| David Lammy at the vanguard of Haringey’s drive to be the ‘Greenest Borough’. |
| Sunday, 27 January 2008 |
Yesterday, at a special Going Green Conference held at the West Green Learning Centre, David joined more than 120 local residents, councilors, and activists from across Haringey as well as national commentators and experts to give their views on plans to make Haringey the greenest borough in London.
The event was one of the last stages in the council’s consultation on its Greenest Borough strategy, which sets out a series of priorities and actions to ensure Haringey takes the lead in London on environmental issues.
Delegates at the conference had the chance to discuss elements of the strategy in detail during workshop sessions. Their feedback will now feed into a final version of the Greenest Borough strategy.
David Lammy spoke about the importance of ensuring all of Haringey’s diverse communities respond to the challenges presented by climate change. He also outlined how his ministerial role in championing green skills and training, has a vital part to play if we are to combat climate change and ensure continued prosperity and economic growth.
Please click here to watch David Lammy's speech.
David commented:
“I pay tribute to Haringey for organising this exciting and well attended conference. That this event is also taking place in the heart of Tottenham is an acknowledgement that the environment can no longer be seen as a middle class issue. Insulating homes and saving energy, for instance, not only cuts CO2, but plays a vital part in tackling fuel poverty.
“It is clear from the interest of residents here today, that this is an issue which local people care passionately about. But we must also work hard to broaden and deepen this coalition, we as politicians will only be able to take the tough decisions necessary if we have mobilized cross community support and educate people about the issues.
“Here in Haringey, we have the ambition and political leadership to drive the green agenda forward: to tackle climate change, increase recycling and improve the local urban environment.”
Speakers also included Cabinet Member for Environment and Conservation, Cllr Brian Haley, who discussed the work that Haringey has taken to tackle climate change since signing the Nottingham Declaration in December 2006. That includes the introduction of carbon emissions-based parking charges and reaching a recycling rate of 25 per cent for the first time.
Cllr Brian Haley said:
“As a council, we could come up with every environmental initiative imaginable, but it won’t make a genuine difference unless we have the support of residents, businesses and other public sector organisations across Haringey.
“So it was really pleasing on Saturday to see so many people from different areas of the borough unite under this one cause. The conference was an excellent opportunity for people to give their views on how we can develop a greener and more sustainable Haringey, and how we can best spread that message among our communities.
“All the views given will now be taken into account when we draw up our final strategy. I’d like to thank all those who attended the conference – and all those who’ve responded to the consultation - for their insightful and very helpful comments.
Haringey’s Director of Urban Environment, Niall Bolger, went through the strategy in more detail, while Quentin Given and Ify Adenuga outlined the work being undertaken by the Sustainable Haringey network – a group of community organisations and residents in the borough committed to promoting a sustainable environment.
The event was also supported by Mark Lynas, author of “Six Degrees – Our Future on a Hotter Planet”, and Justin Rowlatt, Newsnight’s Ethical Man, they both gave their own take on climate change issues and how to address them.
In the afternoon there were breakout sessions around set themes; question and answer sessions and interactive voting on the different elements of the green strategy.
For more images of the event please click here.
Please click here to view and download David's 2008 Climate Change Update.
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