CREATING SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

RESPONSE TO PARTNERSHIP IN POWER SECOND YEAR CONSULTATION:

1. CHRISTIAN SOCIALIST MOVEMENT (CSM)

1.1 CSM is a movement of Christians with a radical commitment to social justice, protecting the environment and fostering peace and reconciliation. CSM believes that ‘loving one’s neighbour’ in the fullest sense involves struggling for a fair and just society, one in which all can enjoy the ‘fullness of life’ Jesus came to announce.

1.2 CSM is proud to be affiliated to the Labour Party and engages fully with the Party at all levels. Members are active locally in their CLPs and CSM sends delegates to Party Conference each year. At the Party’s invitation we organise the official Conference service and we also run a high-profile fringe programme. We currently have some 50 members in the Lords and Commons, including current and former Cabinet members and the Prime Minister. CSM members pledge to work in prayer and political action for the values of Christian Socialism. Our values form the basis of our response to this consultation.

2. PREAMBLE

2.1 CSM is delighted to be responding to the Partnership in Power consultation on Sustainable Communities and to reflect on achievements and emerging challenges since our submission in 2003. We are a value-driven movement, committed to the sustainable use of the Earth’s resources for the benefit of all people, both current and future generations

2.2 We have only just begun to understand the extent to which our over-consumption is destroying the Earth and to face up to climate change as the greatest threat now facing humanity. As the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has clearly reported, a small increase in average global temperatures would result in widespread drought, flooding (with Bangladesh particularly vulnerable) and more disease, with millions more exposed to malaria in Africa

2.3 Climate change is a social justice issue as well as an environmental issue. As Tearfund and Christian Aid have highlighted, the negative consequences of global inaction will have a disproportionate impact on the poorest countries. This should concern us all because the decisions we make today will not only impact on our own security and prosperity, but on that of our children and future generations.

2.4 Climate change particularly concerns Christians because we believe humankind has a God-given responsibility for creation. Therefore our response to this consultation paper focuses very firmly on policies that will urgently address the issue of climate change. Policies on transport and sustainable energy have to be considered in the context of climate change, and we also explore issues relating to housing and communities that are so intrinsically linked to poverty in this country

3. CLIMATE CHANGE, SUSTAINABILITY AND TRANSPORT

3.1 The issue of climate change requires clear leadership and CSM congratulates the Labour Government for taking this issue seriously and showing robust leadership at a global level. While a timetable for future negotiations was established in Bali, it is frustrating that decisions regarding an issue of such urgency have to wait until 2009. The Labour Party should make a commitment to press the next President of the USA to make climate change a priority and to co-operate with the future international framework for the reduction of emissions.

3.2 The Climate Change Bill is an ambitious and laudable piece of legislation. We urge the Labour Party to make a commitment to press other countries to follow suit and set legally-binding targets for the reduction of carbon emissions. We call on the Labour Party to make a commitment to strengthen the Climate Change Bill and to increase the UK’s commitments from 60% to a reduction of 80% by 2050 if that commitment is not made during the Bill’s passage, and to seek ways of accelerating work on both targets and delivery in future years.

3.3 Other national policies regarding transport and energy must be driven by the imperative to reduce our carbon emissions. The Party must not forget that it is dealing with the greatest threat facing humanity, and the economic consequences of saying ‘no’ to an expansion in air travel pale into insignificance when contrasted with the devastating consequences of climate change outlined in the Stern Review. The inclusion of aviation in European emissions trading is a success, but our domestic policy on aviation remains one of stimulating demand. There is also enormous potential for carbon reduction through energy efficiency, but climate change is a battle that must be fought on EVERY front.

3.4 With this in mind, CSM recommends the following:

3.4.1 Reconsideration of plans for a third runway at Heathrow

3.4.2 European-wide tax on aviation fuel

3.4.3 Greater investment in rail travel and Government intervention to ensure that domestic rail travel is always the cheaper option, when contrasted with air and road travel

3.4.4 Greater incentives to develop, buy and run less-polluting vehicles

3.4.5 More and better cycle paths in all our cities; piloting community bike schemes, such as that introduced in Paris

3.4.6 Increased investment in renewable energy to ensure we are able to produce 50% of our electricity from renewable sources by 2050.

