During today’s Full Council meeting at Nottinghamshire County Council, Leader Ben Bradley praised Rishi Sunak’s changes to ‘Net Zero’ Policy, saying the new approach will benefit Nottinghamshire’s economy.
Last week the Prime Minister made major changes to his green agenda, including delaying the proposed ban on petrol and diesel cars and requirements for people to invest in greener boilers.
The comments were made in response to a question from Labour’s Penny Gowland, who asked if Cllr Bradley agreed that ‘this will have a negative impact upon business investment here in Nottinghamshire, particularly in renewable energy sectors which this Council have stated are necessary to delivering its stated ambition for Green Growth in the County?’
The East Midlands’ biggest car manufacturer, Toyota, based in Derby, supported the Prime Minister’s changes, whilst West Midlands-based Jaguar Land Rover called them ‘pragmatic’. Councillor Bradley used this example in his speech to argue that the delay in banning petrol and diesel cars protected local jobs.
Mr Bradley said
‘It’s great news for security of jobs and investment in the automotive industry in our area. We have one major car manufacturer nearby, that’s Toyota at Derby, who have welcomed the change and the recognition that the future of car manufacturing and fuels isn’t just electric, it’s a whole range of potential options, and I was at the Hydrogen Summit at Toyota just last week, as one example.
‘Next closest to here, Jaguar Land Rover, backs the Prime Minister, and says it’s ‘pragmatic’, and in line with what most of the rest of the world is doing. So as a region, East Midlands, whole Midlands in fact, the sector is supportive of the move.
‘I encourage those opposing the Prime Minister’s plans to stop being blinded by political motivation and to start listening to local residents and businesses.’
On the wider question about investment in the County’s priorities on ‘green growth’, Councillor Bradley was similarly confident of positive outcomes, listing examples of projects in the area, including Hydrogen research at places like Toyota and Nottingham University, STEP Fusion Energy at West Burton in Bassetlaw, and Modular Nuclear Reactors at Rolls Royce.
On the impact of the Prime Minister’s changes, he said:
‘The Prime Minister’s announcement refocused the national energy on this stuff too, and there’s a huge amount of national focus on fusion and hydrogen too, in particular that benefits our County in a big way.
‘He hasn’t backed away from any of that, in fact he’s embraced even more, and what he’s said is that Britain will focus on those things – on clean growth and investment that creates jobs, boosts skills, focuses on tech and innovation to tackle these challenges, and not get stuck on arbitrary deadlines, on banning stuff, like petrol cars that would cause prices on the second hand market to rise and price people out of being able to drive, on charging people more through Labour’s ULEZ schemes or Workplace Parking levies and the like, on forcing people to buy new cars or boilers they can’t afford.’
