HOW GREEN IS YOUR CITY?

14-12-2006

The government's current fad for the environment has seen a declarationthat in ten years time all new homes should be carbon neutral. At local level, though, the green message is taking a bit longer to get through.

Only last week, Steve Bedser a Birmingham councillor who's been set the task ofcreatingan eco-strategy for the city was barracked by all sides - including his own - as he laid out his provisional plans.

These included the controversial proposal that Birmingham should have a cabinet member for climate change, which was immediately rejected.

Nationally, both David Cameron for the Conservatives and prime minister in waiting Gordon Brown are, apparently, more advanced than their colleagues in this part of the world - in word, if not yet in deed.

A pity really, as the recent Birmingham Conference declared that one of the economic growth areas of the future which we should be seeking to capitalise on is environmental technologies.

So we invited Steve Bedser to tell us where he thinks Brum should be heading. Here's his vision in his own words.

"I Chair the Task and Finish Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Sustainability and Climate Change. Not the snappiest of titles, I know, but actually quite significant once you unpack what it means.

"The best analogy is the parliamentary select committee, but task and finish means the work is time limited (our final report is scheduled for next June).

"You have to be a real local government anorak to full understand the overview and scrutiny process, but what's useful to know is that Birmingham has one of the best resourced and most sophisticated scrutiny secretariats in the country.

"That means that once (hopefully considered and well researched) recommendations are made, there is a robust mechanism in place for tracking and performance managing their implementation.

"Now if that all sounds a little too dull and technical, I apologise. It's the world I inhabit. The punch line is that my committee will make some strong recommendations about what the city needs to do to be more sustainable and to mitigate against climate change, and we will be able to follow them through to make sure that the Executive and their officers actually do what is necessary.

"We spent the first six months gathering evidence from a wide range of people, both within and outwith the Council, asking what they thought should be the sustainability priorities for Birmingham.

"Our interim report has concluded what in our opinion can usefully be done in the next six months (by which time our work has to be finished) and highlighted other areas which we think are important, but we are relatively confident are being looked at by other Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

"We have also made some preliminary recommendations about staff numbers and governance, in the hope that we might influence decisions being taken now, which will have effect in the next financial and municipal years.

"The key lines of enquiry we intend to pursue fall into three broad areas. Firstly we intend to look at the Council's own estate and practices. If we are going to make change across the city, the City Council needs to get its own house in order, setting an example to other public and private sector organisations, as well as the citizens that elect us.

"There is massive potential for us to make a quantum change in the city's carbon footprint if we use the purchasing power of our annual multi-billion pound budget. I never thought I would get excited by procurement, but the very thought now sets my environmental heart racing.

"We also need a candid debate about leadership in the city. Not a petty critique of individuals, but a sophisticated and strategic understanding of the process of leadership in the context of Birmingham's size and complexity.

"In my view, it is unthinkable that in 10 years time, we won't have a Cabinet Member solely dedicated to the challenge of Climate Change. The only issue for debate is when it might happen, and my committee has concluded that it should be now.

"For the Executive to define climate change as a key priority for the city today would, in itself, be an act of leadership that would be revered by future generations.

"Finally, my committee intends to tackle the urgent reform that is required in our planning framework. City planning guru Professor Michael Parkinson characterised us as willing victims in Birmingham, and it is in the sustainability of our development control decisions that this is most apposite. We lag a long way behind other local authorities.

"The current culture is one of timid reluctance to set challenging pre-conditions for developers, fearful that they might walk away altogether. This needs to change. There are a couple of statutory policies that are due to be developed in the next year or so, and it is my committee's intention to extensively influence that work.

"Birmingham has a proud heritage. We were at the leading edge of industrial development. In turn, we managed a transition to economic development that has secured our place on the international stage. The time has come to recognise that our future prosperity depends on a mind set change towards sustainable development."

Has Steve got it right? Should there be cabinet member with responsibility for managing climate change? How else should Birmingham and the West Midlands meet the challenge of global warming? Leave a comment on our messageboard.