flag for environment Christian welcome expected

keep their Green Flag status for another year.

Keep Britain Tidy’s Green Flag Award Scheme manager

Paul Todd MBE said: “Greenhill and Sandsfoot are both a vital green space for the community bringing people together and providing opportunities to lead healthy lifestyles. “The staff and volunteers do so much to ensure that it maintains the high standards of the Green Flag Award, and everyone involved should feel extremely proud of their achievement.”

Kate Wheller, added: “They are beautiful places to visit with amazing viewpoints across Weymouth Bay and The Nothe Fort.

“Congratulations to the team at Weymouth Town Council, especially the green spaces team for all the hard work they put in every day to make both gardens such lovely places to be.”

One of the highlights of Greenhill Gardens is the clockhouse. It is currently having a refurbishment to offer people the chance to see the fascinating workings of the clock.

The Rector of Portland rector says people are angry at the lack of answers to their questions – but he expects islanders to welcome refugees as they arrive to live on the barge. Tim Gomm said: “There are real mixed questions and emotions about the gentlemen who are going to be arriving.

“People expect answers to these questions, and have shown anger when they are not answered adequately. “I cannot imagine what some of these gentlemen have gone through to get here – thinking this is a country where the streets are literally paved with gold. Some are escaping persecution, some have experienced wars, some have lost family to violence, and starvation.

“My wife and I have been on Portland for the last 12 years, and we have been welcomed and loved by the majority of the population. So, I expect the majority of Portland to be just as welcoming to these new visitors to Portland. We hope and pray that both we and they will behave ourselves. “We also are reminded that Jesus – the focus of our Christian faith was once a refugee when his family faced persecution from King Herod, and they escaped to Egypt when he was a small child.

“These men may be scared, unsured of the reception they will get, overwhelmed by the change they face and the difference in culture they will experience. May we welcome them and treat them as we would want to be treated if we were in their shoes.”

Wildflower road scheme is blooming

A wildflower planting scheme has introduced a splash of colour to Dorchester’s roadsides. National Highways sowed seeds at the Monkey’s Jump roundabout and Max Gate junction on the A35 after completing two drainage improvement schemes.

A highways spokesperson said that instead of importing topsoil and grass seeding, they funded a scheme to introduce native wildflowers to the roadsides, which are ‘not only visually appealing but will enhance and promote habitats for bees, butterflies and other insects’. The work was conducted with input from the bordering Duchy of Cornwall estate.

New unlimited penalties for environmental polluters

Announced last month, the current limit of £250,000 on variable monetary penalties that the Environment Agency and Natural England can enforce directly on operators will be lifted. This will offer regulators a quicker method of enforcement than lengthy criminal investigations, with implications for polluters in England - and here in West Dorset.

National Highways’ environmental advisor Ben Hewlett said: “This is a great example of how we are moving away from simply minimising the impact of our work on the environmental impacts towards actually improving the environment through our work.

“We now have a policy to introduce low nutrient soils and wildflower verges as part of our major projects programme and working with groups such as Natural England and Butterfly Conservation, it’s good to see this spreading into our regional maintenance and improvement work.

“The seeds have now germinated alongside the A35, a wildflower grassland is beginning to form and this will continue to evolve over the coming years – basically it means less money spent, less in maintenance costs and more biodiversity.

“The increase in wildflowers will not only have wider biodiversity benefits and provide some impressive visual displays, but it will also help to connect people with nature and improve the wellbeing of millions of people using our roads every day.”

The wildflower seeding alongside the A35 includes Horseshoe and Kidney Vetch species, Bee Orchids, Cowslip and Oxeye Daisy.

The cap on civil penalties

This will broaden the scope of civil penalties for polluters to target a much wider range of offences – from breaches of storm overflow permits to the disposal of hazardous waste.

Enforcing polluters

New legal powers will enable higher penalties to be levied as a civil sanction for offences under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016. This will ensure regulators have the right tools to drive compliance across a range of sectors, strengthening enforcement and holding all who hold environmental permits – from energy and water companies to waste operators and incinerators – to greater account.