Liberal Democrats propose energy reduction targets for Suffolk County Council

4.16.40pm GMT Thu 3rd Jan 2008

Liberal Democrats on Suffolk County Council have proposed energy reduction targets of initially 5% per year for Suffolk County Council in response to the shock news that at present NO TARGETS exist.

At present the county council spend around £2.4 million per year on energy costs for Council buildings (excluding schools), but the Conservative Administration no targets for reducing this figure. Liberal Democrat councillors are now proposing new targets to reduce the amount of energy used and that the money saved should be invested in 'invested to save' schemes to further reduce energy usage (such as better insulation, solar panels etc.)

Speaking about the issue, Cllr Kathy Pollard, Group Leader of the Liberal Democrats said, "I find it unbelievable that the Conservative Administration hasn't set energy reduction targets for council buildings. Never mind the environmental aspect of this; the council simply has a duty to the taxpayer to reduce its overheads.

About half of the UK's CO2 emissions come from the energy we use every day, with fossil fuels being burned to produce the electricity we need. If we, as politicians, want to convince people to do their part and reduce the amount they use then we have to set ourselves targets too.

The Liberal Democrats intend to suggest energy reduction targets at the next budget meeting of the Full Council in February, with the money saved each year being invested in schemes which further reduce energy consumption. This is exactly the sort of thing staff at the council are actually very good at doing if someone asks them to.

Once again however we see a total lack of leadership on environmental issues from this Administration."