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Cllr Wally Burgess with a burning light |
Town Hall told: Forget wind turbines, turn the lights off
Green-conscious politicians accused of ignoring easy ways of saving energy
THE Town Hall’s green credentials were under threat this week after it emerged that hundreds of security lights outside council buildings are blazing away during daylight hours.
Islington Council – the first in London to invest £3 million on wind turbines in a green initiative – is accused of frittering away thousands of pounds in council tax by failing to switch off lights.
Chairman of the council’s sustainability review committee, Labour councillor Wally Burgess, said he was appalled to discover that in Tufnell Park outside lights were being left on unnecessarily at council-run establishments.
He is calling for a borough-wide audit to establish how many council properties have lights burning during the day.
Cllr Burgess said: “The council have been pleading with us all to turn our lights off and do our bit for the environment, and here they are wasting electricity because no one has thought of turning lights off during the day. What a poor example.
“The ruling Lib Dems are very good at spending our money on wind turbines, which are of doubtful use. But they don’t appear so good on the simple measures that we do in our homes.
“There’s an old 1960s psychedelic song called The Windmills of Your Mind which sums up the Lib Dems’ attitude to the environment.”
This week the Tribune found lights were left on at the disused former Neighbourhood Housing Office, Willow Children’s Centre and Tufnell Park estate, all in Tufnell Park Road.
Later a reporter discovered lights blazing at the Sobell Centre in Finsbury Park.
Cllr Burgess added: “I suspect this is a problem all over the borough. It will be costing thousands of pounds a week and, of course, creating its own carbon footprint.
“Energy from electricity is the most inefficient of all because it is very expensive to generate. It needs coal, oil or gas, and produces loads of carbon dioxide.”
Emma Dixon, Green parliamentary candidate for Islington North, said the council should stop thinking in “sexy headlines” by publicising the fitting of wind turbines above the Town Hall.
She added: “They need to get down to what really matters. We need energy efficiency and savings.
“This is what we have been saying since the Lib Dems launched their £3 million climate change initiative.
“It is simple things like switching off lights, insulating buildings and providing combined heat and power boilers on estates.
“Council leader James Kempton knows it but he doesn’t want to do it because it is not profile raising and sexy.
“Wind turbines should be the last thing you do, not the first.”
Lib Dem executive member for the environment Councillor Lucy Watt said that Homes for Islington – responsible for the borough’s council housing – had signed a climate change commitment to reduce carbon by 15 per cent.
“Obviously if there are any example of wastefulness then it should be rectified,” she added.
If lights were burning during daytime, it was because the timer was faulty. The Tufnell Park Road lights had all been reported faulty and were due to be fixed, she added. |
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