Showing posts with label Green Charter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Charter. Show all posts

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Cllr Powney promises to investigate 'Low Carbon Zone' proposal


Could it be Brent or Wembley next?
 Making a presentation on Monday the the Brent Executive,  Ken  Montague, Secretary of Brent Campaign Against Climate Change, agreed with the Green Charter Annual Monitoring Report's comment that  while “there is progress in all seven areas of work” there was “room for improvement over the next year”. In particular he sought to bring to the Executive’s attention proposals jointly being developed by BCaCC and Brent Friends of the Earth as an outcome of their Community Briefing public meeting on 21 November, which council leader Muhammed Butt attended. A report  of the meeting has  been circulated to Councillors.

The purpose of the Community Briefing meeting, which was to make local community leaders aware of the rapid depletion of the Arctic ice cap and its affect on weather patterns around the world. This had an indirect impact on people in Brent as many members of the local community have friends and families in parts of the world being devastated by floods, droughts and fires. It was also having a direct impact through its effect on the price and quality of food.

Ken addressed  two of the three proposals that came out of the briefing meeting, which aimed to develop a community response. The first of these was about reaching out to the local community to increase awareness of the seriousness and urgency of the need to mitigate climate change. The aim was to enhance and strengthen the work of the Sustainability Forum and the Brent Climate Change Steering Group, especially its Residents’ Steering Group. This meant sending speakers to meetings of tenants’ and residents’ associations, faith groups, trade unions, etc, and on occasion booking rooms for meetings. The first request to the Executive was therefore that those organisations like Brent CaCC and Brent FoE who were identified as Green Champions under the Brent Climate Change Strategy should have use of Council premises, including public libraries, free of charge.

Monatgue went on to draw the Executive’s attention to a proposal in the early stages of development by BCaCC and Brent FoE which would require support from the Council, advice from council officers, and the involvement of specific councillors. This was for a pilot scheme to establish a Low Carbon Zone in an area of the borough still to be identified in consultation with the Council. A Low Carbon Zone involved concentrating existing agencies on the area identified in order to generate awareness of the advantages to tenants and residents of implementing measures for energy conservation and the sourcing of power from renewables, to provide advice and guidance and facilitate discount buying, and to access funding to install insulation, double glazing and combined heat and power boilers. The “existing agencies” could include the Council, private companies, campaign groups including ourselves and Transition Town, the College of North West London, and the Brent TUC.

Central to the proposal was the possibility of accessing significant funds for these purposes from the Department of Energy and Climate Change under the Green New Deal. By way of an example he mentioned that a Community Interest Company in Barnet, “Energise Barnet”,LINK  was working with the Council in making a £200 million bid. A meeting of the Brent Residents’ Steering Group and council officers was being held on 22nd January to prepare a bid to DEC but this could only go ahead once the Council had decided whether to apply as a “Large Scale Green Deal Provider”, as a Marketing Partner” or a “Small Scale Green Deal Provider”. The second request to the executive was therefore that it make a decision on the form of its application in order to facilitate an appropriate bid to DEC being decided at the meeting on 22 January.

Responding, lead member for the environment  Cllr James Powney promised to designate an officer to investigate the proposal. 

Declaration of interest:  I am Chair of Brent Campaign Against Climate Change


Sunday 16 October 2011

Monday: Council Executive Meeting, Library Fundraiser, and Climate Change Talk

There is an interesting choice for activists tomorrow, Monday October 17th. The first choice is between two sets of comedians...

At 7pm the Council Executive meets. Among the items on the agenda are the petition to reverse street cleaning cuts and the new Green Charter. Despite some revisions after consultation, the latter has been criticised for still having no targets, no extra staff or resources, and no measurable outcomes. Cllr Powney's foreword has been declared insipid. There is also an item on the procurement of a decentralised energy system on the South Kilburn estate. AGENDA

The Executive whizzes through the agenda so there should still be time to go on to:

STAND UP FOR LIBRARIES (Phil Jupitus, Robin Ince,  the legendary Robyn Hitchcock and others) - Queens Park Community School - Doors 6.30pm - show 7.30pm. I understand that Alexi Sayle may also be appearing.

OR...

China Miéville, award-winning fantasy fiction writer and author of the young adults' novel, “Un Lun Dun” will be appearing at the Willesden Green Library Centre on Monday 17th October at 7.30pm to talk about creative fiction writing and the challenge of climate change.

Monday 1 August 2011

Only a few days left to comment on Brent's Green Charter


There are only a few days left to comment on Brent Council's proposed Green Charter which stems from Labour's manifesto at the local elections. The Council sets out the brief as follows:
Brent Council’s administration is seeking to deliver a ‘Green Charter’, in consultation with local residents and other stakeholders, with the aim of the Council reducing its impact on the environment and helping residents to do the same.
Developing Brent into a greener borough needs to be done collectively with our partners, people who live, work and study here, public and private sectors and voluntary groups.
 
All the work that we do and our travelling to work or school has an environmental impact. As a Council, we need to have the policies in place to reduce our impact as much as we can and to create a better vision for the future. The Green Charter brings together all the work the Council is doing to improve, enhance and protect the environment and asks those who live, work or study in Brent, to be more sustainable in their way of life.  It also makes suggestions how this can be achieved.
 
This Charter sets out how the Council takes the environment into account in all of its work and sets out a vision of how residents and the Council can work together. In this way we can best respond fully to the challenge of climate change and reduce our carbon footprint.
 The proposed Charter can be seen HERE

 Comments should be sent by August 4th to:
Green Charter comments
Marion Hofmann
Brent House
3rd floor Brent House
349-357 High Road
Wembley HA9 6BZ

Email: environment@brent.gov.uk
Telephone: 020 8937 5380