Green Party calls for climate action amid heatwave

The Swindon Green Party is calling on Swindon Borough Council to take real action on climate change as the town faces yet another record-breaking heatwave.

With schools having to close and older people facing health risks, the Swindon Green Party joint chairs say that they are concerned that the  previous committee may have become too much of a talking shop. They believe that the council needs to now step up and strengthen environmental protection and mitigation, not hide from the difficult decisions that the people of Swindon need.

Andy Bentley and Repi Begum, the newly selected co-chairs of Swindon Green Party have written to Cllr Matt Chandler, upon hearing of the council’s plans to remove the 'Build a Greener Swindon' Policy and Procedure committee.  

They say that the Swindon Area Green Party were concerned when the removal of the committee was proposed – especially as Swindon has just survived a severe heatwave caused by man-made Climate Change, with more on the way.

Andy Bentley and Repi Begum said: “This is not a party-political matter - these events will only get more frequent and more severe. Strong action and leadership is needed now.”

The letter points out a range of failures of the previous committee, which the council should now tackle, including:

• Securing a £2 million grant for EV chargers but not even producing a report on how it should be spent more than 2 years later.
• Hearing a report on tree planting where the numbers were significantly below what had been promoted but doing nothing to query this discrepancy.
• Scrutinising the retrofit plan for housing but not following up on why their suggestions were not enacted. 
• Asking Thames Water to explain how they would improve water treatment but taking no further action to hold them to account.

Bentley and Begum said: “The committee was seen as an opportunity to deliver green policies for the people of Swindon. Although it failed to live up to its full potential, we are seriously concerned that removing the committee without a significant replacement will lead to environmental policies being completely ignored by SBC.

“As the Cabinet Member for Strategy, Resilience and Green Infrastructure, could you please confirm what your plans for replacing the committee are, what specific steps will be taken to ensure that environmental policies are considered with the seriousness they deserve, and how you will guarantee that action will be taken urgently to address the issues raised?”