Brighton and Hove to publish "climate change action plan" in the autumn

A "climate change action plan" for Brighton and Hove will be published later this year, according to a report presented at a council cabinet meeting on 15 July 2011.

A spokesperson said the report outlined moves to "radically boost energy from renewable sources produced in Brighton & Hove".

Cabinet councillor for environment Pete West said: "The council is gearing up for a massive investment in sustainable energy in the city. We're leading by example by starting with the city's biggest-ever solar electricity programme.

He said this would help the local economy and open up opportunities for others to install solar electricity using the council's buying power to bring down costs.

Cllr West said: "There is no overnight fix and we don't underestimate the technical and financial challenges. But the council will be working hard to overcome them with a range of partners and agencies." 

The report was made in response to an independent scrutiny commission set up by the council in April, which called on the authority to help radically increase use of low-carbon power citywide. The council's response made on 15th June highlighted progress:

• A major installation of solar electricity panels on dozens of council buildings and schools, plus 1,600 homes. Work is expected to start this year.
• Households encouraged to participate in domestic electricity generation in the Feed-in Tariff scheme.
• Some new or refurbished school buildings are being fitted with solar hot water and electricity panels plus air-and ground-source heat pumps which cut electricity use.
• The council has undertaken to work with developers of major schemes, such as Shoreham Port, to ensure as much renewable energy as possible is included.
• A Climate Change Action Plan will be published by the council in the autumn, addressing housing, transport, industry, commerce, and sustainable energy.
• A new online tool for developers to plan low-energy buildings introduced this month by the council's planning service.
• The council is looking into setting up a Sustainable Energy Agency to co-ordinate green power initiatives in the city. The authority is also investigating how much energy could be generated by alternative sources such as wind power.
• A 'heat mapping' exercise would identify areas where high energy demand might be met from small-scale low carbon generation locally.
• There will be work done to increase training and apprenticeships in the renewable energy sector, and a campaign to spread the low-carbon message.
• A bid for £1m of EU funds is being made, aimed at setting up apprenticeships related to green energy.
• Officials will investigate funding for a scheme to help communities generate their own low-carbon power.

The Renewables Scrutiny Panel was chaired by Dr Adrian Smith, of the Science and Technology Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex. Other panel members were councillors from various political parties including Cllrs Pete West, Warren Morgan, and David Watkins.

The Panel held four public meetings, hearing from 26 expert witnesses, including council officers, representatives of city partner organisations, experts on renewable energy, sustainable energy businesses and local residents.

That's not cricket! Green council shows it means to be firm as well as fair with unauthorised Traveller camps

1 July 2011. On Tuesday 29 June, council officers and police removed two groups of Travellers who had recently camped in parks in Brighton and Hove.

Councillor Pete West, Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability, said: "Our aim is to ensure Gypsies and Travellers are treated with the same respect and consideration as any other community."

"By the same token, we expect all communities nomadic or otherwise to respect our parks and open spaces and to treat other people with respect and dignity and not to engage in anti-social behaviour," Cllr West added.

The two Traveller groups had recently set up unauthorised encampments in Greenleas Park in Hangleton and Horsdean Recreation Ground in Patcham.

A group of Irish Travellers had moved nine trailers into Greenleas Park on Saturday. Following a visit from council and police officers on Monday, the Council made a request to Sussex Police to use their powers under the Criminal Justice Act to direct them to Horsdean Traveller Transit Site where enough space is available to accommodate the six families.

A similar request was made to evict a second group of Irish travellers from the frequently used cricket pitch at Horsdean Recreational Ground, Patcham.

A council spokesperson said: "This group of Travellers had damaged the two wickets, putting the three matches planned for this week in jeopardy."

Councillor Pete West said: "We will continue to take a firm but fair approach to travellers arriving in the city and this includes taking swift action when they park in unsuitable locations or engage in anti-social manner. We will always use our legal powers and resources to tackle unacceptable behaviour in an appropriate and proportionate way."

The council is also applying for a possession order to move Travellers from Ladies Mile Open Space. Following visits from the Traveller liaison team and the Traveller education service, and completion of welfare checks, the council has decided to seek an Order for Possession of this land.  The hearing will take place on 1 July 2011.

