EU decision in Aggregates Levy

We’re pleased to hear about the recent decision by the EU on the Aggregates Levy (AGL). Although it’s likely to be a while before the full extent of the decision is realised and the text is published, we’re sure that it marks a significant victory for the BAA, who have been fighting this cause single-handedly, and the likelihood is that this unfair tax may well be on its way out at last.

The European Commission has now decided that all but one of the exemptions, exclusions and tax reliefs from the Aggregates Levy introduced in 2002 are free of state aid.

The levy was brought in by the UK government to reduce environmental damage by encouraging the use of recycled aggregate and other alternatives to freshly extracted aggregate, and also to help promote the efficient extraction and use of aggregates, and it’s been levied on rock, sand and gravel on their first extraction as well as on processed products.

The BAA and many others believed that the levy was inherently unfair because some of the materials and production processes were given an exemption, simply because their aggregate is produced as a by-product or in some cases because their products can replace other freshly extracted aggregates.

The BAA has been trying to get the inequity in the AGL rectified for some time, without the backing of the Mineral Products Association (MPA). The debate about the legality of the tax under EU State Aid law has been going on April 2012, when the Commission ruled that “the planned exemptions involved no state aid within the meaning of EU rules because they were justified by the logic of the tax.”

The latest decision is helpful; but it also means that some of the businesses that have benefited from the exemption for shale and spoil for shale may potentially be facing very large bills, backdated to 2002, a ridiculous situation which could have been avoided if the government had accepted that the Aggregates Levy was flawed, something that the BAA has been pointing out to them since before 2002.

Robert Durward commented;
“We have always said that the eventual demise of the AGL could be messy and a number of our own members are also now at risk of having to repay shale exemptions.  However we have obtained legal advice on the matter and the association will support companies faced with draconian bills from HMRC.”

There will be another hearing in the Court of Appeal in November 2015 when BAA will once again challenge the 2002 judgment by Justice Moses that the Levy did not involve State aid. Although there’s clearly still a way to go, the BAA fully expects that this hearing will provide a further step in the right direction.

Planning a garden landscaping project

Faced with a garden that either needs a complete overhaul or just a nice new look, there are so many questions that you need to answer before you get started and order in the granite and turf. Firstly, what are you planning to use the garden for? If it’s intended to be a nice place for the kids to play and to have barbecues in the summer, you’ll need to factor in different things than if you were planning to attempt self-sufficiency and grow fruit and vegetables.


Take a look at what you have; in particular make a note of where the sunny areas are and which parts of the garden don’t get much sun. Are there any areas that act as a sun trap or a wind tunnel? This all needs to be taken into account before you start planning amazing floral borders in places where the sun doesn’t shine. In the same way, if it’s too windy in one part of the garden, that’s no place to think about putting your fire pit.

Unless you’re calling in an expert to help you get everything looking the way you want it, or you have a large budget, be prepared to start your landscaping project on a small scale. Develop your plan slowly; working on different areas of the garden rather than planning to everything at once is a good idea and a much easier way to tackle it than giving yourself an unrealistic deadline.

Create a focal point in the garden from which you can build the rest. If you have a larger space to work with, you could create a couple – even three – but make these areas the focus for your efforts. Think about a rockery perhaps, with attractive coloured granite providing an unusual talking point. A pond or water feature can also work well. A focal point will draw the eye to an attractive feature and move it through the landscape.

Pull it all together using pacing and scale, varying shades and patterns. For example, you could plant tall shrubs or plants against a building or at the back of a flower bed that you’ve stocked with smaller plants. You can also try colour-matching or contrasting so that it looks as if the choice of plants and flowers in deliberate, and it adds a sense of cohesion rather than making the garden look a brightly coloured jumble of ideas!

Using unusual features, making the most of the space you have in even a smaller garden and careful planning are key to a well-designed garden that looks as if it could have been created by landscaping experts.

Frantic – the new Gun album is imminent

What does this have to do with aggregate and Scottish quarries? Well, Paul McManus from Cloburn just so happens to live a double life as the current drummer of GUN, and he’ll be featuring on ‘Frantic’ which is due for release later this month.

GUN were formed in 1987 and Paul McManus, who previously played with La Paz and 'No Dice' joined in 2010, when the band supported Lynyrd Skynyrd on the UK leg of their 2010 tour. GUN are probably best known for their top 40 hits “Better Days” and the Cameo cover “Word Up” although apart from a split during the late 1990s and early 2000s, the band has been playing in one line-up or another for almost thirty years, supporting massive bands like The Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi and DefLeppard.

The latest album follows a series of live gigs from the band, including playing at King Tut’s Wah Wah hut last year – King Tut’s said afterwards that the band had the loudest crowd of 2014!GUN also played at Download 2012, and eager fans have been waiting for a new album since the release of Break the Silence. ‘Frantic’ will also be available to buy in a swanky deluxe version which features exclusive includes recordings taken from three of the band’s sold out shows.

