Now is the time to act on Climate change.
That we want to ‘play our part’. The Great Britain should lead from the front.
We cannot afford to blow hot air or say the right things but deliver nothing. It cannot be a cynical gesture. We must deliver, and quickly.
In this article I cannot do justice to all the key issues which I believe should be on the agenda. So, I will focus on just one area. The built environment.
I want to highlight the need for more green credentials to deliver any local plan.
When I met with residents recently over their concerns of the release of Green Belt in Sutton Coldfield, Coventry and in Balsall Common, they were heavily focused on:
Why are trees being felled in advance of any development, the increased traffic on already congested roads, the impact of construction traffic and the environmental effects of building on open space, the heart and lungs of a community.
We also need to draw attention to the environmental impact of not only this settlement but the impact which will see over 160,000 additional cars to our roads across the urban West Midlands.
If we are to be ambitious with the net zero carbon goal, we need to be equally ambitious in laying solid foundations for mandatory green credentials of any new development.
We need to look towards low energy housing developments.
Unlock the barriers to people buying electric cars by putting in place an extensive vehicle charging infrastructure and filling stations just for electric cars.
- Housing with proper insulation.
- PV panels.
- Battery storage areas.
- A composting policy for food waste.
- Houses with proper sized gardens and not a postage stamp excuse for one.
- Gardens not paved over.
- Roads built to accommodate buses and cyclists, boulevards of trees instead of soulless carriageways.
- Vigorous tree planting around any development.
We should be pioneers committed to the environment.
Ideally, I would like to see brownfield first and only greenfield when we have exhausted the pipeline.
If we are to be serious about reaching the global target of net zero carbon by 2050 difficult decisions will have to be made.
But some are easy ones. Building on Brownfield first is an easy decision and overturns a bad decision.
The benefits of strong action on the climate emergency now with shrewd decisions far outweigh the costs of not acting or making bad decisions.
These are conversations we must have if we are to be serious about reaching our target of 2050.
