Revealed - the BNP members living and working in West Somerset

NINETEEN people across West Somerset are paid-up members of the British National Party, according to a leaked membership list which has been published on the internet.
The Post has seen the list and read details of the BNP membership locally, but, given that the BNP is a bona fide political party, we have taken an editorial decision not to publish details which could identify the individuals concerned.
The names include whole families and show people living in Minehead, Alcombe, Porlock, Dunster, Williton, Blue Anchor, Allerford, Timberscombe, Langley Marsh, and Wiveliscombe.
There is even a Royal Marine listed from Norton Manor Camp, near Norton Fitzwarren, with details of his regiment and company
One man is shown under his business address, complete with business email and telephone number.
The email address provided for one woman shows that she works for the Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust, which runs Musgrove Park Hospital, in Taunton.
Another woman is listed as having reverted to her maiden name in 2003, while one man is listed as a retired jeweller who is also a Freemason.
The published list includes a variety of personal information such as personal and work email address, home and mobile telephone numbers, age, occupation, former address, and the fact that a membership card had been lost or stolen and replaced on a certain date.
Some members are also listed as‘activist’.
Throughout the wider Somerset area there are more than 100 members listed, including in communities such as Cotford St Luke, Taunton, Bridgwater, and almost every major town in the county.
The list is alleged to have been published by a former party treasurer.
BNP leader Nick Griffin said in a statement on the party’s website the list was 'essentially genuine' although more than a year old and some members had left, while other names had been added 'presumably in an attempt to cause further mischief'.

Beaches fail bathing water standards because of wet summer

THE exceptionally wet summer weather has resulted in some of West Somerset’s most popular bathing waters failing advisory water quality standards.
Blue Anchor West and Dunster North West both failed to meet the ‘guideline’ standard which the beaches would be required to achieve to qualify for a Blue Flag award.
It follows one of the wettest summers on record which has led to many beaches around the Westcountry failing even the mandatory basic water quality standards.
The Environment Agency said heavy rainfall increased storm overflows from sewers, diffuse pollution, and run-off from farmland and urban areas.
This resulted in an increase in pollutants entering rivers and streams and flowing into some bathing waters around the coast.
According to the Meteorological Office, the period between May to September, when 20 water samples were taken from each of the bathing waters, there was more rain in the South West than anywhere else in England.
Environment Agency regional director Richard Cresswell said: “There is a direct link between rainfall and bathing water quality.
“We saw an extraordinary amount of rainfall during the summer and this caused an increase in the amount of pollution in some of the region’s bathing waters because of diffuse run-off, both from farmland and towns.
“Pollution is caused by, or attributable to, a number of sources.
“These include sewage from combined sewage overflows, which occurs when heavy or persistent rainfall can lead to the capacity of the sewage system being exceeded.
“There is also run-off from urban areas that is polluted with dog faeces or bird droppings and run-off from farms and fields carrying farm animal faeces.
“Our monitoring of bathing water quality identifies where improvements are required and helps in our understanding of the causes of failure.
“We will continue to work closely with the water companies, local authorities, the agricultural community, and others involved in the water environment to find solutions where bathing waters have failed to meet the required standards.”
The Environment Agency has been working with farmers to help tackle the issue of water pollution from agricultural land and has already called on the water industry to make appropriate investments in its infrastructure.
Poorly maintained and ageing sewage pipes are a key cause of water pollution, particularly during flooding.
Water companies must also ensure critical infrastructure, such as sewage treatment plans, are resilient to flooding to help prevent pollution.

• Our photograph shows the beach at Blue Anchor. Photo submitted.

Farms investigation starts as four miles of river hit by toxic poisoning

EVERY fish in a four-mile stretch of a West Somerset river has been killed by an as-yet unknown pollutant, the Environment Agency has revealed.
The pollution disaster was discovered on Sunday when hundreds of dead trout were found washed up in the Pill River, between Withycombe and Blue Anchor.
Environment Agency spokesman Jim Grundy said it was feared pesticide or sheep-dip had leaked into the water.
Officers from the agency were on site yesterday recovering dead fish and taking water samples.
The casualties were mostly between six and eight inches in length and close inspection suggested they had been dead for two to three days. They included bullheads as well as trout.
The first dead trout were found on Sunday afternoon at a holiday park in Blue Anchor.
Agency officers then discovered hundreds of casualties as they began their investigation.
Officers were working their way up the catchment and concentrating their efforts on the area upstream of Withycombe, on the Brendon Hills.
Mr Grundy said: “Judging from the number of fish killed, we believe it was some kind of toxic chemical.
“It must have been pretty nasty because it also wiped out a lot of the invertebrate life in the stream.”
Samples have been sent to a Government laboratory at Starcross, near Exeter, and agency officials will visit local farms as part of the ongoing investigation.
The agency will continue to monitor the river and will shortly be sending one of its environmental appraisal teams to the site to take additional samples.

