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December 2020 December 2020

towards Dorset Council’s response LOCKDOWN STORIES
to tackling the climate emergency.
With Government plans to ban the
sale of internal combustion engines Over the Hill at Christmastide
by 2035, now is the time to be
investing in the charging This is my third attempt to write this article on
infrastructure for the benefit of this computer. I have lost it on both the
Dorset’s residents and visitors. A previous occasions. Why this has happened I
feasibility study of all 120 Dorset do not know I have had Windows 10 for
Council owned public car parks several years now and it has not created
was carried out to identify the many problems for me. Now every time I turn
priority locations. Work at the first it on, the screen I see is different to any I
sites (phase 1) will start in January have seen before. On each of the occasions
2021 and they were chosen based on several factors including cost of connection I tried to complete this article, it wasn’t there
to the electricity supply network, proximity of existing charge points, and expected when I switched on. So yesterday evening I
demand. The installation and management costs of the charge points is being met tried again and was so pleased when I was
by external contractors. In return Dorset Council receive an annual 10% profit able to find an almost completed article. I
share generated by each charge point for the next 15 years. saved it and was so pleased later on to be able to find it again but when I turned
on the computer this morning I had again lost it.
Unfortunately, some towns/locations will miss out on the first phase of installation. If
a site is not included in phase 1 then new charge points might still be delivered in Now I am trying it again. The fact that it is just another wet day, with very heavy
later phases. Some locations face greater difficulties due to the cost of installing rain showers, I am trying again.
charge points at those locations.
As I look out of the windows, I can see the trees are subject to a considerable
Charges per kilowatt hour for using the charge points have been set at the wind and nearly all the leaves on the exposed trees are now leafless, while those
competitive rate of 30 pence per kilowatt hour (enough to drive about 40 in the woods still retain theirs. We are experiencing a very mild start to winter. Last
miles). Normal car parking charges will apply whilst charging. Once active, the week we had three frosts but they certainly had so little affect on anything.
charge points will appear on Zap Map, an industry standard publicly available Flowers are still blooming in our garden, kaffir lilies, hydrangeas, pansies,
application for finding charge points. geraniums, marigolds and bush roses and climbing roses. I don’t think I have
forgotten any but I not going out in the pouring rain to check.

Dorset County Car Park Permits Oh what a wet autumn and early winter we are having. Ditches, streams and of
course the River Piddle are very much in full flow, which has caused soil water
Dorset residents are being asked for their views on a new parking permit. The levels to be greater than usual. This has created many difficulties for farmers. With
permits would provide a money-saving, convenient and cash-free way to park in anybody wishing to overwinter animals at grass either partly or completely, are in
Dorset Council-owned car parks around the county. serious difficulties. While arable men can’t get on with ploughing up stubbles or
even drill late winter crops. And spraying for any reason is out of the question.
Residents in the former West Dorset District Council area have been able to
purchase permits for several years. All Dorset residents are now being asked if this When I think back at my years as a farm manager, I go back to my days of
should be extended across the Dorset Council area, or if the existing scheme managing two and a half thousand acres of flat land, behind the sea wall in
should be ended. It is estimated the cost to Dorset Council for the permits would Wexford harbour in Ireland, where we were visited each winter by some two and
be at least £50,000 per year (administration costs and reduced parking revenue). a half thousand geese and two hundred plus swans. I will leave this experience to
However, with many town centres struggling due to COVID-19, the introduction of a later date as it is a story in its own right.
shopper’s permits could encourage people to visit their local towns more
frequently. The consultation runs from 30 October to midnight on 6 December Now I must get back to our own country, where I have experienced enough
2020. It will take approximately 5 minutes to complete and is on the Dorset Council problems over winter. Luckily, most of my time was spent farming here in the
website Paper copies of the survey will be available in Dorset libraries from early south, in Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset where the subsoil has been chalk and

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