Press release
April 6th 2005

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Northwest politicians debate five green pressure points in the region's first electoral clash.

Hot topics like global warming, the need for congestion charging and equality for all Northwest residents will be put before the main political parties this Thursday at the Northwest's first electoral clash following Tuesday’s official announcement of the election on May 5.

On Thursday 7 April, from 7pm until 9.30pm, Sustainability Northwest (SNW) is to host England’s Northwest 'Question Time’, focussing on sustainable development. Taking place at Urbis, Manchester, the event will feature Graham Brady, Conservative MP for Altrincham and Sale North; David Chaytor, Labour MP for Bury North; Jean Lambert, Green Party MEP; and Andrew Stunell, Stockport's Liberal Democrat MP.

The event will be chaired by Professor Cary L. Cooper CBE, SNW board director and pro-vice chancellor at the University of Lancaster. Prof. Cooper will challenge the politicians to detail what their parties plan to do, if elected, to counter the main five sustainable development challenges facing the region today.

Challenge One: Time's Up for Fossil Fuels

What are the parties going to do to seriously tackle climate change? The Northwest has 429km of coastline at serious risk of flooding as sea levels threaten to rise by almost a metre this century. On the Fylde coast alone the insurance risk is claimed to reach into the hundreds of millions and earlier this year, Cumbria witnessed flash floods, which resulted in the human cost of three deaths. Several species of fish, butterfly and plant could be lost as summers get hotter and drier, and the heavy deluges of rain expected during winter could make flash floods in our towns more common. Yet our region - rich in wind resource both on and offshore - is still not generating enough renewable energy and is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions at a higher rate than the national average - 12 tonnes of CO2 equivalent for every man, woman and child in the region.

Challenge Two: The Ticking Timebomb of Increasing Waste

The latest statistics show that the Northwest is one of the worst performing regions on recycling, managing an average rate of 11 per cent of waste recycled against a national target of 25 per cent. In fact, if you tot-up the resources we use and the land needed to bury our rubbish, the region's 'Eco-Footprint', or the land it needs to sustain itself, stretches across an area 30 times its actual size. It is estimated that England’s Northwest will need an additional 33 million cubic metres of landfill capacity by 2020, but landfill results in water pollution, soil contamination and a scarred landscape, and if burning more of our waste is not an option, how are we going to get our levels of waste minimisation and recycling up?

Challenge Three: Curbing Car Use With a Congestion Charge?

Is it time to start congestion charging in Manchester and Liverpool, put a halt to plans for more motorways, and make some realistic investments in public transport networks? Each year congestion costs business across the Northwest millions of pounds and causes frustration and anger for hundreds of thousands of car drivers. The region's use of public transport is 18 per cent below the national average, and three out of four of us travel to work by car. We have the largest number of registered cars of any UK region (2.8 million). Air transport, another contributor to global warming is increasing with passenger numbers from Manchester airport expected to double from 20 to 40 million in the next decade. Yet national government has put the brakes on Greater Manchester’s Metrolink expansion, despite the fact that 14 million people travel on the public tram system every year.

Challenge Four: A Fair Deal for All

Manchester played host to the 'Sustainable Communities Summit', in January 2005, and across the region there are a host of neighbourhood renewal areas, SureStart schemes, housing pathfinders and a range of programmes rightly designed to rid the region of poverty and inequality. Yet of the 50 most deprived local areas in the UK, we can still count 14 in the Northwest; our life expectancy in many areas is ten years less than that in our more affluent areas; and an alarming two-thirds of polluting, carcinogenic emissions from industry hit the ten per cent most deprived communities. The latest figures on housing investment from government show that London and the South East are going to receive three times more, per capita, in support than the Northwest. How are the main parties going to ensure we win a fairer deal for all?

Challenge Five: Opportunity Knocks?

What are we going to do to ensure that opportunities for employment and a better quality of life are spread equally across the region? Black, minority and ethnic (BME) groups suffer an unemployment rate in the Northwest of 20 per cent, compared to a regional average of 4 per cent. BME groups and communities consistently score below average for health, housing and exposure to crime, not least through race or religiously-aggravated crime, which increased by 23 in 2004. What do the main parties plan to do to bring prosperity and opportunity to all our communities, and make the value of having an ethnically-diverse region more widely understood?

England’s Northwest 'Question Time' is to be opened by SNW chair, David Dickman, who will spell out the importance of making sustainable development a central issue for the electorate:

"There can be no doubt that issues like waste, climate change or equality across the region should be on the election agenda. The electorate need to know what each candidate they are voting for stands for when it comes to green issues and sustainability," he commented.

"Our leaders are going to have to make bold and brave decisions on issues like congestion charging, air travel and the need to boost our recycling rates or face an increase in landfill or incineration. Our question time event will give the region a chance to find out what the main parties plan to do to counter the big pressure points that face us today."

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notes to editors

England’s Northwest 'Question Time' is an invitation-only event, which will represent a broad and balanced cross section of Northwest decision makers and business leaders to be in its audience.

Sustainability Northwest (SNW) is a values-based charity dedicated to promoting and enhancing the profile of sustainable development issues at a regional level, through partnerships and high profile initiatives. Visit www.snw.org.uk.

Graham Brady
Conservative MP for Altrincham and Sale North
Graham was Shadow Minister for Schools from September 2001 to November 2001 and PPS to Michael Howard from November 2003 until September 2004 when he became Shadow Minister for Europe.

David Chaytor
Labour MP for Bury North
David’s main political interests are in the Environment, Education, Transport and Foreign Affairs. In the 1997-2001 Parliament he was a Member of the Environmental Audit Select Committee and in January 2000 he received the Green Ribbon award as best environmental backbencher in the House of Commons. He is a member of the Environmental Audit Select Committee and is the Secretary of Globe UK, the British branch of the international network of environmentalist parliamentarians.

Jean Lambert
Green MEP
Jean is a Vice-President of the Greens/European Free Alliance political Group in the European Parliament. This Group is made up of Green and Regionalist MEPs from around Europe and has 42 Members.

Andrew Stunell
Liberal Democrat MP for Hazel Grove
Andrew is the Liberal Democrat front bench Energy spokesperson, and published 'Energy, Clean and Green to 2050' in September 1999 as is the party’s spokesman on Energy and Energy Conservation.

For more information, interview requests and/or to secure attendance at the event, please contact:

Steve Connor or Claire Martin at Creative Concern
Tel: 0161 236 0600/0797 117 1228