|
Campaigns | Become a Golden Supporter |
Practical Steps for a Greener Birmingham
Introduction
With every seat on Birmingham City
Council up for grabs in June 2004, Birmingham Friends of the Earth intends to
put the environmental policies of the City Council, present and future, under
the spotlight.
With this end in view, Birmingham Friends of the Earth has produced Practical Steps For A Greener Birmingham, a "green manifesto" to guide and inform the environmental and sustainability policies of City Council candidates and their respective political parties. Implementing the recommendations of the document would, we believe, make life better for the people of Birmingham, improve the local environment, and demonstrate a responsible attitude to global environmental concerns, as well as save money and resources and create jobs.
In addition to adopting the Recommendations outlined in the document, we want all the parties and candidates to declare before the local elections on 10th June 2004 that they will aim to pass the six policies below within the City Council during the next 2 years:
1. GM crops and Food Apply to the Secretary of State to use European law to prevent GM crops from being grown anywhere in the City or on Council-owned land;
2. Waste and Recycling Provide a weekly doorstep recycling collection of five materials and make public the whole contract between the City Council and Tyseley Waste Disposal Ltd in order that an open and transparent re-negotiation of the contract with the incinerator company can take place;
3. Sustainable Communities Support the Sustainable Communities Bill, which would make local authorities free to support local economic, environmental and social sustainability, and commit national government to supporting local decisions to do so;
4. Aviation Oppose the second runway at Birmingham International Airport and further reject any proposals for extension of the current runway;
5. Energy and Climate Change Aim to cut the City Council's energy use from 2000 levels by 20% by 2010, and set a target to source renewable energy which exceeds the regional target of 10% from renewable sources by 2010;
6. Local transport Increase walking, cycling and public transport and set a 20mph speed limit on all residential roads.
In compiling this document Birmingham Friends of the Earth has drawn extensively on the inspiration, knowledge and experience of the people of Birmingham, both within the local environmental voluntary/NGO sector and beyond. Birmingham Friends of the Earth would like to thank everyone who contributed to the document. We believe that the policies outlined would make a real difference for the people and environment of Birmingham, both now and in the future.
Dr Andy Pryke
Campaigns Co-ordinator
Birmingham Friends of the Earth
1. Resource
Management
At
the heart of Friends of the Earth's vision for sustainable resource management
is the concept of doing more with less. The political parties must take the
lead in challenging our prevailing "consumption culture", where natural
resources and the environment's capacity to absorb waste and pollution are assumed
to be inexhaustible.
Doing more with less is not the same as doing less, doing worse or doing without. Efficiency does not mean curtailment, discomfort or privation. Being less wasteful will allow us to do better with less. Why build a new reservoir if we could reduce the excess water being flushed down our toilets or leaking from taps? Why build new nuclear or fossil-fuelled power stations when energy efficient light bulbs can do the same job and save people money?
Recommendations
- Resource Management
(a)
Introduce a city-wide home and community composting scheme;
(b) Introduce a scheme for neighbourhood swap shops where people could trade
unwanted household and garden items without cash. This would ease the pressure
on the waste stream in the critical area of difficult-to-recycle materials such
as furniture;
(c) Provide incentives for business to set up a plastics recycling plant on
Brownfield land like the Delleve plant in Stratford-upon-Avon;1
(d) Make City Council grants available for the establishment of a nappy laundry
service to reduce that voluminous source of household waste - disposable nappies;
(e) Adopt a Zero Waste Strategy.2
Birmingham Friends of the Earth does not consider incineration to be an acceptable alternative to a proper waste minimisation strategy. Incineration generates more energy than dumping waste, but much less than would be saved by recycling. Recycling plastic bottles uses eight times less energy than producing new plastic. What's more, incinerators release toxic fumes into the air.
Birmingham collects 450,000 tonnes of domestic waste each year, but has signed a contract to deliver over 90% of it to the Tyseley Incinerator company, Tyseley Waste Disposal (TWD). Government inspectors have severely criticised the financial cost to the city, and the overall costs are rising.3
Recommendations
- Incineration
(a) At no stage between now
and 2019 increase the capacity of the Tyseley Incinerator;
(b) Make public the whole contract between the City Council and Tyseley Waste
Disposal Ltd in order that an open and transparent re-negotiation of the contract
with the incinerator company can take place.
Recycling is very popular with the general public, but Birmingham's poor recycling record is an embarrassment. The City Council faces the possibility of large fines if it does not meet it's recycling targets of 17% by 2003/4 and 18% by 2004/5.
