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GM Mayoral Election – Andy Burnham

In our survey of candidates for the position of the first Mayor of Greater Manchester, we invited all candidates to answers our questions on environmental and social issues.

Why not also contact your candidates to find out their views and tell them how important these issues are to you?

This is the response received from Andy Burnham, Labour Party Candidate.

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As a place with a proud tradition of radical forward-thinking, Greater Manchester can and should be making a bigger contribution to the climate change debate.

We should show how setting more ambitious goals on sustainable living helps people live better, drives economic prosperity, improves health and reduces inequality.

If we clean up our air, enhance our green spaces and help people cycle or walk more frequently, we will become a healthier society. If we help communities to generate more of their own energy, we will become wealthier through reduced energy bills.

The time has come to see climate change not as a peripheral concern but as a central challenge and the route to making society healthier, wealthier and happier.

Cities around the world are driving social change in this area by setting a goal for the point at which they become carbon-neutral. In Greater Manchester, it is currently set at 2050. Following the latest scientific advice, other cities such as Copenhagen, Melbourne and Stockholm are bringing that date forward.

Within a year of the election, I’ll host a Mayor’s Green Summit to declare a new, accelerated ambition for Greater Manchester on the green economy and carbon-neutrality. In the meantime, I’ll ask experts and city stakeholders to lead a public debate on what that new goal should be.

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It is time to wake up to the fact that the way we are living is causing unacceptable damage to our health and our environment.

The most recent data shows Greater Manchester has been in breach of its legal limits for nitrogen dioxide in every year since 2011. Nitrogen dioxide is a pollutant caused principally by too many vehicles on our roads and, in particular, standing traffic on congested roads.

If elected Mayor on Thursday, I’ll introduce a new Clean Air Action Plan for Greater Manchester.

As part of this plan, I will seek powers from the Government to introduce Clean Air Zones to reduce the number of the most polluting vehicles, such as HGVs and older buses, from entering certain areas with the worst air quality.

I’ll commit to giving people more regular and accessible information about the quality of air they are breathing in and issue public health alerts from the Mayor’s office during periods of high pollution.

We will only truly tackle air pollution if we can give people reliable and affordable alternatives to cars. So I will put improving public transport at the centre of my plan to clean up our air and use the Mayor’s new powers over bus services to introduce low-emission and clean-energy buses.

Alongside the measures outlined in my manifesto to promote cycling, I’ll appoint an Active Travel Commissioner for Greater Manchester, and encourage them to work with schools to establish safe walking and cycling routes.

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If we are to keep Greater Manchester as an attractive place to live, we must protect and enhance our green spaces.

Whilst there is a need to consider land release for housing and business growth, we should work from the principle of minimal loss of precious green space and enhancing what we have got.

A charity called City of Trees has plans to develop a new City Forest Park in Greater Manchester. The identified area spans the Salford-Bury border and put together is on the scale of Central Park in New York.

For centuries, this land was the site of coal mining and manufacturing. With the right leadership, it could be transformed into a new urban park, providing Greater Manchester with an inspiring new green space.

Trees can deliver a whole range of benefits, from helping to tackle climate change to making our streets more attractive and providing essential habitats for wildlife.

City of Trees has a bold plan to plant three million trees within a generation – one for every man, woman and child across Greater Manchester.

I’ll support City of Trees to establish a City Forest Park and back the plan to plant three million trees, making our streets greener and our communities more attractive.

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We will only get a real grip on improving our towns when all owners of properties in those places take a pride in them.

The proliferation of absent private landlords in many of our smaller towns in the 80s and 90s is a major barrier to their improvement. Too many fail to invest in the upkeep of their properties, even though they are in receipt of considerable public funds through Housing Benefit. This drags whole communities down and leaves councils with insufficient ability to turn them around.

It is also the case that too many responsible landlords are undercut in the market by the landlords who fail to look after their properties. In the absence of new legislation from Westminster, there is a limit to what can be done to turn things around. However, I intend to do everything we possibly can.

I will start by introducing a GM-wide voluntary registration scheme for private landlords in Greater Manchester, with a clear standard that they are pledged to meet.

This could include areas such as: maintaining properties to basic health and safety standards; protecting deposits, and providing a written contract.

Such a scheme would help differentiate the many good private landlords in Greater Manchester from those who get a bad name for the rest. It would help potential tenants and local communities identify those landlords who have chosen not to sign up to these basic principles. The scheme could even include ‘TripAdvisor’ style reviews of landlords to allow prospective tenants to make informed choices and to reward those responsible landlords who are doing the right thing.

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Too many people in Greater Manchester face the choice between eating and heating.

I will establish a Greater Manchester Energy Company, generating power using green technology and reducing energy bills.

Greater Manchester should be focused on the energy needs of the future; fracking belongs to the past.

Through the Greater Manchester Minerals Policy, I will propose a presumption of a ban on fracking across our City-Region.

 

Additional response from Andy Burnham

Thank you for your email to Andy Burnham regarding a sustainable Greater Manchester. Andy has asked me to respond to you on his behalf.

Andy has said we should show how setting more ambitious goals on sustainable living helps people live better, drives economic prosperity, improves health and reduces inequality.

If we clean up our air, enhance our green spaces and help people cycle or walk more frequently, we will become a healthier society. If we help communities to generate more of their own energy, we will become wealthier through reduced energy bills. Cities around the world are driving social change in this area by setting a goal for the point at which they become carbon-neutral. In Greater Manchester, it is currently set at 2050. Following the latest scientific advice, other cities such as Copenhagen, Melbourne and Stockholm are bringing that date forward.

Please see some key pledges from Andy below:

  • Within a year of the election, Andy will host a Mayor’s Green Summit to declare a new, accelerated ambition for Greater Manchester on the green economy and carbon-neutrality. In the meantime, Andy will ask experts and city stakeholders to lead a public debate on what that new goal should be.
  • Andy will support City of Trees to establish a City Forest Park and back the plan to plant three million trees, making our streets greener and our communities more attractive.
  •  We will only truly tackle air pollution if we can give people reliable and affordable alternatives to cars. So Andy will put improving public transport at the centre of the plan to clean up our air and use the Mayor’s new powers over bus services to introduce low-emission and clean-energy buses.
  • Andy will commit to giving people more regular and accessible information about the quality of air they are breathing in and issue public health alerts from the Mayor’s office during periods of high pollution.

Andy will publish a new plan to tackle congestion and commission an urgent review of the condition and configuration of our busiest roads, working with businesses, road users and Transport for Greater Manchester to see what quick changes can be made to improve traffic flows.

In addition, in relation to a private-rented sector housing register Andy will start by introducing a GM-wide voluntary registration scheme for private landlords in Greater Manchester, with a clear standard that they are pledged to meet.

You can read Our Manifesto here:

http://www.burnhamformayor.co.uk/ourmanifesto

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