My Piece for November’s Outreach

News from Sue James, Mayor of St Just

This month I can announce the name of the latest Councillor to join our Town Council team, talk about light pollution and dark skies and, at the request of Jackie Packer, provide you with some information about changes to landlines services.

A Town Councillor co-option took place at our meeting on 9 October when Jill Taylor, from St Just, was selected to join us. We had 4 candidates to choose from so it is good to know folk are interested to step up and get involved. Those that got involved with Neighbourhood Planning will remember Jill as she led much of the community engagement.

As I write I am planning a presentation to Cornwall Youth Council regarding Cornwall’s International Dark Sky Places, which we are part of. Light pollution affects the quality of our Dark Skies and that can harm our human health as well as disrupting local wildlife. So, if at home or work you have external lighting, here are some tips to ensure you don’t cause light pollution and it will likely save you money on your energy bill too!

Light pollution disrupts wildlife, impacts human health, wastes money and energy, contributes to climate change, blocks our view of the universe and does little to reduce crime or increase safety. (For those reading the paper version, if you want to look these things up on-line, visit the darksky.org/resources website.

I’ve been asked to give folks the heads up that by 2025, how landlines operate will be changing. This is nothing to do with all the Wildanet works going on at the moment. At the moment landlines run through an analogue system so, folk can have a landline without any internet connection. By December 2025, it is expected that the analogue system will be turned off so phone lines will have to go through an Internet system.

For those of us that have Internet, our telephone provider will advise us when the switchover is happening and what we need to do and, in most cases we will keep our current phone number. For those without Internet, you can choose to have an Internet connection between now and then but if not, apparently your landline provider is expected to provide you with a way to keep your landline without any extra charge but with some very basic digital equipment to keep your phone working.

Those with a lifeline system, who do not have Internet, should ensure their phone line provider AND the lifeline provider are aware you have no Internet, as soon as they notify you the change is coming to our area. Both providers should ensure you are kept safe and that the Lifeline keeps working. For more information, the Age Concern website has some very good information and advice: Link to Age Concern info