvation Army is supplying food and coordinating shelter for many who were displaced by the storm, the strongest in the area in half a century.

"It was as horrific as anything I’ve ever seen in my life," Ericson said of the twister’s aftermath.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty and others, including Sen. Norm Coleman and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, toured the area May 26 shortly after the Hugo City Council declared the area a state of emergency.

At press time, the amount of state and/or federal aid available to help pay for the damage had not been determined. Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Administration surveyed the area last week.

Pawlenty cautioned that the local disaster may not qualify for FEMA assistance because most of the damage was to private residences that are typically covered by homeowner’s insurance.




Nine municipalities involving some 250 workers were called to help in the aftermath of the storm, which took place just after 5 p.m. Sunday. Though Oneka Elementary School near the two neighborhoods had served as headquarters for Red Cross and Salvation Army assistance on May 26 and 27, regular school classes resumed on the 28th and the new headquarters was designated as Hugo City Hall.

Other nearby homes and businesses, including several east of US-61, also sustained damage, though not as severe.

Many houses and vehicles, including several in Centerville, were damaged by a strong hailstorm some 20 minutes after the tornado passed through. The hailstones ranged from walnut-sized to some the size of tennis balls, residents reported.

Ericson said the city’s emergency storm warning system was triggered at about 5 p.m., alerting area residences to the approaching storm. Shortly afterward, he said, Public Works Director Chris Petree called him at his home in Maplewood to tell him that the second story of his (Petree’s) home had been torn off by the winds.

Ericson said he knew the devastation had to be "very, very severe" by the number of emergency vehicles he saw as he drove to Hugo from Maplewood.

Around that time, he had to pull his car over to seek shelter from the severe hail. In some places, the hail reportedly broke windows. Ericson said it caused damage to many city-owned vehicles that had just been pulled out for use.

When the storm subsided, Ericson drove on to survey the nearby neighborhoods.

"I knew how badly things were destroyed by the looks on people’s faces — disbelief and horror," he said.

Ericson noted that city personnel has been prepared for such a disaster through training completed through the state’s Emergency Operations Plan.

"Thank the Lord we had that training," he said.

A 120-year-old barn on Homestead Avenue North was moved about a foot off its foundation, while the adjacent home was subject to roof damage and several broken windows.

Several area businesses have already volunteered to provide services for the displaced.

Residents still needing assistance should call City Hall at 651-762-6300: or see accompanying stories more information.

A relief fund has been set up at U.S. Bank in Hugo. Ericson said Hugo Councilwoman Becky Petryk is forming a committee to determine how donations will be distributed.

As for clean-up, an event over the weekend attracted more than 1,000 volunteers who were bussed into town from the Washington County Service Center in Forest Lake.

Ericson said there will likely be another such volunteer event in coming weeks. More information is available to residents at www.ci.hugo.mn.us.