Thursday, June 9, 2011

Curry On!!!!!!!!!! or Off!!!!!!!!!!


Health challenge for Indian restaurants in Lincolnshire

Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Profile image for Lincolnshire Echo
INDIAN restaurants have completed a project that challenged them to offer healthier dishes with no difference to taste.
Five restaurants in Lincolnshire created new menus which had significantly reduced fat, salt and calorie content from last year.
The outlets, including The Passage to India on High Street in Lincoln, and Mowgli, Metheringham were part of a pilot scheme, called Health by Stealth, run by NHS Lincolnshire.
Dr Tony Hill, director of public health for NHS Lincolnshire, said: "This project is innovative because we are trying to change the behaviour of those who supply the food rather than directly targeting consumers to ask them to cut down or cut out."
Work on the project begun after testing at 60 East Midlands restaurants by Trading Standard. uncovered high levels of salt, saturated fat and calories in many takeaway dishes. The other restaurants in the project were The Star of India, Boston, The Agra, Sleaford and Kismet, Grantham.

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Safeguarding the elderly.......


Lincolnshire care homes reviewed in wake of abuse scandal in Bristol

Thursday, June 09, 2011
Profile image for Lincolnshire Echo
MEASURES to safeguard Lincolnshire people in care homes are being double checked in the wake of the Bristol abuse scandal.
A BBC Panorama undercover investigation appeared to show systematic abuse of disabled patients at Winterbourne View, which is run by Castlebeck.
Some residents were repeatedly pinned down, dragged into showers while fully clothed, goaded and taunted.
Nine people have been arrested and Castlebeck has apologised. Thirteen workers have been suspended.
Graham Marsh, executive councillor for adult social care on Lincolnshire County Council, said a review is under way.
"In relation to the care home that was the subject of the Panorama programme, we have got three people from Lincolnshire placed in the care of the company that runs it, but not at that particular establishment," said Mr Marsh.
"Two of the families are happy with the care and the other has lost confidence in that operation and we are working with them to bring the person back to the county.
"We also have 170 Lincolnshire people in out- of-county care locations.
"We have processes in place but we are double checking them to make sure they are robust and the checks and measures that do take place and are sufficient."
Meanwhile, Mr Marsh has revealed plans are in place in the event of care home provider Southern Cross going into administration.
Southern Cross, which is responsible for looking after 31,000 elderly residents nationally, has announced it will underpay its rent for the next four months as it struggles with a £230 million annual rent bill.
"We have five Southern Cross care homes in Lincolnshire, with about 80 older people in the homes," said Mr Marsh.
"There are also two learning disabled and 16 physically disabled people.
"We have got provisions in place to make sure these people's need requirements carry on, even those who are self-funded, who we also have a duty of care to."
Retired social worker Elaine Smith, 59, whose 90-year-old mother Lilian Smithson is in residential care, said she felt the safeguarding of vulnerable adults fell way behind that of children.
"Very little cases of abuse come to court because it's thought the victims are unreliable witnesses – there needs to be better legal back-up," said Mrs Smith, of Ashby de la Launde.
"It's appalling that it takes something like Panorama to highlight such abuse."
In the case of the Bristol care home, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has apologised for not acting more quickly on information from a whistleblower.
Anyone with concerns about care should call the CQC on 03000 616161.

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Saturday, February 19, 2011

Support for super dairy.......


County farmer: Why I hope the rejected super-dairy plan doesn't go away...

County farmer: Why I hope the rejected super-dairy plan doesn't go away...
Stephen Riding, part owner of Bonsdale Farm in Blyton.
PLANS for a super-dairy in Nocton, near Lincoln, have been withdrawn, to the delight of campaigners. But dairy farmer Stephen Riding, from Blyton near Gainsborough, believes that this is bad news for the country’s dairy industry...

