Green Councillors are proposing that Bradford backs the most radical green budget of any local authority in the UK.
Councillors Martin Love and Kevin Warnes will call for multi-million pound investments that will improve the quality of life for Bradford families, deal with the traffic that blights our neighbourhoods and ramp up Bradford’s response to the ‘climate emergency’.
The Green proposals for the 2021/22 budget will be made at the meeting of the full Council tonight (Thursday 18th February).
Councillor Martin Love, the leader of the Green Group has said,
“The repeated failures of central government throughout the pandemic have made it clear it is local councils which are effectively responding on the ground to their communities.
“That is why we need to really invest in delivering improvements to the everyday quality of life for our residents. We want the Council to invest an extra £1 million in street cleansing, removing fly-tipping and cleaning up graffiti, and spend an extra £3 million on much-needed pavement repairs, walking and cycle routes and the creation of traffic-calmed home zones.
“We would also earmark £600,000 to replace street trees that have been lost in recent years and boost biodiversity in our urban areas.” “Councillor Kevin Warnes said, “Two years ago, Bradford Council made a declaration to ensure we do our part to tackle the ‘climate emergency’. Actions speak louder than words and, so far, our actions have been thin on the ground.
“We want to establish a pioneering £10 million climate fund to drive community investment in low carbon energy projects that will feed clean electricity into the grid and generate income for our district for decades to come.
“Our proposals would invest £3 million in clean, renewable, solar technologies for our schools and public places. We would provide £4.5 million for sustainable low carbon travel schemes and the mass roll-out of electric vehicle charging points across Bradford District.
“Greens would also find an extra £1 million for flood alleviation schemes to help protect our residents from extreme weather events.”