Green councillors seek to give Gypsies and Travellers same respect and consideration as any other community, in return for "Good Neighbour Compacts"

Brighton and Hove City Council will seek to engage with Travellers on the same terms the rest of the community, a Green councillor Pete West said in Press Release issued 15 June 2011.

As part of its ‘firm but fair’ approach to unauthorised traveller sites, Brighton & Hove City Council plans to ask travelling communities entering the city to sign up to Good Neighbour Compacts. The council is in talks with Sussex Police about how the proposals can be implemented.

”The compact is one of the proposals contained in our review of the city’s Traveller Strategy,” said Cllr Pete West, Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability. “Compacts are already used widely in social housing and we would hope that most travellers will sign up.

“We are not expecting Compacts to solve all the problems but we believe they will help. They are a new approach to a problem that no other previous administration in this city - Tory or Labour - has been able to solve.

The search for a permanent site is also an urgent priority for the council. “We will consider sensible locations where travelling communities might be allowed to stay for short period of times,” said Cllr West. “This is a better alternative than the current cat and mouse game, which sees travellers moving from site to site, sometimes causing damage as they go.

Another proposal would see greater value for money protection given to the environmentally sensitive parks and open spaces, which have been damaged by travellers.

“We will, of course, consult the resident community and the travelling community before changes are made to the Travellers Strategy, which was introduced in 2008 by the then Tory administration,” added Cllr West.

Traveller numbers this summer are not unusually high, however there is a higher number of traveller children and this has made the need for careful and sensitive handling of unauthorised sites extremely important.

”We follow the procedures outlined in Government Guidance on Managing Unauthorised Camping published in 2004 and the Travellers Strategy,’ said Cllr West.

Partnership with the Police is central to this work. A joint visit is made to any new site within one working day of the site being established in line with police protocols, and health and welfare checks are carried out.

“We have a small Travellers Team, which is very hard-pressed in the summer months when traveller numbers rise. Government spending cuts make it impossible to increase the size of this team.

“Our aim is to ensure Gypsies and Travellers are treated with the same respect and consideration as any other community,” said Cllr West. “By the same token, we expect all communities nomadic or otherwise to respect our parks and open spaces and to treat other people with respect and dignity and not to engage in anti-social behaviour.

“Unfortunately, there are a minority of travellers who behave badly, as there are in all communities.

We will always use our legal powers and resources to tackle unacceptable behaviour. This may involve powers of reasonable persuasion and application to the magistrates’ court seeking eviction from council owned and privately owned land. We always support the police where they use their powers to deal with criminal and anti-social behaviour as part of our firm but fair approach.

”While I appreciate and sympathise with the concerns of many residents about the recent impact some unauthorised encampments have been having on parks, I wish to reassure them that the council is doing all it can within the bounds of its legal obligations, and our desire to be firm but fair,” said Cllr West.

“I am greatly concerned about the politicisation of the issue by some opponents which I fear risks stoking up prejudice and racial hatred, and would ask for calm and understanding from all.”

A spokesperson for Sussex Police added: “Sussex Police is committed to reducing any tensions between the settled and traveller communities, deal with any crime or anti social behaviour amongst all groups and, when requested, consider the emergency powers that exist to require people to leave unauthorised encampments.”

Recycle Week - Green councillor Pete West spends a day with refuse collectors and says more recycling of household waste is possible and will save landfill tax

June 17 2011. Ahead of National Recycle Week, which runs from June 20 to 26, Councillor Pete West, Brighton & Hove City Council's Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability, accompanied refuse and recycling crews on their rounds to see collections at first hand. He said much more could be done toward recycling in Brighton and Hove.

He said: "For every tonne of waste that goes to landfill, the council has to pay £56 in Landfill Tax - that's council taxpayers' money which could be much better spent elsewhere."

"Many people are already recycling, but there is more that can be done - from going out with a refuse crew on their round earlier this month I know that materials that can be recycled are still being put out in refuse bins. There are lots of ways we can all make a difference and cut waste, whether it is by reusing items, for example, by giving them to a charity or community group which can make use of them, or recycling using the 'black box' doorstep recycling scheme, and recycling points around the city. The YMCA charity shop at the Hove Recycling Centre is proof that one person's rubbish is another person's treasure."

