On Monday 22^nd February 2010. Lib-dem Cllr Ken Howard proposed a motion to full council with the support of the Lib-dem group for Woking Borough Council to sign up to the 10:10 Campaign. The 10:10 Campaign is a grassroots campaign that encourages individuals, private businesses, government organisations and charities to cut emissions by 10% in 2010. Many councils of all colours have signed up to it and it is an excellent way to show commitment to the environment as well as saving money. The motion was defeated as was an olive branch effort of an amendment by Cllr Howard to reduce the commitment from 10% to 3% or more as a means of gaining cross party support.

The main obstacle for the supposedly environmental conservative party was that as Woking was already so good at reducing emissions and caring for the environment that achieving 10% was much harder for Woking than some other boroughs who had not made so much effort to reduce emissions in the past. There was further worry that while the 10:10 Campaign will celebrate achievements of reductions of 3% or more, some conservative councillors expressed concern that if a league table was published it could confuse residents by making Woking look less good on the environment that it actually is.

This sort of argument, mixed in with some climate change denials misses the point that we have to take action now and the more action we can take by supporting this initiative the better, what message does it send out that Woking a supposedly leading council on the environment is not supporting the 10:10 campaign? For me personally I do not think 10% is enough and favour more radical measures such as lowering the heating temperature in council buildings to help the council lower fuel use as well as save money. If we are really serious about climate change we will not make much difference without some discomfort and significant changes in our life style. I would much rather Woking was known as a council that signs up for things sends the positive message and tries really hard for the environment, where people say ‘wear an extra layer if you are coming to our offices, it is cool for the climate’, rather than worrying that if we try we might not be successful and look bad in league tables that may or may not be published. Our future is more important than this!

For more information about 10:10 see http://www.1010uk.org/