Malvern Residents in the spotlight: Many of us were saddened rather than surprised to discover that our area had been singled out as having the worst environmental record in the West Midlands. This was highlighted in a £500,000 report titled, Ecological Budget UK - Counting Consumption, commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Malvern residents were accused of leaving the largest 'ecological footprint' in the region. The 'footprint' measures the amount of water, energy, food and other materials used to sustain a person's life and produces a calculation that shows how big a total of the earth's surface each individual needs to maintain this usage. It's embarrassing to report that Malvern's 'footprint' took up 5.85 hectares compared with the average for the region of 5.36 and similar to the average for the UK as a whole.
Why has the Malvern area got such a bad record? One reason must surely be our insistence in having two or more cars per household including many 4x4 vehicles, popularly known as 'Chelsea Tractors' due to their popularity with the wealthy. Certainly you are unlikely to see a speck of mud on most of these 4x4 vehicles one sees in town whether Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Nissan or Toyota. One hears that visitors to Malvern are shocked by the roaring traffic, the continual noise and the difficulty of crossing the road quite apart from the toxic fumes. Then there is the penchant for foreign holidays, even two or, in some cases, three per year being reported in some families. Eating out, lots of new clothes and large houses to heat and maintain were all featuring strongly so far as the Malvern area was concerned.
Clearly the report is measuring affluence and this is thrown up in stark relief when one notes that Stoke on Trent has the least environmental impact at 5.1 hectares per person, while SE England at 6.9 is the worst. If everyone in the world became as wasteful as those of us living in and around Malvern we would need 3.5 earths to support our lifestyles! Each person reading this ought to question the decisions they make as they go about their lives, whether it be cars - is that 4x4 or 2nd car essential? Then there are holidays, food, clothes, consumer goods or whatever. As for the Civic Society and the District and Town Councils they all ought to think about the effect of various policy decisions in relation to environmental impact, particularly the damned traffic!
4x4 vehicles face new curbs:
At last the government has enacted new powers to prevent motor
vehicles from using English footpaths and bridleways. The law changed on October 1st. It is aimed particularly at 4x4 off-roaders using paths in the national parks. Henceforth it is illegal to ride a motorcycle or other motor vehicle on anything that is shown on maps as a bridleway or footpath. It is my belief that this change in the law will help our Malvern Hills to be saved from much of the erosion in and around Gullet Wood. This is an area that is not controlled by the Conservators because it is in private ownership. The Eastnor Estate has for many years had a lucrative contract with Land Rover for training purposes. Up to now it has been legal for Land Rover activity to take place along public footpaths because of the private ownership of the land on which these public paths lie. Anyone who has tried to walk these paths in recent years will be aware of how impassable they are becoming for walkers. Let us hope that the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 will stop this damage in its tracks!
Royal Worcester: On September 29th the last few production workers finished their shift at the Royal Worcester Porcelain Works. As the doors closed at Severn Street in the Diglis it marked the end of the oldest continuous producer of porcelain in Britain. Just a few artists painting fruit remain there but for how long? Some of the production has been transferred into Stoke but most of it has gone to the Czech Republic. I believe that Charles Dyson Perrins, Malvern's great benefactor and the saviour of Royal Worcester during the crisis of the 1930s foresaw the inevitability of change and planned for it. Like us he couldn't have predicted that the demand for fine bone china would go into such serious decline at the start of the 21st century. Yet he had the prescience to buy the land upon which the Royal Worcester Museum now stands and gift it to the Trust that bears his name so that future generations would be able to see the craft skills that had graced this area for over 200 years. We should be forever grateful to this great man who possessed not only the wherewithal but also knew how to use his wealth.
A sad end sees also a new beginning - the start of a splendid new waterfront developed by Berkeley Homes, it will be called the Waterside Royal Worcester. It involves the regeneration of Severn Street and the Portland Street area and will bring 400 new homes, new offices, shops, restaurants and a hotel in a mixed-use development reminiscent of Brum's city centre canalside complex. The fine Victorian buildings that were part of the porcelain works will be converted. It promises to bring life into the heart of the City.
Malvern Library: It's a great refurbishment. Everyone you meet is excited by the transformation, but when will Worcestershire County Council get that awful stringy hedge out so that we can see what a handsome library we have inherited here in Great Malvern!