The Recycling Bill, which passed the House of Lords on Oct 14th 2003, requires all local authorities to introduce a doorstep scheme for at least two recyclable materials, for example glass and paper, by 2010.
Recommendations -
Doorstep Recycling
(a) Aim to provide
a doorstep recycling service for five recyclables for all households in the
City by 2005;
(b) By 2010 have increased the number of recyclables collected from five to
eight, as is the case in Daventry, the country's top-rated local authority for
recycling collection provision;4
(c) Support the development of regional recycling processing facilities, ensuring
the growth and jobs created by recycling are delivered locally.
2. Economics
and trade
Any sustainable policy on
economics and trade must seek to promote local economic growth over global.
All parties should commit to strengthening Birmingham's local economies at appropriate
scales so that, depending on the type of goods or services, everything is produced
and delivered as locally as possible and that local services are protected.
In addition, it would be a relatively simple matter for the City Council to source recognised Fairtrade products such as fruit, tea and coffee.
Recommendations -
Economics and trade
(a) Support the Sustainable Communities
Bill,5
which would make local authorities free to support local economic, environmental
and social sustainability, and commit national government to supporting local
decisions to do so;
(b) Use the Local Multiplier Effect tool (LM3) to calculate the desirability
of different types of economic development within the City Strategy;6
(c) Use ecological foot-printing methodology to measure the desirability of
different types of development;
(d) Develop a monitoring and measuring process based on Indicators of Sustainable
Economic Welfare (ISEW) not traditional GDP;
(e) Campaign to make Birmingham a Fairtrade City;7
(f) Source recognised fair trade products for City Council services.8
3. Transport
Instead of pursuing a wish list of
ostentatious infrastructure schemes, transport policy should be integrated and
based around an agreed set of required outcomes. Central to this policy should
be the aim of reducing the need to travel by ensuring that local facilities
are flourishing and easily accessible by walking, cycling or public transport.
Recommendations
- General Transport
(a) Set targets
for zero traffic growth by 2008 with the eventual goal of an absolute reduction
in traffic volumes by 2031. The current target of a 10% growth in the 2002 LTP,
which is considered to be challenging should be abandoned and a more ambitious
target. A growth rate of 10% between 1996 and 2006 is unacceptable!
(b) Road maintenance procedures that consider whether the road could be narrowed
or verges and paths widened, cycle lanes implemented, or additional trees planted;
(c) Set a 20mph speed limit on all residential roads;
(d) Aim to increase cycling to 10% of all trips by 2008;
(e) Aim to make walking a first choice for local journeys;9
(f) Real priority for on-street Metro lines over the private car and integration
of the Metro with bus and rail both physically and in terms of fares. Existing
railway lines should not be converted to Metro use; these should be retained
as part of the heavy rail network;
(g) The early introduction of road user charging on a local level but, more
importantly, the City Council should support in principle the introduction by
2008 of a national road user charge based on satellite tracking and variable
charges depending upon time of day, public transport provision along a corridor,
orbital journeys, and the rural/urban issues;
(h) The establishing of a regional
transport body to facilitate the negotiation of service provision across the
conurbation boundary into the rural shires;
A radical redevelopment of Birmingham New Street station is a national and regional priority. Now is the time to agree a set of desired outcomes for the station and its immediate surroundings.
Although staff deserve full credit for keeping this vital facility operational in the face of limited investment, the fact remains that New Street station is working at well over its intended capacity both for passengers and trains. Buried under a shopping centre, it is a claustrophobic and unpleasant environment in which to work and board trains and does not provide much of a welcome for visitors to the City.
Recommendations -
New Street Station
(a) Support the
existing station on its present site;
(b) Rebuild the station roof to allow natural light to flood onto all platforms
similar to Manchester Piccadilly which also has a considerable amount of retailing
opportunities;
(c) The creation of sky walkways through the station to reconnect the City Centre
via the station with Bull Ring area;
(d) Reclaiming all the land at the front of the station to create a public transport
hub, enlarged booking hall, waiting rooms and other station facilities;
(e) The creation of links to Stephenson Street and City Centre Metro. There
will within this be the opportunity for retail outlets associated with travel
but not the current volume of retail.
