Today’s Manchester Evening News (Mon 28th October) has a lead letter from Climate Emergency Manchester (submitted by Marc Hudson, one of the five core group members). A scan is below, and the full text of the letter (cut for space), is below that.
Please do circulate among interested parties, especially councillors and would-be councillors.
It was interesting to read the claims by Manchester City Council to your reporter Steve Robson (“Manchester council is spending £69 million reducing its carbon footprint – here’s what’s being done“, 23 October).
As is so often the case, the Council has concocted a large number, based on pre-existing spending, to give the impression that it is taking action. However, most of this spending is on transport schemes which may have little or no carbon impact (and as Mr Robson notes, are “causing significant congestion in the meantime”). Restoring the Town Hall is great, but will have… little impact, and was happening anyway.
What they don’t say is this-
The leadership of the council has done nothing concrete on the second element of the emergency declaration (examining an earlier zero carbon date) and were hauled over the coals for that inaction at the climate subgroup meeting on Tuesday 22nd October.
The council has assigned no new funds to dealing with the Climate Emergency.
The council’s new ‘Zero Carbon Coordinating Group’ (just the old abolished Environmental Strategy Programme Board from 10 years ago, reheated) will probably not allow the public or even councillors to observe its proceedings, and is so unserious that it isn’t even taking minutes.
Only 1 of the 32 promised ward meetings on climate change has taken place.
Space prevents a fuller accounting, so to finish: midst all this, Climate Emergency Manchester will 1) keep scrutinising, and 2) keep supplying ideas (ours and other people’s), as we have with our latest report, “With Love and Rockets: What we can do about the climate emergency in Manchester between now and Xmas.” It is free to download from climateemergencymanchester.net
Marc Hudson (on behalf of Climate Emergency Manchester)
