A campaign group from Brighton is pushing for action on fossil fuel policy and on the home front, with help for those wanting to reduce their carbon footprint.
Hanover Action and its supporters wrote to the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, Sian Berry, urging her “to vigorously oppose new fossil fuel extraction”, including oil from the Rosebank field and gas from the Jackdaw field.
A government consultation on the two proposals has ended and a decision is expected imminently.
And while Sir Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband opposed new extraction, the new government is under pressure from oil companies and American President Donald Trump to approve further North Sea oil and gas projects, putting more climate-damaging carbon into the atmosphere.
The group said that, with record temperatures and wildfires affecting communities across the country, the case for not “pouring more oil on the fire” had never been stronger.
Hanover Action said that it was calling on Ms Berry to press the government to reject new fossil fuel extraction in the interests of tackling climate change and protecting future generations.
The group said that it was also taking positive action locally, fundraising for tree planting and supporting residents to reduce their carbon footprint through its Greener Homes programme.
In October, the Greener Homes action group is organising three Saturday workshops at Hanover Community Centre, from Saturday 17 October, covering
- home retrofitting
- solar panels and batteries
- low-carbon heating
The group said that there was, though, a growing frustration that while communities were being encouraged to reduce their carbon footprint, the UK government could simultaneously allow new fossil fuel extraction that would add yet more carbon to the atmosphere.
Hanover Action said: “Climate action needs to happen at every level – from households and communities to national government.”
Hanover Action co-founder Sarah Gorton said: “Anyone who has seen plants shrivelling and fires burning in the UK’s latest heat wave must understand this is a climate emergency and we need to keep fossil fuels in the ground.
“I can’t believe that our leaders are threatening to allow new extraction and pour oil on the fire.
“It’s 16 years since we started Hanover Action, working doggedly planting trees, showing informative films and helping residents save carbon but we need the government to show the same determination.”
Ex-local councillor, and supporter of Hanover Action, David Gibson, said: “Hundreds of groups like Hanover Action are doing great work to cut carbon, promote renewable energy and biodiversity.
“But we need our local MP to push the government to hold firm and resist the pressure from President Trump and not give in to the greed of the oil companies – for future’s sake!”
Hanover Action’s Greener Homes group co-ordinator, Paul Norman, said: “Our recent Community Powerhouse events showed that local people are ready to act.
“They need clear information and the right incentives to insulate their homes, generate clean power from their roofs and switch to low-carbon heating.
“With energy costs continuing to rise, making homes warmer, cheaper to run and less dependent on fossil fuels must be a priority for a government that understands the impact of the ‘cost of living’ crisis on low-income and vulnerable households.”
Ms Berry wrote to Andy Burnham shortly before he became Prime Minister, urging him not to approve gas and oil extraction in the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields.
We need action against Hanover residents sucking up all the council tax money. Why don’t these people go away?
Stop pandering to noisy activist groups
tell them to STOP using man-made fabrics also the plastics in their home and cars to be removed
It would help if we had a council that allowed people to AFFORDABLY double-glaze their homes… and to do so without the need for planning permission. It is a 2-tier city with a postcode lottery when it comes to being allowed to affordably improve domestic energy efficiency in a cost-of-living crisis. BHCC thinks everyone are millionaires…. and willfully obstructs.
Installation costs the same, regardless if you got permission or not?
No they aren’t. The cost of uPVC double glazing is significantly less than the eye watering cost of wood framed double glazing. Huge swathes of Brighton and Hove are in Conservation Areas and therefore cannot have uPVC double glazing. Realistically, those homes will never be double glazed as the cost is prohibitive.
Not quite what I was referring to, but it’s an interesting point. At what point does conservation areas become unhelpful.
Very quickly when it comes to improvements such as windows……
I’m with you on that one.
What we need to do is reduce the cost and carbon footprint of importing energy when we have abundance on our doorstep. A small help will be opening up the North Sea for further development. It’s easy for Hanover residents to demand action. Try and think about the car worker whose family livelihood is at risk because energy costs 4 times as much in this country than the US. Twice as much as the EU. These people will not be satisfied until we are all bankrupt.
But then it needs refining overseas for it to be useful products, and we export most of what we produce.
I suspect you already know our refining capacity has reduced as the North Sea has become a less enticing place to invest. First it was windfall taxes, then a ban on new drilling. All against the backdrop of sky high energy prices, which pushes out industries like refining. This isn’t all the fault of this government of course. The conservatives are just as rubbish. The people who end up paying are the million young people not in work or education or the car worker looking at 11% year on year drop in car production. I will never vote reform but I understand why people say ‘a plague on all your houses’.
It’s a really important nuance to bring up, and where a balance needs to be achieved – go too quickly, and it’s a freefall. Even some of the regulation around procurement creates absurdities when it comes to using sustainable compared to fossils.
I agree with you, it’s not an easy or painless process.
Will they feel the same when the UK is subjected mass power cuts lasting for because the grid cannot handle the current demand without fossil fuels, let alone keep up with the new demand generated by the switch to EV vehicles? No shopping, no banking, flying, no social media. If they did some research they would be more alarmed at the imminent crash of life as we know it, since the planet will probably out-live them, despite their hysteria. The truly terrifying thing is the lack of food and fuel security in this country in the event of an outage.
Oh gosh Tracy, you’re the last person on this website to ever accuse others of not doing their research and being hysterical, considering how often people are having to remind you to read the article after you launch into yet another hysterical rant devoid of reality. Transition to green energy is needed, there’s no two ways about it. The main barriers are legislative. New oil fields are more a delay than anything else, as very little of it will actually be used in the UK.
Next time the Hanoverians are chomping thru their quinoa salad, will they reflect on their carbon footprint as 95% of it comes from S Smerica
One assumes that these muesli mountaineers are not any of the 23 million homes in the UK that rely on natural gas boilers for central heating and hot water many of whose homes are not suitable for a heat pump even if they could afford the high price. Presumably they’d be happy to see these people freeze…
I’m afraid this administration just encourages people to use cars. This is why they are installing red routes in places like Western Rd which will lead to shop closures. A few years ago you could buy everything on Western Rd and due to the councils obsession with car fine money it is just forcing people to now drive to out of town shopping centres or buy everything on amazon. Really sad we need councillors that care about having town centres with shops that thrive which means we can limit our car usage.
Research shows people where trending towards online far before that, and that the ability to drive to a business has very little impact on footfall.
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Insane absolutism and whataboutism in this comment section during the hottest summer since records began.
Yeah all 10 of them , why do they get so much publicity