Row over wounded soldiers' house
By Sally Nancarrow
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/surrey/6918675.stm
Thousands of people have signed up to support plans for a £1.7m house in Surrey to become a "home from home" for families of injured service personnel.
A charity wants the seven-bedroom house in Ashtead to be used for families of people being treated at Headley Court rehabilitation centre near Epsom.
But Mole Valley District Council has said the proposal should be turned down after "overwhelming" local opposition.
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, Dr Liam Fox, condemned the objections.
In a letter of support to the council he said they were "preposterous and offensive" and praised local MP Chris Grayling, who wants to see the plans go ahead.
A total of 83 residents have sent letters of objection to the council.
"I can't believe their attitude - it beggars belief," said Sue Norton, wife of Capt Peter Norton, an Army bomb disposal officer who was awarded the George Cross for bravery after losing a leg and part of an arm in Iraq.
"This sort of facility is something that should have been in place a long time ago - they have them in America and Germany, but in the British system we have to make do."
SOME RESIDENTS' OBJECTIONS
Increased traffic
Loss of privacy for neighbours
In view of local feeling house residents would not feel part of community
Harm to quiet residential area
Burglars could cruise area pretending to be visitors
House would be soft target for terrorists
Constant turnover of new people
Noise from children playing in street
Noise in garden
Emotive references to injured relatives designed to cloud issues
Capt Norton has been at Headley Court for a year and is shortly to leave to study for a Masters degree at the Defence Academy in Oxfordshire.
The couple have two sons, Tom, four, and Toby, two, and Mrs Norton has had to drive them to and from their home in Gloucester to visit their father or leave them with grandparents.
The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) needs planning permission to convert the house in Grays Lane for use by up to six families.
It would be adapted to provide disabled access so men and women being treated at Headley Court could visit or stay overnight.
"You are talking about giving families a chance to be together," said Mrs Norton.
"It is so important for children to be able to build a relationship with their father.
"Toby was only seven months when Peter was injured and he didn't know him.
"Do people think that families visiting injured servicemen are going to be out partying?"
Headley Court has been expanded to cope with more casualties
A new 30-bed ward has recently been added to the existing 170 beds at Headley Court to cope with the growing numbers of forces personnel injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A report to Mole Valley's development control committee, which will consider the application on Wednesday, admits it is an "emotive" issue.
A Downing Street petition supporting the application had received 19,000 signatures from all over the world by Friday morning.
Letters supporting the application received by the council say a wider view should be taken of the proposal than the "nimby" attitude of local residents.
Council officers say it is for the committee to decide the weight to be given to opposing arguments.
But they say that based purely its planning merits, the application should be refused because it would "adversely impact the quiet, peaceful nature of the existing area".
Saturday 28 July 2007
Conctroversy Hits Ashtead
Legless boys' mammas? Not in Ashtead By Vicki Woods
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/07/28/do2804.xml
A fortnight ago the MoD opened a new, 30-bed annexe at Headley Court, the national Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC).
Veterans' minister Derek Twigg went down to open it. The extra beds were needed to cope with the increasing number of casualties coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, as Mr Twigg conceded in his remarks.
"Clearly there is some hard fighting taking place out there - with a great deal of courage and sacrifice - and we have to contend with more injured."
He says "injured", I say "wounded", but there we are.
Headley Court, a handsome Jacobean mansion set in 84 acres of well-kept parkland in Epsom, Surrey, is where the most gravely wounded servicemen and women go for rehabilitation, after Selly Oak has finished the surgical work: operations, skin-grafting, stitching-up.
Rehabilitation means learning to cope with amputations (sometimes multiple), brain injuries, loss of sight and hearing and psychological damage.
Many stay for months, some for years. There is only one DMRC in Britain, so family members have to get to Surrey from all over the kingdom to visit their wounded.
These are families who themselves are grieving: having waved goodbye to a fit young serviceperson, they must come to terms with daddy in a wheelchair, a son or daughter with grievous brain injury. The whole family must cope with a very different, and difficult, future.
The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) is the leading British charity that helps the services and their families.
Daily Telegraph readers don't need to be told: you're rather fond of SSAFA (and vice-versa). This newspaper's Christmas appeal, which closed in January, raised just under £400,000 for SSAFA. (Thanks again.)
Recently, SSAFA, after careful search, found a house that it deemed perfect for families visiting Headley Court to use as a home-from-home for a few nights at a time. It's a no-brainer that we should have such a facility.
America (which hates its wars, but loves its troops) has a long-standing charity called The Fisher House, which provides similar accommodation for their legless boys' mammas to stay in. Britain has no such.
SSAFA chose a fairly modern house in Gray's Lane, Ashtead, because, according to spokesman Athol Hendry: "It's in a good state of repair. It's in a nice, quiet area. We don't have to do anything much to it, apart from putting a wheelchair ramp at the front access." On average, he would expect eight people to stay, and the limit is 12.
SSAFA applied for planning permission for a sui generis change of use (plus the wheelchair ramp), from Mole Valley District Council's planning department. I think they were surprised when permission was rejected.