Earlier this year, the Environment Agency revealed how water flow in the Pill River had dramatically improved due to the revocation of a significant groundwater abstraction.

Thomas the Tank Engine cancelled after paedophile scare and rising costs

THOUSANDS of parents are set to be disappointed this year after a decision by the West Somerset Railway to axe the popular annual ‘Days out with Thomas’ weekend.
The weekend traditionally featured visits by the children’s favourite Thomas the Tank Engine and some of his ‘friends’.
Last year, advance tickets for the ‘Thomas’ weekend at Minehead Station sold out and around 3,000 people packed in to enjoy the event.
But now HiT Entertainment, the promotional company which owns the rights to Thomas the Tank Engine, has hiked its fees for granting the West Somerset line a licence in 2008.
In addition, the railway was faced with having to employ tougher and more expensive measures for Criminal Records Bureau checks on all its staff and volunteers.
The new CRB procedures were ordered after the cases last year of two steam railway volunteers, one in Hampshire and one in Gloucestershire, who took part in Thomas the Tank Engine festivals and were later found to be paedophiles.
One of them sexually assaulted a young ‘Thomas’ fan after being allowed to work on the trains without being properly screened first.
After that case, the Heritage Railway Association issued new guidelines to all its members, and at least one Devon railway will now not even allow staff or volunteers to help children on and off trains for fear of assault claims.
This year, the West Somerset Railway will instead organise a ‘family weekend’ to be held on July 5 and 6.
WSR general manager Paul Conibeare said the company had ‘looked long and hard at the implications’ before deciding to drop the ‘Thomas’ event.
Mr Conibeare said the ‘family weekend’ could potentially attract a wider age range to than just the ‘Thomas’ fans and could involve the whole of the 22-mile line rather than being ‘Minehead-centric’.
However, he said the railway was looking for ‘good ideas’ and suggestions as to what could be achieved at each station along the line in order for the weekend to be successful.
Ideas were needed before the end of January in order to allow sufficient time for the initiatives to be properly marketed.
Mr Conibeare said any ideas should be ‘achievable within the existing restrictions on budgets and staff availability’.

• Another regular feature on the West Somerset line which will not go ahead in 2008 is the Sunset Specials which for many years have run on Wednesday evenings between Minehead and Blue Anchor during the high summer.
  Although passenger numbers on the railway reached a new record in 2007, the Sunset Specials failed to carry sufficient passengers to make them commercially viable.
  Commercial manager Martyn Snell said: “It is a great pity that numbers on this particular service have dropped as they have.
  “We have to be realistic, particularly bearing in mind how much time we ask our staff to give to all our train services.
  “We have identified one that is not working well and have decided to stop it. Who knows, it may return in a slightly different guise, but certainly not during 2008.”

Financial losses force changes to Watchet Carnival Weekender

RADICAL changes have been forced on the organisers of the annual Watchet Carnival Weekender following a financial disaster suffered at this year's event.
The carnival committee introduced a £20 entry fee for the three days of fun for the first time this year after the event had been free for the past nine years.
The charge was brought in because the committee had to relocate to a new edge-of-town site off Brendon Road, following the start of a property development on its traditional East Quay home, which resulted in overheads rocketing threefold.
But too few tickets were sold and the attendance was also affected by horrendous weather which hit the area during July.
Now, the committee has decided that only the annual carnival procession and fete will take place in July, while the rest of the three-day musical event will be switched to the August bank holiday weekend - although the new date is likely to clash with the RNLI's annual Blue Anchor to Minehead raft race, which is being developed with West Somerset Council help into a major tourist attraction.
This year's November 5 fireworks display has also been cancelled because there is no money left to pay for it.
Carnival committee chairman Mark Bale has issued a lengthy statement to explain the committee's position. The full text of the statement is given here:

