Organisations across Southwark are set to protest next week, following an open letter to the council criticising its new 2022 Southwark Plan for breaching key climate commitments.
The demonstration will take place outside the council offices on Tooley St at 6pm on 23rd February.
The Southwark Plan 2022 – made public this week – is a new borough-wide development policy.
It contains a target to build 40,035 extra homes in the borough by 2036 – equivalent to 2,355 each year – as well as more commercial floorspace, infrastructure, green spaces and cycling routes.
The letter, which was signed by 24 local organisations, claimed the new plan will mean the council fails to meet its legal requirements for tackling the climate crisis.
“We are extremely disappointed,” said Harpreet Aujla of Southwark Law Centre, one signatory to the letter.
“In April 2021 the UK enshrined the sixth carbon budget into law, with a commitment to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels,”
“The New Southwark Plan does not meet this requirement to reduce emissions by 78% because it contains … no set indicators for greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and no clarity on how the policies in the plan will lead to decreased emissions,” she added.
The letter demanded amendments to the plan to make clear how greenhouse gas emissions will be kept in line with the council’s pledge to be carbon neutral by 2030.
It was addressed to Labour Cllr Kieron Williams, chair of Southwark Council.
Southwark Council have acknowledged that the plan needs to be amended to align it with their climate commitments, but have so far not given any indication of what amendments will be made – or when.
“The false claim that the Southwark Plan breaches legal requirements is not based in reality,” says Cllr Helen Dennis, cabinet member for climate emergency & sustainable development.
“Southwark will be greener with cleaner air and even more wildlife, while having a smaller carbon footprint through the Plan, meaning development will go hand-in-hand with huge benefits for the health and wellbeing of all our residents.”
“Those who want to delay the process of the Plan’s adoption and early review put all these things at risk,” she added.
Concern over the council’s plan has united several groups like Extinction Rebellion and Fossil Free Southwark, Southwark’s Green Party, Southwark Law Centre, and local branches of GMB and Unison, who have all signed the letter.
An greener plan had “come up against Southwark Council’s siloed working culture, its lack of understanding of how to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis, and its inability to set credible plans backed up by actions,” claimed Eloise Waldon-Day of Extinction Rebellion Southwark.
“It is completely hypocritical for the council to produce a climate strategy in 2021 and then ignore it in almost everything they do.”
“This was entirely avoidable,” she added.
Southwark Council is directly responsible for 12 percent of emissions in the borough, with a significant proportion generated from its large social housing stock.
But the council has made substantial progress towards reaching its environmental goals.
It has been named as the second best council in London for its plans to be carbon neutral by 2030 by Climate Emergency UK, an independent action group.
The council has installed 2,100 water source heat pumps, planted more than 8,000 new trees and pledged to create 5,000 green jobs between now and 2030.
The Southwark Plan is due to be passed on 23 February 2022, after seven years in the making.
Read the open letter in full here: https://xrsouthwark.earth/open-letter-earth-to-cllr-williams-amend-southwark-plan