MCFly 27- Action Plan Update #2

The first thing to say about the process of making a Climate Change Action Plan for Manchester to cut its emissions by a million tonnes a year by 2020 is... it's in flux.

The next is to say - as in the old joke - “well, I wouldn't start from here.” We are now about halfway from the launch of the Call to Action (January) to the pre-Copenhagen deadline, and there's no way the Plan is half-way written.

On Thurs 25 June the Council told its Environmental Advisory Panel that it would create writing groups around transport and mobility, energy, buildings, sustainable consumption and green and blue spaces, with mitigation and adaptation as cross-cutting themes. The idea at present is that each writing group would consist of Council members and officers, Manchester Board nominees, EAP members, residents, community sector people, chamber of commerce people, academics and 'others'. There'll be both a 'chair' and a facilitator, supported by the Green City Team.

The time frame is very very tight (the Council wants “conclusions of each group back for co-ordinating/editing by the end of September.... with a “one-off meeting- probably early October- where the council will invite all participants from all groups to comment on the draft plan.”)

There are obvious problems here, and panellists were keen that the Council doesn't re-invent the wheel, and 'borrows' from comparable cities in the UK and beyond that have already undertaken similar work. Several disparate (and desperate) activists and panellists have called on the Council to consider using carefully chosen consultants for specific tasks. MCFly will report on the Council's response. By the next issue of Manchester Climate Fortnightly- July 12- all should be a bit clearer. Watch this space.

Days between June 29 and November 18 = 143