Exeter Policies
Here are a few of the issues we think are most important at this time in Exeter:-
- ExTRA - Exeter Traffic Reduction Action.
- ZED Standards on all New Buildings.
- Create a Rubbish-free Exeter by 2020.
- Ban The Burner - MBT Instead.
Devon Green Groups are currently in discussion about our unified stance on the subject of Exeter City Councils bid for Unitary status, so watch this space for an update on that and other policiy issues...
ExTRA - Exeter Traffic Reduction Action.
Exeter Green Party is a supporting member of the Exeter Traffic Reduction Action Group. These are a set of simple proposals to help reduce congestion, air polution and green house gas emissions in the city. Spending 24 hours in Exeter is equivalent to smoking 27 ciggarettes. Something needs to be done!!
The 5 Key Measures are:-
- Make minimum city centre parking charges the same as return bus fares from the city outskirts. Everyone will then have an interest in bus fares, not just regular passengers! It makes no social or environmental sense for city parking to be cheaper than a bus ride. As well as encouraging car sharing, Park and Ride and bus usage, such a policy will help put downward pressure on bus fares.
- Gradual decrease in council controlled public parking by 3% per year. With parking charges pegged to bus fares, more people will be encouraged to access and move around the city by other means - so fewer parking spaces will be needed.
- Workplace parking charges. A charge to businesses for their parking spaces can be introduced under existing legislation. Whilst this may be unpopular, local authorities can make a strong case for workplace charges, making clear the time and money businesses would save with less congested roads. All the money raised should be ring fenced and re-invested in sustainable transport solutions.
- A ‘walking bus’ for all primary schools. Nearly one in five cars clogging up the roads at 8.50 am is on the school run. All Exeter’s primary schools should provide ‘walking buses’ where children form a large and visible group, supervised by adults, and walk safely from their homes or ‘bus stops’ into school.
- ‘Car-free’ housing developments with public transport links and car clubs. New houses mean more traffic. With hundreds of new homes proposed for Exeter, traffic will grow and grow, unless local authorities commit to ‘car-free’ housing developments. This doesn’t mean residents are ‘excluded’ or immobile. Instead, cycle, pedestrian and bus routes and car sharing schemes are built into the developments. Such developments also allow more space for gardens, meeting places and amenities and mean streets are safe for children to play in.
For more details on the suggested policy, Click Here
ZED Standards on all New Buildings.
New Labour have introduced targets according to the Kyoto Protocal of a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of 60% by 2050. Energy use in buildings accounts for about half of the UK's CO2 emissions.
But UK building regulations do not require new buildings now to be energy efficient or source any of their power form renewable sources. This means that buildings being built today will be need to be refited within 10 years to keep up with the governments own modest targets, let alone what we really need to be doing. This is madness when you consider that the lifespan of most buildings is well above 50 years.
All over the country we are putting up buildings that will need to be retrofited or torn down only shortly after they are built, if we are to have any chance of combating climate change.
ZED standards (available at www.zedstandards.com) stands for Zero(fossil) Energy Developements. Implementing at least some if not all of these codes of practice will go a long way to saving us money on not having to retrofit most buildings just after they are completed. The cheapest time to install better insulation and solar panels is at the point of construction for all buildings.
We would push to get an Exeter area Green building code introduced to help save us from costly retrofiting measures in the near to mid term future.
Create a Rubbish-free Exeter by 2020.
Zero Waste is the way forward for local authorities (see www.greenparty.org.uk/files/reports/2002/1zerowaste.htm)
Many Governments and local authorities around the world are setting targets for producing zero waste as soon as 2020 and Britain is falling behind. Zero waste simply means the recycling, re-use and composting of all waste produced by our homes and business currently, removing the need for environmentally costly landfills and incinerators.
This may seem an impossible target, but it may also surprise some to discover that countries such as New Zealand, the state of California, cities such as Canberra (Australia) and Toronto (Canada), and many other places have already adopted a policy of Zero Waste by 2020.
In Britain the council of Bath and North East Somerset and the County Council of Essex have already committed to the policy. It is not such an impossible goal!
We want to make it a reality in Exeter as well.
Ban The Burner - MBT Instead.
In April 2007 Viridor (acting on behalf of Devon County Council) applied for planning permission from Devon County Council to build a new 60,000 tonne "energy-from-waste" incinerator in Marsh Barton, next to the Valley Park in Exeter.
This will be a disaster for a number of reasons:-
- Climate Chaos: The incinerator will emit 45,000 tonnes of CO2 every year. (incinerators are just as bad as coal fired power stations).
- It will damage prospects for high levels of recycling.
- It will destroy valuable resources. For materials sustainability we should be keeping these resources in the system.
- It will produce toxic ash which is difficult to landfill.
- It will release dioxins and other pollutants into the environment.
- It will provide fewer jobs than recycling.
- ts size will result in lorry movements from other parts of Devon.
- The waste smoke stack will have damaging visual impact on valley park.
- It is too large requiring waste to be carted in from East Devon, Teignbridge and Mid Devon.
- It is too expensive: £32.5 million, and £6 million every year.
Instead we need to:-
- Minimise our Waste in the first place.
- Maximise recycling rates.
- Build a Mechanical Biological Treatment plant to deal with the Residual Waste.
MBT stands for Mechanical Biological Treatment. It describes a family of technologies that focus on mechanical and biological treatment of our residual waste.
This type of plant first mechanically breaks down and screens the waste to allow more waste to be recycled. Then the biological waste is treated in an Anaerobic Digester or Aerobic Composter, which produces a range of outputs including Compost, Biogas or soil improvement material. The element that is finally landfilled is thus reduced to a minimum, but more importantly it will be stabilised, thus not producing any methane emissions.
Advantages of MBT over Incineration:-
- MBT will REDUCE CO2 emissions by 8,000 tonnes, whereas the incinerator will INCREASE emissions by 45,000 tonnes.
- MBT produces stabilised landfill, whereas the incinerator produces toxic landfill from the flue ash.
- MBT INCREASES recycling rates, whereas the incinerator reduces it.
- MBT is more flexible than an incinerator, which means a smaller more local installation, reducing lorry movements.
- MBT produces 5 times less dioxins.
- MBT produces only half the carbon monoxide pollution.
- MBT produces only half the particulate pollution.