Manifesto

Development

Where properly planned and used, our homes can be low-carbon, more comfortable to live in, better for our health, and more affordable to run.  Councils have accepted poorly built houses that do not meet our current and future needs.

Our councils should collaborate to: –

  • Require all new planning applications for domestic extensions to have energy efficiency certification.
    • Itemise retrofit programmes when creating local plans and reduce fuel poverty.
    • Proceed with setting up our own development company in conjunction with partners so that affordable, energy efficient homes can be built.
    • Ask Staffordshire County and Borough Councils to work collaboratively to demand that government: –
      • Legislates for the highest possible standards of energy efficiency in all new builds.
      • Requires developers to build to nationally recognized energy efficiency certification e.g.  PassivHaus; BREEAM, AECG Building Standards.
      • Releases funding to incrementally refurbish estates including multi-residential retirement blocks, care homes.
    • Energy Production and Use
    • All new development should have solar panels and link to the grid.
    • By the early 2030s every new purchase (e.g., vehicle, boiler etc) needs to be the zero- carbon option to allow time to phase out remaining high carbon assets.
    • Accelerate the identification of land for purchase or lease for wind turbines or solar energy production so that Staffordshire can produce an increasing amount of its own energy.
    • Reject the use of bio-fuel as a sustainable source of energy.
    • Plan to design out waste and avoid future contractual obligations with energy from waste incinerators;
  • Agriculture and Land Use – time to turn ambition into action.
  • Changes in the UK’s land use are urgently needed. We need to fight for greater protection of the natural world to prevent continued loss of biodiversity.
  • The UK needs one billion trees and Staffordshire can play its part.
    • Identify suitable land owned by councils and other land, including Stafford Common to begin to increase tree planting. Reduce beef, lamb and dairy across all county catering and begin a wide scale re-education programme for healthy eating. Plan for an incremental decrease in the use of pesticides within highways/parks/verges to encourage the return of natural vegetation and biodiversity.

Plastic reduction

In the UK, 35 million plastic bottles are bought every day – that’s 200 per person every year – and 44% of these are not recycled. This means 16 million plastic bottles every day end up in our environment, whether sent to landfill, incinerated or simply dumped in the countryside, parks, or streets. The Green Party would:

  • Promote the culture of reusing and refilling, through: the introduction of a bottle deposit scheme; a community refill scheme; and an end to unnecessary single-use plastics.
  • Work to reduce plastic waste by creating a more circular economy – where recycling and reusing materials become central to our way of life.

Transport – we need to decarbonise as fast as possible. Council operations should be net zero carbon by 2030

34% of emissions in Staffordshire are from road transport. There is little we can do about the impact of the motorway but we can reduce our own emissions.

47% of residents are dissatisfied with the bus service placing Staffordshire last when compared to 10 of our nearest neighbours.

County and Borough Councils must collaborate to make ‘getting around safer and easier: –

  • Act now to introduce traffic regulation orders in air quality management areas, most urgently near our schools.
    • Significantly reduce and regulate traffic in special areas of conservation (SAC e.g., Cannock Chase) and areas of outstanding natural beauty.
  • Integrate sustainable transport into plans for new houses to ensure developments are well served by public transport.
    • Local authorities must consider where best to locate new homes to minimise the need to travel to work and amenities such as shops and schools.  Planned ‘Garden Communities’ should be reconsidered.
    • New developments should ensure easy access to electric vehicle charging points for residents in both private and public parking spaces.
    • Provide more high-quality cycling routes so that cyclists are given a greater priority and can travel safely.
    • Work with private companies and partners to begin the electrification of public transport and create the highly skilled jobs to achieve this.
      • Work with partners to provide a regular shuttle service to designated car parks on Cannock Chase and protect the fragile heathland.
  • We can do things differently.
  • The Green Party will: –
  • Collaborate with neighbouring and cross-tier local authorities and other key delivery bodies on strategies and plans which ensure systems-wide transformation is coherent and supportive of Net Zero. This will include energy, transport, housing, infrastructure and skills and will enable us to work with our neighbouring local authorities to share skills, expertise, achieve economies of scale and deliver more effectively.
  • Local area energy plans should be conducted at a scale larger than small district councils and with awareness of the wider energy assets in the region.
  • Develop Green Finance know-how. Private sector investment and Green Finance will be required to deliver the scale of the change needed. Local authority legal and finance teams, and project delivery teams will need to develop their knowledge of the finance industry. *
  • Communicate and engage with local communities, businesses and partners on Net Zero so that a mandate for action is maintained.
  • Support community action with council engagement, providing information to those involved in real local decision making, businesses and other groups. Assess the skills needed locally to deliver the transition, developing green and low-carbon jobs and supporting a resilient recovery.
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