Time to scrap GMSF

Mayoral Candidate Jane Brophy has called on the Greater Manchester Spacial Framework to be scrapped, withdrawing support from the process.

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Jane Brophy, Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester, is calling for the Greater Manchester Spacial Framework (GMSF) to be scrapped.

Jane, who is running on an unapologetically pro-EU ticket, said: “Everything in Greater Manchester is underpinned by our place in the European Union. My top priority is to halt this aggressive Brexit agenda which will have an enormous and detrimental impact on our housing, health services, transport, air pollution and climate change crises.”

The GMSF process will only go ahead if all ten councils in Greater Manchester and the newly elected mayor vote in favour of it. If any one of the eleven deciding vote against the plans, then it will fall – and the Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate is now pledging to do just that.

Jane Brophy continued: “The Government and Greater Manchester Combined Authority should have worked together with local councils, local people and local communities to ensure no more houses were built on our greenbelt until all other options were exhausted.

“There was no attempt to have any conversation with local people and their voices have been ignored. We now risk blindly destroying our green spaces and depriving our children of the areas to grow and play in.

“Before we open up the greenbelt for development we must bring empty homes back into use, develop every old mill building, empty warehouse, factory, brownfield space and derelict piece of land that we can.

“Only when all those options were exhausted should we have considered moving onto the greenbelt. But our voices have gone ignored for long enough and it’s now time to scrap this GMSF process.

“There was no discussion about where was going to be developed, and clearly no intention to begin any discussion.

“The GMSF has been top down, rather than from the bottom up. We need a plan that fully involves local people and their communities right from the start.

“This should have been about responsibly building affordable homes in areas that are near public transport and existing links, and it should be for local people in each area to decide the future of their community, not for a secret group at Manchester Town Hall to present a completed plan.

“Therefore, I am now withdrawing my support from the GMSF process and if elected I will vote to block the process, and work to ensure each and every local resident and local community is involved properly in the process to build the much-needed homes.”

Tim Farron and Lynne Featherstone welcome the landmark Paris Agreement

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron MP has welcomed the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change.

Tim Farron said: “The landmark agreement that has been reached in Paris must be welcomed as a vital step in combating climate change.

“The Government must now urgently rethink its cuts to renewable energy which are undermining the achievements of Ed Davey and Liberal Democrats in the Coalition government in promoting green energy.

“It is not good enough to go to Paris and sign up to ambitious targets whilst scrapping the schemes that will help tackle climate change back in the UK ”

Liberal Democrat Energy and Climate Change spokeswoman Lynne Featherstone said: “This is an historic agreement in combatting climate change. Speaking with one European voice in these negotiations proved effective and shows that our EU membership is crucial in the fight against climate change.

“I hope to now see the government reverse their cuts to renewable energy and make sure that we play our part in tackling climate change. “

Huge Backward Step on Climate Change

Today the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Amber Rudd, gave a speech on the Government’s new energy policy. It involves cutting back further on renewables and increasing nuclear and gas. Decarbonisation has been down-graded in terms of priority. It also includes the end of electricity from coal, which Liberal Democrats have long argued for and which the Conservatives repeatedly opposed during the Coalition.

Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Energy and Climate Change, Lynne Featherstone, commented:

“It is utter madness of the Government to pull investment from the renewable sector which generates economic growth and jobs. We have been a world leader in this field and maintaining that status is now in jeopardy.

“Huskies will be turning in their graves. For five years we fought sceptical Tories to ensure the Coalition was the greenest Government ever. In the last 6 months this progress has unravelled to a spectacular degree.

“Britain should be leading the world in the green economy and setting an example to other nations ahead of the UN talks in Paris. It is shameful that the work we began in Coalition to deliver this is being unpicked.”

Green Energy Support Slashed – Tories show true colours on environment

You can argue that David Cameron first showed his true colours when he told aides to cut the “green crap” two years ago, but the fact is that he had no choice but to keep the coalition’s commitments to renewable energy while the Lib Dems were in government and able to protect them.

Even in the teeth of the recession that followed the financial crisis, Lib Dems in government stayed true to our environmental priorities. As a result of joining the coalition, we were able to create the first Green Investment Bank in the western world – backing renewable energy and environmental sustainability schemes with £3 billion of financial support. There are now rumours that this bank will be privatised at some point in the coming parliament.

We also secured significant subsidies for wind farms and other renewable energy projects, and the ‘green levies’ – taxes on energy companies on the basis of their use of non-renewable energy – that provide the subsidies for those projects to get off the ground. Today’s budget removes entirely a range of tax exemptions that we had worked hard to provide in order to encourage renewable energy production – risking turning back the clock on Britain’s energy network by decades.

In Britain, the amount of energy generated from renewable sources doubled over the course of the last government, as a direct result of Liberal Democrats being able to make a difference and strongly support renewable energy. We made protecting our environment and securing a safer future through reductions in carbon emissions both national and international priorities for the last government.

It is no surprise to see the Tories taking a wrecking ball to those hard-won achievements as soon as Liberal Democrats were no longer there to protect them.