With having to relocate the evening music events to the new larger out of town venue, due to the alleged start of the proposed East Quay development and the Esplanade enhancement Watchet Carnival Club managed with all the odds against them to stage the 2007 Watchet Carnival Festival Weekend. With the horrendous weather conditions during June and July cancelling many local events the Carnival Weekend and parade went ahead.
The outcome due to the weather and a lower than expected attendance has left the Carnival Club with no working capital to stage future events, which has resulted in the cancellation of the annual November 5th Firework display. This over the past 5 years has been funded and organised by the Watchet Carnival Club in appreciation of the local support given by residents and businesses.
Albeit battered and bruised the Carnival Club is already re focusing and planning numerous fund raising events to recover the financial losses incurred and the Club hopes to be able to build up a large enough working fund by the end of the year so that plans can start to be put into place to stage the 2008 Carnival Festival Weekend.
Carnival Club Chairman Mark Bale added “We as a club have always prided ourselves in raising more than 70% of the total monies required to stage the Carnival weekend by being pro-active in fundraising throughout the year along with the support given in the past by Watchet Town Council as one of the major sponsors and the continuing support given by The West Somerset Free Press as our Media Sponsor. Without their continued support the event would not be possible. To get any national or local financial grants is proving very difficult within this area and we find it very frustrating that the Carnival Club doesn’t even get a look in most of the time! We have had two grants this year to assist us with purchasing equipment that we can use year on year to save on hire costs to these groups we are really thankful”.
“With everything that has happened this year we are still lucky to of come out of the 2007 weekend event without a bigger negative bank balance. The most important question now is can the Watchet Carnival Festival Weekend survive? Unbelievably there are people who would like to see the carnival weekend event fail - to them I thank them as I and the club’s management team will always rise to a challenge!”
With this in mind it was decided at last weeks Carnival Club meeting that the 2008 event will be split – the parade and fete will be held on Sunday 27th July and the 3 day music festival event will be held over the August bank holiday weekend (22nd, 23rd & 24th August 2008). Why make this change?

1) Mainly to ensure that the event stays alive and to be able to utilise the Carnival Clubs limited manpower.
2) To be able to focus on evolving the Carnival parade & Fete.
3) Save on having to hire in road closure marshals and parade marshals which will save the club a substantial amount of money.
4) Gives local traders & businesses the chance to promote and organise events themselves over the Carnival weekend and therefore increase their trade.
5) Gives the large number of people who enter the parade the option to be able to enjoy the live music event, which in the past they have missed because of the immense time taken in building and dismantling the floats keeps them away from enjoying the live music on the Saturday and Sunday.
6) Satisfies the comments that the Carnival Club have received in the past few weeks that “there was nothing on or to do” in Watchet over the August bank holiday weekend.
7) Makes the festival easier for the Carnival Club’s personnel to manage and gives them the opportunity to grow the event and at the same time cut overheads.
8) Means that the members of the club and the general public (who have helped) can pack the site down without having to use any of their holiday entitlement from work etc.
9) Lastly but possibly most important this promotes tourism into Watchet & West Somerset twice instead of only once during the summer months.

A Carnival Club spokesperson said: “We as a club are more determined than ever to make sure our event continues and we have been encouraged by the support we have received from both individuals and businesses from within Watchet and beyond. Their support and encouragement has given us the impetus to carry on with our plans, however we cannot wear our rose tinted glasses and think that we can comfortably raise the required amount without a huge amount of effort and some major financial sponsors. Because the financial shortfall was substantial after this years event and as mentioned we had to use all of our reserve funds to fulfil our obligations we have decided to try and raise the funds required whilst also cutting our costs without affecting the quality of the event. This is a gamble for the management team who as individuals will have to meet any shortfall that may occur after next year’s event if not enough money is generated over the months to come.” We will be releasing a limited number of weekend tickets to the 2008 event during October, November & December at the special price of £20 (for the whole weekend). This is to give local people the chance of attending this local event at a realistic price – the rate of the tickets available after Christmas will increase and for next years event there will only be tickets available on the gate if any of the total allocation is left unsold.
On a very serious note this popular 3 day event can and will only survive (with whoever is at the helm) if it gets the support and appreciation from the people of West Somerset!”