I have been a dairy farmer all my life and have been on this site in Blyton for 31 years with my brother.
We have 200 milking cows across 900 acres.
Stay one step ahead of the weather
I was disappointed when it was announced Nocton Dairies Ltd were to withdraw their plans. They really need to go ahead with it, in my opinion as a dairy farmer.
But it was encouraging that the withdrawal was solely down to the objections from the Environment Agency, as it means they could find another site and have another go with it.
The British dairy industry is shrinking and if we carry on the way we are, in another 20 years there won't be any dairy farmers left.
With the supermarkets acting the way they are, the days of the family dairy farm are dying. Someone needs to be prepared to take up the commitment of a big dairy unit.
The Nocton Dairy would have been able to produce milk ten per cent faster than any other dairy and it would have been a real shot in the arm for the industry.
The other thing is, the Nocton Dairy could have been a test to see if the system would work in the UK.
The technology is imported from America where it is mainly used in drier climates. We don't yet know if it will work over here in the UK and the Nocton Dairy could have been a test.
If successful, we could have developed it across the UK and sites like the Nocton Dairy would have become the norm.
When I first heard about the dairy plans my first thought was the groundwater – its Lincoln's drinking water we're talking about.
The Environment Agency should have spoken up and said something sooner if they were going to object, rather than leaving it until the eleventh hour.
The Nocton Dairy would have been the future of British dairy farming, so hopefully Nocton Dairies Ltd can find another location.


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Nocton Dairy plans Scrapped!


Plans for Lincolnshire 'super dairy' are withdrawn

Herd of dairy cowsThe company previously pulled plans for a dairy twice the size of the one being proposed

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Plans for the UK's largest dairy farm have been withdrawn, the farmers behind the scheme have announced.
Nocton Dairies Ltd wanted to build the farm, housing 3,770 cows, near Lincoln.
There had been widespread opposition to the plans with concerns raised about the environmental and animal welfare impacts of the proposed "super dairy".
The farmers said their "sole" reason for the decision to withdraw their application was the objection by the Environment Agency.
They said they had written to North Kesteven District Council to formally withdraw their application for planning permission to build the facility.
The council was due to consider the planning application in March.
The original plans for the UK's largest dairy farm were for 8,100 cows on a single site at Nocton Heath - provoking an angry response from opponents who labelled it "the equivalent of battery chicken farms for cows".
Pollution concerns
That planning application was withdrawn last year, but the two farmers, Peter Willes and David Barnes, resubmitted the Nocton Dairies scheme in November with less than half the number of cows.

“Start Quote

This is a victory for consumers, dairy farmers and, of course, the cows within it”
Suzi MorrisWorld Society for the Protection of Animals
In a statement, they said: "The fundamental concept we have been proposing is a sound one: expand dairying toward the east to re-integrate livestock and arable farming, make better use of resources, proactively manage welfare, gain economies of scale, and look to support a long-term reduction in water pollution.
"We challenge other farmers to pick up the baton and see where these concepts can take them."
The Environment Agency had lodged their objection to the plans amid concerns about the potential for pollution seeping through limestone into groundwater, from which drinking supplies are drawn.
An agency spokesperson said: "We have maintained our objection to the revised application for the proposed super dairy at Nocton because we consider the risk to groundwater to be unacceptable.
"We asked the developer to address the risks to groundwater, so important for public water supplies in this area, in their revised application.
"But, despite additional evidence being submitted, our original concerns about slurry management at this environmentally sensitive location remain."
Suzi Morris, UK director of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), said: "While the Environment Agency's objections were the final nail in the coffin for the Nocton plans, our own research made it clear there was a huge range of reasons why Nocton should not be given the go-ahead.
"This is a victory for consumers, dairy farmers and, of course, the cows within it, and we can't forget the Lincolnshire community which has had a narrow escape."

More on This Story

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Thursday, December 2, 2010

Chaos on roads.......

Traffic build up on A46 and B1188

AS the county continues to be battered by snow motorists are being warned to remain highly vigilant.
The A46 between Riseholme Road roundabout and Carholme Road roundabout has now been cleared following a build up of a dozen HGVs stuck in one lane.
The B1188 Metheringham area and the A15 Bracebridge Heath southbound is only possible with care due to snow settling on the roads.
The A46 at Cabourne is now passable following a driver hitting a lamppost and sliding into the middle of the roa

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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

CHRISTMAS FLASHMOB!!! Mariah Carey "All I Want For Christmas"

New scheme attacked all round.......