The bonus disc features ten songs which have been recorded over the three nights at King Tut’s including Don’t Say It’s Over, Better Days, Taking On The World, Inside Out, Word Up, Steal Your Fire and crowd-pleaser Shame On You.

If the shows are anything to go by, we can expect a stunning album from the boys. The introduction of keyboards, synthesizer and saxophone and a move away from driving guitars and heavy drumming, means that they have taken on more of a ‘pop/rock’ style and decided that the traditional metal scene isn’t for them anymore. Frontman Dante Gizzi even admitted that he’d been listening to dance music recently, possibly influencing the direction of Frantic?

Dante told the Daily Record;

“We’ve had such an amazing time recording this album and had the privilege of recording it.

“We believe that this album has captured the Gun style in every way and we hope the fans will love it as much as we’ve loved recording it!”

Are low oil prices here to stay?

You might not think it, but overall the price of oil has been in decline for around 20 years. There are several reasons; shale oil from the US and the return of Libyan oil to the market are increasing supply, and there’s been a slowdown in the Chinese and EU economies which has reduced demand. A strong US dollar has made things worse, making oil more expensive in real terms.

But what’s likely to happen to the price of oil in the near future? Surely the industry can’t withstand too much more of a price drop? Unfortunately for them, it looks as if that may be the case, as the US shale industry is booming and there are no imminent signs of a recovery in the global economy.

Normally OPEC would intervene and cut production, but they’ve declined this time; well, given that they are only responsible for 30 per cent of global oil production these days we can’t really blame them.

Without intervention from Opec artificially supporting the oil price, and demand dropping, it’s quite likely that oil prices will stay below $100 for some time. The futures market expects the price to increase to about $70 by 2019, although most experts forecast from just $40-$80 for the next few years at least.

The low prices could put North Sea oil production at serious risk; the newer wells need to be able to get $70-$80 just to make it worthwhile drilling. It’s not unforeseeable that North Sea oil production could fall by 20 per cent, which would impact massively on the Scottish economy.

The major oil companies have announced tens of billions of dollars of cuts in exploration spending and the share prices of BP, Total and Chevron are all down about 15 per cent since summer 2014. Smaller oil groups face an even more uncertain future.

If you think this is good news for the renewables sector, you’d be wrong. Dropping oil and gas prices undermine the economic argument submitted by many governments around the world in support of renewable energy, and that is that the price of fossil fuels will carry on increasing. Shares in wind turbine and solar panel manufacturing firms are already beginning to see a drop in price.

If this all sounds apocalyptic for the oil industry, don’t worry just yet. The industry has an inbuilt self-stabilising price mechanism which stops things getting too out of hand price-wise; so when prices fall, production drops, and then of course the oil supply falls and prices start to rise again. Exploration and production will be reduced while prices stay low, and this also means supply will drop off. It might take a bit of time to filter through, but when it does you can be sure that the prices will start to increase.

Environmentalists say that fossil fuels should really stay where they are so that governments can meet their climate change targets and minimise global warming. In time, a meaningful carbon price - hitting polluters for emitting CO2 – will be introduced, and this is likely to have a massive impact on the global oil market.

Don’t underestimate the influence of electric vehicles on the oil sector either. As battery technology improves, electric cars will become more appealing and move into the mainstream, reducing the demand for oil. Transport currently accounts for over half of oil consumption. So, are low prices here to stay? For a while, possibly. The oil market is certainly going through some major changes, and there’s more to come.

MPs debate support for opencast coal sites

MPs have been debating the subject of who should foot the bill for the restoration of opencast coal sites. The debates, which took place at the end of January, saw Business, Innovation and Skills Minister Matthew Hancock agreeing to work with politicians from across all parties to find a solution to the issues faced by the communities affected.

There are currently 34 open-cast mines across the UK—17 of which are in Scotland. There are also a number of unrestored and orphaned sites, cases where the developers have declared bankruptcy and disappeared.

Mr Hancock said he “recognised the scale of the challenge” but added that the costs of the restoration of opencast mines had already been taken into account back in 1994 when companies paid for the rights to the sites.

The debate was opened by was opened by Madeleine Moon, Shadow Business, Innovation and Skills Minister, after she had expressed her concern about some of the opencast sites in south Wales which were still waiting to be restored by their old operators long after mining had ended at the sites.

Ms Moon told the debate; "The Treasury has profited. Businesses have profited. Somebody has to hold up their hand and take the moral, social, political, financial and ethical responsibility. “We cannot let the private companies get out of this with a responsibility-free zone. Inadequate legislation failed; inadequate regulation failed; the mining industry has failed. We have passed the parcel of responsibility for too long. Let us stop the music, and make the changes our communities need, expect and deserve.”