Recommendations -
General Rail
(a) Make all railway stations
more accessible by providing additional entrances and exits, better disabled
access, as well as safe well lit routes from railway stations to bus interchanges
and other major facilities such as shopping centres and hospitals;
(b) Introduction of local stopping services and stations on those lines currently
without them e.g. Birmingham to Castle Bromwich and Kings Heath to Birmingham
by 2008;
(c) Oppose four tracking between Wolverhampton and Coventry, but support other
measures to increase capacity which would give better value for money and would
be less disruptive; for example, a combination of long passing loops where these
can be physically accommodated within existing railway land, longer train lengths
and improved signalling;
(d) Do not support suburban line tunnels for Birmingham New Street. The cost
of tunnelling is very high and underground platforms would create an unpleasant
environment which would deter passengers. Similarly, we do not support tunnelling
for City Centre Metro Routes.
We are against Park and Ride schemes because these encourage car use, redistribute traffic rather than reduce it, and undermine certain public transport services. Instead, funds should be switched to improve cycling, walking and bus routes to railway stations and improve the frequency and extent of bus networks. There would then be no need for Park and Ride.10
Recommendations
- Walking and Cycling
(a) Set an ambitious target for
cycling provision (cycle paths etc.) by 2008 and a commitment from the City
Council to identify that, if such a target cannot be attained, they will make
the changes that would make it attainable, not just abandon the idea;
(b) Support schemes aimed at providing safer routes to school;
(c) Improve conditions for walking, especially at junctions;
(d) Make it easier to cross main roads by creating more pedestrian crossings
with traffic calming measures in place where necessary in order to prevent excessive
speed.
Recommendations -
Buses
(a) Afford real priority
to buses across the City;
(b) Put the conurbation forward for becoming the trial urban area for bus-regulation
as recently announced by Central Government;
(c) Improved security presence on all evening buses to stop bad behaviour;
(d) Reallocate road space for bus lanes. Road widening to accommodate bus lanes
involves too much destruction and cost for tiny benefits and generates extra
car traffic;
(e) Subsidise bus fares to make them cheaper and encourage people to leave their
cars at home. The extra cost would be offset by real savings gained by reduced
congestion, pollution and traffic accidents.
Recommendations -
Congestion
(a) Sign up to European In Town
Without My Car Day 2004;
(b) Support or provide car sharing schemes such as Car Clubs;11
(c) Involve local people in developing and compiling maps of car-free routes
for walking and cycling within their ward, with an action plan to improve and
extend these routes. These maps will be made available in local venues and promoted
by community leaders;
(d) Address the traffic congestion outside Selfridges by giving more space to
bus and/or Metro at the expense of the car;
(e) Limit car parking for new developments. Minimal or zero car parking provision
should be applied to new developments such as those in the City Centre or in
areas well served by public transport.
Recommendations
- Freight
(a) Set and monitor targets for
reducing the number of heavy lorries on roads;
(b) Ban heavy articulated (38-tonne plus) lorries from unsuitable local roads
and confine them to trunk roads;
(c) Create rail freight transhipment depots in the inner city area to reduce
the number of heavy articulated lorries entering the City;
(d) Promote the use of canals for freight;
(e) Ensure that industrial developments adjacent to railway lines are actively
facilitated to make use of this facility for their freight transport where appropriate.
All parties must recognise the environmentally and socially damaging effects of aviation on the City. At present, residents' complaints over aircraft noise and pollution from Birmingham International Airport are not being adequately addressed either by the airport or the City Council. Major expansion of UK and regional air transport infrastructure is expected in forthcoming Government White Paper. The parties must oppose the drive for more airport capacity in the region and, on principle, anywhere else in the UK.
Recommendations -
Aviation
(a) Oppose the second runway at
Birmingham International Airport and further reject any proposals for extension
of the current runway;
(b) Negotiate restrictions on night flying arrivals to Birmingham International
Airport;
(c) Investigate the possibility Council Tax reductions for residents affected
by aircraft noise under the flight path and near the airport;
(d) Support the introduction of fuel tax on domestic air travel;
(e) Oppose any further airport
expansion or development in the region and, on principle, anywhere else in the
UK.
4. Energy
Global
warming is potentially a very serious environmental issue, with implications
for the lives and livelihoods everyone on the planet. Birmingham Friends of
the Earth welcomed the City Council's decision to sign the Nottingham Declaration
in 2002 but since then we have seen little action on the ground in terms of
realising the declaration's objectives.
Recommendations -
Climate Change
(a) Acknowledge and implement the objectives of the Nottingham Declaration;12
(b) Provide opportunities for the development of local renewable
energy generation;
(c) Aim to cut City Council operations' energy use from 2000 levels by 20% by
2010;
(d) Prepare a plan to address the causes and potential effects of climate change.
