The biggest issue facing the council, the country and the world at the moment is climate change. It is bigger than Brexit and its consequences will be felt for even longer, but it doesn’t get one hundredth of the publicity that Brexit gets. The Liberal Democrats are aware that we are facing a climate emergency, and here in Broxtowe I want us to be pro-active in tackling it.

I have asked the planning officers at the borough council to draw up new planning policies to deal with the following:

1. Ensure all new houses are carbon neutral in their day to day operation;
2. Ensure that all new housing has proper grey water harvesting built in;
3. Ensure that all new houses are properly insulated;
4. Requiring all new housing and new office building to have built in facilities for charging electric vehicles; and
5. Introducing design standards for fences to ensure that wildlife is able to move freely.

These are some simple steps but which can have a massive impact on our area. The government previously had policies requiring new homes to be carbon neutral but the Tories scrapped them. These policies will bring those standards back in. We can’t require that they be adopted nationally but we can require that they are here in the borough.

Once the policies are drafted we will present them to the council for debate and consideration. I am personally delighted that we are able to usher in a green revolution locally and I will fight to get these through the council.

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