‘Government must do more to tackle climate change’

THE leader of South Oxfordshire District Council has called on the Government to do more to tackle climate change.

David Rouane was speaking on the eve of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

He said: “There are significant barriers in place nationally which stop climate action from happening effectively at a local level, from restrictive funding application processes to a planning system that puts developer desires ahead of the needs of the climate, our environment or our residents. We need the Government to focus on having the strategies, processes and funding in place as quickly as possible that will allow us to achieve our carbon reduction targets and to better protect our environment.

“As we approach the COP26 conference, the Government should be looking to demonstrate global leadership on climate action.

“However, to do so effectively, it must also facilitate climate action at the local level too.” Cllr Rouane, who took over as leader of the Liberal Democrat, Green and Labour-run council earlier this month, called for the planning system to assess the “climate fitness” of a district and maintain the rights of residents to engage in individual planning applications.

In a letter to Housing Secretary Michael Gove, he said: “As a council, we would emphasise the need for proposals that address the climate emergency, protect and enhance the natural environment and help to increase biodiversity.

“South Oxfordshire believes that only by taking decisive action in these areas will the Government be able to make progress on its stated ambitions of building back better, reaching net zero and leaving the natural environment in a better state than in which it was found.”

In a second letter to the minister, he said the Government should prioritise retrofitting homes to make them more energy efficient.

Cllr Rouane said this was important in achieving the UK’s national and international carbon emission targets with benefits to society in better health and wellbeing.

In a separate letter to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, he said government funding to carry out decarbonisation work on leisure centres was oversubscribed and the application process was restrictive.

He said: “While we are working hard to build proposals for project delivery, we feel that the use of competitive bidding processes for limited, ring-fenced pots of money inhibits sensible, long-term planning regarding decarbonisation.

“It leads to local authorities and other public bodies adopting a stop-start approach, which is ineffective.

“In addition, the eligibility criteria of the fund make it particularly inaccessible for local authorities whose leisure centres are operated by third-party providers.

“As many councils have chosen this approach to ensure the efficient management of their assets and to maximise value for money for residents, we would argue that this is particularly unfair.”