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Climate Issues

Contents:

  • Climate Change

  • Bramber Parish Council's Climate Action Plan

  • Solar Panels in a Conservation Area

  • Bramber Parish Council's Support for the Climate and Nature Bill

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Climate Change

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As we should all be aware by now, human made climate change has primarily led to the current climate and ecological emergency facing us all.

 

Many words have been written and it's not the Parish Council's intention to repeat them here but to offer some pathways that might help you and your family to make a contribution to reducing the problems ahead and probably save some money in the process. Think global: act local.

 

The Problem

So what is the core of the problem? Basically the release of too much greenhouse gas into the earth's atmosphere: principally carbon dioxide, but also methane. To simplify matters, the climate change potential of the latter is usually estimated in term of equivalent amounts of carbon dioxide: the cumulative effect being known as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Methane's effect reduces relatively quickly but inert carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for a very long time: so that's where our primary focus should lie.

 

You will have heard the phase 'carbon neutral by 20XX' (XX = 30 for Horsham District Council's operations, XX=50 for the UK, etc.). A couple of years ago the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated that, to stay within an average long term temperature rise of 1.5°C, the world's population could only add about another 550Gt of CO2e to the atmosphere (the 'carbon budget'). After that we either stop emitting carbon dioxide completely or put in place sufficient measures to capture and store what we release – after all, that's what happened millennia ago when the world's hydrocarbon stores were created.

 

So, what's the score locally? Impact is a handy web tool that uses data from over 30 datasets compiled by researchers at the Centre for Sustainable Energy and the University of Exeter's Centre for Energy and the Environment to estimate the total amount of greenhouse gases produced directly and indirectly as a result of everyday human activities - heating homes, using electricity, transport, producing and distributing food, disposing of waste, etc.  The results below tell us that Bramber parish households are emitting above average for the district: not a good start!

 

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To put that in global context, if the world's population all released CO2e at the Bramber rate then our global carbon budget would be used up in about 4 years time (from late 2022), rather than the 8 or 9 years at current release levels.

 

Hopefully, having read this far, you want to make your own contribution to reducing the problem. In that case head to a carbon calculator: carbonindependent.org is one of the better ones, with some light reading on the side. You now have an idea where your carbon problems lie – tackling the big ones first is most efficient but do take the easy, small wins too! But how?

 

Help is at hand

Our collective local carbon footprint may be high, but help is at hand in the shape of Greening Steyning, Bramber and Upper Beeding. Greening Steyning (for short) comprises a lot of concerned local residents who initially got together in 2010. Its current aim is 'to make ours one of the greenest, healthiest and most sustainable communities in the UK', via its 2030 project. The website contains many links to its activities, so get involved! Time is short but help is at hand: just make those first steps of recognising the problem and seeking solutions.

 

Like many organisations, Bramber Parish Council declared a climate emergency (see the February 2020 minutes) and has been endeavouring to "do our bit".  We thoroughly support Greening Steyning and we were instrumental in starting the project to get solar panels on the Village Hall roof.  If you have any ideas how we could do more then feel free to contact us or come along to a parish meeting where there's always a short Open Forum session.

You can also access more local information on the Climate Action page of West Sussex County Council's website and the Climate and Environment page of Horsham District Council's website where you can sign up for their regular newsletter.

Bramber Parish Council's Climate Action Plan

The Parish Council has instituted a Climate Action Plan to show which issues we have successfully completed (orange), which issues are ongoing (green) and which may be considered in the long term (blue).  This plan is discussed and, if necessary, updated at each parish council meeting.  If you have an item which you think we should take onboard then feel free to come along to one of our regular meetings and put it forward during the Open Forum session.

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Solar Panels in a Conservation Area

Residents who live in a Conservation Area, e.g. The Street, are well aware of additional planning restrictions, particularly in the case of listed buildings.

 

It was the case that solar panels in Conservation Areas needed planning permission but this changed in April 2012. Solar panels do not usually need planning permission on the roof of a dwelling house, including in a Conservation Area, providing that:

All the following conditions must be observed:

  • Equipment on a building should be sited, so far as is practicable, to minimise the effect on the external appearance of the building and the amenity of the area.

  • When no longer needed equipment should be removed as soon as reasonably practicable.

