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SOUTH WEST PLAN TO INCREASE CO2 EMISSIONS |
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18th September 2006
 Cllr Philip Booth writes a 500 word comment piece for The Citizen:
It
seems astonishing, but the South West Regional Assembly's 'Draft
Regional Spatial Strategy' (RSS)(i) plans to increase climate-changing
CO2 emissions in the region over the next 20 years (ii). This is
despite agreement across the political spectrum that we must cut
emissions by at least 60 to 90% by 2050 (iii).
This RSS document is probably the most important planning
document in the South West. It will have huge implications on how
Gloucestershire is developed: the number of houses, types of
development, investment in transport and more. In many ways it is a
greener plan than other such strategies and there is much to welcome -
but it fails spectacularly when it comes to climate change.
Worse still our Government is similarly failing: CO2 emissions have
risen and they admit they wont meet their target 20% cut by 2010. All
this is deeply depressing and comes on top of news that some scientists
believe we have already crossed critical thresholds on climate change
and ecosystem degradation.
I am not so apocalyptic.
Commentators, like Cheltenham-based Jonathon Porritt, argue we have a
'window' of a few years in which we can ward off ecological and social
collapse (iv). There is also much hope and a new sense or urgency as
more and more people are starting to take climate change seriously and
wake up to the benefits of a low carbon future. In the US, cities and
states are putting in place radical policies to tackle climate change,
China is questioning it's economic path and support grows rapidly for
fairer international policies that can tackle climate change.
Stroud District Council applauded
On Thursday Stroud District Council is set to ratify at Full Council a
submission to the RSS that expresses concern that climate change has
not been addressed adequately. Furthermore they have launched a Green
paper on the Environment which is currently thin on detail, but is
hopefully an important first step to get serious about climate change.
Stroud is to be applauded - and is in sharp contrast to Gloucestershire
County Council who fail to even mention climate change as a key issue
in their RSS submission. This is unacceptable and I do not believe it
is what people in Gloucestershire want.
Climate change
presents us with our biggest ever challenge - yet we know many of the
answers. The RSS for example must be radically redrafted to include
measures like increasing renewable energy targets, better public
transport and rejecting the uneconomic and deeply damaging expansion
plans at Bristol airport (v).
We also need to look at
alternative approaches to economic development that are less dependent
on international links and footloose investment. Our economic system
cannot be sustained in its current form. We know it. We must work
together, locally and nationally, to make the important decisions that
are needed not just for ourselves but also future generations.
Cllr Philip Booth is a Stroud District councillor and leader of the Green party group of District councillors.
Notes:
(i) The Regional Spatial Strategy, or RSS, is a new kind of plan up to
the year 2026. It will set a regional framework about ‘where things
go’, what the scale of development should be, and the links between
broad issues like healthcare, education and crime, as well as basic
infrastructure such as transport. It will aim to protect what is highly
valued about the region, at the same time making provision for
sufficient new homes and jobs and retail and leisure facilities to meet
the needs of a growing and increasingly affluent population.
The RSS will set the regional context for planning in the South West until 2026. It will:
* guide the planning process at a local level – in District Local Development Frameworks
* help deliver the region’s Integrated Regional Strategy
* include a Regional Transport Strategy to guide investment in transport facilities
* provide policy guidance on issues ranging from minerals extraction and waste treatment to
* economic development and housing, health, culture, environment; and
* include District level housing numbers
The RSS is not simply a land-use plan. It will be developed in the
context of the Integrated Regional Strategy and driven by the need to
make environmental, social and economic change happen in an effective
and inclusive way.
(ii) See Stroud District Green party submission to the RSS under 'Reports' at:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk
(iii) In the 2003 Energy White Paper UK Government committed to a 60%
cut in CO2 emissions from 1990 levels by 2050. This target did not
include emissions from international aviation as there is no
international agreement on allocating their responsibility to nation
states. Research concludes that if aviation growth continues, it could
take up the entire emissions budget for all sectors of the EU economy
by 2040, and similarly for the UK by 2037, based on an atmospheric
stabilisation target of 450 parts per million by volume (ppmV).
Moreover, between 2010 and 2020, UK and EU aviation emissions could
already be equivalent to their respective 2050 targets. This means that
from 2020 onwards no sector would be able to grow its emissions (unless
compensated outside of the EU system). See:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_aviation/documents/page/dft_aviation_031850.pdf
PMs speech:
http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/page6333.asp
(iv) See Resurgence article "Edging Closer to Meltdown" (September/October 2006).
(v) See Gloucestershire Green party submission re Bristol airport expansion under 'Reports' at:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk
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