Six to Fix - Environment: Pursue a Zero Carbon Growth policy with carbon neutral developments

The Liberal Democrats' Manifesto for Bedford Borough has identified 'Six to Fix' for Bedford Borough. The Six to Fix priorities include the Environment, which the Council must protect by pursuing a Zero Carbon Growth policy with carbon neutral developments.

Liberal Democrats believe that the Environment should be at the heart of everything the council does, with all aspects of Bedford Borough Council decisions assessed against their environmental impact. We reject the plans of the former Conservative County Council for a giant incinerator near Stewartby, and continue to press for an environmentally superior option for waste disposal such as Mechanical and Biological Treatment.

We will continue to press for improvements to the orange bag recycling scheme, building on our success in securing extra funding for improvements at blocks of flats to enable more residents to take part, and also in ensuring that residents would be given a choice of a bag or a new recycling bin depending on what they feel is most suitable for them.

Liberal Democrats will continue to fight to protect communities' green spaces from development. Sufficient sites have been identified for the 16,000 new homes required in the Borough by 2021 - there must be no further unnecessary development of precious green fields.

We are also committed to improvements to the local environment, and will continue to press for enhanced street cleaning for the whole Borough - not just the town centre.

Our Zero Carbon Growth policy would mean that new residential and commercial developments would have a neutral carbon impact, or else their developers would be forced to pay into an offset fund in order to carbon emissions by the equivalent amount elsewhere in the Borough. This policy is already in operation in nearby Milton Keynes, and represents the kind of bold action needed in Bedford Borough to protect our local and wider environment.