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While councils might be concentrating on budgets, climate change remains a priority which must not be ignored, says Steve Cirell It is essential that the climate change debate gets to the top of the local government agenda, even in such financially-challenging times as these. The debate about how to deal with climate change should not be internal, though, but include the wider community. This summer, a discussion was held in the historic St Michael's Mount in Cornwall to discuss the future of the peninsular from a green perspective. In order to have a viable discussion, it was essential that there was a broad cross-section of people in attendance from the public, private and voluntary sectors. Those present included stakeholders from the Environment Agency, the regional development agency, the National Trust, academia, the council, and private sector companies involved in the renewable energy field. The main address was by David MacKay, chief scientific adviser to the Department of Energy and Climate Change and author of the book Sustainable energy – without the hot air. Mr MacKay set the scene. In his book, he emphasises that the ‘climate change problem is essentially an energy problem', since most of the damage to the atmosphere comes from energy use. He calculates the average energy usage for each person in the UK is 125kWh, per person, per day. He then goes on to consider where that energy might come from, if only renewable sources were available. Cornwall Council has produced a renewable-energy strategy for its own activities, and this takes a similar line. The council currently uses 14 million kWh of energy a year, and to reach its target of energy self-sufficiency by 2025, it will need to create an equivalent amount from renewables. This has exactly the same impact as Mr MacKay's book. It brings into sharp focus the huge magnitude of the task ahead, if we are to have any chance of meeting the Government's targets in the Climate Change Act 2008. However, we have both concluded the same thing – that it is possible, but only if we act now. But how we go about this process is absolutely key. The debate reinforced this view. There is widespread ignorance of the need for change and how it might be brought about. After all, simply finishing the home-insulation programme would have a huge effect on energy efficiency, and thereby, energy use, in the UK. As Cornwall is a rural area, the notion of ‘not industrialising the countryside' was also emphasised. But making farmers, for example, small generators through anaerobic digestion or solar or wind power was approved. Behaviour is another key area which we had identified to move this agenda forwards. Climate change progress almost exclusively requires behaviour change of some form or another, whether we're insulating lofts, not objecting to every planning application that comes along, supporting the council's renewables efforts or even putting solar panels on the roof. These things will not happen naturally, and need encouragement. The need to get the local community on board was also something that exercised minds at this meeting. It is our view that there are some good examples around of how not to do this, almost always ending in planning permission being refused. The next stage is to start bringing forward more exemplary schemes, where community concerns have been fully and openly discussed, and community benefit locked into the arrangements. The council hopes to lead by example in this with its current solar farm development. The issue of public or private sector-led development has also been at the forefront of the agenda with the new Government. In Cornwall, we believe the public sector does have an important role in this, and that not all developments should be private sector-led, driven simply by financial incentives and capacity. This also requires careful thought, as the council wears two hats here – applicant for planning permission on its own renewable-energy developments, but also planning authority with the statutory duty to protect the area from unsuitable and badly thought-through schemes. One way of trying to deal with this latter issue is ‘mapping' of each area to show the capacity for each type of renewable energy, and then seeking to match demand with supply. There is no doubt that planning authorities across the country are going to have to face some difficult decisions in due course. Cornwall is a particularly fertile area for renewable energy, and the challenge is to stop it becoming the ‘Wild West', as everyone seeks to acquire a piece of land and develop it with some technology or other in a haphazard and unplanned way. One potentially-controversial point which arose in the meeting was the view that the rural economy would have to generate the energy from renewable sources to ‘keep the cities going'. This is because the opportunities for large-scale and commercial operations in the metropolis are limited – for example, land availability is lower, wind speeds are affected by development and little biomass is grown – but the energy needs are highest. A representative of the Cornwall Agri – Food Council pointed out, however, that the cities also relied on the countryside for food production, and there might be a specific conflict here in land management. Once again, the challenges raised by this agenda are thrown into sharp focus. The debate in Cornwall will continue, and it is certainly something that should be under active discussion in similar forums elsewhere. Only then can we hope to start identifying the right solutions for each of our areas. Stephen Cirell was formerly director of the Green Cornwall Programme at Cornwall Council. He is now an independent consultant on climate change

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WHITEHALL

Keeping the debate on the table

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