BasingstokeLabour

For all our futures in Basingstoke Dr Paul Harvey & Basingstoke Labour’s Green Manifesto 2015

Climate change is happening,

humans are causing it, and I

think this is perhaps the most

serious environmental issue

facing us.

— Bill Nye

One Nation One World

This document sets out my and Basingstoke Labour’s view on key environmental issues affecting our country, region and town. There are many issues that will be debated during this year’s General and Local Elections and the ‘green’ agenda matters. This is not an exhaustive list and I do not claim to have all the answers, but this is a start and I want to work with all local groups and communities to develop our work further. I want to see outcomes that make a difference, so this is not just about setting out our agenda. It’s about reaching out and engaging in a debate with you.

We are failing on two levels. We throw away too many things and at the same time we do not recycle the waste we produce. Our Borough has one of the worst records on waste and recycling in the country. I want us to both reduce the amount of waste we produce and increase the amount of waste we recycle. Labour’s watch words will be reduce, re-use and recycle. As a community we need to waste less and save more. I want a local target recycling rate of 65% by 2025, which is what is being achieved by the best districts in Britain today. No more excuses from our Tory council about what does and does not have a market for recycling. If Surrey Heath can recycle 65% of its waste, so can we. If Holland and Germany can average 75% to 80%, with time so can we.

A Less

Wasteful Basingstoke

I want to see the County Council develop better disposal systems, simply incinerating or land filling will not meet the standard we want. We need to develop plastic recycling so that we can cope with Tetra Packs, more than an expensive one off contract. We need to develop glass recycling to generate the best return and to reinvest the money raised in a better service. We need a debate about separate food waste collections, about how we support people living in flats and high rise to recycle. There is so much more we could and should be doing.

I want to see the County Council develop better disposal systems, simply incinerating or land filling will not meet the standard we want.

We need to develop plastic recycling so that we can cope with Tetra Packs, more than an expensive one off contract. We need to develop glass recycling to generate the best return and to reinvest the money raised in a better service.

We need a debate about separate food waste collections, about how we support people living in flats and high rise to recycle. There is so much more we could and

A Lower

Carbon Basingstoke

Energy is a big subject. About 90% of all the greenhouse gases (GHG) we produce come from burning fossil fuels (Coal, oil and gas). We burn the fuel to 1. Produce electricity 2. Heat our homes and buildings 3. Drive our transport. To meet international commitments (and our own national targets) we need to reduce GHG emissions by 80% by 2050 (from the 1990 levels). As a nation we are doing okay; about on target. But we have done this mainly by "exporting" our emissions to places like China and India. Instead of making stuff in the UK (and producing our own iron/steel/cement) we get the Far East to do it for us. These are all carbon intensive industries. The effect is our emissions go down but the Chinese and Indian emissions go up.

So we have done the easy stuff. We now need to meet the more exacting targets for the future for example 15% of all our electricity from renewable by 2020.

We need to de-carbonise electricity generation. 20% of our energy needs are met by electricity. De-carbonisation requires closing down the old, inefficient (and dirty) coal fired power plants; it means we need to shift from gas (which is cleaner than coal but still "dirty") to low carbon generation. Low carbon is wind, solar, biomass, tidal etc as well as nuclear. I am not great supporters of nuclear - it is expensive and risky; but we may need to consider building more nuclear power stations as a stop gap. The problem is where, and what do we do with the waste. Unfortunately they also take 10-15 years to build. They are therefore not a straightforward choice and there are powerful arguments against building more nuclear power plants. The bottom line is that I want to more wind, more solar and more biomass.

We need to address the appalling inefficiency in our buildings (homes/offices and factories). UK building standards are some of the worst in Europe. 40% of our energy goes into heating buildings mainly in the form of gas. All new buildings need to be of the highest energy standards. Code 6 and BREEAM excellent are the minimum standards to go for, but our local planning policy in Basingstoke is nowhere near the standard. However only about 10-20% of our building stock will be replaced by 2050. We will still be left with the legacy of old, poorly insulated buildings. Much of our energy policy must be focussed on retro-fitting existing buildings to make them thermally efficient. Broadly this means insulating them. One of the primary causes of fuel poverty is poor housing stock (along with low wages and high energy prices).

A Lower

Carbon Basingstoke

The remaining 40% of our energy is used in transport as petrol, diesel and kerosene for lorries, trains, cars and planes. Whilst transport efficiencies have improved substantially over the last decade for example miles per gallon most of the efficiency has been offset by greater usage. We just drive more miles. So the net effect is small. We need to drive less; continue to improve transport efficiency and eventually move to electrified transport (when we produce enough low carbon electricity).

Gas, oil and electricity supply is dominated by a small number of powerful companies and organisations. I will push for renewable energy generation to be owned more locally - eg by local energy co-operatives. This is the model successfully pursued in Germany where 40% of renewables are owned by local groups.

Fuel poverty

is a major issue

Too many households in Basingstoke are suffering from fuel poverty. Labour will act to get gas and electricity bills down and fix the broken energy market.

Labour will freeze your energy bills up to January 2017, saving a typical household £120 and an average business £1,800. An incoming Labour government will legislate immediately to make this happen.

Labour will fix the broken energy market, increasing competition& transparency so that it works for consumers. This will include introducing a simple new tariff structure so that people can compare prices in place of the complex and confusing system that exists today.

Labour will abolish OFGEM which has failed to stand up for consumers, and replace it from January 2017 with a tough new energy watchdog. The new regulator will have the power and remit to force energy companies to cut their prices when there is evidence of overcharging, for example when wholesale costs fall and the market fails to respond.