She added that as the privatisation of the coal industry in 1994 had benefitted the UK Treasury and its agencies the funding for the restoration of the old mines should also be their responsibility.Plaid Cymru Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP Jonathan Edwards said that the UK Government and opencast operators should jointly be responsible for a fund which would pay to complete any outstanding restoration work.

“The Welsh Government can and must deliver meaningful action to protect communities. The UK Government should also be ready and willing to assist by sharing expertise, supporting the devolved Governments in tackling the issue and helping fund restoration work not completed largely as a result of the loopholes left by the coal industry privatisation legislation, supported by this House.

“That fund should be funded by contributions by the UK Government and open-cast operators, and the trustees should include members of communities affected by open-cast operations.”

New urban cycle lane for London is approved

The campaign for an urban cycle lane through central London finally achieved its target in January when Boris Johnson approved plans for what will become Europe’s longest segregated urban cycle lane. Nicknamed the “Crossrail for bikes”, it will become a protected route through Parliament Square, along the Victoria Embankment and Upper Thames Street.

Support for the cycle lane was overwhelming, with 84 per cent of the 21,500 responses to the plans backing the suggested route which will link Barking and Acton, as well as a linked north-south route between King’s Cross and Elephant and Castle.

The project is due to get underway in April, once plans are ratified by Transport for London (TfL) in early February. The central part of the route, which will cost an estimated £41million to build, will create a link between Tower Hill and the A40 Westway flyover at Paddington, and should be completed by April 2016.

TfL board members are also all set to approve upgrades to the existing CS2 cycle superhighway between Whitechapel and Bow. Work begins in February 2015 on a brand new north-south superhighway, which will join Elephant and Castle and King’s Cross.

Objections to the work mainly centred on the delays that introducing new cycle lanes would cause to existing commuter traffic, but planners came up with a way around the problem. They anticipate being able to reduce any delays by around 60 per cent by narrowing the ‘both ways’ cycle lane from 4m to 3m for short sections, at Temple, Tower Hill and in the Blackfriars underpass.

Mr Johnson was keen to reallocate space on central London roads in response to their changing use - the amount of vehicle traffic has fallen by 25 per cent in the last decade while the number of cyclists has doubled. Cyclists now account for a quarter of all traffic in central London in the morning rush hour.

The latest Crossrail for bikes plan is part of the Mayor’s £913 million ‘cycle revolution for London’. He had said that he wanted to reallocate space on the roads around central London, as amount of vehicle traffic has fallen by 25 per cent in the last ten years, in contrast to the number of cyclists which has doubled.

Cyclists now account for a quarter of all traffic in central London in the morning rush hour. He said: “I look forward to the transformation that these routes will bring – not just for people who cycle now, but for the thousands of new cyclists they will attract.

“Getting more people on their bikes will reduce pressure on the road, bus and rail networks, cut pollution, and improve life for everyone, whether or not they cycle themselves.”

Slips and Slides – how to keep walkways safe in winter

It’s a real dilemma – sometimes the winter weather looks so breathtakingly beautiful that you just have to go outside; but the pathways and pavements can be icy and treacherous.

Think about safety first

There is a whole range of products that have been designed to keep outside surfaces safe in the winter, but some of them can be dangerous, especially if you have pets to think about. Don’t be tempted to tackle icy patches on the garden path with antifreeze or de-icer spray if you or your neighbours have animals, because they are highly toxic to cats and dogs, and sweet tasting too, which is a double whammy. Some specialist products that are designed to give you traction on icy pavements may also contain solvents to prevent freezing, so be aware of this.

Easy problem solvers

The solution to your problem may be an easy yet probably quite inexpensive one, You can buy simple products like builder’s gravel, sand, and crushed shells for pathways, which are harmless for wildlife and pets, and also if you have a cat you could try using some of your grit-based cat litter to provide grip on surfaces that you don’t want to become slippery. All of these are suitable for use both before the snow falls, or afterwards.

Before the weather turns really bad, get a head start by keeping any areas prone to icing over as dry as you can, to keep the moisture from building up and freezing. If you can, cover any susceptible areas over.

To help you stay upright on others’ driveways on public pathways, you could also invest in studs or chains which you can slip over your shoes or boots. These give you the grip you need without needing to spread any extra products over your driveway.

Once the snow falls...

If it’s already snowed, and you want to avoid slipping over in it on your way out, make a pathway in the fallen snow with an old piece of tarpaulin, a few planks of wood or some plastic sheeting to provide a safe walkway when the rest of the ground is frozen. Keep this as dry as possible to avoid icing over.

You can defrost ice and melt snow by tipping a kettle of hot water over a path, a car windscreen or into frozen locks. However, this has its risks; hot water doesn’t stay hot for long in sub-zero temperatures so be careful you don’t end up with an ice rink and even more of a problem!