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Eco plans threat to Lib Dem/Tory green peace
Tory councillor attacks Lib Dem’s environment report proposals
A ROW has broken out between senior Town Hall chiefs over radical plans to turn Camden into one of the greenest boroughs in the country.
Last week the New Journal exclusively revealed recommendations mapped out in ‘Greenprint’ – a draft environment paper aimed at reducing Camden’s carbon emissions.
But Tory Councillor Andrew Mennear, the cabinet’s schools chief, feels some proposals are unrealistic.
Cllr Alexis Rowell, a Lib Dem, is Camden’s ‘Eco-Champion’ and the mastermind behind the plan.
Senior sources at the Town Hall are already speculating on whether the paper could create a division in the Lib Dem-Tory coalition if they fall out over environment policies. One asked: “How green are the Tories? Does David Cameron’s rhetoric play out in Camden? Are they really up for it here?”
Cllr Mennear, who earlier this year travelled to the North Pole to see first hand the effect of global warming, claims he just wants to see money best spent.
He said: “I don’t think the green audits were justified on the basis of the analysis in the report.”
Cllr Rowell wants to see officers sent into every home to advise families on how to cut their carbon footprint.
Cllr Mennear claimed “armies” of workers would be left sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.
He said: “They take valuable resources away from addressing the issue of carbon emissions in a more cost-effective manner.
“It sounds as if money is being thrown at a problem in an unorganised way.”
Cllr Mennear was more enthusiastic about replacing old boilers with a high-tech greener version that creates heat, electricity and cooling in one.
He said: “The analysis in the report was showing you should tackle climate change by addressing big chunks rather than looking at individual homeowners’ behaviour.”
Cllr Rowell admitted the big task ahead is to convince his peers to back his ambitious plans financially and, as he said at last week’s unveiling, he doesn’t have any power other than that of persuasion.
His major proposal is the new boiler, which, once up and running, could then start farming out energy to nearby businesses such as the Tube.
He hopes a pilot scheme will be launched in Camden within two years.
But, unlike Cllr Mennear, he also has some basic changes in mind.
“Putting heating controls in each flat (on estates), as opposed to opening windows, would help,” he said, adding he wanted to see the electrical industry remove the standby button, which can often use as much power as when an appliance is left on.
Cllr Rowell says he became interested in green issues after reading an article about the North Pole.
He said: “It said it was going to melt whatever we did.
“And the consequences of that would be that Britain is plunged into unimaginable chaos. I decided I had to change my life, my household behaviour.
“And then I went into politics.”
Cllr Rowell was a Labour voter until the Iraq war shifted him towards the Lib Dems.
“I considered the Green Party but the Lib Dems are more likely to change things,” he added. |
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