February 2008

I regularly receive letters from people concerned about the environment and climate change and they are rightly concerned about planning that encroaches on the green belt. 

The Climate Change Bill and the Energy Bill are working their way through the parliamentary process now.   They will help us reduce our carbon emissions and move to greener energy sources.

We will save between 23-33 million tonnes of carbon by 2020, through the measures proposed in these Bills and the Energy Review White paper I launched when Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.  At the upper end, this carbon saving is the equivalent of removing all cars, buses and lorries from the roads.

But providing alternative sources of energy can be difficult and controversial.  Although, a single wind turbine can generate between up to a third of a home’s electricity it is not straight forward to get planning permission to put one on your home.  A proposal to build a wind farm of hundreds of turbines can be met by many objections. 

We must continue to work towards a solution which balances the need to cut our CO2 emissions while safeguarding the beauty of the green belt surrounding Edinburgh.  Of course, we all have a part to play - switching to energy saving light bulbs, recycling as much as possible, reduce the use of plastic bags.  Little changes can make a big difference.  But this is a big issue and one we need to sort out. And we can’t afford to leave it up to our children to resolve – by then it will be too late.