Monitor the progress of the plan against the actions needed and publish the
results.
(e) Monitor city-wide carbon dioxide output and commit to meeting the standards
required to conform with the Kyoto Protocol.
The parties must commit to breaking the vicious circle of fuel poverty whereby people cannot afford adequate heating for their homes owing to poor insulation and inefficient heating systems. Investing in improving energy efficiency in these homes could cut greenhouse has emissions, and create local jobs insulating houses, reduce the winter burden on the NHS from cold-related illnesses, as well as save lives: every year 30,000 people die from the cold in poorly insulated homes.
Recommendations
- Fuel Poverty
(a) Commit to enacting the Warm
Homes Act and hasten its delivery;
(b) Ensure that all social housing in the City will exceed the Government's
"decent homes" standard and match modern building regulations for
insulation and draught-proofing whenever the construction of the property makes
this practicable.
Recommendations -
Energy Efficiency
(a) Develop an energy efficiency
strategy which reduces energy usage from 2000 levels by 20% by 2010;
(b) Address the chronic energy inefficiency of City Council buildings by, for
example, providing timers on wasteful immersion heaters. Better energy efficiency
leads to both savings on energy bills and a more comfortable working environment;
(c) Set a target to source renewable energy which exceeds the regional target
of 10% from renewable sources by 2010;
(d) Develop a city-wide combined heat and power (CHP) strategy and start to
put in the necessary infrastructure as new projects are commissioned, not later
as add-ons;13
5. Food and Farming
Sustainable
food and farming practices should be a key objective for any local authority,
even that of a big city like Birmingham. In particular, a commitment to local
procurement, protecting the City's allotments, and acquiring GM-free status
should form the basis of the City Council's policy.
Recommendations
- General Food and Farming
(a) Procure locally for
schools, meals on wheels, and city catering;
(b) Continue to support and develop the farmers' market;
(c) Publicly support the GM-free Britain campaign 14
and demand GM free status from the Secretary of State.
Recommendations
- Allotments
(a) Afford real political and value-based protection to City allotment
sites;
(b) Commit to the active defence of allotments by removing them from under the
planning gain "auction" system;
(c) Commit to organic management of allotments, parks, etc. For example, stop
spraying weeds out on residential (and other) streets.
6. Biodiversity
and Habitats
All parties must demonstrate
a commitment to protecting biodiversity and wildlife habitats and recognise
their inestimable contribution to quality of life in the City.
Recommendations -
Wild Spaces & Public Space
(a) Clearly identify and itemise
the Nature Conservation Policy Group's annual expenditure on nature conservation
and the natural environment;
(b) Choose species that encourage wildlife and mitigate pollution;
(c) Ensure that the City Park, if built, is not a "green desert";
(d) Protect recognised Wildlife Corridors.
7. Planning
We must keep Greenfield sites
green while making better use of existing derelict land and buildings. In addition,
the conspicuous absence of green space from the City's Capital of Culture bid,
suggests that Birmingham needs to re-think its approach to this subject.
Recommendations -
General Planning
(a) Refuse planning permission
for Greenbelt developments, including those proposed by the Council itself;
where a Brownfield alternative can be found;
(b) Insist that all developments above a sensible minimum size are fully and
adequately environmentally assessed, and have a net positive environmental impact;
(c) Ensure that all new civic buildings have in-built environmentally friendly
features such as photo-voltaic cells, low-albedo roofing and aerial vegetation,
and constructed habitat for birds and bats;
(d) Establish local 'commissions of enquiry' or 'round tables' to inform the
Council's decision on critical planning issues;
(e) Provide more affordable housing.
Recommendations -
Public Open Space
(a) Incorporate ecological principles
into the planning, design and management of open spaces;
(b) Encourage community participation and consultation in the development of
open spaces;
(c) Encourage a more holistic planning approach that considers open spaces alongside
buildings rather than simply regarding them as left over pieces of land.
Recommendations
- Green Spaces
(a) Commit to achieving the accessible natural green space targets in both the
Nature Conservation Strategy and Regional Planning Guidance;
(b) Ensure that Birmingham planners apply in full to all relevant development
proposals the recommended changes in respect to green space and nature conservation
contained within the Planning Inspector's report on the UDP;
(c) Commit to more public (particularly green) spaces in the next UDP/Community
Strategy;
(d) Ensure that the "Fringe Belt" is recognised in the current UDP;
(e) Address the unwelcome phenomenon of "chroming" e.g the marked
increase in slabbing and concreting, particularly by landlords and housing associations;
(f) Recognise that green space includes water both still and flowing in streams
and ponds, boggy areas and urban water courses.
