Frith Manor wind turbine

News that Councillor Brian Coleman was the only objector to the erection of a wind turbine at Frith Manor School is unfortunately all too typical of the head-in-the-sand attitude of Barnet Council's Conservative administration to the severity of the problem of climate change.

Instead of opposing wind turbines, Mr Coleman and his colleagues should be calling on all schools to investigate the possibilities for installing micro-generation equipment on their sites.

Sensibly, the planning committee ignored Mr Coleman's whinging and approved the turbine anyway. Well done Frith Manor School and well done to the planning committee!

More than 200 local authorities around Britain have pledged to reduce their carbon footprints but Barnet's administration has no coordinated programme to lower the council's own greenhouse gas emissions or to help local people and businesses to do so.

In her latest newsletter, distributed last week, Theresa Villiers, the Conservative MP for Chipping Barnet, says: "I recognise the huge importance of tackling climate change, which is why I have been working so hard over the past two years to push it up the political agenda."

How do Brian Coleman and his council colleagues propose to respond to Ms Villiers' call for action to fight global warming? Perhaps they would like to have a nuclear power station built on Totteridge Fields?

As a matter of urgency, the council should appoint a climate change officer to lead its own programme and provide a focus for assistance to the public.

News that Councillor Brian Coleman was the only objector to the erection of a wind turbine at Frith Manor School is unfortunately all too typical of the head-in-the-sand attitude of Barnet Council's Conservative administration to the severity of the problem of climate change.

Instead of opposing wind turbines, Mr Coleman and his colleagues should be calling on all schools to investigate the possibilities for installing micro-generation equipment on their sites.

Sensibly, the planning committee ignored Mr Coleman's whinging and approved the turbine anyway. Well done Frith Manor School and well done to the planning committee!

More than 200 local authorities around Britain have pledged to reduce their carbon footprints but Barnet's administration has no coordinated programme to lower the council's own greenhouse gas emissions or to help local people and businesses to do so.

In her latest newsletter, distributed last week, Theresa Villiers, the Conservative MP for Chipping Barnet, says: "I recognise the huge importance of tackling climate change, which is why I have been working so hard over the past two years to push it up the political agenda."

How do Brian Coleman and his council colleagues propose to respond to Ms Villiers' call for action to fight global warming? Perhaps they would like to have a nuclear power station built on Totteridge Fields?

As a matter of urgency, the council should appoint a climate change officer to lead its own programme and provide a focus for assistance to the public.