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FIRA report
shows the economic and environmental impact of biomass
ON Monday, 12 December 2011, the Furniture
Industry Research Association (FIRA) and the British Furniture
Confederation (BFC) held a meeting at the House of Lords to launch a
report commissioned by FIRA that focuses on the Renewables
Obligation Woody Biomass Subsidy and the detrimental affect it is
having on British manufacturing.
The launch event enabled FIRA and the BFC to share the report with
parliament, and appropriate Ministers and MPs were invited. This
report is the outcome of a number of Biomass Summits held at FIRA
earlier this year. These events brought together key industry
leaders to discuss how government subsidies encouraging power
companies to burn wood, are distorting the market for new timber,
thereby forcing up prices for the manufacturing of furniture
products. The woody biomass report will be now be used to lobby the
Government on behalf of the furniture industry.
This document outlines a series of recommendations on how the
Government can ensure that manufacturers are allowed to continue
business without facing the difficulty of coping with rising prices
from the woody biomass subsidy distortion.
The report also explains how the biomass subsidy is having a
negative economic impact within the UK furniture industry. Following
the introduction of biomass subsidies, wood prices have risen by
55.1 per cent over the past 5 years, having a significant impact on
furniture production margins.
With increased costs for furniture production, an increase in jobs
losses is also likely. Many manufacturers are based in rural areas
where unemployment is already high and there are limited employment
opportunities. As a result, if the UK wood panel industry was to
disappear, 4,400 jobs would be lost.
With increased costs for furniture production, it follows that
furniture product prices for the consumer will also increase. This
is especially poignant as the subsidy paid for burning renewable
fuel is paid by consumers through their electricity bill. This means
consumers are paying for a renewable energy form which distorts the
market perversely against them as both a consumer and also to
British manufacturing.
Over its life time, burning woody biomass also emits significantly
greater CO2 than wood panel manufacturing s. The report suggests
that the biomass subsidy should not encourage the burning of virgin
wood, which could be used productively through its lifecycle, before
being burnt for fuel. It encourages that furniture at the end of its
lifecycle is burnt for fuel, rather than placed in landfill.
Furthermore, the report discusses how biomass stations relying on
wood imports from abroad are a threat to the world’s forests and may
even increase climate-change emissions. Stephen McPartland MP
spoke at the parliamentary launch event, in his capacity as Chair of
the All Party Parliamentary Furniture Industry Group. The Chair of
the British Furniture Confederation, Paul Von der Heyde also spoke.
For more information on FIRA’s Biomass Report visit:-
fira.co.uk.
Last Chance to have your say and
help to Sefton TIC and it's events!
IT is shocking to think, but in 2012 we might
not have the British Musical Firework Championships, Southport
International Jazz Festival, Southport Air Show and the Southport
Food & Drink Festival, to name just a few events! Also Sefton
Council is proposing the cessation of Sefton Tourism Services in the
new year. You can help by the fight to save these events and a
service that is one of the very few to bring in cash to not only
Southport, but Sefton as a whole! The events like the Southport Air
Show have a major impact on the area, bringing in jobs and also cash
to not only Southport, but even the likes of Bootle. It is of
paramount importance that the public show their support for them, as
with out them many Tourism industry based events. We need as many
people as possible to give around 2 minutes to fill in a few simple
questions on the proposal. To fill in your views on please click on
this
link now.
Sefton Council will rely on them to make their decision in February
2012, so get your info online as soon as possible! Also why not join
the Facebook campaign to save the events by using this
link and read our report we did
in November, click
here now. |
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Mary Portas sets
out her vision for the future of our high streets
MARY Portas has published
her review of the future of our high streets, setting out her vision
to breathe economic and community life back into our high streets.
The Review makes ambitious recommendations on what can be done; by
government, local authorities and business; to help high streets
deliver something new.
The focus is on putting the heart back into the centre of our high
streets, re-imagined as exciting social hubs for shopping, learning
socialising and having fun.
In May, with town centre vacancy rates doubling in the space of 2
years, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister asked Mary to
look into how we can create more prosperous and diverse high
streets.
The Review sets out Mary’s recommendations to free up the high
street from constraint, to level the playing field, to mobilise
landlords and communities, and to address the ongoing management of
our town centres.
The recommendations aim to:-
► Get town centres running like businesses
- by strengthening the management of high streets through new
‘Town Teams’, developing the Business Improvement District
model and encouraging new markets.
► Get the basics right to allow businesses
to flourish; by looking at how the business rate system could better
support small businesses and independent retailers, encouraging
affordable town centre car parking and looking at further
opportunities to remove red tape on the high street.
► Level the playing field; by ensuring a
strong town centre first approach in planning and encouraging large
retailers to show their support for high streets.
► Define landlords’ roles and
responsibilities; by looking at disincentives for landlords leaving
properties vacant and empowering local authorities to step in when
landlords are negligent.
► Give communities a greater say; by
greater inclusion of the high street in neighbourhood planning and
encouraging innovative community uses of empty high street spaces.
Mary also recommends that her suggestions are tried out in a number
of high street pilots.
Mary Portas said:- "I don’t want to live in a Britain that
doesn’t care about community. And I believe that our high streets
are a really important part of pulling people together in a way that
a supermarket or shopping mall, however convenient, however
entertaining and however slick, just never can. Our high streets can
be lively, dynamic, exciting and social places that give a sense of
belonging and trust to a community. Something which, as the recent
riots clearly demonstrated, has been eroded and in some instances
eradicated. I fundamentally believe that once we invest in and
create social capital in the heart of our communities, the economic
capital will follow. Those who see high streets purely in commercial
terms need a reality check, because, without the engagement and
collaboration of local people many high streets will die and
retailers, landlords and local authorities alike will see their
investment wasted. This review sets out what I think has led to the
decline of our high streets, my vision of the future and the key
things I believe we need to put in place to deliver that vision. I
hope that my recommendations can be a catalyst for change but high
streets must be ready to experiment, try new things, take risks and
become destinations again. Local authorities, landlords, retailers
and the public need to work together to really animate the spaces
they occupy; re-imagined as destinations for retail, socialising,
culture, health, wellbeing, creativity and learning."
Prime Minister David Cameron said:- "The High Street should be
at the very heart of every community, bringing people together,
providing essential services and creating jobs and investment; so it
is vital that we do all that we can to ensure they thrive. I am
delighted that Mary Portas has produced such a clear vision on how
we can create vibrant and diverse town centres and breathe life back
into our high streets. The Government will now review Mary’s
recommendations and we will publish our response next spring."
The report is published alongside new Government commissioned
research, ‘Understanding High Street Performance’,
which shows that: although some high streets continue to thrive, a
third are degenerating or failing; by 2014 less than 40% of retail
spending will be on the high street; and that over the last decade
out of town retail floor space has risen by 30% while in town has
shrunk by 14%. The Government will respond to the recommendations in
the spring. |
