Latest news with #MichaelHarvey
BBC News
23-05-2025
- BBC News
Historic roses flower early 'due to climate change', says gardener
"Every rose here oozes character," says senior gardener Michael Harvey as he guides me around the garden. The sight and smell of hundreds of roses in bloom at the National Trust's Mottisfont Abbey near Romsey is spectacular. The 1.5-acre (0.6 hectare) walled garden is home to the National Collection of Historic Roses. Unlike modern, repeat flowering roses, most of the plants at Mottisfont flower just once a season. This year the roses are reaching their peak about two weeks early. Mr Harvey says an exceptionally warm and dry March and April has had a big impact: "It has really pushed a lot of the plants to flower a lot sooner. "Because of climate change rose season is becoming earlier and earlier." The team are working hard to support the plants and Mr Harvey says that mulching - applying a thick layer of organic matter on top of the soil - is a key technique. Every season they spread 120-tonnes on the garden."Two inches (5cm) of mulch creates a lovely barrier between the soil and the sun. It adds nutrients to the soil and and helps with water retention," says Mr is also going into irrigation and rain-water harvesting. Some roses which are showing signs of stress, such as browning leaves, will be moved to less sunny spots in the garden. He tells me it's about "putting the right rose in the right place".Milder, wetter winters also pose problems with some pests not being killed in cold spells and a shorter dormancy period for the roses. The garden at Mottisfont was created in the 1970s by horticulturalist Graham Stuart Thomas who collected roses from around the world. Every year about 84,000 visitors come to see it during the flowering Harvey says it is an irreplaceable collection: "Some of the rarest roses in the UK and internationally are grown here and the only place you will see some of the roses is in this garden."So it is really important we look after them to the best of our abilities to keep these rose varieties going. "If these rose varieties go extinct you will never be able to get them back." The team is sharing knowledge with fellow rose gardeners in Ethiopia. In September 2024 they visited the country as part of the International National Trust's Withstanding Change project."It's a conversation between them and us about climate change and sharing our stories," Mr Harvey says. Despite the challenges, Mr Harvey is delighted with the message is going out that the next few weeks are the time to catch the garden at its best, with evening openings and newly trained rose volunteers on hand to answer Harvey tells me proudly: "It is like a mini Chelsea Flower Show here. "The special thing about historic roses is they have all got character, they all want to say something. It is beautiful." You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
City pauses mill district plan
HIGH POINT — The city of High Point has put a hold on its efforts to enact its proposed Southwest Mill District. The plan to rezone a 171-acre old industrial area around W. Green Drive may conflict with recent changes in state law that limit local governments' abilities to enact certain types of development regulations. Pending and adopted bills in the N.C. General Assembly impact the proposed new zoning district, which would allow a broader mix of uses and establish modern development standards. 'Currently, there is no official timeframe for staff to bring the matter forward for consideration or release of a text amendment for public review while we await final action from the state,' said interim city Planning Director Michael Harvey. 'Several current bills could impact how the matter is moved forward.' The mill district was put forth in January by the city in partnership with the Southwest Renewal Foundation and an outside planning firm the nonprofit hired, Dover, Kohl and Partners. The goal is to facilitate the redevelopment of the former mills and other properties within the district with residential, retail, office and other uses. The City Council in March adopted the first component of the mill district — the area plan, a nonbinding document that outlines the overall vision for the area. Because the creation of the district would downzone most of the properties within it from heavy industrial, the city would have to obtain written consent from each owner to comply with a new state law. The city initially planned to gather property owners' signatures authorizing the downzoning but halted that effort until the state legislature resolves proposed changes to this and other bills, said Harvey.
