Water Strategy. Long but should help keep the pressure on. Please read and please try to write the letters as suggested. If we can build momentum, we can get this stopped. Remember, an election is looming, lots of Labour and Conservative MPs will be nervous.
1) Sign up to Richy’s petition at
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/allotmentwater/2) Sign up to church charges petition at:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/ChurchWaterBills/3) Sign up to Daily Telegraph sports ground charges petition at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/columnists/brianmoore/4077481/Join-Brian-Moores-petition.html4) Write to your MP, making the following points:
- Community organisations such as churches, sports grounds, Scouts troops, schools, and especially allotments across the country are being charged at the same rate as commercial organisations for rainwater disposal
- This change was approved by OFWAT
- In many cases, the new charging structure represents an increase of up to 1000% on the old charges
- For charges that are met by councils, such as schools, this means added pressure on the council tax and on council services.
- Many other organisations will be forced to close or to severely limit their activities due to the new charges.
- The charges are attracting high levels of protest. 40,000 people have signed a number 10 petition against levying charges on churches, 3,000 people have joined a Daily Telegraph campaign against charges on sports clubs.
- Allotments are particularly affected. Most sites have a large surface area but very low income.
- The new charges could mean many allotment sites closing.
- There are potentially ?,000 allotment holders in your constituency who would be affected (please try and find out, if you can)
- Please write to your colleagues the Minister for Environment, asking whether there are any plans to reduce rainwater disposal charges for community organisations such as allotment sites.
- Please write to OFWAT, asking them whether there are any plans to reduce rainwater disposal charges for community organisations such as allotment sites.
- Please write to [your local water company] asking whether there are any plans to reduce rainwater charges for community organisations
- Please forward any responses received to [you]
Remarks to the letter:
The purpose of this letter is to 1) alert your MP to the charges structure; 2) show the breadth of opposition to the new charges from a wide range of community organisations and in all areas of the country, but especially your constituency, which will help to focus their mind on the next election; 3) make clear, concrete requests for action of them, to which you can return in a few weeks; 4) through those requests for action, alert Min of Environment, OFWAT and the local utility company to the depth of opposition to the charges.
The letter can be either paper-based, emailed through your MP’s website, or sent through a site such as
www.writetothem.com which will identify your MP, councillors etc by entering your post code.
5) Write to your council allotment officer, or parish allotment officer, asking whether they are aware of the new charges and what plans they have to meet them.
6) Write to the chief exec of OFWAT yourself at
Ofwat
Centre City Tower
7 Hill Street
Birmingham B5 4UA
United Kingdom
asking whether there are any plans to reduce charges for community organisations. Copy letter to your MP.
7) Mobilise other allotmenteers, friends, neighbours, churches you have links to, scouts organisations, sports grounds, about the charges. Encourage them to carry out steps 1-7 above.
Get a paper-based petition going on your allotment site about the charges. Suggested phrasing:
We the undersigned are concerned about the impact of new rainwater disposal charges upon our leisure activity [if you have any concrete figures, insert them here]. We call upon the Secretary of State for the Environment to instruct OFWAT to reduce these charges to their previous level, recognising the importance of allotments to health and wellbeing of communities.
9) Let the chair of your local allotment association know of the charges and encourage them to carry out steps 1-7 above
Comments:
From my point of view, this charge is a disgrace. The privatisation of utilities and natural monopolies is economically indefensible. Making a profit from the provision of the basic necessities of life such as water is morally indefensible. And the fact that the profit is to be increased by charges on community organisations shows how cynical the search for profit has become. The fact that our MPs and government are allowing this to happen shows how blind to anything but big business they have become.