When the Liberal Democrats ran the City Council from 2006 to 2008 we made Climate Change a top priority.

v      We ensured the Council monitored its own energy use. We produced the award-winning Carbon Management Strategy, Getting our House in Order. This committed the City Council to a 25% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2010/11 and 3% annually thereafter

v      We published a sustainable living guide,Oxford is My World,   which gained the 2007 ‘Green Apple’ award from The Green Organisation, an international body which promotes environmental improvement. 

v      We set out to find sites for large wind turbines on land owned by the City Council,  working with the Carbon Trust’s Partnership for Renewables .  Such turbines would provide a secure local renewable energy supply for hundreds of houses. One site near Horspath has been identified for a test mast and investigation is ongoing for a possible site in Cutteslowe Park.

v      We set out to establish an effective recycling scheme for household waste and doubled the recycling rate from 19% to 38% in six months.  Since Labour took over in 2008 it has stalled at 40%. We would have introduced weekly food waste collection across the city by last year. Labour have only just started a pilot scheme in part of the city.

As a result of the work started under our watch, together with the important contribution made by local community groups,  Oxford has recently been selected to be one of the nine authorities to take part in the Government pilot Low Carbon Cities initiative.

The present Labour administration is claiming credit for these achievements but they would not have happened without the initiatives taken by the Liberal Democrats when they were running the council.

Our Parliamentary candidate, Steve Goddard, who recently spoke in the Climate Change debate at the Lib Dem Conference , is not just an armchair environmentalist. He gets round Oxford on a bike, is a keen birdwatcher and has done a sponsored climb of Mt Kilimanjaro. Only 963 votes behind Labour last time, Steve is strongly tipped to win Oxford East on Thursday.  He will be an effective voice for the environment at Westminster. 

Nick Clegg’s message to voters on the environment:

‘Choose the only party that was taking a stand on saving the planet long before it became fashionable.  The only party that has led the way on tackling climate change, from championing the 10:10 campaign in our councils, to setting out radical plans in Parliament to cut Britain’s carbon emissions.  The only party that, now, in the wake of the economic crisis, is setting out a vision for a new sustainable economyhat protects our world rather than sacrifices it.’

Extract from the Liberal Democrat Election Manifesto