Chairman's Newsletter Report
What has Copenhagen and the largely failed climate change conference to do with Hove? And what, if any, conclusions should we draw as a Society for our future work? The conference sought to bring together a huge range of areas and crystallize them around the climate change issue – everything from energy use, the burning of fossil fuels, the use of increasingly scarce resources, threatened biodiversity, huge social consequences including large migration flows is somehow connected to the cause and effects of our changing climate. There were even representations for water management issues to be considered – another world-wide resource that is becoming scarce in many areas. So what has it to do with Hove?
Cities are the places where most resources are being consumed and ironically it is also where it is probably easiest to start managing them better – higher densities allow better infrastructure, good public transport, an efficient distribution of energy and heat and so on. Cities are also the areas which are predicted to be hit hardest in terms of climate change impact – in particular in terms of the building of heat islands, for those cities that don’t get swamped by rising sea levels.
The UK Government’s own Transition Plan talks about a CO2 reduction of 80% by 2050 (of which we have achieved about 3% to date mainly thanks to the recession). To achieve anything near that level we will need to massively reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and increase our use of energy from renewables: wind, sun, wave-power. New buildings will need to become Zero-carbon and most products we use will need to become much more lean in terms of resources used and infinitely more energy efficient. The European Commission is going full steam ahead on eco-efficiency on anything from cars to telephone adapters with huge gains already achieved in the white goods industry thanks to energy labelling.
So what about Hove? How do we respond in a precautionary way? For starters we can make sure that all new build is as energy and resource efficient as possible. That could mean that a new building doubles up as a power station – i.e. it generates more energy than it consumes (we have good examples of this in other parts of Europe). We could also make sure that new developments are spacious enough to allow people to comfortably work from home – reducing the need for commuting. Our infrastructure for supplying energy and creating heat in the city is hugely inefficient – according to one calculation the heat spewed out at the Shoreham Power station would suffice to heat 40% of the City’s homes. How do we harness that and other energy sources? Perhaps with an embryonic district heating system at least linking major new developments and boiler installations?
However many new developments (and there will be new ones – although we are in a lull at the moment) 80-90% of the buildings we have now will probably still stand in 2050. They will have to be better insulated and more than likely will need a plethora of photovoltaic or thermal solar panels or be equipped with highly efficient CHP (Combined Heat and Power) boilers – or even fuel cells. We will need to develop expertise in all this and make sure that we support such developments is a sensitive way – the physical appearance of many of our streets might well change – but not necessarily for worse.
Then there is the physical appearance of our streets and spaces between the buildings. There is much opportunity for more tree planting, creating the shade and comfort we will want in the future and creating more attractive spaces at the same time. For example it is high time for widening the pavements in Church Road with considerable tree planting, to give justice to the central shopping and leisure area of Hove.
Your committee is currently finalising a strategy for our future work along these lines. For your information and without prejudicing the committee’s work the draft strategy can be summarised as follows:
Overall vision: Help make Brighton and Hove a showpiece – as the UKs solar city.
New buildings: Making representations to encourage new buildings to be zero-carbon, better space standards for new housing, reduced dependency on car use;
Infrastructure: Lobbying for a more sustainable energy and heat infrastructure in the City. For example the need to develop a renewable energy grid across the City, the need for district heating, sharing boilers, heat sinks.
Street and Townscape: More street tree planting, widening of pavements
Cleanliness: Higher standard, hosing down central streets, getting rid of chewing gum
Our leisure infrastructure: Better upkeep of sea front promenade street furniture, better access to the sea. Lobbying for pontoons and other improvements to the sea front.
Mobility: Lobbying for additional public transport routes, car sharing and reduced car use.
We hope to have committee sign off on a strategy within the next two months and would welcome your comments. We would also welcome additional volunteers to the Committee especially those that have some specialisms in any of the above areas to help us effectively lobby for the changes needed. Our committee is quite small at the moment with up to 8 places available, so don’t be shy! And if you can’t see yourself participating in the Committee’s work, perhaps you could help recruit new Members to the Society.
My thanks to the Committee for the work they have done during the past year. I’d like to especially mention Carolyn Oxenbury and Graham Dean for monitoring planning applications and representing the Society at the Conservation Advisory Group (a consultative committee set up by the council). Elaine Evans for organising an excellent series of lectures for the winter season and for publicity. Sue Ellerton for handling membership issues and Anne Moncrieff for supporting us all ably as the Society’s secretary.
A very Happy New Year to you all, thanks for your support and looking forward to your active participation in the Society’s refreshed agenda in 2010.
Helmut Lusser