Various near-neighbours, in Gray's Lane and three nearby streets, whanged in 83 crossly worded letters of objection to what they called a short-term, multiple-occupancy hostel. Some cited "increased traffic noise", others "additional pollution", one was worried about the increased risk of becoming "a soft target" from "these awful terrorists".
Mole Valley Planning Committee refused the application on grounds of "adversely affecting the character of this quiet residential lane".
"No Heroes in My Back Yard, say Ashtead Nimbys" became first a hot local story, then a national story, and - in the past fortnight - global.
One of my favourite websites, the Army Rumour Service (ARRSE), started boiling with rage over the Ashtead nimbys 10 days ago. It's a site for thousands of serving and ex-military and widely read by what you might call "friendly forces" (ie me, and most newspapers' defence correspondents).
Some of its members were so apoplectic they made wild calls for tanks down Gray's Lane - see how the nimbys like that, eh? But they were restrained at once, and told to keep tight military discipline. What we need, lads, is a campaign.
Remember the ARRSE campaign to bring Gurkha Pun VC to Britain? Let's do another: the appeal against the refusal is next Wednesday.
So ARRSErs and others from their sister sites (PPruNe, E-Goat, Rum Ration - I know, wacky names, wacky guys) e-petitioned the PM (over 21,500 signatures; go on, reader - sign up); built a lobbying website called www.36grayslane.co.uk; wrote, emailed and posted letters to counter the objections (Countess Mountbatten of Burma has sent one, so has Liam Fox); auctioned "The self-respect of Ashtead" on eBay (bids climbed a quid at a time to £48 before eBay's management removed it); and leafleted Ashtead's residents in a hearts-and-minds campaign.
This last is being done by Blue Team, all suited and booted and wearing campaign medals in the pouring rain (so as not to look like Jehovah's Witnesses).
They post up SITREPs on the website if they meet Red Team (Ashtead nimbys).
Last time I looked, Tigs2 reported CONTACT with OPFOR (Red Team), who asked if the chaps in medals were from that "scurrilous website". Tigs2 was very polite. "Red: I agree there is a need for such a facility but... Tigs2: Not in your backyard? Red: Yes, not in my backyard."
One very new member of ARRSE signs on as Wondermum. They've made her very welcome. She is wife to Captain Peter Norton GC, who is indeed a hero. He is pictured on www.36grayslane.co.uk in a wheelchair. One of his arms is prosthetic and the picture doesn't show his legs (one missing, the other badly damaged).
He has been at Headley Court since 2005. These are long wars we're in. He has a place at Cranfield University to study for an MSc in Explosive Ordinance Engineering and will take it up when he is fit. He'll be speaking for Blue Team next Wednesday at the appeal. Fingers crossed, eh?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/07/28/do2804.xml
A fortnight ago the MoD opened a new, 30-bed annexe at Headley Court, the national Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC).
Veterans' minister Derek Twigg went down to open it. The extra beds were needed to cope with the increasing number of casualties coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, as Mr Twigg conceded in his remarks.
"Clearly there is some hard fighting taking place out there - with a great deal of courage and sacrifice - and we have to contend with more injured."
He says "injured", I say "wounded", but there we are.
Headley Court, a handsome Jacobean mansion set in 84 acres of well-kept parkland in Epsom, Surrey, is where the most gravely wounded servicemen and women go for rehabilitation, after Selly Oak has finished the surgical work: operations, skin-grafting, stitching-up.
Rehabilitation means learning to cope with amputations (sometimes multiple), brain injuries, loss of sight and hearing and psychological damage.
Many stay for months, some for years. There is only one DMRC in Britain, so family members have to get to Surrey from all over the kingdom to visit their wounded.
These are families who themselves are grieving: having waved goodbye to a fit young serviceperson, they must come to terms with daddy in a wheelchair, a son or daughter with grievous brain injury. The whole family must cope with a very different, and difficult, future.
The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) is the leading British charity that helps the services and their families.
Daily Telegraph readers don't need to be told: you're rather fond of SSAFA (and vice-versa). This newspaper's Christmas appeal, which closed in January, raised just under £400,000 for SSAFA. (Thanks again.)
Recently, SSAFA, after careful search, found a house that it deemed perfect for families visiting Headley Court to use as a home-from-home for a few nights at a time. It's a no-brainer that we should have such a facility.
America (which hates its wars, but loves its troops) has a long-standing charity called The Fisher House, which provides similar accommodation for their legless boys' mammas to stay in. Britain has no such.
SSAFA chose a fairly modern house in Gray's Lane, Ashtead, because, according to spokesman Athol Hendry: "It's in a good state of repair. It's in a nice, quiet area. We don't have to do anything much to it, apart from putting a wheelchair ramp at the front access." On average, he would expect eight people to stay, and the limit is 12.
SSAFA applied for planning permission for a sui generis change of use (plus the wheelchair ramp), from Mole Valley District Council's planning department. I think they were surprised when permission was rejected.
