Lib Dem call for climate change to be integrated into plan for Mid Sussex
Talk about the future of Mid Sussex often leads to discussion of the problems of congestion in our towns, particularly around peak travel periods. Any future plans for new housing need to incorporate specific traffic reduction measures and provisions to ensure that developers suffer real penalties if such measures are not provided as agreed.
Serena Tierney, Mid Sussex parliamentary campaigner says: "Mid Sussex council has a very poor record of negotiating and contracting with developers to deliver relief from traffic congestion. Just look at the failures over the Haywards Heath and East Grinstead relief roads. The Conservatives running the council have let local people down time after time on this issue."
Burgess Hill councillor, Simon Hicks, adds: "We need to plan now for a time when oil is increasingly expensive and where reliance on public transport may be a necessity and use of bicycles not just be a leisure choice. Key planning documents like the Mid Sussex District Council's draft Core Strategy that will outline planning policy for the period to 2026 need to reflect the urgent need to reduce our carbon consumption."
Liberal Democrats are the first party to aim for a carbon neutral Britain where we absorb as much carbon as we emit by 2050. We would provide incentives for renewable technologies to speed up the move away from dirty energy to renewables and make Britain a greener, healthier place to live. Investing now in the green technologies of the future could deliver hundreds of thousands of new and better jobs in the years to come.
Serena says: "This recession provides an opportunity to go green by strengthening the economy, creating new jobs and improving the quality of people's lives. We need a green road out of the recession. Lib Dems would:
- Fund insulation and energy efficiency
- Insulate every school and hospital in five years
- Purchase hundreds of new trains and invest in rail infrastructure
- Launch construction of 40,000 extra zero-carbon social homes
- Roll-out 'smart meters'- so everyone has one within five years."
Vince Cable, Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor says: "The overwhelming majority of this money can and will be spent in 2009 itself, so it will have an immediate effect on the economy - immediate jobs, cuts in family bills and improvements in people's ability to travel."