From the Lowestoft Journal:

On Tuesday, a House of Commons committee is due to discuss whether an area of Sole Bay should become the only offshore zone within UK territorial water where tankers can exchange oil.

But in an unlikely political alliance, the Conservative MP for Suffolk Coastal, Dr Therese Coffey, and Labour’s shadow minister for transport Jim Fitzpatrick will both call on the Seventh Delegated Legislation Committee to consider throwing out the plan, which has met with fierce opposition in the Southwold area.

Dr Coffey wants tankers to be able to transfer oil in all UK territorial waters to stop Southwold becoming a “ flashing beacon” for the giant vessels – while Labour only wants the transfers to take place in harbour authority waters.

If the committee agrees with the MPs’s request, it could see the proposals to create an “exclusive tanker transfer zone” in Sole Bay thrown out of Parliament within days of the meeting.

Dr Coffey said she was not optimistic about de-railing the proposals. She said: “I will be speaking to the committee on Tuesday to explain why I think the legislation is not correct and why Southwold should not be the only area. But I don’t expect any of my colleagues to change their minds.”

Mr Fiztpatrick will be sitting on the committee as an opposition member and will try and use his influence to scupper the zone plan and prevent it reaching the House of Commons.

However, if the committee agrees with shipping minister Mike Penning’s plans for the Southwold zone, it could lead to the scheme being passed by MPs in the Commons a few days later.

Under parliamentary procedures, MPs could vote in the Commons without debating the proposals but they would have the committee’s decision to help them decide how to vote. If the committee backs the government’s plans, and MPs then voted along party line in the Commons, the government-backed zone would be approved.

Tuesday’s meeting comes two months after Dr Coffey and Mr Fitzpatrick first joined forces to oppose the tanker zone, which is earmarked for an area about 12 miles off Southwold.

The government introduced a Statutory Instrument in Parliament on March 9 which could have seen the zone approved within 40 Parliamentary days. However, Dr Coffey and Mr Fitzpatrick tabled a motion opposing the Statutory Instrument by “praying” against it – causing it to being delayed.

Further action by Mr Fiztpatrick and the Labour chief whip, Rosie Winterton, has led to the matter being called before Tuesday’s committee, which will vote on what is officially termed as the Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-ship transfers)(Amendment) Regulations 2012 (S.I, 2012, No.72) measure.

Former Waveney Labour MP Bob Blizzard said he was pleased Mr Fitzpatrick’s actions had led to Tuesday’s crunch committee meeting and a vote on a issue which, he said, was “vital” to Waveney’s future.

Mr Blizzard said: “I’m delighted that Jim Fitzpatrick, the shadow shipping minister, and the opposition chief whip have forced a vote on this issue which is so vital to our area. We simply cannot take risks with our coastal environment and our valuable tourism industry. It will be appalling if we become the oil tanker capital of Britain, as the only place where oil transfers at sea are allowed to take place.”

He said he felt that Waveney MP Peter Aldous should attend Tuesday’s committee to take part in the debate.

Mr Aldous has previously told The Journal he supports the policy of not banning transfers as he thinks the practice benefits the area by creating jobs.

If approved the zone would be 1.5 miles in radius.

But anti-zone campaigners, including the Southwold and Reydon Society, say the zone would pose a risk that could threaten Waveney’s seaside tourism industry, which is estimated to be worth £255m and has 6,000 jobs depending on it.

The previous Labour government had wanted to a blanket ban on all transfers in UK territorial waters in October 2010.

But when the current government came into power Mr Penning delayed the ban, allowing transfers to continue.

I fear that Mr Jolley (Letters, May 11th) may have fallen victim to the Conservative Party’s rewriting of history in trying to blame the previous Labour government for the current shocking state of our country’s economy. It’s better to let the facts speak for themselves:

Fact: the last Labour government paid off debt in every year until the world recession of 2008, reducing it from 42.5% of national wealth in 1997 to 36.5% in 2008 – lower than America, France, Germany and Japan.

Fact: when Gordon Brown raised £billions from the sale of the 3G mobile phone licences, he used all of the money to pay off debt, despite the Tories and Liberal Democrats both urging him to spend it.

Fact: in July 2008, David Cameron said, “We are sticking to Labour’s spending totals. Taken alone, these are tight.”

Fact: Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, said in his recent speech on Radio 4, “Let me start by pointing out what did not go wrong. In the five years before the onset of the crisis, growth was steady and both unemployment and inflation were low and stable. Whether in this country, the United States or Europe, there was no unsustainable boom like that seen in the 1980s; this was a bust without a boom.

So the world recession of 2008/9 was not caused by the Labour government spending too much.

Fact: when Labour left office in 2010, we were out of recession, the economy was growing again, unemployment was falling and the debt which rose during the recession was going down again.

Fact: after two years of Conservative/LibDem government, the country has gone back into recession, unemployment is rising, and David Cameron is having to borrow £150 billion more than he said he would.

Yours sincerely

Bob Blizzard

Former MP and now Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Waveney, Bob Blizzard joined forces with Suffolk Police Officers on their march through London last Thursday. Police officers from Waveney formed part of the protest by over 20,000 off duty police, marching past the Home Office and the House of Commons to make their feelings known.

“This was an impressive turnout and shows the strength of feeling locally and right across Britain,” said Bob Blizzard. “I asked several police officers what was their main grievance. They all said it was the government’s massive 20% cut in police funding which is reducing the number of police officers and support staff to the point when they feel they won’t be able to do their job of protecting the public properly. This should be of grave concern to us all. Good policing is vital to our community. It’s madness to cut front line police officers.