Central Sussex YMCA shop at Hove Recycling Centre is a charity shop putting tonnes of rubbish to good use - and raising thousands of pounds for local people at the same time. They supply recycled goods to Sussex Central YMCA shop at Brighton & Hove City Council's recycling centre off Old Shoreham Road in Hove is a treasure trove of goods - including the kitchen sink! Items which might otherwise have ended up being discarded as rubbish are donated for sale at the shop and a paint recycling scheme is about to be launched there.

The role of the shop which is run by Sussex Central YMCA, in association with the city council, is being highlighted as part of national Recycle Week which runs from June 20 to 26.

It is one of a variety of ways across Brighton & Hove in which residents are being encouraged by the city council to reuse and recycle as much waste as possible - to help the environment and cut costs. These include doorstep recycling collections; recycling banks across the city collecting everything from glass and cans to bras and toys; recycling centres; sales of subsidised home compost kits; and providing details of local charities and community groups which can reuse furniture, timber, bric-a-brac, paper and other unwanted goods.

All kinds of items which might otherwise have ended up being discarded as rubbish are donated for sale at the shop. Furniture, clocks, clothes, bicycles, and electrical goods, and bric-a-brac make up the bulk of its stock but quirky and unusual items also come its way - recent donations, for example, have included a Sphinx garden ornament which was so heavy it need four people to move it and was soon snapped up by a new owner; large plants which have outgrown their home; a sledge; ironing boards, and sinks.

A paint recycling scheme is also about to be launched at the shop, under which people can donate leftover unwanted tins of paint, to be used by local charities, community groups and people on low income free of charge. www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/paintreuse

For the YMCA the store, and their other high street shops, are a vital source of income which raise essential funds for the charity's work with children, young people and families in Brighton & Hove.www.hoveymca.org.uk

Recycling Factfile

For full details about recycling in Brighton & Hove and the range of materials which can be recycled visit www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/recycling

Around 30,000 tonnes of waste are recycled in Brighton & Hove every year from doorstep collections, recycling points and recycling centres - the equivalent in weight of 2,100 double decker buses. (This is out of a total of around 108,000 tonnes of waste generated in the city each year.)

Brighton & Hove City Council's recycling centre are operated on behalf of the council by Veolia Environmental Services. They are located off Old Shoreham Road, Hove, BN3 7AE, between Aldrington Avenue and Leighton Road, and off Wilson Avenue, Brighton, BN2 5PA, about half way up Wilson Avenue, on the eastern side.

A huge range of materials can be recycled at these sites, from cans, aerosols, and cooking oil to metal, car batteries, computers, TVs, textiles and shoes

Turning food scraps into compost is another way of cutting waste and a new video on the council's website www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/composting gives tips on home composting. Subsidised compost kits are available from the council.

Recycle Week www.recyclenow.com

Green Cabinet Member Pete West calls for investigation after Mound Community Garden is trashed

26 May 2011. Councillor Pete West, the council’s cabinet member for the environment has promised an investigation of reports that the community garden at the Mound on Church Street in central Brighton has been trashed by the site's developers.

According to a report in Brighton and Hove News blog, the "community gardeners" complained that the developer who owns the site - Hargreaves of Little Hampton - has demolished vegetable beds, seed nurseries and a wildlife conservation area including a pond containing tadpoles and newts. despite a notice by the pond which explained that there were newts - a protected species - in the pond. "The sign was deliberately smashed up by the clearance gang.”

The land was a derelict eyesore before the community gardeners decided to brighten it up. The developers recently obtained a court judgement to develop the community gardeners from the land.

Cllr Pete West said: “If these reports are true it’s an outrage. I’ll be asking officers about whether there was any legal protection on wildlife there, whether any laws have been broken and if so whether anyone can be prosecuted.

“Even if no action can now be taken, the whole city will want to signal its disgust at such vandalism. In any case the developers will now be punished by a PR disaster of their own making.”

The community gardeners fear that the site will remain an eyesore for years to come. They said: “Since opening in January, The Mound had shown gardening films, had seed-bomb workshops, held free soup kitchens and been a mecca for locals and visitors to Brighton of a weekend. During this time there had been only positive feedback and the space had been 100 per cent trouble-free.”