Labour will give the new regulator the power to revoke energy companies’ licences when they harm the interests of consumers.

Labour will unlock investment in clean energy by setting a firm 2030 decarbonisation target and giving the Green Investment Bank more powers.

4,000 households in Basingstoke are in fuel poverty

A more

Resourceful Basingstoke

A natural

Basingstoke As a Borough we are blessed with some of the most beautiful landscape in the country. Our urban areas have

some of the best greenspaces. I will work to protect our countryside from further degradation; I will work to protect both the River Loddon and Test from further pollution; I will work with local groups to widen bio

diversity in our town and across our countryside and to create the green spaces we need, this includes protecting Down Grange and Old Down. I will work with ‘Incredible Edible’ to expand their project of planting food in our town

people can enjoy and eat.

Our parks and open spaces are not just our green lungs but are the home to the wildlife we cherish. We need to encourage people use them and make them more attractive for people to use, whilst protecting the wildlife. To facilitate this, we need to increas

maintenance levels through partnership solutions between the Borough Council, local residents, and local voluntary and conservatgroups. I like to see local Neighbourhood Managers introduced, focused on wards, accountable for budgets,

standards and co-ordinating services between partner agencies, they will be expected to deliver lasting results.

We need to make much better use of

our local resources. This includes water, food and materials. Our homes

use far too much water; we don’t take advantage of the food that is

grown locally and we don’t make use of the materials available to us

locally. I want to see all new homes make use of the latest water saving

and recycling technology; I want to work with local farmers to make more

of their produce available to us all and I will encourage local business to

resource their materials as close to the Borough as possible.

I will work to secure the £2million promised to the people of Buckskin to tackle the risk of flooding, I want to

see this money invested to do everything humanly possible to safeguard people and their homes. I was there day in day with people as they suffered the flooding crisis. We have to do all we can to prevent it happening

again.

As a Borough we are blessed with some of the most beautiful landscape in the country. Our urban areas have

some of the best greenspaces. I will work to protect our countryside from further degradation; I will work to protect both the River Loddon and Test from further pollution; I will work with local groups to widen bio-

diversity in our town and across our countryside and to create the green spaces we need, this includes protecting Down Grange and Old Down. I will work with ‘Incredible Edible’ to expand their project of planting food in our town that

Our parks and open spaces are not just our green lungs but are the home to the wildlife we cherish. We need to encourage people to use them and make them more attractive for people to use, whilst protecting the wildlife. To facilitate this, we need to increase

maintenance levels through partnership solutions between the Borough Council, local residents, and local voluntary and conservation groups. I like to see local Neighbourhood Managers introduced, focused on wards, accountable for budgets,

ordinating services between partner agencies, they will be expected to deliver lasting results.

I will work to secure the £2million promised to the people of Buckskin to tackle the risk of flooding, I want to

see this money invested to do everything humanly possible to safeguard people and their homes. I was there day in day with people as they suffered the flooding crisis. We have to do all we can to prevent it happening

Getting

Basingstoke Moving

I support transport investment via an Integrated Transport Strategy -

Labour supports bringing our key transport partners together to coordinate a response to the key issues our community face.

Growth, economic prosperity, social cohesion and the health of our communities all rest on good quality affordable public transport.

I know we need safe and connected cycle routes and footpaths that actually connect places. Labour will develop a comprehensive Cycling &

Pedestrian Supplementary Planning Document to deliver this.

I want to see a dedicated cycle repair service to support and encourage

cycle use. I want to see invest in cycle parking at the railway station and bus station. I want to see more 20mph zones in the places that we live.

I will work to bring a new bus company to Basingstoke, to

do this we will work with partners to get government to devolve transport funding and powers to our area. That

way we get to design and develop services that meet local need.

I want to see a ‘young persons passport’ that will give access to transport and facilities around the town. I do not

want limits on the time Older People can use the bus with their bus pass. I want to see more accessible disabled

friendly buses and bus stops, and I’ll fight to protect funding for Dial A Ride and Community Transport. I want to

see our local villages served by buses connecting them to the town.

I want to see an increase in the number electric car recharge points around

the town and push for greener ’buses’ on our roads.

As a ‘green’ campaigning MP I will campaign for our railways to come back

into public ownership. I will also take on South West Trains when they try and put prices up way above inflation. Commuters want safe trains that are

not overcrowded and that run on time.

We want

a green Basingstoke

I believe that being green is as much (or more) about building

a prosperous economy as it is about protecting the environment. A focus on less waste; more renewable energy

and using local resources is the way for Basingstoke to achieve both greater competiveness and lower costs and at

the same time create more jobs for the next generation.

From planning policy to building homes, from reducing waste to energy district heating systems to home insulation and

promoting green industries and a green local economy we can make a difference and we will ensure the Basingstoke we

leave to the next generation is a better place than the one that we inherited from the last.

“I’m asking you to work with me and the Labour Party to

develop these idea and policies, we don’t have all the answers.

We have to work together to change things, time is running out

and we have act now.”

“I’m asking you to work with me and the Labour Party to

develop these idea and policies, we don’t have all the answers.

We have to work together to change things, time is running out

and we have act now.” - Dr Paul Harvey

TOGETHER CONNECT

Tel: 07968 941009 Email: P_D_Harvey@hotmail.com Facebook: drpaulharvey4basingstoke Twitter: cllrpaulharvey

Promoted by David Potter on behalf of Paul Harvey both the Labour Club, Sandys Road, Basingstoke, RG22 6AS.