Christine Says Go Green - Go For Zero Carbon Growth

2.59.59pm GMT Wed 31st Jan 2007

Christine McHugh and Bedford Borough Liberal Democrats have called on the council to make the leap forward needed to tackle climate change. Christine is calling for the adoption of "zero carbon growth" planning policies.

This means that for new developments, whether houses or industry, the developers will have to make sure that the impact in terms of carbon pollution is zero. First of all developers will have to make their plans as efficient as possible, then look at providing renewable energy production on the site and finally, if that isn't enough, then pay for improvements off site that will make the overall impact nothing.

Christine McHugh said "This is a challenging target, but we have all seen the reports about climate change. Tough decisions have to be taken now before it is too late. This is a practical solution to stop the increase in carbon pollution from our borough. In fact it is a policy that is already up and working elsewhere, for instance in Milton Keynes."