The City's drainage is being compromised by the growth of hard surfaces. With little "blotting paper" land left, rain water pours torrentially into the roads causing flood damage and hazard to the population. The run-off concrete water courses produced to solve this problem are adding to the proliferation of hard surfaces and urban ugliness.
Recommendations -
Drainage
(a) Support Sustainable Urban
Drainage Systems (SUDS) and ensure that they are part and parcel of development
plans and approvals.
Notes
1.
See www.delleve.co.uk/
(back to text)
2. The Zero
Waste Policy can be viewed at: www.greenpeace.org.uk/contentlookup.cfm?CFID=317638&CFTOKEN=30746154&ucidparam=20020618122226
(back
to text)
3. Birmingham City Council, Information Briefing for Cabinet 14th January 2002. (back to text)
4.The Governments publication of 'Making Waste Work' in 1995 with its target for 25% of household waste to be recycled by the year 2000, lead the Members and Officers at Daventry District Council to look at the options available for kerbside recycling.
In 1995, the authority launched its red and blue box scheme. This opt-in scheme allowed residents to recycle papers, textiles, plastics bottles, cans and glass from their kerbside. By 1997/98 Daventry District Council had achieved a 9% recycling rate, reprocessing just under 2,500 tonnes of materials collected through the red and blue box scheme.
Although 9% was seen as a good performance, the authority's target was to reach a 25% recycling rate by 2000. In 1998 the authority took the step to introduce a collection of compostable waste (garden and kitchen organics) to a trial area of some 5,000 households in the east of the district. The trial lasted for twelve months and was a great success - with in excess of 50% of waste collected in the area being recycled / composted.
On the back of the success of the trial, in January 1999, the go-ahead was given for the authority to introduce the alternate weekly collections of organic waste and refuse district wide. By September 1999, all 30,000 properties within the district were receiving a weekly collection of their red and blue boxes, and an alternate weekly collection of their compostable waste and residual waste. This integrated waste collection system is generating one of the highest recycling/composting rates in the country with a staggering 43% recycled in 2001/02.
The authority is now operating an integrated waste collection service, which is achieving one of the highest recycling rates in England at the current time (43% 2001-2002). (back to text)
5. Local Communities Sustainability Bill: www.neweconomics.org/gen/local_works_steering.aspx and www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200203/cmbills/071/2003071.htm (back to text)
6. Local Multiplier 3: making the most of the local economy www.pluggingtheleaks.org/ (back to text)
7. Other local authorities are involved in local campaigns to become Fairtrade Towns or Cities. For example, Leicester City Council has adopted an Ethical Purchasing policy, a new section to its Guide to Environmentally-friendly Purchasing. This has been included in an introduction to staff about the concept of looking at ethical considerations when making purchases.
'Fairtrade Towns' (or cities, boroughs etc) gain a certificate from the Fairtrade Foundation for demonstrating a real commitment to serving and promoting Fairtrade Mark products within their communities.
Bolton, another town that has come 'out' as a fair trade place now boasts 31 fair trade stores and shops and 19 fair trade cafes, of which seven are canteens and workplaces. There are also 14 faith communities that use fair traded goods for their functions and two suppliers and local producers. Businesses and local authorities have an important role to play in promoting the Fairtrade Towns initiative and in raising awareness of Fairtrade in their local areas.
In Fairtrade Fortnight 3-16th March 2003, seven new towns, cities and boroughs achieved Fairtrade status, bringing the total to seventeen. (back to text)
8. See the Fairtrade Foundation's website www.fairtrade.org.uk/fairprf.htm or call 020 7405 5942. (back to text)
9. See South Gloucestershire Council's Pedestrian and Access Strategy: www.southglos.gov.uk/acrobat/walking_strategy.pdf (back to text)
10. The Economic and Environmental Roles of Park and Ride (Parkhurst ESRC Transport Studies Unit, UCL 1998). (back to text)
11. See www.carclubs.org.uk (back to text)
12. The Nottingham Agreement can be downloaded from: www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/ngp/downloads/nottmdecclimate.doc (back to text)
13. This issue was addressed by a presentation by Gothenburg to the City a couple of years ago. (back to text)
14. GM Free Britain Campaign www.gmfreebritain.com (back to text)