On Sunday 15 December, five of those involved with the ‘Green Future for Cumbria’ (GFfC) campaign – which has now been running since mid-September – met with local Labour MP Markus Campbell-Savours (who represents Penrith and Solway) to discuss the issue of GB Energy funding for clean and cheap renewable energy projects, and a programme of home insulation, in Cumbria.
The meeting took place in Café-Bar 26 in Keswick. Members of GFfC were pleased to learn from Mr. Campbell-Savours that discussions with government ministers around these issues had been on-going for some time – and that Cumbria’s MPs would continue to press relevant ministers for the funding needed for workable projects.
Mr Campbell-Savours also reported that Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, had already visited Cumbria to have talks with Josh MacAlister (Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington) and members of Cumberland Council, to discuss how Workington port – which is managed by the Council – could be developed to ensure it had the infrastructure needed for dealing with an expansion of off-shore wind projects.
Joe Human pointed out that Whitehaven port also had the potential for such development, and raised the proposals associated with Project Collette, which he said:
“[It] would be a good renewable energy scheme for GB Energy money – especially as it has the potential to be part community-owned.”
Mr. Campbell-Savours also revealed that he and Josh MacAlister had had talks with Cumbria Action for Sustainability (CAfS) about home insulation for Cumbria’s ‘leaky’ homes – including how to ensure that Cumbria had the necessary training programmes to equip local people with the engineering skills needed to take such projects forward as quickly as possible.
Anne-Marie Williams made a particular plea for solar energy projects, such as the one proposed for Dean Moor – as she pointed out:
“Solar energy offers a quick and cheap way of rolling out clean energy projects that would do much to help the 19,000 Cumbrian families currently living in fuel poverty. Also significant is that modern solar farms are fully compatible with allowing animal grazing to continue.”
Keith Fitton then raised the question of upgrading the Cumbrian Coast line, and argued that: “In addition, the people of Cumbria need a real expansion of cheap public transport.”
As the meeting came to a close, Allan Todd drew attention to the online petition, which calls on the government to make Cumbria a priority for GB Energy funding, and urged people to share the link as widely as possible amongst family and friends, and on social media, pointing out that:
“Every time someone signs the petition, Ed Miliband’s office gets a notification! And, amongst those now supporting our GFfC campaign are Julia Steinberger (Professor of Ecological Economics) and George Monbiot (environmental author and activist).”