I have written previously on the subject of climate change and what the council is doing to try to mitigate the effects in the city. The Council has committed to be carbon neutral in all its activities by 2030 – only 8 years – so the changes will have to come ever faster.
Readers will already be aware that we have planted 13,000 trees in the city in the latter part of this winter – more will come in future years.

At the start of April the Council’s new partner – Ubico – commenced work to deliver waste and recycling collections and all the grounds and street maintenance. They introduced two new all electric vehicles to the fleet. By 2030 all the Council’s vehicles are planned to be electric.

Last year, I wrote to the Treasury to point out how illogical it was to make new building VAT free, whilst VAT is charged on improving existing buildings. I was gratified to see that the Chancellor’s spring statement recognised that and has introduced some changes. Sixty percent of all the carbon cost in a building is produced during construction, so it makes sense to repurpose a building rather than demolish and rebuild.

The expansion of onshore wind energy

Further to this, I have written to the Secretary of State to express my support for changes to the planning system that allow for the expansion of onshore wind energy. It offers the most cost-effective choice for new electricity in the UK – being cheaper than gas, nuclear, coal, and other renewables, in addition to reducing the carbon intensity of UK grid electricity.

Onshore wind already generates enough clean power to meet the annual needs of more than 7.25 million homes a year and produced 9% of the UK’s power needs in 2017. Overall, the UK has installed over 12 gigawatts of onshore wind capacity, which supports jobs and local economic growth in areas such as Gloucestershire, which has potential for investment in renewable energy generation. The cumulative investment impact of the UK’s existing 1,500 operational onshore wind farms is over £35 billion, demonstrating the significant contribution that onshore wind can make to delivering low-cost, low-carbon energy.

I would further note that the generation of ‘green hydrogen’ from surplus renewable energy also has the potential to assist with broader energy system decarbonisation and there are some plans for sites in Gloucester.