“As an MP, I worked with the police for many years. I’ve never known feelings this strong. I hope the government listens and reduces the huge scale of these cuts which will mean the loss of 16,000 officers nationally, including 1000 in the eastern region and over 60 so far in Suffolk.

16,000 black caps were distributed by the Police Federation and worn by marchers to represent the number of police officers being cut.

At the start of the #PoliceMarch in London with #Suffolk Police Federation fantastic turnout. Stop 20% police cuts by ConDem govt

— Bob Blizzard (@BobJBlizzard) May 10, 2012

@BobJBlizzard Proud to follow you. twitter.com/ShedStoker/sta…

— Steve Barrett (@ShedStoker) May 12, 2012

Bob with local beat officer, PC Chris Sadler on the march.

See more on policing

I know I’m getting older now

I know I’m feeling weaker now

I know sometimes I’m angry now

The Government’s compassions’ gone

Disabled people frightened now

I see young kids not working now

I know more firms are closing now

This can’t go on

My criticism of our Conservative councils’ proposal to spend £10m of our money on new council offices when most people are struggling to make ends meet in a double dip recession, obviously struck a nerve, judging by the long tirade from Council Leaders Bee and Law in last week’s letters page trying to justify the rebirth of the Waveney Campus project. The short answer to them is ‘that’s what they said last time’ when they wasted £5m of our money on the original project. 

But to follow their argument of investing money to recoup benefits later, why not do some or any of the following instead? 

• Invest in a young person’s travel concession scheme to give them greater opportunities in life. 
   
• Invest in social care for the elderly so fewer frail people have to occupy acute beds in the much more expensive James Paget Hospital. 
   
• Invest in householders’ waste recycling sites to minimise the expense of clearing up fly-tipping. 
   
• Invest in building council housing to lower the huge cost of paying out housing benefit and putting homeless people in bed and breakfast accommodation.
   

All of these would be seen by most people as more worthy ways of spending £10m. But, of course, they are all projects that have been cut or rejected by Conservative controlled Waveney and Suffolk councils.

Cameron has landed us back in recession and says he won't change course - send him a message on May 3rd.

"Austerity alone is self defeating. Cutting too deep, too fast damages the economy - it doesn't mend it."

You can watch Bob by clicking here

I cut ribbon to open new #WineLodge #OultonBroad convenience store - another chapter in success story of #Lowestoft businessman DavidPickess

— Bob Blizzard (@BobJBlizzard) April 5, 2012

From The Lowestoft Journal .

From the Lowestoft Journal

The project – which could see a new shared office building constructed for Waveney District Council and Suffolk County Council staff on the run-down waterfront site – will be outlined to councillors next Tuesday.

The plans could also lead to the council leaving its long-established base at Lowestoft Town Hall.

News of the proposed development comes almost two-and-a-half years after the decision to scrap one of the most ambitious projects the east coast has seen in years – the multi-million pound Waveney Campus.

The ill-fated scheme to build new local government headquarters to house district and county council employees and staff from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) began in 2005.

But the landmark project – billed as a £53m centrepiece of regeneration in a neglected part of the town – fell through, with the three partner organisation citing “challenging economic conditions”.

Since the scheme was scrapped in December 2009, the two councils have been looking for alternative accommodation in Lowestoft, and in March 2010 Cefas announced it was staying at its long-standing headquarters at Pakefield Road and investing in improved working conditions for its staff.

At the time, Waveney’s then MP Bob Blizzard criticised the district council for wasting millions on the project. And upon hearing about the new scheme this week, he was incredulous.

Mr Blizzard, now Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Waveney, told The Journal: “In really tough times with very little public money about, we are being told by these two councils – which are making cuts in social care, the street lights are off at night and the weeds are overgrown – there is no money.

“To resurrect this campus process and spend more money – well its unbelievable. I think people will feel very angry when we have all these cuts and they want to spend money on this...

“The whole Campus project cost a lot of money and new council offices are the last thing we need. I think its really shocking to spend money on new council offices – and even waste money in these austere times,” Mr Blizzard added.

The acres and acres of derelict land around Lake Lothing is a depressing site which gives our town the wrong reputation. It’s important to stay focused on how this vast area in the heart of Lowestoft can be regenerated for business enterprises that would create the jobs we need so badly.

The derelict land is blighted from development not only by the lack of a third crossing to connect the two sides of the long lake that divides the town, but also by the huge cost to developers of putting in flood prevention measures, as it’s all designated as a flood risk area. The projects brought forward by First East Urban Regeneration Company all seemed to go away because of the cost of raising the level of the land before even a foundation was laid.

I don’t know what will happen to the latest idea of building 1500 houses and a footbridge on the old Boulton and Paul (Jeld Wen) site, but it sounds like a recipe for no industry/jobs and more gridlock.

Therefore we should take seriously Peter Colby’s idea of creating a third crossing by building a barrage across Lake Lothing. This would not only give us a cheaper  crossing on which traffic wouldn’t be halted every time a boat wanted to pass, but it would also provide flood protection for all the land to the west of the barrage, thus reducing the overall cost of developing all the derelict land. The proposal even includes a clever way for boats to pass through that can be seen operating in Holland.

A few weeks ago, Peter’s letter to the Journal said he would be willing to organise a public meeting to hold up his plans. I, for one, would fully back this innovative way forward. We need new thinking. We can’t go on as we are.

Bob's second Campaign Update video has been released. 

You can watch, share, and comment, here.