cat63: (Default)
cat63 ([personal profile] cat63) wrote2010-09-08 03:10 pm

(no subject)

The local council have just sent us a letter about how to reduce our fuel bills.

I find this a tad irritating, given that this is the same bunch of numpties who refused us planning permission for a baby wind turbine on our roof. Bah!

[identity profile] g8bur.livejournal.com 2010-09-08 02:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Eejits!

You could always send them one back, in similar vein, suggesting a few ways of reducing their communications and IT expenditure... :-)

[identity profile] femsc.livejournal.com 2010-09-08 02:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Snigger!
hooloovoo_42: (Wanker)

[personal profile] hooloovoo_42 2010-09-08 02:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Eejits indeed. You should resubmit the application and ask whether their grounds for acceptance have changed and have they updated their council policies to include sustainability projects.

I would love both a wind turbine and solar panels (PV and hot water). If I could generate even 1-2KWh per day, it would make a significant difference to my overall fuel bills. But the initial capital outlay is beyond my means. As it is, the only way to reduce bills is to change providers and get all the special offers going.

[identity profile] cat63.livejournal.com 2010-09-08 03:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Eejits!

Indeed - they turned us down on the grounds that it might be too noisy. Given that we live on the bloody flight path of East Midlands Airport, I think the kindest word for that is "fatuous"...

You could always send them one back, in similar vein, suggesting a few ways of reducing their communications and IT expenditure... :-)

Hee :-) I think Rob may be inclined to give them a piece of his mind. I can't spare any of mine :-)

[identity profile] cat63.livejournal.com 2010-09-08 03:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Eejits indeed. You should resubmit the application and ask whether their grounds for acceptance have changed and have they updated their council policies to include sustainability projects.

If I remember rightly we were working in a particular time window to get a grant which would have made the whole thing affordable, so it wouldn't be possible to do it now :-(

[identity profile] g8bur.livejournal.com 2010-09-08 04:06 pm (UTC)(link)
...they turned us down on the grounds that it might be too noisy. Given that we live on the bloody flight path of East Midlands Airport, I think the kindest word for that is "fatuous"...

Well, exactly. I seriously wonder what some local authority folk use instead of common sense.

<cynic>
I've heard rumours that some LAs have an unwritten policy of deliberately refusing planning applications, for no other reason than that the council can then collect one or more appeal fees as well as the application fee...
</cynic>

[identity profile] g8bur.livejournal.com 2010-09-08 04:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Aye; it'd probably go straight over their heads, though :(

[identity profile] rhiannon-s.livejournal.com 2010-09-08 07:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Too noisy..? That means they had no idea beyond what they read in the daily mail.

[identity profile] cat63.livejournal.com 2010-09-08 07:25 pm (UTC)(link)
That means they had no idea beyond what they read in the daily mail.

You think they can read? :-)

[identity profile] trishtrash.livejournal.com 2010-09-08 07:27 pm (UTC)(link)
That's seriously annoying; the level of hypocrisy in local councils is stunning (though why I continue to be astonished is beyond me). That they won't encourage home-generated fuel is a mystery that borders on criminal negligence of their duties to reduce fuel consumption. Leaflets aren't going to cut it, folks. Some actual common sense might need to be applied.

[identity profile] cat63.livejournal.com 2010-09-08 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)
The letter is written in such a tiny font that I haven't actually managed to read anything but the headers yet (lose another point for accessibility fail, council eejits) but it seems to be promoting grants for solar panels. My cynical part (which is large and growing daily) suspects that the solar panel company is run by some relative of the council leader...

Did I mention that they turned down the wind turbine because it might be too noisy? And that we're on the flight path for East Midlands Airport? [headdesks forever]

Some actual common sense might need to be applied.

Gasp! Burn the heretic!!! (Plenty of leaflets to use for kindling...)

[identity profile] trishtrash.livejournal.com 2010-09-08 08:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Around here, they're more likely to burn me for my agitatin' on the subject of garden-waste recycling bins only being made available this year, and for a fee not included in council tax, despite their apparent rabidness on the subject of householders not putting garden waste in regular waste bins.

I asked myself a few years ago, just when did I become that kind of woman who complains about the failings of the local council. The inevitable answer was 'when I started paying attention'.

[identity profile] agoodwinsmith.livejournal.com 2010-09-08 08:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I think you resubmit your request, including this letter, plus maps showing the flight path of said thingie, plus audio files of the noise from thingie on a thumb drive.

[identity profile] rhiannon-s.livejournal.com 2010-09-08 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
possibly a picture then, one of a bowler-hatted chinless-wonder clasping their hands to their ears while a Spitfire Messerschmidt propeller is shown in the background.

[identity profile] cat63.livejournal.com 2010-09-09 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
garden-waste recycling bins only being made available this year, and for a fee not included in council tax,

Oh good grief Charlie Brown! Even our rather feeble lot have had garden-waste recycling since before we moved here, for Om's sake!

[identity profile] cat63.livejournal.com 2010-09-09 12:28 am (UTC)(link)
Too late now alas - we had a window to get a grant that would have made the whole thing affordable, which has long since passed.

[identity profile] trishtrash.livejournal.com 2010-09-09 09:40 am (UTC)(link)
IKR! We came from Sandwell Council - the poorest in the country - who had a fortnightly collection, with no charge (and they're council tax is very reasonable). Here in the horribly overpriced Wyre Forest, they're charging extra. Because, 'not everyone may benefit from the scheme, so it is not fair to take it from council-tax funds'. Really. Lots of people in the Wyre Forest have no garden waste to dispose of? Enough that the council have developed a sense of fair play? HA WOT BOLLOCKS.

[identity profile] cat63.livejournal.com 2010-09-09 09:47 am (UTC)(link)
Pineapple. Rough end of. Firm application thereof.

I feel that might radically change their view of organic waste. In a number of ways.