Greener Chelmsford

Protecting the environment is central to Liberal Democrat policy. Global warming is the greatest challenge to our way of life that we face. We need Governments to lead nationally but there is plenty we can do locally to make a real difference.

• Stop urban sprawl of new houses - www.chelmsford-libdems.org.uk/pages/planning.html

• Increase our recycling rate not incineration

• Cut energy use - in council buildings; all new homes - and support the campaign for 80% emissions cut http://snipurl.com/big_cut_in_emissions

• Cut air pollution - encourage cycling, walking, better buses, more park & rides and a new rail station

• No second runway at Stansted - www.stopstanstedexpansion.com

• No new nuclear power stations in Essex - http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/no2nuclear

• Tax pollution not people - www.greentaxswitch.com

If you support these aims, sign our petition on www.greenerchelmsford.org.uk That webpage also brings together in one place ideas to make our town more sustainable and links to other local organisations working to protect Chelmsford's environment.

Greener Chelmsford News

Thu 21 Feb. 2008 - LD Leader Nick Clegg lists his steps to a greener lifestyle.

Tue 29th Apr 2008:

High Bridge Road should stay, say Lib Dems.

Chelmsford Council committed itself last week to knocking down High Bridge Road, from near the Odeon roundabout to Springfield Road. The local Liberal Democrats have condemned this as bad for the environment, a waste of money and sure to make traffic at the Army & Navy much worse.

Thu 24th Apr 2008:

Rainsford Avenue/Rainsford Road Development.

Developers are still pressing for planning permission to knock down the two houses on the corner of Rainsford Avenue. This time they want to replace them with six flats and three town houses.

Mon 14th Apr 2008:

A Fair Deal for Chelmsford.

Chelmsford Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate Stephen Robinson was out on the streets this weekend to highlight his campaign for a fair deal for Chelmsford residents - including keeping the 10p tax rate. The 'fair deal' offered by Stephen and the Liberal Democrats include: abolish Council tax (which has DOUBLED in Essex under the Conservatives in the last ten years), and cut income tax by 4p per £ now - for everyone.

Mon 10th Mar 2008:

Cllr. Nichols highlights the waste of Easter Egg packaging.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Gloria Nichols has been highlighting the wasteful packaging that comes with the Easter Eggs we buy from the high street. Councillor Nichols decided to speak out about this after she found she was unable to buy any Easter Eggs that did not come with excess packaging.

Mon 25th Feb 2008:

Environment watchdog closes as council "consults" on local pollution.

Chelmsford Environment Partnership (CEP) is to close after 10 years but held its last public meeting about the Borough council's "action plan" to reduce pollution around the Army & Navy roundabout. Comments on the action plan have to be in by 29th February. See www.chelmsford.gov.uk/airquality

Fri 22nd Feb 2008:

Campaign for plastic-bag free Chelmsford launched.

Chelmsford Liberal Democrats have launched a campaign for Chelmsford to become plastic bag free. Cllr. Christine Rycroft called on Chelmsford Borough Council to support the campaign at the Council Meeting on Wednesday 20th February.

Wed 20th Feb 2008:

Lib Dem plan for Borough Council to reduce carbon footprint.

Liberal Democrats have called on Chelmsford Borough Council to take real steps to reduce their carbon footprint. In a motion presented to Council on Wednesday 20th February, Cllr. Andrew Sosin called for all new Borough Council buildings to be carbon neutral in terms of how they are built & how energy would be produced and consumed within the buildings. The motion also called for any significant changes to current buildings to aim to substantially reduce the carbon footprint of that building.

Fri 23rd Nov 2007:

Recycling Yellow Pages and Tetra Paks in Chelmsford.

We cannot put Yellow Pages and Tetra Paks out for the weekly recycling in Chelmsford but they can be taken in for recycling at the following locations:

Thu 13th Sep 2007:

Inquiry set to back council plans for 6000 houses on green fields.

The public inquiry that began on Tuesday into Chelmsford council's plans for new houses is set to rubber-stamp the plans, despite the enormous voice of opposition from the voters of Broomfield who massively rejected the plans in Tuesday's by-election. That is the view of parliamentary candidate Stephen Robinson who attended the first two days of the inquiry. He has written up the discussions on his blog: http://snipurl.com/eip_day1 and http://snipurl.com/eip_day2

Fri 31st Aug 2007:

Lib Dems oppose town cramming and back north of Boreham for new houses.

In the run up to the local plan public inquiry, Chelmsford Liberal Democrats have made clear their opposition to 'town cramming' and 'urban sprawl' in the Borough Council's plans for new houses. They are backing proposals for houses to go on a site north of the A12, north of Boreham and opposing the plans for houses around Broomfield and Springfield.

Towards a zero carbon Chelmsford and Britain.

Locally and nationally the Lib Dems are backing ideas to cut our carbon footprint to zero by the year 2050 - and thus help slow climate change. In Chelmsford, the Lib Dems are promoting alternatives to the car - such as a new station near Boreham and extending the cycleway network they put in place when they ran the council.

Tue 31st Jul 2007:

Safety improvements for Parkway crossing as Lib Dem pressure pays off.

Calls from Keith Francis (Central Chelmsford Lib Dem County Councillor) have achieved a number of measures to improve safety at this busy and valuable crossing. Cllr Francis met with officers and the new cabinet member for transport (Cllr Norman Hume) to persuade them that special measures were necessary.

Wed 18th Jul 2007:

Tories reject Lib Dem proposal to increase recycling.

Conservatives at Essex County Council have rejected a call to increase recycling targets across Essex. At a meeting of the council yesterday (17 July), the Liberal Democrats group proposed that the council sets ambitious and firm recycling targets, which the Conservatives voted against.

Sat 30th Jun 2007:

Lib Dems reject Tory plans for urban sprawl.

Chelmsford's Conservative council has this week sidelined Lib Dem proposals for a sustainable solution to the local shortage of new houses. Chelmsford Conservatives want to put at least 4,000 houses on green fields around the edge of Chelmsford (link below); and also increase the number of houses built on every single scrap of land coming vacant in Chelmsford. The Lib Dems have pledged to oppose these plans.

Tue 5th Jun 2007:

Tories U-Turn to Back Incineration.

Essex County Council's Conservative administration is proposing to build an incinerator in the county to deal with the treatment of waste. Ian Gale (Lib Dem spokesman on waste management and Chelmsford West County Cllr), said: "After years of insisting that they have a 'no incineration' policy and contesting elections on that basis, Essex Conservatives have now effected a spectacular U-turn.

Earlier Stories

Complete archive on the official site.

Chelmsford Liberal Democrats News Stories, provided by Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/.

(c) 2008 Chelmsford Liberal Democrats

Other Links

Lib Dem Film - the environment needs action (Sept.2006).