Pickles scraps three green initiatives

13 Aug 10
Environmentalists have accused the government of ‘not getting’ sustainable development after it announced the abolition of three local green initiatives.
By Jaimie Kaffash


13 August 2010

Environmentalists have accused the government of ‘not getting’ sustainable development after it announced the abolition of three local green initiatives.

The Department for Communitiesand Local Government said yesterday that it would discontinue a pilot project set up by the Labour government to create sustainable communities across England, saving £50,000 a year. It also decided to end a planning performance agreement to encourage local planning authorities to develop their renewable heath and electricity technology. The ‘Design for Manufacture’ competition, which aims to improve the housebuilding industry’s response to climate change while bringing down construction costs.

Mike Childs, head of climate change at the Friends of the Earth group, told Public Finance that, although there is ‘no evidence that climate action is bearing the brunt of the cuts’, there are ‘broader worries’.

‘What we have seen is there are cuts on the low-carbon agenda and they are unwelcome. On the sustainable development agenda, there is a sense that the government really hasn’t got it.  In England, they have effectively abolished regional sustainable development planning that was pretty critical,’ Childs said.

‘We remain to be convinced that parts of government outside the Department for Energy and Climate are fully bought in to the low-carbon economy agenda, let alone sustainable development. The movement towards a low-carbon economy is under threat across government.’

Local Government and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles also announced yesterday the abolition of two more initiatives:  the Inspiring Communities scheme, which was intended to improve the skills of talented young people from deprived backgrounds; and the overcrowding pathfinder, which gave local authorities funding to develop strategies to tackle housing shortages.

 

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