Cities of the Future Need to be ‘Low Carbon Hubs’ - Shadow Minister Tells Conference

The Labour Party conference has been taking place in Brighton on the south coast of England. The fringe events include expert speakers discussing a variety of issues facing Britain.

The Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change, Alan Whitehead, has said the “cities of the future” need to change out of recognition in order to address the issue of climate change.

On Tuesday, 24 September, after a passionate debate in the main hall of the Labour Party conference, a composite motion was passed which called on a future Labour government to turn Britain into a zero carbon emissions nation by 2030.

​The so-called Green New Deal aims to phase out petrol and diesel cars and switch over entirely to renewable energy.

Mr Whitehead told a fringe meeting entitled Efficient, Effective, Attractive: How to Build The Cities of the Future: “What will have to happen is that cities will have to transfer from being the carbon emitters and become the low carbon hubs which the rest of the country exists around. That is a challenge as far as how cities are going to work.”

​Mr Whitehead, an MP from Southampton, said the cities of the future will have to have their own renewable energy sources and urban transport will have to be by way of railways and electric buses and he said they would have to be “fully wired up” so people can use electric cars.

On Tuesday, in his speech, the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn announced plans to upgrade Britain’s energy and broadband infrastructure with £250 billion of investment - including £3.6 billion for more electric vehicle charging points - and the Energy and Climate Change Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey unveiled plans for a fleet of electric community-owned cars, which could be hired out “as easily as ordering pizza.”

Victoria Hills, Chief Executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute, said: “If we are going to build the cities of the future those homes we are building now need to be smart. Now is the time if we are to make a real change.”

​Jonn Elledge, Assistant Editor of the New Statesman, said he had recently visited Helsinki, where they have built a new residential neighbourhood in Jätkäsaari where waste is removed from houses using a network of underground tunnels but he said it would surely be difficult to retro-fit such a system to historic towns in England.

Ms Hills said: “The cities of the future need to take those historic foundations with them. There are lots of innovators in this country. It can’t be beyond the wit of man.”

She said: “There are so many opportunities and also challenges - an ageing population, loneliness and people being unhappy. We need to think about creating the opportunity for places to be, to observe, happy, healthy places.”

Rokhsana Fiaz, who took over as Mayor of Newham in east London last year, said it was essential that residents were at the heart of urban regeneration.

​She said urban planners were sometimes “unleashed” on areas with little or no consultation with residents.

Ms Fiaz said Newham was about to regenerate the Carpenters housing estate in Stratford but she said the local residents had lost complete trust in the council because of the “neglect” of the previous Mayor.

She said: “We will ensure they are part of the process every step of the way and we also need space for marginalised voices, like the young and also disabled people.”