Ian Saville

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Ian Saville3 years ago Brent Friends of the Earth – Response to Brent Draft Borough PlanBrent Friends of the Earth was pleased to receive the Draft Borough Plan, Moving Brent Forward Together for 2023-2027, and is glad to have this opportunity to comment on it.However, we must say at the outset that this is a disappointing document, and seems not to address many of the key issues regarding Climate Change and the environment which need to be urgently dealt with in the coming years.In July 2019, Brent declared a climate emergency at a full Council meeting. It would be reasonable to expect that in an emergency situation, Brent would focus its attentions on dealing with that emergency. However, the Borough plan only contains only one mention of the phrase ‘climate emergency’, and that is in the Leader’s ‘forward’ [sic] to the document. Later on it seems to have been largely forgotten. There are some references to environmental measures on the introductory page, in the paragraph headed ‘A cleaner, more considerate Brent’, but these are all about what Brent has already done, rather than forming the basis of a plan for the future.Turning to the body of the plan itself:The section headed ‘Strategic Priority 2: A Cleaner, Greener Future’ asserts in one short paragraph that:The effects of climate change are here, and we all have a role to play. We are determined to work with our residents, partners and communities to reduce our carbon footprint as far as possible. We will also work with partners to reduce our emissions and usage of harmful material.However, neither of the sub-headings on ‘desired outcomes’ and ‘What success will look like’ make any reference to reducing emissions, except indirectly in terms of the intention to ‘Maintain our recycling targets as a proportion of overall waste’. Even here, the lack of ambition is disappointing – why ‘maintain’ the low proportion of recycling, rather than improve it? We understand from the data provided that recycling levels are at 33.4%, just above the median for London, but of that, around 23 percent is rejected and will go to landfill.We would have expected the section on “A cleaner, greener future’ to have much more information on questions about the environment than the single paragraph quoted above. In fact, more of this section is devoted to preventing crime and anti-social behaviour – laudable aims, but not directly relevant to making Brent cleaner and greener. There is no mention here of improving air quality, and no measurable targets for, for example, increasing tree cover or extending cycle lanes and encouraging active travel measures.The next section in the plan, on ‘Respect and Renewal in Brent’ asserts that Brent will ‘ensure sustainability is central’, but gives no indication of how this will be achieved. The ‘desired outcome 2’ in this section states the intention to make Brent ‘a sustainable borough and a greener economy’, but the bullet points under the heading are unambitious, or where dealing with wider policy questions, they are vague and unsupported by practical commitments. The desired outcome of ‘keeping Brent on the move’ in this section rather inexplicably returns to the matter of recycling, and strengthening the workforce’s ability to deliver services (a paragraph which is repeated verbatim in the next ‘desired outcome’ so presumably this has been put here by mistake), with only a very vague mention of delivering the healthy streets programme to encourage more cycling and walking. No commitment is given, or intention stated, to expand the cycling infrastructure in Brent, or to roll out more of the low traffic neighbourhoods. The next strategic priority, on ‘the best start in life’ focuses rightly on education and care of young people. It calls for the youth voice to be heard, but again makes no mention of climate change. We know well from recent events and protests, that the climate emergency is very much a priority for many young people, and in the wider society their voice has been making itself heard. If we want our young people to be optimistic about their future, we must show that the Council has a robust plan to deal with climate change, which threatens to blight their future.The final strategic priority is on ‘A healthier Brent’. Here there is an assertion that green spaces, walking and cycling routes should be ‘SEND friendly’, but there is no commitment to expand such spaces and routes for all, whether or not they have special needs or disabilities. (Incidentally, we think it is bad practice to include acronyms such as this, notwithstanding the explanatory glossary. People should not have to turn to a glossary for the explanation of simple concepts that can be explained in the text).The accompanying data shows low levels of exercise among Brent residents, and high levels of childhood obesity. Both of these problems could be at least partially addressed by expanding safe cycling and walking routes for all.While we welcome the intention to make parks and green spaces more accessible, we would like to see a clear commitment to expand the tree cover in Brent. We understand that the heatwave last summer was damaging for Brent’s tree stock. We would like to see much more planting of trees, particularly species which will be able to cope with the coming hot summers.We have given our critique of what is in the borough plan, but we also have concerns about what is not in it.There seems to be nothing about encouraging or using sustainable forms of energy for heating domestic premises. Brent needs to address the poor levels of insulation in its housing stock, as well as finding ways to encourage people to take up the installation of solar panels and heat pumps. Brent should also encourage the installation of low-energy generation on public buildings.We hope that many of our comments will inform the next iteration of this draft document, and look forward to reading a version which has many more measurable targets and clear goals.Yours sincerely,Ian SavilleJoint Coordinator, Brent FoEwww.brentfoe.cominfo@brentfoe.com