Birmingham should give greater priority to sustainability and climate change issues to protect the social and economic future of the city, according to a highly-critical report.
Members of the city council’s scrutiny committee on sustainability and climate change have published an interim report which calls for more staff and resources to be devoted to the environmental agenda.
It calls for a major review of staffing and resources allocated to support sustainability initiatives, and calls for changes in the council executive, with a cabinet member appointed to take the lead in developing future policies on climate change and the issues highlighted by the recent Stern Report.
The cross-party scrutiny report paints a bleak picture of the council’s current lack of commitment to sustainability, despite a recent cabinet statement, adopted in October, which promised a commitment to ‘the continuing improvement of Birmingham’s social, economic and environmental wellbeing so that it is recognised as a sustainable city of excellence at a global level’.
Cllr Steve Bedser, chairman of the scrutiny committee, said: ‘We believe that sustainability should be a central and continuous part of the council’s work, and plan to produce our final report by June next year.’
Transportation is identified as one of the key challenges, with the city facing a decline in public transport and a continuing rise in emissions levels, which currently stood at some six million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. The report points out that the city spends some £900m a year on goods and services and calls on the council to make more effective use of its procurement policies to give priority to sustainable suppliers.