Local Election Survey 2018 – Candidates
We’re surveying candidates in Greater Manchester for the 2018 election. Find out more about the survey.
Below is a summary of the responses across the areas of Greater Manchester. Where a candidate has already responded, you can see their response. If your candidates haven’t yet responded, follow the Twitter link to ask them to!
Name
Ian Brown
Party
Green
City/Borough
Stockport
Area
Heald Green
Question 1
Climate Change
Climate Change
Do you agree that Greater Manchester should adopt the Tyndall Centre’s science-based carbon budgets, set targets to halve the region’s emissions in the next five years and become carbon neutral by 2038?
✓
Yes Climate Change is probably the most important issue facing Humanity. If we don't keep the rise in Global temperature within, or well below, the 2 deg C limit specified by the Paris Climate Agreement, anything else we are considering doing isn't going to happen.
Question 2
Divestment from Fossil Fuels
Divestment from Fossil Fuels
Do you agree that the Greater Manchester Pension Fund should fully divest from fossil fuels in the next five years?
✓
Yes Investments in fossil fuel companies will eventually become stranded assets and any wise investor should be investing in future sustainable projects like renewable energy, particularly in Tidal Barrages.
Question 3
Walking and Cycling
Walking and Cycling
Will you support your local council allocating funding to implement the walking and cycling (active travel) measures contained in Chris Boardman's ‘Made to Move’ report?
✓
Yes Greater Manchester is already over congested by motor vehicles. This is mostly because of allowing planning permission for out of centre developments like shopping facilities, commercial operations, like offices, and housing developments without sufficient local services. This means that too many people live too far away from their workplace which are not easily accessible by public transport, and not near enough for cycling or walking.
Question 4
Air Quality
Air Quality
Will you call on your local council to introduce ‘parking exclusion zones’ around local schools at peak times?
✓
Yes Too many children are taken to school by car. It is hardly likely that most children will be too far away from their school (particularly a primary school) to make walking a difficult option. It seems that school pick-up times are almost as busy, on the road, as the evening "rush" hour.
Question 5
Biodiversity
Biodiversity
Will you support a ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides in your local council area and work to phase out the use of other pollinator-harming pesticides?
✓
Yes The use of any pesticides are harmful to wildlife, particularly to our pollinators. If we lose our pollinators it will jeopardise the supply of about one third of our food supply. Total weed killers, such as Round-up, are particularly useless as they kill all plants which, in turn, could kill all insects. Without insects, the future for humanity would be bleak indeed.
Question 6
Plastics
Plastics
Will you support the phase-out of single-use plastics in your local authority by 2020?
✓
Yes Single use plastics are a bane. Many cannot be recycled and a lot not properly disposed of. As one of the few who picks up recyclable materials, in my local area, it is obvious that much is going un-recycled. Even when such materials are disposed of in street bin, they will not be recycled. Deposit/return schemes must be introduced, nationally, to reduce the amount of plastic going to landfill.
Question 7
Aviation
Aviation
Will you support the introduction of a cap on emissions from flights to and from Manchester Airport?
✓
Yes The majority of flights from Manchester Airport will be for leisure purposes (holidays abroad). Not only should there be a cap on emissions but a cap on the number of flights which individuals can take, except for essential purposes.
Question 8
Energy Efficiency
Energy Efficiency
Do you support the introduction of a GM-wide building standard for all new developments to be zero-carbon and climate resilient?
✓
Yes New buildings could last 100 years or more (tomorrow will be too late). It is essential that they be built to the highest environmental standards, including insulation and the provision of solar panels and possibly wind turbines. This should be a legal requirement as, if not, it is unlikely to happen voluntarily, and retrofitting can be horrendously expensive; it can cost up to £1,000 just to erect scaffolding on a house.