Nocton Dairies: Animal welfare lobby slams plans

ANIMAL welfare and environmental groups have attacked Nocton Dairies plans, despite the decision to cut cow numbers back by more than half.
Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) condemned the revised plans as ‘an unwanted and unnecessary industrialisation of dairy farming’.
Despite the smaller numbers CIWF said its ‘overwhelming concern remains that this is still bad news for the animals and entirely the wrong direction for dairy farming’. 
It expressed fears that ‘this US-style factory farm could set a dangerous precedent for the future of dairy farming in the UK’. Producing milk on this scale would drive the price of a pint of milk down to levels most small farmers could not compete with, it claimed.
It said research had shown the ‘zero-grazing’ system Nocton would deploy is associated with increased risk of many health and welfare problems including lameness, mastitis, reproductive problems and a number of bacterial infections.
CIWF chief executive Philip Lymbery said: “The proposed Nocton development is still the wrong route for dairy farming in Britain. 
“It threatens animal welfare and the countryside, will put hard-pressed family farms under even more pressure, and will undermine the integrity of our milk.
“The proposal remains unwanted, unnecessary and unwelcome. The bottom line is that cows belong in fields not in industrial dairies.”
CIWF campaigns manager Pat Thomas pledged the organisation would be ‘throwing all of our weight behind the battle to stop factory farming coming to the UK’.
Viva! described the decision to halve cows numbers and allow cows outside access at Nocton as a ‘victory of sorts’ but insisted it will continue to fight the plans because of the link between intensive dairy farming and ‘bad cow welfare’.
 “We still object. It is not like we are going to throw up our hands and say it is wonderful what you are doing,” said Viva! campaigns manager, Justin Kerswell.
“The opposition to this project has sent out a very clear message to the dairy industry the British public are not ready for intensive dairy farming.”
The RSPCA said it would not comment directly on the application but stated it does ‘not approve or support systems which house dairy cows for 365 days a year, and they are prohibited by the Society’s welfare standards’.
But it added: “Just because a system is large, does not necessarily make it bad in terms of animal welfare.”
 Friends of the Earth’s food campaigner Sandra Bell said: “Nocton’s promoters have scaled down their plans for now but with a view to expanding them in the future - and they still plan to cram their cows into massive sheds, rather than graze them outdoors.
“The introduction of US-style mega dairies would force small farmers out of business and push the UK’s farming sector further towards crisis.”

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Now the debate really starts in earnest!

A Frisian Holstein cow in the Netherlands: Int...Image via Wikipedia

Nocton Dairies confident it can sell its milk

NOCTON Dairies director Peter Willes has insisted the Lincolnshire ‘super dairy’ would have ‘no issues’ in marketing its milk, despite the public backlash against it.
A number of major supermarkets have already indicated their reluctance to source milk from the proposed 3,770-cow unit or any similar ones that follow because of consumer concerns over animal welfare.
But questioned on whether he feared retailers could boycott the milk during a live Farmers Guardian online debate last Friday, Mr Willes wrote: “We are already connected in the processing industry and believe we will have no issues in marketing the milk, whether it is in the liquid market or in other dairy products.
“While people want to be negative about this application, it brings very sustainable dairying in the form of high welfare, high efficiency, recycling and renewable energy.”
Nocton’s directors have already held informal talks with processors and supermarkets but have stressed no deals can be signed until planning permission is granted. They said there was ‘private interest’ but acknowledged retailers might wait until the unit is up and running before making any public commitments.
During the hour long debate, Mr Willes delivered a robust defence of the controversial development in the face of a barrage of questions and comments on the ethics and practicalities of the project from readers and co-panellist, Viva!’s Justin Kerswell.
Mr Kerswell described the plans as a ‘retrograde step, when extensive and organic farming remains popular’. He claimed intensive dairy farming was turning cows into ‘something, sadly, akin to Frankenstein’s monster’.
“Mega-dairies are bad for cows and they are bad for people. The British public is rejecting them - and I see no point in the future that they will be convinced otherwise,” Mr Kerswell wrote.
Mr Willes responded by emphasising the benefits the scale of units like Nocton can deliver in areas like animal welfare and the environment. .
 “Large dairy farms offer tremendous opportunities for efficiency making investments in specialist cow care, the best facilities, the most able staff and continual training and development possible. This, combined with the production of renewable energy, the lowest carbon footprint and the latest technology to protect the environment keeps the farm economically sustainable in turn,” he wrote.
The third panellist, veterinary scientist Jon Huxley, of Nottingham Veterinary School, argued that the unit should not be condemned because of its scale. “Any farm, no matter how big or small, should be judged on its individual merits,” he said.
Mr Willes also came under fire from local Nocton residents, who sought guarantees their quality would not be affected. He outlined changes made to the resubmitted planning application intended to address such concerns, including the halving of cow numbers, improved digestate storage facilities, higher standard effluent piping systems and provision for the anaerobic digester to be built before any cows arrive.

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