Regional Politics

New Ground 68
Spring 2005

The Environment: developing community leadership

On the 17th of March, SERA hosted a high level dinner discussion on sustainable aviation and EU leadership. The dinner brought together 20 key decision makers and opinion-formers from EU industry, NGOs and governments, including Ministers from the UK, Sweden, Netherlands, and the Czech Republic, and high level representatives from Germany, France and the European Commission. UK Aviation Minister the Rt. Hon. Charlotte Atkins, MP gave the opening speech. The agenda covered issues such as night flights, local air quality, and climate change.

ollowing the defeat in the referendum to establish a North East Assembly last November, it looked like regional devolution had suffered a major setback. However, the ODPM’s Five Year Plan contained important plans to increase local powers which is good news for environmentalists.

The government's plans for Sustainable Communities are built around two key principles: the need to give communities more power on decisions that affect them; and the importance of working at the right level. If we get it right, the sustainable communities programme will go a long way towards translating the slogan 'Think Global, Act Local' into reality.

There is a strong case for democratic reform. The Scottish Parliament and National Assembly in Wales have illustrated the potential for a responsive and regionalised environmental and social policy. In addition, devolved regional autonomy in London - boosting investment in public transport, introducing the congestion charge, and tackling crime - has rekindled the government's interest in the Mayoral approach.

Taking on congestion

The boldest sign of change has been the congestion charge in central London. Since its introduction at the beginning of 2003, congestion has been cut by 30 per cent. There has also been a marked improvement in air quality: carbon emissions have been cut by nearly 19 per cent inside the zone, and NOx and PM10s have been cut by 12 per cent.

The successful implementation of the charge has been a precursor to a much wider road charging debate. Despite the failure of the Edinburgh referendum, more cities are set to look at new schemes. The hostile media response to the Edinburgh referendum was disheartening but not surprising. Before the congestion charge was introduced, public and media opinion was deeply divided in London.

The congestion charge, however, did not cut car use on its own. Equally important was investment in public transport, particularly buses. There are now more people using buses in London than at any time since the end of the Second World War.

Introducing a Low Emission Zone

In December 2004 the Mayor announced further plans to cut transport emissions with stricter standards for London's 20,000 black cabs. Because the Mayor regulates London's taxis, the cost of conversion will be off-set by an increase of 20 pence per ride. This is part of a broader initiative to make London a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) by 2007, removing the most polluting lorries, buses, coaches and taxis from within the M25 area.

The scale of the problem

The wider environmental challenges facing London are immense. Growth in the Thames Gateway, and other major regeneration areas, means that there are huge pressures on land use. The demand for new homes, jobs and services means a difficult balancing act between competing concerns. Devolution, however, has helped ensure that regional politics has the power to tackle issues more directly in a responsive manner. For instance, through the London Plan, the Mayor has been able to prevent an overall reduction in London's green space.

Local environmental concerns should not be under-estimated. The total cost of graffiti in London is estimated to be at least £23 million per annum. Making localism work means developing local leadership that can make the links between neighbourhood issues and wider environmental concerns. The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill (currently before Parliament) will make this relationship explicit, giving local authorities the powers to deal with environmental crime more effectively.

An urban approach to climate change

Aside from the LEZ, the Mayor's other main environmental manifesto commitment was to establish a Climate Change Agency for London. This was an initiative defined by Nicky Gavron, the Deputy Mayor, who is now in charge of climate change policy.

Nearly two thirds of London's carbon emissions come from building construction and servicing. The Agency will focus on developing urban solutions, integrating new design and construction standards for efficiency with renewable and local energy generation. The density of development in London is ideally suited to community level heating and power schemes.

London hopes to demonstrate, that given appropriate powers, regions and cities are well placed to go further than national government.

The new community agenda

The Sustainable Communities Plan provides a proactive strategy for community development but environmentalists need to embrace and mould the agenda for themselves. The outline is there but more needs to be done. The scale of neglect and under-investment inherited in 1997 means that many Labour politicians still favour command and control tendencies, and a desire to direct things themselves, from Whitehall. But the genie is out of the bottle. In future, there will be more regional government rather than less and this is an opportunity that environmentalists need to seize.

Andrew Pakes, SERA Executive