Residents' chance to talk green

Friends of the Earth organised a special public meeting at Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke on April 20, entitled "What Are Our Politicians Doing About Climate Change?".

Basingstoke MP Maria Miller and Councillor Paul Harvey, leader of the borough council, spoke about their policies and faced questions from members of the public.

The gathering also heard from George Marshall, a former senior campaigner for Greenpeace, now co-director of the Climate Outreach Information Network (COIN), and Katie Elliot, parliamentary campaigner for Friends of the Earth.

Cllr Harvey pledged to appoint a Cabinet member to become a "green champion" alongside their normal role, to oversee all policies related to climate change.

He also said that if he remained council leader, the council would sign the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change - a document signed by a number of local authorities across the country pledging to reduce their impact on the environment.

He said: "The Nottingham Declaration will focus our efforts in reducing our climate impact as a borough. We want to encourage local businesses, community groups and residents to do their bit to protect and support our local environment."

Speaking after the meeting, Mrs Miller threw down the gauntlet, challenging the borough council to do more recycling and reduce carbon emissions from housing.

She said: "We can do a lot more innovative thinking. Other authorities in England are so much more innovative than we are. We are coming from behind on this issue and we really need to raise our game."

Darren Shirley, from Basingstoke Friends of the Earth, who organised the meeting, said: "More than 70 people turned up and they really got involved in asking questions and were passionate about the issues.

"We need to be able to get the emissions level down to a point where we are not going to destroy our planet."

First published: Thursday, April 27, 2006