PRESS RELEASE: RICHMOND SAYS NO TO ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

 

29th March 2011

 

 

Richmond and Twickenham Friends of the Earth and the local Green Party have both expressed their disappointment at the London Borough of Richmond’s new dumbed-down approach to climate change pronouncing it unfair to residents and businesses and very short-sighted. 

 

James Page of the Green Party  chaired the Climate Change Task Group in 2004 and said “Last week the Council issued a paper saying that it proposes to ditch the 2009 climate change strategy and only take action to curb greenhouse gas emissions when it is forced to do so by legislation.  I tried to register to speak to the Council’s Environment Scrutiny Committee about this last week but I was not allowed to - not even the councillors were being given the opportunity to discuss it.  It appears the Council are hoping to brush this policy change - as well as the £1M climate change fund - under the carpet.”

 

Friends of the Earth spokesperson Vicky Phillips said “I was also refused permission to speak.  It seems that Richmond Council plans to disengage from London-wide and national programmes which are helping residents and businesses to save money on their energy bills, creating additional green jobs for local businesses installing energy efficiency measures such as insulation, and tackling Richmond’s contribution to climate change.  There appear to be no plans to continue with the work of programmes that are ending such as the Go Green Business advisory service, or to extend the Low Carbon Zone in Ham to other parts of the Borough.  Many other London Boroughs are signing up to schemes such as the Mayor of London’s RE:NEW which plans to roll out energy efficiency improvements to homes across London, but Richmond Council seems to be saying it wants to turn its back on these opportunities even when they will cost it very little money.  We think this is unfair and extremely short-sighted.”

 

With no proper climate change strategy in place it is also unclear how Richmond Council will approach granting planning consent to low carbon schemes such as the proposal to generate electricity through hydropower at Teddington Lock which is intended to provide green electricity to up to 900 local homes and a community fund to pay for local projects.