‘An intrinsically green philosophy’

This comment piece is written by Anthony Negus, councillor for Cotham ward.

The Liberal Democrats are the only major party that puts tackling climate change at our heart. We have for years now taken positive action to make Bristol a sustainable city to live in. We have done so by championing the people and initiatives within our local communities and by putting money back into people’s pockets.

Liberalism is an intrinsically green political philosophy. I have personally been committed to protecting the environment since the 1970s and the Liberal Democrats were the first party to talk about climate change in Parliament – back in the 1980s when the environment was an unpopular issue. Ever since, we have worked to make both Bristol and Britain more sustainable. We understand that a major change is necessary if we are going to break with our reliance on non-renewable energy and we have a record to be proud of.

For example Warm Up Bristol, a four-year initiative designed to help make homes cheaper to heat, has been partly funded via the Green Deal. This is a Liberal Democrat policy in action in the Coalition Government. It enables people to transform their homes by allowing them to pay for energy efficient home improvements with the savings on their energy bills. Without the Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government there would be no Warm Up Bristol. 

We have in fact laid the foundations for a more sustainable city and we have put the environment at the top of our city’s agenda. When we ran the council we tested the use of hydrogen as an alternative power source and published the council’s first ‘Walking Strategy’. In every one of our major parks we introduced park-keepers and we pushed recycling rates up above 50%. We have most recently been actively campaigning for Low Emission Zones (LEZs) in the city centre.

But that’s not all. We introduced wind turbines in Avonmouth. Onshore wind is one of the cheapest large-scale renewables. We introduced solar PV panels on over 30 school buildings and into our council housing stock. Solar PV produces no noise, no waste, emits zero emissions in operation and leads to minimal glare. We also introduced biomass boilers into our schools and as a result of our action Bristol now holds the largest cluster of biomass boilers in the South West.

In the years ahead the council needs to be more effective at building on these achievements and on building a more sustainable future for Bristol. Over the past decade our city has begun to make some progress towards such a future, but the mayor has continually failed to do enough and has made many mistakes along the way. The Liberal Democrats on the other hand have greened Bristol. We entered Bristol for European Green Capital 2015, having been runner-up for 2014, and learned in 2013 that we had won. We worked with many people over a prolonged period to help bring the Green Capital honour to Bristol.

Stephen Williams MP successfully lobbied the government for £7m for the city to help fund the many groups across the city wanting to get involved this year. We hope that winning the Green Capital accolade will lead to an influx of radical initiatives within the city that encourage sustainable living and generate a sense of civic pride amongst our citizens.

However, Liberal Democrats believe sustainable communities will only be achieved when local people are empowered, for example through their neighbourhood partnerships and local community groups. Councils should not run everything and they should not insist on taking money out of your pocket when you see no improvement in your services. When we ran the council we froze council tax for two years without any impact on council services. In contrast, after failing to pass a 4.75% council tax increase, the Green Party over at Brighton and Hove City Council are now proposing a council tax increase of 5.9% from April 2015. 

Rather than insisting on continually increasing council tax, which only serves to hit those on lower incomes the hardest, our pre-manifesto includes council tax discounts for ‘green homes’. Under this initiative households across the country could save at least £100 a year on their council tax bill by improving the energy efficiency of their homes. This of course builds on the work of Stephen Williams MP, who not only represents Bristol West but as Minister for Communities has introduced ‘Zero Carbon Homes’. From 2016 new homes in Bristol and in England will be built to a much higher environmental standard and have new features such as triple glazing, extra insulation and perhaps even renewable technology like solar panels, saving residents at least £200.

The choice in May is clear: if you care about the environment and want to see a cleaner and more sustainable city then only the Liberal Democrats can deliver this for you.