Medway Green Party welcomes Climate Emergency Motion #GreenMedway

Clive Gregory campaigning in Hoo

Medway Green Party was very happy to hear that Labour’s Climate Emergency Motion received cross party, unanimous, support at Medway Council’s meeting yesterday evening but now the work really needs to start.  The Council currently has no plan to meet the carbon neutral goal but the Greens have not only been facing up to the situation but identifying solutions for some time.  Green Councillors are needed to provide ideas and hold the Council to account on this.

Part of our objection to mass housing development on the Hoo Peninsula (outlined in our responses to Medway Council’s Local Plan consultation) is that the Council is failing to take climate change into account in the plans it is making. Proper consideration of the impacts of climate change should rule out building there once and for all.  It’s now time for action rather than just words.  Below is a comment written last week by Peninsula candidate, Clive Gregory, on the climate emergency motion.

*****

Medway Green Party is hugely supportive of the motion to declare a climate emergency, expected to pass on the 25th April, with Conservative Leader, Alan Jarrett, confirming support on Radio Kent on 17th April.  Labour are to be congratulated for proposing a motion that has been campaigned for by local Green Parties throughout the country.

However, this is just the first step. Labour Leader, Vince Maple, and Conservative Leader, Alan Jarrett, seemed reluctant to suggest any concrete solutions when interviewed by Radio Kent. This is unsurprising as neither party manifesto mentions climate change and both parties have failed to take it into account in their support for development of the Hoo Peninsula.  In contrast I made it clear, in my Radio Kent interview, that a climate emergency meant every plan and policy being revised to mitigate climate change.  An example would be to realise the potential of the River Medway to supply our (heat) energy needs, just one of many essential ideas for renewable energy capture.

It strikes me that if the proposed climate change cross party working group is formed of nothing but Conservative and Labour Councillors, it will be extremely difficult to achieve the 2030 carbon neutral goal.  The old grey parties are out of ideas.  Input is desperately needed from people who really appreciate the emergency we’re facing.

Only the Green Party understands that addressing climate breakdown and pollution must be at the heart of policy development. If elected, Green Councillors would work with other parties to make this motion work.

Clive Gregory, Green Candidate for Peninsula

Tags: Environment