Oxfordshire Friends of the Earth has produced a booklet, Fast Forward Oxfordshire, copies can be down loaded here https://www.oxfoe.co.uk/fastforward/ The Fast Forward relates to how to get to zero carbon by 2040. Their policy goals are set out below, although when they use the term ‘Oxfordshire Councils must’ the booklet appears to be referring to principal authorities not town and parish councils
1. Homes and settlements
We need to ensure all existing homes are well insulated to at least ‘EPC C’ level by 2035 at the latest, and to have eradicated fuel poverty by the same date. Sooner than that, all new buildings need to be zero carbon and this must be a planning condition.
Oxfordshire Councils must:
Require zero carbon standards for all new homes and other buildings in Local Plans from now (see also Energy section).
Ensure that all homes have good access to safe and attractive open spaces, such as gardens, play spaces and parks, in line with national targets.
Establish and lead local partnerships to coordinate area-wide home retrofitting programmes to reduce energy use and tackle fuel poverty in existing homes, starting with the most deprived areas first.
National government must:
Revise the National Policy Planning Framework to require zero carbon and water-neutral
Ensure that Land Value Uplift income from developments is ploughed back into new infrastructure to create genuinely sustainable homes and settlements.
Develop financial support and revenue funding to enable local partnerships to deliver mass energy retrofits of existing housing as part of a wider publicly funded national green infrastructure programme or ‘Green New Deal’.
2. Transport
We need a transport system that works for everyone – that delivers better public health, a zero carbon economy and fair access to services for both urban and rural communities.
Oxfordshire councils must:
Prioritise investment in integrated cycling, walking, and public transport systems, including electric buses and taxis; a county-wide rapid transit network; electric car and bike charging points; and a network of good cycle routes within and between all larger towns.
Act (with government support) to reduce car use through measures such as road pricing / congestion charging, workplace parking levies and constraining road space, supported by re-regulating bus services.
National government must fund upgrade of rail infrastructure to include increased capacity and electrification between Didcot and Oxford, completion of the East–West Rail link to Cambridge (incorporating electrification), re-opening of the Cowley line, and new stations to service new growth / employment areas.
3. Work
We need to create and maintain high quality green jobs for unskilled, semi-skilled and knowledge workers as part of the transition to a fair zero carbon future.
Oxfordshire councils must:
Focus the county industrial strategy and related plans on building a ‘circular economy’ aimed at minimising environmental impacts and improving wellbeing rather than just maximising economic growth, and on creating high quality green jobs that benefit all workers alike.
Develop local procurement plans as an incentive for rapid carbon reduction by focusing their purchase of goods and services on local businesses that meet agreed carbon reduction targets and / or have a clear social / environmental purpose such as cooperatives.
Create (with partners) a local Green Infrastructure Bank to provide investment finance for economic projects with ambitious carbon reduction targets.
National government must develop a ‘Green New Deal’ strategy to decarbonise the economy and eradicate inequality via public investment in clean energy, warm homes and affordable public transport that creates decent jobs and benefits for all.
4. Energy
A clean fossil-free energy system will be an essential part of the transition to a zero-carbon economy. Some progress has been made in recent years, but faster action is needed. Fossil fuel power generation should be phased out by 2030.
Oxfordshire councils must:
Identify areas suitable for renewable energy and require the integration of renewable energy generation in all new developments.
Develop and implement an energy demand reduction strategy with countywide targets. This should include a mass home retrofitting programme to reduce energy use in existing houses including energy efficiency improvements, solar PV and behavioural programmes, starting with the most deprived areas first.
National government must:
Develop a clear Clean Energy Strategy that includes a reversal of the decision to prevent new onshore wind, support for community energy generation, and phasing out of fossil fuel extraction.
Phase out oil-fired boilers (still used in much of rural UK) and invest in replacing them with heat pumps or biomass boilers.
5. Food
Changing what we eat and how it is produced will help achieve our zero-carbon target. Eating more locally grown food, fruit, vegetables, grains and pulses, and less meat, will also benefit our health, our economy and our countryside.
Oxfordshire councils should:
Ensure that all schools, hospitals, care homes and other institutions deliver meals that accord with the ‘Eatwell’ and WWF ‘Livewell’ guidelines on healthy eating and that the majority of options on menus are healthy and plant-based, with less and better meat.
Retain existing land holdings and make these available where suitable for community-supported agriculture and food businesses.
Require food growing provision (such as roof gardens, community orchards and edible landscaping, including nut and fruit trees) to be incorporated into all new developments; and support moves to retrofit existing developments with such provision.
National government must:
Apply Value Added Tax to meat and high fat/sugar foods, as it already does to other luxury foods.
Design and implement a transition plan to sustainable, agro-ecological farming (see Nature section).
6. Nature
By 2040 we need people and nature to be thriving together. People will feel healthier and happier. Oxfordshire’s next generation will understand that the natural world is the foundation of our wellbeing and prosperity: that we depend on it, and it depends on us.
Oxfordshire councils must:
Include in local Plans a local nature and ecosystem restoration plan (Nature Recovery Network) to reverse and restore habitats and species, and ecosystem quality.
Commit to doubling tree cover on council owned land and update local planning strategies to support doubling of tree cover across the local authority area.
Require all new developments to provide 100% biodiversity net gain.
National government must:
Enact a new Environment Act to support Nature Recovery Networks, put space for nature at the heart of our farming and planning systems and double tree cover (linked to a new Agriculture Act that will place a greater emphasis on farmers to be rewarded for improving the natural assets of their land).