04 May 2007
Global warming is already having an effect on town hall budgets and contracts, a senior council official has warned.
Addressing a London Councils conference on the challenges posed by climate change, Bob Gilbert, assistant director for green space and leisure at the London Borough of Islington, said increasingly hot summers would have myriad effects on council services, and that some were being felt already.
He singled out the changing use of outside space as more people chose to sunbathe and relax in parks. 'There will be much increased pressure and wear and tear on our open space,' Gilbert told delegates on May 2. 'In Islington in April we had to double litter collection in parks. This is having an effect on budgets and contracts now.'
He added that more attention needed to be focused on ensuring buildings were comfortable and cool enough during the summer months. With average summer temperatures projected to continue rising, many buildings such as schools and workplaces would become too uncomfortable, he said.
This point was echoed by Alex Nickson, climate change adaptation strategy manager at the Greater London Authority. While new buildings were built to stay warm in winter, they were not sufficiently cool in summer, he told the conference. 'The current fixation on energy efficiency and maintaining winter warmth is going to cause us real problems in the future.'
This week all English secondary schools received a government resource pack about climate change.
Schools minister Jim Knight said: 'This pack will help to give young people information and inspiration to understand and debate the issues around climate change, and how they as individuals and members of a community should respond to it.'
PFmay2007
