Economic crisis must not wreck green agenda, say Tories
Shadow environment secretary insists UK must hold fast to green policies
Helene Mulholland, The Guardian, Wednesday October 01 2008
Bill Bryson: spoke out against littering in the countryside. Photograph: David Levene
Britain must "hold fast" to its green agenda despite the economic crisis, the shadow environment secretary insisted today.
Citing the current global economic problems reverberating in Britain, Peter Ainsworth told delegates at the Conservative conference in Birmingham that efforts to tackle the financial meltdown had to go hand in hand with tough commitments to tackling climate change.
"We were promised no more boom and bust and look what happened," he said. "But when it comes to the global environment, if that goes bust there will be no boom ever again."
He said "going green" would make the country safer and better off.
"These are difficult times. But we must, and will, hold fast to the green agenda. Don't let anyone tell you there is a choice between the economy and the environment. There simply isn't."
There was an "urgent need" for Britain to forge a greener economy in light of the country's dependency on foreign oil, spiralling food prices and the threat to jobs, he said.
And he rounded on the government for sending out what he said were inconsistent signals on the environment.
"It's no good ministers going around the world lecturing countries like India and China about carbon emissions and then ushering a new generation of dirty coal-fired power stations - or building a third runway at Heathrow regardless of the impact on the local and global environment.
"Why should anyone take lectures from Labour when over half of all government departments have bigger carbon emissions than a decade ago."
Also speaking at the environment debate was Bill Bryson, the bestselling author, who issued a heartfelt plea to the Conservatives to do more to tackle the menace of litter.
Bryson, the president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, which is mounting a "stop the drop" campaign, said it was time to "fight back" against the tide of rubbish littering the nation's streets and countryside.
"We believe that a countryside as lovely as Britain deserves better than to be routinely trashed," he said.
In a well-received speech, Bryson said that England's "precious and rare" landscape deserved to be cherished - and on the whole it was.
"Just one thing stands between it and perfection - and that is litter. It's become the default condition of a great deal of the British landscape, and fly-tipping is making matters even worse."
"No one wants to live in a country that's only lovely from the ankles up," Bryson added.
The party faithful were promised that a Conservative government would fund moves to ensure local authorities universally returned to weekly bin collections.
Eric Pickles, the shadow communities and local government secretary, said the current rate of cuts in local government would see the weekly bin collections disappear within five years.
"We reject Labour's army of bin bullies and bin taxes," he said. "That is why David Cameron has pledged that we will provide funding to allow all councils to introduce a proper weekly rubbish collection, on top of recycling."
Pickles condemned the government's plans to "bulldoze" the green belt to meet housing targets.
"Instead of working with councils, rewarding growth and ensuring that the infrastructure is in place, Labour has relied on overbearing targets enforced by servile, obedient quangos," he said.
Pickles vowed to scrap the government's "quangorate" infrastructure commission, designed to oversee major projects and speed up the planning process.
"We are going to put local communities back in charge," he said to applause.
"We are going to have county councillors responsible for their actions. Nobody is going to be able to hide behind decisions made miles away."
Pickles insisted that this would not lead to more "nimbyism", where local people refuse housing developments in their backyards.
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