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Do Cameron’s Councils really belie the Tory agenda?
Posted by Claire Spencer (@thedancingflea)
Friday, 5th February 2010
I got some bad news on Thursday – a local Grade II listed church, St. Mary’s, applied for planning permission for a photovoltaic array. The electricity generated per year would have been around 8000kWh, the surplus of which would have been sold back via a feed-in-tariff. Sustainable Moseley, the local group that I am Vice Chair for, worked tirelessly to galvanise support in the community, and even managed to get £30,000 for the project from British Gas. But it was turned down.
In many ways, this was a genuine shock – photovoltaic panels are hardly the most controversial form of microgeneration (that dubious honour belongs to the poor old wind turbine) – and the project as a whole was remarkably well-conceived. The proposed array adhered to the guidelines laid out by English Heritage in their publication ‘Small scale solar electric (photovoltaics) energy and traditional buildings’ and aligns with the wishes of the National Trust, which first installed photovoltaics onto one of its Grade I listed buildings in 2008. Indeed, they say, in no uncertain terms, that if we do not tackle the issues surrounding climate change, there will be no heritage left to conserve. If you fancy some more in-depth reading, cast an eye over Planning Policy Statements PPS 1, 2 and 22.
It was also widely supported by the people of Moseley (you know, those people who use, live and work near the church) – notably by our local Labour MP Lynne Jones, local Liberal Democrat Councillor Ernie Hendricks and the Moseley Society – the group that first enabled Moseley to become a conservation area in the first place. Further, Birmingham launched its Green New Deal last week, and the City Council signed up to the 10:10 scheme mere days ago. The Planning Committee’s rejection of a promising microgeneration project such as this has little resonance with those commitments, and bodes ill for Birmingham’s low-carbon future.
I know, I know. The mind boggles.
Ultimately, this project was, as much as anything else, a victim of planning policy, which makes no real provision for the differing priorities of the politics of conservation and climate chance. Indeed, there is clear policy gap in situations where issues of conservation and climate change coincide, and for the sake of the sustainability of Moseley and other conservation areas, this needs to be closed, and quickly – so that other backwards-looking public servants cannot exploit it. I’m going to be following this closely.
In this case, the church is now likely to miss out on the £30,000 of Green Streets funding. Most churches don’t have that sort of money lying around. Most churches would jump at the change to reduce their energy bills to zero. Perhaps they could use the money they save to…hmmm, run and maintain the fabric of the church? Just an idea.
While it’s tempting to extrapolate the actions of the six who voted against the project to cover all of Birmingham’s Conservative Councillors, I’m not going to do it. But all six voted against it, and that is still telling. If David Cameron says that his Councils are where we should look for his government, well, this situation shows me a potential government that is not serious about climate change, sustainable living or community empowerment. What good will come of us voting for that?
