Central Government and Derby City Council have both declared climate emergencies. It is known that traffic volumes must be reduced drastically, and if this achieved, additional road capacity will be unnecessary.
Trees are important because they take carbon dioxide out of the air, and play a role in removing other pollutants produced by vehicles. Mature trees cannot easily be replaced.
Local people will experience major congestion problems accompanied by high levels of air pollution.
Friends of the Earth have created an amazing resource called “How climate friendly is your area?” and all you have to do is enter your postcode to see the results for your community.
Derbyshire Climate Coalition
campaigners would like to give you an update on what has been happening. The
following councils have declared a Climate Emergency (the dates with embedded
links to council papers are shown in brackets).
Derby City (22/05/2019); passed unanimously but no date, little follow up action but it has agreed to appoint a paid climate change coordinator.
Amber Valley Borough (24/07/2019); Motion passed for net zero by 2030.
Chesterfield Borough (17/07/2019); failed to include
date of 2030 or accept amendment to do so.
Derbyshire Dales District (30/05/2019); Motion strengthened
and unanimous.
High Peak Borough (15/10/2019); Motion passed unanimously
– 2030 date.
NE Derbyshire District (08/07/2019); Motion amended (80%
reduction by 2030 with aim of 100%).
South Derbyshire District (27/06/2019); Unanimous but watered
down.
THREE COUNCILS HAVE
DEBATED THE EMERGENCY BUT REFUSED TO DECLARE IT FORMALLY, namely :
Derbyshire County
Council (15/05/2019);
the Council issued an alternative climate manifesto and, despite issues with
the Leader of the Council, some good work is being done in partnership.
Bolsover District
Council (17/07/2019);the
motion amended
to debate need for motion at future date.
It is great that all the councils have made some moves and some actions are being taken. But there is a lot more planning and lobbying to be done. We need councils to turn their political promises in to concrete action – leading the way where the national government continues to fail.
Friends of the Earth has analysed how different local authority areas across England and Wales are taking action to cut greenhouse gases. They have also compared local authority areas with other similar local authority areas. For full details click on this link.
Here is the summary of targets for the Derby area:
Cease supporting or promoting new high carbon infrastructure, such as roads or airports
Annual emissions reductions – 13%
Homes to insulate per year – 6,978
Number of eco-heating systems, such as heat pumps, to fit each year – 3,841
Proportion of commuters walking, cycling or using public transport by 2030 – 60%
Increase lift-sharing – major employers should aim to have 40% of their staff who travel to work by car doing so by lift-sharing
Electric vehicle charging stations by 2030 – at least 119 stations
Renewable energy – at least 37MW
Trees – Aim for 20% tree cover
Household waste reuse, recycling and composting by 2025 – 70% (on path to reach zero waste as soon as possible)
Divestment – zero investment in fossil fuel companies as soon as possible.
The global climate school strike on 24 May was reportedly the biggest yet, even bigger than the 1.4m-strong actions on 15 March. Young people in 1,664 cities across 125 countries registered strike actions with the co-ordinating group set up by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg. The 24 May school strikes followed mass climate action in London by Extinction Rebellion (XR), which led to over 1,100 arrests over 11 days.
This lively forum brings together people from a wide variety of backgrounds, including councillors and council officers. The forum will be given an update by representatives of the Council on what progress has been made in implementing the Climate emergency resolution that was passed overwhelmingly by the Council in May of this year. We expect to hear more details about appointing a paid Climate Coordinator.
There will also be a presentation by Envelop homes, which was set up to build high quality homes built to low-energy Passivhaus standards, and are smart and promote clean, sustainable living.
There will no doubt be discussions about the Sinfin incinerator, updates from Extinction Rebellion, the Derby trees group and also on the forthcoming climate strikes on September 20 (See UK Student Climate Network)
Please send us items for the agenda. Please reserve a place by booking on this link.
The future of the country is thrown open to new possibilities.
Young people turned out to vote in record numbers. Now politicians need to respond to those who have the biggest stake in securing a secure future on a liveable planet.
We don’t know how national politics will play out in the coming days and months.
But we know that the UK needs to align ourselves internationally with progressive nations, not with Donald Trump’s climate denial and dishonesty. We need to invest in climate jobs, taking advantage of cheap renewable energy, and building essential infrastructure. We need to make sure Brexit doesn’t scupper environmental protection.
What happens next? Can we trust Conservative minority government supported by the DUP? While climate change scepticism is not official party “policy”, the DUP has previously appointed a denier as environment minister in Northern Ireland. The Campaign against Climate Change has spoken out against the Conservative government’s backtracking on important climate change policies in the past two years. If the plan is to carry on with more of the same, however, they will find it difficult.
They will face ever stronger community resistance to fracking, legal challenges against dangerous schemes such as Heathrow expansion, and opposition from all those determined to take action to put the planet and the people who live on it, before profit. Join us.
The Derby Green Forum was held on Thursday 25 May 2017 and was attended by 33 people, from a wide variety of backgrounds. Three councillors were there (the Deputy Leader of the Council – Martin Rawson, Lucy Care and the new mayor – John Whitby (who said that his priority was promoting all green agenda) along with a number a number of officers from Derby City Council.
Air Pollution was the principal item . The map, shown above, shows the relationship between traffic and air pollution. This has been taken from the presentation by Karl Suschitzky’s, from the City Council Environmental Protection team. This is merely a screen shot from the Council’s public mapping portal which is available for access by anyone at the following address: http://maps.derby.gov.uk/ then you need to use the ‘choose an option’ drop downs in the top left corner to select ‘environment and protection’ and then select the ‘air quality management areas’ layer. Helpfully, you can zoom in on any specific location to look at the air quality in more detail in specific areas. Continue reading Air Pollution in Derby and other Green Forum matters→
Coalition comprising a number of local groups active in addressing the solutions to climate change.
This lively forum brings together people from a wide variety of backgrounds, including councillors and council officers. 
Press Release: For Immediate Release 8 March 2018