  • If solar equipment is to be installed on a flat roof on Article 2(3)* land then the developer must apply to the local planning authority for prior approval.

 

All the following limits must be met:

  • On a pitched roof, panels should not be installed above the highest part of the roof (excluding the chimney) and should project no more than 200mm from the roof slope or wall surface.

  • On a flat roof the highest part of the solar PV equipment cannot be more than 600mm higher than the highest part of the roof (excluding chimney).

  • The panels must not be installed on a listed building, or that is within the grounds of a listed building, or on a site designated as a scheduled monument.

  • If your property is in a Conservation Area, or in a World Heritage Site, panels must not be fitted to a wall which fronts a highway.

 

* Designated land includes national parks and the Broads, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, conservation areas and World Heritage Sites.

Notes

Bramber Parish Council's Support for the Climate and Nature Bill

Preamble

Humans have already caused irreversible climate change, the impacts of which are being felt in the UK, and around the world. The global temperature has already increased by 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels and, alongside this, the natural world has reached crisis point, with 28% of plants and animals threatened with extinction. In fact, the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world as more than one in seven of our plants and animals face extinction and more than 40% are in decline.

 

Climate change remains a major concern for voters with 66% of people (according to YouGov) expressing they are 'worried about climate change and its effects'. Alongside this, the popularity of Sir David Attenborough's Save Our Wild Isles initiative demonstrates public concern that UK wildlife is being destroyed at terrifying speed.

 

Climate and Nature Bill

The Climate and Nature Bill, a private member's bill before the House of Commons, seeks to address the challenges that this situation poses by creating a whole-of­ government approach to deliver a net zero and nature positive future.

 

Based on the latest science, the CaN Bill aims to align current UK environmental policy with the need to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030, which was goal agreed to at COP15, via the Kunming-Montreal Framework (22 December 2022); and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with a fair share of the remaining global carbon budget to give the strongest chance of limiting global heating to 1.5°C, which was the goal agreed to at COP21, via the Paris Agreement (12 December 2015).

 

By bridging the gap between the UK Government's current delivery, and what has been agreed at international levels, Britain has a chance to be a world leader on the environment; seizing the opportunities of the clean energy transition, including green jobs and reduced energy bills; and boosting the UK's food and energy security.

 

Bramber Parish Council notes that:

The Climate and Nature Bill (formerly the Climate & Ecology Bill) which has been introduced in the UK Parliament on four occasions since 2020, including most recently in the House of Commons 21 March 2024. The Bill is backed by many cross-party MPs, 48 Peers, over 360 local authorities, alongside the support of eminent scientists, such as Sir David King; environmental NGOs, such as The Wildlife Trusts and CPRE; businesses, such as The Co­-operative Bank; and over 30,000 members of the public.

 

The Bill would require the UK Government to develop and deliver a new environmental strategy, which would include:

  1. Delivering a joined-up environmental plan, as the crises in climate and nature are deeply intertwined, requiring a plan that considers both together;

  2. Reducing emissions in line with 1.5°C: ensure emissions are reduced rapidly for the best chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C;

  3. Not only halting, but also reversing the decline in nature, setting nature measurably on the path to recovery by 2030;

  4. Taking responsibility for our overseas footprint, both emissions and ecological;

  5. Prioritising nature in decision-making, and ending fossil fuel production and imports as rapidly as possible;

  6. Ensuring that no-one is left behind, by providing for retraining for people currently working in fossil fuel industries; and

  7. Giving people a say in finding a fair way forward through an independent and temporary Climate & Nature Assembly, representative of the UK population, an essential tool for bringing public opinion along with the unprecedented pace of change required.

 

Bramber Parish Council therefore resolves to:

  1. Support the Climate and Nature Bill;

  2. Inform local residents, and local press/media of this decision;

  3. Write to Andrew Griffith MP to inform him that this motion has been passed, urging him to sign up to support the CaN Bill;

  4. Write to Zero Hour, the organisers of the cross-party campaign for the CaN Bill, expressing its support (campaign@zerohour.uk).

As a result of July's council meeting, the parish wrote to our member of parliament asking for his support for the Climate and Nature Bill.  This was not forthcoming and, due to the subsequent General Election, this private member's bill has made no further progress.  Nevertheless, the parish will continue to support the ideals of this document.

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