BBC News
21-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Darlington Market animal experience dropped after vegans' concern
An animal experience at a market has been cancelled over a lack of interest and concerns from a vegan group, the manager Market organisers had arranged for an interactive event called the Wild Science Animal Experience to be held on 29 Darlington Vegans wrote to market manager Michael Harvey to try to get him to "reconsider holding" the Harvey confirmed that he cancelled the event due to low interest and not being "well read up" on the issue of wild animal experiences, which Wild Science said were "gentle and guided". The Wild Science website shows pictures of frogs, snakes and rabbits being held by children. Kathy Barley, one of the leaders of the Darlington Vegans, said children were increasingly "disconnected from the natural world".She said: "For the future of life on this planet, children need to respect and be in awe of animals."By reducing animals to mere objects to be handled and played with removes that possibility."Instead it teaches children that animals are here for our entertainment and not beings in their own right with their own purpose and meaning." 'Comfortable and happy' A spokesperson for Wild Science said "gentle and guided interactions with animals" could spark curiosity and kindness in both children and adults."We respect the concerns from the Darlington Vegans group but research shows that spending time with animals in a structured way can help children develop empathy, learn responsibility, and connect with nature," they said."Since we spend so much time with them, we can easily tell how they're feeling by watching their behaviour and body language. "This helps us ensure they're comfortable and happy, and only involved in activities they genuinely enjoy."Mr Harvey said the market cancelled the event because there "was not much interest"."It made more sense to think about putting it on," he said."When they [the Darlington Vegans] got in touch with me I thought 'I am clearly not well read up on this', so I would avoid that sort of event in future." Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Cision Canada
14-05-2025
- Health
- Cision Canada
Who do you serve, actually? National transparency groups call out Vancouver Coastal Health for restricting information during the COVID-19 pandemic
TORONTO, May 14, 2025 /CNW/ - Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), the public agency responsible for delivering community and acute care services to more than a quarter of B.C.'s population, has been selected as the 2024 recipient of the municipal Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy for its routine breaking of access to information laws during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a Sept. 2024 report, Michael Harvey, B.C.'s Information and Privacy Commissioner, found multiple examples of how the health authority failed to meet the province's standards. For example, the audit found only a quarter of public requests met the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act's 30-day response benchmark. In almost three quarters of responses, VCH failed to comply with the Act's time limits. This resulted in the agency sometimes extending the time limit without a valid reason or the agency applied an extension to respond even after the original time limit to respond had already passed. About one-third of the time, the authority did not even acknowledge a request for information was received. "The COVID-19 pandemic placed a premium on timely access to medical information to combat the virus," said Philip Tunley, a director of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE). "In a profession usually committed to informed decision-making by patients and to doing no harm, VHC miserably failed to rise to that basic challenge." In his report, Harvey acknowledged that while VCH was under unprecedented pressures during the pandemic, the audit also pointed to other more systemic problems. These included: Following a 2021 amendment to FIPPA, VCH, like other public bodies, decided to charge a $10 FOI application fee for general access requests. VCH administered this fee by only accepting payment by cheque or money order, unnecessarily exacerbating the barrier to access. The agency later changed this approach. VCH has a policy for routinely releasing certain records without the need for an FOI request, also known as proactive disclosure. However, contrary to this policy, there were instances where VCH processed requests for these records as an FOI request and charged the application fee, rather than pointing applicants to where the records were already publicly available. Further, some records that were already public were difficult to find online. VCH was particularly unresponsive to the media during this period. The average number of days it took to respond to FOI requests from the media was 116 days, peaking at 171 days in 2021/2022. Upon completion of the audit, Harvey made eight recommendations to improve VCH's compliance with B.C.'s FIPPA rules. These recommendations included expediting communication with individuals seeking information, and strengthening policies around records management. This year's Code of Silence jury also agreed to bestow a dishonourable mention to the Region of Waterloo, located in the heart of southwestern Ontario's greenbelt. Community groups and journalists have faced an up-hill battle to get access to information from the region on a controversial mega-project that will impact local farmland. The challenge of building consensus and citizen engagement in rural communities becomes impossible when responsible agencies withhold information about projects of this nature," Tunley said. The Code of Silence Awards are presented annually by the CAJ, the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University (CFE), and the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE). The awards call public attention to government or publicly-funded agencies that work hard to hide information to which the public has a right to under access to information legislation. Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (VFRS) was the recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the municipal category last year for charging exorbitantly high fees for access to a fire investigation report already paid for by taxpayers. The final 2024 Code of Silence Award, for the law enforcement category, will be announced on May 28. SOURCE Canadian Association of Journalists
Business Insider
13-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Tamarack Valley Energy (TNEYF) Gets a Buy from RBC Capital
In a report released yesterday, Michael Harvey from RBC Capital maintained a Buy rating on Tamarack Valley Energy (TNEYF – Research Report), with a price target of C$5.50. The company's shares closed yesterday at $2.95. Protect Your Portfolio Against Market Uncertainty Discover companies with rock-solid fundamentals in TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter. Receive undervalued stocks, resilient to market uncertainty, delivered straight to your inbox. According to TipRanks, Harvey is a 5-star analyst with an average return of 13.2% and a 50.51% success rate. Harvey covers the Energy sector, focusing on stocks such as Whitecap Resources, ARC Resources, and Advantage Energy. The word on The Street in general, suggests a Strong Buy analyst consensus rating for Tamarack Valley Energy with a $4.04 average price target, representing a 36.95% upside. In a report released yesterday, Desjardins also upgraded the stock to a Buy with a C$5.25 price target. The company has a one-year high of $3.50 and a one-year low of $2.30. Currently, Tamarack Valley Energy has an average volume of 59.15K. Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 71 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is positive on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders buying their shares of TNEYF in relation to earlier this year.
