I spent the morning with Sir Menzies Campbell visiting BedZED, the UK’s largest carbon-neutral community. ‘Ming’ used the opportunity to spell out why the Government should be condemned for its poor record on environmental and transport policies in particular. It was interesting to hear him contrasting Labour’s record with that of Sutton Council, with its policies to tackle congestion and pollution.- Under Labour traffic levels have increased by over 11%, with 129 million additional journeys each year.
- Since 1990 emissions from road transport in the UK have gone up 10% to 32 million tonnes and are projected to increase by 18% by 2010 to 38 million tonnes.
- Carbon dioxide levels are at their highest since 1997, having risen 3% over this time.
- Between 1997 and 2005 the cost of motoring fell by 9% while bus and coach fares increased by 15% and rail fares by 5%.
In contrast, here in Sutton we are working with residents, businesses and schools to develop travel plans and beginning to make tough choices about how to tackle climate change.
As Tom Brake said to the press: “Sutton has a green track record second to none. When others were rubbishing the science of climate change years ago we backed BedZED. We are now trail-blazing again with ‘Smarter Travel Sutton’. And just as the lessons learnt at Bed Zed have helped improve low or zero energy building projects around the world, the lessons learnt from ‘Smarter Travel Sutton’ will be picked up by every urban and suburban community seeking to cut its reliance on the car.”
Can’t say fairer than that!
