Stroud Maternity saved and Cheltenham midwife-led hospital saved. Good news but Weavers Croft looking v bad...
Tonight was Full Council - once every 6 weeks and on the agenda was various items like the RSS and Environment paper(see below and previous Blogs for details) - Greens spoke up on both and have already circulated comments - I congratulated the Council on it's RSS submission but apparently shouldn't have done it during 'questions' - that is for Discussion/Debate section - I still have protocol to learn!
We were also webcast - a practice session before hopefully going live in November - at least then you at home can watch us in the chamber - better still you can wind forward to the interesting bits. I have to say that Full Council is a rather strange affair - party politics rears its' head very visibly - not necessarily all bad but some of the debate left much to be desired with members seeming to repeatedly miss the point (intentionally or otherwise) that others were making.
Anyhow in terms of the Environment paper the hard work begins - we need to ensure their are targets so the Council is made to work and be held accountable. News last week is pretty dismal with the Government funded Tyndale Centre for Climate Change research saying successive Governments have been misleading us on what has been achieved and what needs to be done - they call for a radical rethink - and some say their calls for a 90% cut rather than the current 60% cut is also too inadequate...
Stroud must become a leader in tackling climate change - if we can't do it in this 'green area' then I fear for the planet. I would urge people to write in and make their comments re the Environment paper.
Anyhow Council also discussed much like audit and finished with a couple of Green party questions from Sarah Lunnon that challenged the Council to adopt higher energy efficiency standards in new build and more renewable energy. While the answer was positive, once again no definite timescale or commitment was given. We must all develop a new sense of urgency around this - there is not the time to dilly-dally - the Council has a responsibility to take a lead.
UPDATE: It is great to see Conservatives below reading this Blog! Thanks - I do believe we can work to make this happen but we still need Greens to give this some urgency and more. Neil Carmichael and David Cameron are right that 'protecting the environment cannot be the preserve of one party', but if we are to give climate change the seriousness it warrants then it should be taken into account in all policies - not some sort of fashionable add on. Both Tory and Labour leaders call for action on reducing CO2 emissions but in the same breathe they argue for business as usual, more road building and airport expansion and evermore economic growth (See Guardian journalist, George Monbiot on David Cameron).
As we all agree climate change is one of the greatest and potentially most catastrophic threats we face. Oil is also set to become increasingly expensive. It makes economic sense to build a strong carbon-light economy now. Indeed if we are to build a future for ourselves, our children and future generations then we need action: radical action now.
Stroud should be a 'green leader' that shows the rest of the country what can be done. It is great that Conservatives locally are waking up to what the Green party have been saying for many, many years. Locally for example Cllr Barbara Tait (Cons, Painswick), the council's cabinet member for planning, was quoted in this weeks' SNJ saying: "We have already expressed our concerns that airport expansions would wipe out environmental gains made by this council and the people of the Stroud district. It is also inequitable to require local businesses to reduce their CO2 emissions only to see rises resulting from aviation." Cllr Nigel Cooper, Environment portfolio and Cllr Chas Fellows, the Council's Leader have also made more than just the right noises and are genuinely pushing this initiative forward.
This is great indeed but I am not so sure that all of this would be happening if the Greens hadn't been getting such a vote and voice locally. One small example is the Greens submission to the RSS - read that on the Glos Green party website then look at the Councils version.
This is part of what makes me optimistic that we can work together for the benefit of all in Stroud and beyond.
I also have said repeatedly the Environment paper is to be welcomed and applauded - yes I have criticisms - so do some of the Tories I've spoken to - the point is this is a start - and yes I would have liked more proposals for targets so that people can debate the issues - there is hardly anything anyone would disagree with in this report. It seems a missed opportunity to spend money and time on consulting on proposals that everyone would agree with?
Climate change actually presents us with some interesting and hard choices – we should be consulting on these – to get guidance on which of the range of possible policies are supported by most people and which are not. What are the priorities? Wind turbines on our hills in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty? Increasing Council Tax to pay for energy efficiency measures? Nuclear waste to be stored at Aston Down? But we are where we are and now there is an opportunity to look at those issues in the next step. It is an exciting time - and a few more Greens elected in the Council elections next year will give us even more
More coming soon to this Blog!
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7 comments:
A very interesting evening all round. I especially thought that conservative councillor, Nigel Coopers presentation on the green paper was excellent. Shame on the Labour member who's only criticism (there had to be one of course) was that the green paper looked like a colouring book.
Nice blog by the way !
I agree with Rob. The Conservatives are to be applauded on being the driving force behind the green paper. Excellent work, I know who I'll be voting for next time around.
Clare.
This really is good news for Stroud, thank goodness for the conservatives thats all I can say !
I too saw Labour desperately looking for something wrong with this document and if the best their leader can come up with is to insult the way it looks - well that sums up Labour for you doesn't it. All presentation and no content. Roll on the day David Cameron becomes PM !
The four posters above seem determined to do some Tory flag-waving but on this matter they’re just too congratulatory. The environmental green paper contains much that is worthwhile, but I don’t feel it should be given an unequivocal endorsement. Others have pointed out that there’s little in it to disagree with, but this is perhaps also its main flaw; it’s simply too bland and too vague. The document lacks direction on how anything will actually be achieved and needs much greater clarity on targets and objectives, particularly with regard to transport and other climate change measures. I welcome the general drift of the paper but it needs much more detail and precision.
You miss the point - they are asking for input from the people of the area (that includes you) so why not do just that. The Tories should be rightly proud of the work they have done on this !
The paper is an excellent idea. I for one cannot believe the dismissive attitude of the Stroud Labour Party over this. No wonder their councillors are leaving them !
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