Lively debate raged over whether to build the Winterbourne bypass and Emerson s Green-M4 link at “Any Environmental Questions?” on 20th April.

(click thumbnail for pictures)

At the event organised by Friends of the Earth, parliamentary candidates for Northavon were questioned by the public on many 'green' issues, including possible local road schemes. There were strong opinions for and against these roads from the audience, and the prospective MPs were split too.

“The so-called Winterbourne Bypass Southern Section should be renamed the Winterbourne Feeder Road” said Steve Webb (Lib Dem). “It would simply feed more traffic into the centre of the town, instead of solving the problem”, he claimed. “I understand the passion of opponents of these roads, but local people need the relief from traffic” said Chris Butt (Conservative). It was a necessary compromise he suggested. He was supported in this by Pat Gardener (Labour). Needless to say, Alan Pinder (Green) was against more road building. “It would simply lead to more traffic” he stated.

Yet when questioned on plans to build 100,000 new houses around Bristol, all candidates asserted they wanted to protect the greenbelt. To the audience, this appeared to be at odds with the wishes of Pat Gardener and Chris Butt to build new roads through it. Pat Gardener also called for a return to building council housing, rather than covering the countryside in executive 5 bed detached homes.

On energy and climate change, there was little support for nuclear power. Alan Pinder was strongly in favour of taxing aviation fuel, with agreement from other panel members. “We should reward energy efficient car manufacturers and owners” stated Chris Butt. Steve Webb proposed free installation of home insulation bought with the Winter Fuel Grant. From the floor, a UKIP representative suggested zero VAT on energy efficient goods.

A final question regarding EU regulations flummoxed most panellists: Did they agree with farmers having to burn dead cattle, thereby causing terrible smoke problems locally? Alan Pinder put this down to BSE: “the whole BSE thing has been caused by intensive farming. Organic farmers have had no BSE in their cattle” he stated. Notes:

Candidates present were:

• Chris Butt (Conservative)
• Pat Gardener(Labour)
• Alan Pinder (Green)
• Steve Webb (Liberal Democrat)

UKIP and independent candidates were invited but were unavailable.

Jon

— Web Master auto generated by txt2dokuwiki