Liberal Democrats Put Climate Change First

7.46.00pm GMT Sun 10th Feb 2008

At a meeting of Milton Keynes Council on 8 January, the Liberal Democrats put forward a key proposal on climate change, to recognise the excellent work that the Liberal Democrat-run Council is undertaking.

"The Liberal Democrats have put the environment, especially climate change, at the top of their agenda. That is why promoting energy efficiency is one of our six major pledges to the residents of Milton Keynes," said cabinet member for the environment, Councillor Douglas McCall.

Since taking control of the Council in 2002, the Liberal Democrats actions on the environment include:

• Bringing back weekly recycling and implementing the popular pink-sack scheme

• Reducing road congestion and the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on the climate by introducing the 'green bin' garden waste scheme (this has made a major contribution to the Council being able to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill despite a growing population)

• Trebling the rate of recycling since Labour last ran the Council

• Setting up a carbon management programme which not only reduces the Council's 'carbon footprint', but also saves council taxpayers money

• Setting out an 'Energy Management Policy'.

In addition, the Leader of the Council, Liberal Democrat Councillor Isobel McCall, has been battling to keep Milton Keynes' award-winning Local Plan 'Policy D4', which requires sustainable construction policy on all buildings. Commonly called the 'carbon-neutral homes policy', Isobel has been attacking the Government, which has been considering taking this away from Milton Keynes. In early January, Isobel was a key speaker at a press conference in London to launch the private member's 'Planning and Energy Bill'. She was asked to speak because of the lead that Milton Keynes has taken on sustainable construction and the support for policies to counter the effect of climate change.

Douglas McCall continued: "The Liberal Democrat Council has further plans. In 2009, the amount of waste going to landfill will fall even further when our kitchen waste collection scheme will roll out across the whole of Milton Keynes. We are taking the lead nationally by introducing policies to counter the effect of climate change."