The LGA have a briefing on a duty of care that we as householders now need to think about:

The Government has introduced regulations that extend the waste Duty of Care by requiring householders to ensure their waste is disposed of properly. This Duty comes into force on 21 November and means that councils will be able to take action against anyone who has not taken reasonable measures to ensure their waste is passed on to an authorised person. It will be up to the courts to decide what constitutes ‘reasonable measures’. The Duty emphasises the responsibility that all residents have not to support illegal waste transfer and flytipping, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

This means if you are having a new bathroom, kitchen or garden then you need to check out that the person doing it has the proper paperwork for transporting and disposing of waste. 

More information here.

(Via Governance Notes)

It looks like the fight is not yet over:

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee has decided to inquire into the acquisition of broadcasting rights for cricket, including Test Matches played in England.

The Committee is particularly interested in receiving evidence on the following:

• The availability of cricket coverage to television and radio audiences throughout the United Kingdom;

• The commercial procedures governing the acquisition of broadcasting rights, and constraints imposed by the statutory framework within which they operate;

• The importance of the income and exposure associated with broadcasting rights in fostering excellence and participation in cricket.

Written submissions are invited from any interested organisation or individual by Friday 11 November 2005. Please forward written submissions by email to cmscom@parliament.uk.

Without wanting to do Moe's job I thought it was worth bringing the Lib Dem's search for a Mayoral candidate to as wide an audience as possible.

It looks like they've turned down one offer already, but if you think you've got the qualities they're looking for you may have more luck.

Not only can you recycle tinfoil through the green box recycling scheme, but you should.

I'm told this also includes things like take away meal containers but it'd be really nice if you washed them out before putting them in the box/wheelie bin.

The South London Press have run a story about Blackheath Hospital that Gavin Moore and I are quoted on:

An enforcement notice was issued on Thursday last week and if the hospital does not act on it, the battle could go to court and result in a £20,000 fine.

Blackheath ward councillor Andrew Brown said: "The noise is driving residents up the wall."

On reflection "up the wall" may not quite do justice to the situation. 

I wrote to the regional director for BMI (the company that own and run Blackheath Hospital) over three weeks ago, I said:

I'm writing on behalf of my constituents who live near Blackheath Hospital in the hope that you will be able to help. The hospital has recently been granted planning permission for some work by Lewisham Council and a number of conditions were attached including around noise levels and working times.

The following comes from an email I received from residents this morning:

* Blackheath Hospital (BH) applied for various permissions around installing a new MRI scanner - this included an air conditioning unit, industrial sized, ~12ft away from residential premises in Hatcliffe Close

* BH built and installed the a/c unit by 1500 on the day of the planning committee hearing, as well as starting other works. Although the committee was angry that work had started before grant of permission, it didn't refuse, but did impose strict conditions

* these included - no work outside 0800-1700, no work on Sundays. These have been ignored every day so far. Work took place this Sunday, and started at 0720 this (Monday) morning.

* another condition was that the a/c unit should not be commissioned without being evaluated by independent acoustic engineers, and that it should be 5dB below street level noise.

* the a/c unit was commissioned about 10 days ago anyway (without any assessment), and makes a noise like a jet aircraft parked in our back gardens

I'm told by planning officers that Breach of Condition Notices will have been served on the hospital and that Environmental Health officers have been called on a number of occasions.

I would be grateful, as I'm sure would residents of Hatcliffe Close, if you could ask some questions as to why the hospital and its contractors are breaching the conditions set down by the planning committee and work to stop this happening in future.

To date I've not heard back from BMI.  However, they did get a chance to explain themselves in front of the planning committee who weren't that impressed and legal action has been authorised with the hospital and BMI facing a potential fine of £20,000.

The Lewisham website is suggesting we ring to check that the fireworks are going ahead this evening:

Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham, is urging everyone to ring the Blackheath fireworks information line - 0871 700 0685 - before setting off for Saturday's display as there is a chance this year’s event could be affected by poor weather.

I've just rung and there's no indication that it'll not be on but you might want check for yourselves before heading off.

A few weeks ago I was asked to help out with a project looking at the "dominant themes in perceptions of nature in our urbanised city".  Here are the photos I took: