Why We Need A New Manifesto For Brighton & Hove
In May 2019 the people of Brighton and Hove voted overwhelmingly for Councillors who offered progressive policies that would tackle the most vital issues in our city.
We recognise that we must take action to reduce and eliminate plastics, reduce carbon emissions and provide affordable housing.
As our new Council begins its journey together, we, the people of Brighton and Hove who live and work in this great city, make the following demands to ensure that we continue to grow and thrive in a sustainable, equitable way.
Plastics
We want a practical city wide recycling strategy that commits to banning the sale of non-recyclable plastics within a concrete and ambitious time frame.
We want all stallholders for the myriad of events that take place throughout the city to use compostable cups, dishes and cutlery, to use only 100% recyclable materials and to avoid contamination of food and other compostable waste at all events.
Housing
We want our new Council to ensure that everyone in Brighton and Hove has a warm, safe, affordable place to live.
There are estimated to be 14,593 households in the city who are classed as living in fuel poverty, resulting in 180 Excess Winter Deaths.
We demand that action is taken to bring all homes up to an energy performance standard of D or better, improving our health and wellbeing while continuing to reduce carbon emissions
Energy
We demand that our Council follow the example set by Warrington Council and take measures to power all of its buildings with renewable energy and battery storage, including schools, community centres, leisure centres and libraries.
We ask our Council to involve local community energy groups with new housing and infrastructure projects that could benefit from renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.
Transport
Food
We ask our Council to adopt the food strategy set forth by The Food Partnership’s Food Strategy Action Plan released in November 2018.
We want the Council to supoprt and assist in BHESCo’s efforts to develop a community owned Anaerobic Digestion plant near Brighton and Hove, making use of the city’s food waste to develop low cost clean energy for lcoal residents.
Please share your thoughts and suggestions with us using the comments section below. We will publish the finished manifesto and present this to the Council in the next few weeks.
2 Comments
Dean Coriarty · 29/05/2019 at 15:21
It should be obligatory for all supermarkets to give their unsold but still edible food to the homeless as they close for business each evening
Chris · 07/06/2019 at 09:40
On transport I would want to see a call for more space for walking and cycling, Valley Gardens Phase 3 completed, more consideration to walking and cycling in planning decisions, improvements to the bus network and any electrical charging points not to be placed on pavements (as they further risk narrowing what has already become quite an obstacle course). A statement on shared paths and A-boards, bins, etc would also be good. The Low Emission Zone should cover all vehicles in the centre, not just buses.
We should also include green spaces groups to address issues around biodiversity and include mention of the Biosphere and National Park.