Sheer opportunism by Labour Party

I would like to comment on the front page of the Courier, Friday December 28, entitled, Switch-off changes after public pressure. It is worth remembering of course that although the switch-off is an hour later in order to accommodate late night revellers staggering out of pubs and clubs in lightness so they can get home safely, the switch-on will not take place until 6.30am, where if it was midnight, the lights would be coming on at 5.30am meaning a one-hour delay in the morning where it will be at its busiest with people travelling to work in the dark where it is effectively still wintertime.
By The Newsroom
Published 12th Jan 2013, 07:46 BST

People, though need to understand the full con,text of the switch -off, which will not include areas where there is traffic calming, where there are pelican crossings, toucan crossings etc and let’s not forget, not every light is a county responsibility with some areas of lighting being the responsibility of district, borough councils and of course the Highways Agency which light up certain A-roads and motorways which they are responsible for.

Saving money is the term that is cynically used to describe the street light switch-off by members of the public and members of the Labour Party seen standing on the steps of Shire Hall looking all forlorn holding a petition for maximum effect on the front page of the Courier on Friday December 28 2012.

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In that picture are, right to left, Cllr John Holland Warwick town councillor, not county as printed in the caption, Lynette Kelly Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Labour and Jenny St John, county council candidate for Warwick North and Jemma Galvin.

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All these members of the Labour Party then seem to be suffering from selective memory loss as it was their government that signed up to the Climate Change Act on November 26 2008, when it received Royal Assent, delivered by the then Energy Secretary Ed Milliband.

The act makes it the duty of the Secretary of State to ensure that the net UK Carbon account for all six Kyoto greenhouse gasses for the year 2050 is at least 80 per cent lower than the 1990 baseline. This compels public bodies such as local authorities to save on their carbon emissions. Street lighting makes up for 20 per cent of that target nationally. Locally we have to save 3,000 tonnes of carbon emmisions per year going in to the sky, 12,000 tonnes over a four-year period.

It is suprising then that the group holding the petition on the steps of Shire Hall, or some members of this group, didn’t do their homework before making a statement. What isn’t suprising however is the sheer political opportunism that their party display by claiming credit for something that they were not a party to. - Cllr Martyn Ashford (Con), Warwick North

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