Brown budget even worse than expected

Many including ourselves predicted that the budget would be poor on green issues despite the hype by Blair and Brown. This is however a much deeper disappointment than expected. It really is only tinckering at the edges. Friends of the Earth have done a good analysis of what it means. See their report here.

However locally more good news that finally things are moving forward with Stroud District Council - on 19th there will be a Policy Panel to look at planning regulations re insisting on renewables/efficiency measures in larger planning applications. Greens have been banging on about this for years - Councils like Merton have had policies in place for 10 years or more - at last we will be moving towards that here - all those Green votes at the last election plus the growing awareness nationally are all helping to push this issue up the agenda - Greens will be ensuring that they are serious measures and not just spin.

Lots can be achieved - some Greens recently visited Woking to see the successes there - and in Kirklees one Green councillor has led the way and the District now has 5% of the country's solar panels! We can make Stroud a leader too. We will together!