Various near-neighbours, in Gray's Lane and three nearby streets, whanged in 83 crossly worded letters of objection to what they called a short-term, multiple-occupancy hostel. Some cited "increased traffic noise", others "additional pollution", one was worried about the increased risk of becoming "a soft target" from "these awful terrorists".
Mole Valley Planning Committee refused the application on grounds of "adversely affecting the character of this quiet residential lane".
"No Heroes in My Back Yard, say Ashtead Nimbys" became first a hot local story, then a national story, and - in the past fortnight - global.
One of my favourite websites, the Army Rumour Service (ARRSE), started boiling with rage over the Ashtead nimbys 10 days ago. It's a site for thousands of serving and ex-military and widely read by what you might call "friendly forces" (ie me, and most newspapers' defence correspondents).
Some of its members were so apoplectic they made wild calls for tanks down Gray's Lane - see how the nimbys like that, eh? But they were restrained at once, and told to keep tight military discipline. What we need, lads, is a campaign.
Remember the ARRSE campaign to bring Gurkha Pun VC to Britain? Let's do another: the appeal against the refusal is next Wednesday.
So ARRSErs and others from their sister sites (PPruNe, E-Goat, Rum Ration - I know, wacky names, wacky guys) e-petitioned the PM (over 21,500 signatures; go on, reader - sign up); built a lobbying website called www.36grayslane.co.uk; wrote, emailed and posted letters to counter the objections (Countess Mountbatten of Burma has sent one, so has Liam Fox); auctioned "The self-respect of Ashtead" on eBay (bids climbed a quid at a time to £48 before eBay's management removed it); and leafleted Ashtead's residents in a hearts-and-minds campaign.
This last is being done by Blue Team, all suited and booted and wearing campaign medals in the pouring rain (so as not to look like Jehovah's Witnesses).
They post up SITREPs on the website if they meet Red Team (Ashtead nimbys).
Last time I looked, Tigs2 reported CONTACT with OPFOR (Red Team), who asked if the chaps in medals were from that "scurrilous website". Tigs2 was very polite. "Red: I agree there is a need for such a facility but... Tigs2: Not in your backyard? Red: Yes, not in my backyard."
One very new member of ARRSE signs on as Wondermum. They've made her very welcome. She is wife to Captain Peter Norton GC, who is indeed a hero. He is pictured on www.36grayslane.co.uk in a wheelchair. One of his arms is prosthetic and the picture doesn't show his legs (one missing, the other badly damaged).
He has been at Headley Court since 2005. These are long wars we're in. He has a place at Cranfield University to study for an MSc in Explosive Ordinance Engineering and will take it up when he is fit. He'll be speaking for Blue Team next Wednesday at the appeal. Fingers crossed, eh?
Wednesday 25 July 2007
The Yellow Peril in the Western Imagination
Polluting minds
There is something horribly familiar about the west's attacks on China for daring to develop: it's called racism. Brendan O'Neill
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brendan_oneill/2007/07/polluting_minds.html
"[P]eriodic transformations in dominant Western images [the East], from positive to negative and back again, indicate the tremendous malleability of perceptions of the 'other' in response to specific historical circumstances, and especially in response to circumstances in Western nations themselves."
There is something horribly familiar about the west's attacks on China for daring to develop: it's called racism. Brendan O'Neill
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brendan_oneill/2007/07/polluting_minds.html
"[P]eriodic transformations in dominant Western images [the East], from positive to negative and back again, indicate the tremendous malleability of perceptions of the 'other' in response to specific historical circumstances, and especially in response to circumstances in Western nations themselves."
Sunday 22 July 2007
The War on Terror Chinese Style
Beijing’s ‘war on terror’ hides brutal crackdown on Muslims - Michael Sheridan
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/china/article2116123.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/china/article2116123.ece
Friday 20 July 2007
Beware the Ides of March
Move over, St Patrick!
Tampering with Ireland's most cherished tradition, the Catholic church has changed the date of St Patrick's day. - Malachi O'Doherty
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/malachi_odoherty/2007/07/move_over_st_patrick.html
Tampering with Ireland's most cherished tradition, the Catholic church has changed the date of St Patrick's day. - Malachi O'Doherty
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/malachi_odoherty/2007/07/move_over_st_patrick.html
A New Credulity of Metanarratives
To know yourself, get to know the dead
Every child should discover the sweep of history - Ben Macintyre
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/ben_macintyre/article2106450.ece
"history is becoming a potpourri of facts crammed into a few key periods, the past as buffet: a few Romans, some Tudor bloodletting, a soupçon of Classical Greece, a taste of Victorian urban squalor, with a massive serving of Nazis, again."
Every child should discover the sweep of history - Ben Macintyre
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/ben_macintyre/article2106450.ece
"history is becoming a potpourri of facts crammed into a few key periods, the past as buffet: a few Romans, some Tudor bloodletting, a soupçon of Classical Greece, a taste of Victorian urban squalor, with a massive serving of Nazis, again."
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