Despite cross-party consensus on Climate Change this Labour-run Council has failed to take definitive action to ensure Merton meets our commitments on air quality. Further, Labour-run Merton Council have been actively undermining these targets by felling mature trees at an alarming rate across the borough.
Therefore we have laid down this motion to the February meeting of Merton Council calling for meaningful action to reduce pollution in Merton. Will the Labour-run Council do the right thing and support it?
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Strategic Theme Motion
Full Council 3rd February
Council recognises that since the cross party declaration of a climate emergency in July 2019 the Labour administration has not taken meaningful action to reduce pollution in Merton.
Furthermore, council notes that:
- Anti-idling measures were delayed for years due to administration incompetence and inaction;
- In February 2019 council passed a motion to introduce low emission bus zones in the town centres, since that date there has been no action and there is no timetable for their implementation;
- Labour have failed to implement a large scale tree planting programme and have actively blocked attempts to increase tree planting;
- The council has failed to adopt technology led solutions to combat the pollution crisis unlike many other London boroughs;
- There has been a repeated failure to bid for available funding to improve the environment;
- Much of the pollution in Merton is caused by HGVs and busses and not by parked cars;
- The previous parking charges tax hike, which unfairly targeted the west of the borough, has not improved air quality, and neither will the proposed emissions based parking charges tax hike.
Therefore, council requests that cabinet:
- Urgently increase tree planting to ensure that the 10% increase in the borough’s tree cover, as specified in the Climate Strategy and Action Plan, is met well before the 2050 target;
- Implement technology based solutions such as green living-walls and city trees to immediately improve air quality;
- Establish a position of Tree Champion to drive forward the greening of the borough;
- Implement anti-idling enforcement in key pollution hotspots near schools and shops;
- Meet with TfL to press for new clean energy buses in London;
- Increase the number of air quality monitoring stations in the borough;
- Contact local HGV companies and encourage a switch to clean powertrain technologies.
Signed:
Cllr Daniel Holden
Cllr David Dean
Cllr Nigel Benbow
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