3.5 Securing behaviour change by people requires measures to engage them directly as individuals, families and communities. In a culture driven by consumerism and a constant desire for the ‘new’ it will not be easy to reduce our levels of consumption. As the Archbishop of Canterbury highlighted in his New Year message, we are a people who live in a culture ‘of waste and disposability’ which contrasts with in the Christian commitment for ‘building to last’, in creating a sustainable world and sustainable relationships with us human beings.’

3.6 Our behaviour is unlikely to change if we continue to regard ourselves primarily as consumers and the earth as something that we ‘possess’. CSM therefore encourages the Party to use language, that emphasises our relationship and interdependence with the earth.

3.7 There are ways of making what we do consume more sustainable, and Government should continue to explore ways of rewarding good behaviour and penalising wastefulness. We reject accusations that this would create a ‘nanny state’ and believe that the Labour Party must respond robustly to any such criticism.

3.8 Responsible consumption should be a key principle of good citizenship and the Labour Party must integrate this concept into citizenship education and into the ‘Life in the UK’ test, now a pre-requisite for British citizenship.

3.9 CSM welcomes the measures recently set out by the Prime Minister aimed at increasing the energy efficiency of our homes and enabling people to reduce their consumption. Information about environmental impact needs to be as accessible as possible, and we urge the Labour Party to set a policy commitment for all households should be fitted with smart-meters within the next 5 years (rather than the next 10 years).

3.10 Action on climate change can be linked to effective ways of building community and encouraging co-operation. Work by the RSA has shown how to promote engagement through an exciting initiative to promote personal carbon allowances and we also support the Cooperative Party’s campaign for “Carbon Neutral Communities”. The Labour Party should make a commitment to doing more to promote and reward initiatives to limit the use of packaging and plastic bags. These measures would be of value in themselves but would also help Labour’s belief that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we do when acting in isolation. At a local level, councillors should be at the forefront of campaigns that encourage ‘sustainable community living’.

3.11 CSM welcomes the target set out in the Children’s Plan for all schools to be ‘carbon neutral’ by 2016, but urges the Government to extend this target to include all public services including hospitals and local authority buildings. Churches must also rise to the challenge and commit themselves to becoming carbon neutral.

4. SUPPORTING LOCAL COMMUNITIES

4.1 In thinking about strengthening our local communities and our local democracy, it is important to find effective ways of engaging all members of the community, not solely in the delivery of local services, but also in local leadership and democracy.

4.2 We should not have any preconceptions about who is likely to engage in democracy. Citizen organisations such as London Citizens have demonstrated that strong passionate local leadership can arise from unexpected quarters. The Church often talks about ‘discipleship’, and this principle of self-less nurturing and imparting responsibility can and should be transferred into a political context.

4.3 Churches and faith groups can often provide the way in to engaging with members of our communities: the Party needs to continue to find ways to connect with these groups.

4.4 Engagement will only be successful if people are listened to and given real responsibility for decision-making. Participatory budgeting is one effective way to empower local communities.

4.5 More needs to be done to strengthen the role of Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs). CSM welcomes the new Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act and hopes that the measures aimed at strengthening the LSP will be successful.

5. AFFORDABLE HOUSING

5.1 Poverty and inequality are regarded in the holy texts of all major faiths as scandalous and unjust. People of faith are called to act with compassion and to work for more just and equitable social orders. We urge that the steps that have been taken by the Labour Party to engage with faith groups, recognising their contribution and future potential, be made explicit in Party policy documents It is sometimes overlooked that the Church has a great history of philanthropy and social action and many of the organisations that continue to provide support for those in housing need are faith-based organisations. The potential for inter-faith action in this field is enormous and encouraging such engagement should be explicit in the Labour Party’s policies.

Come you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance... I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me (Matthew 25:34-6)

5.2 2006 marked 40 years since the making of ‘Cathy Come Home’, a film which awakened us to the travesty of poor housing. Since then, enormous progress has been made, particularly as a result of the Rough Sleepers’ Initiative. However, there has been an increase in rough-sleeping since the accession of new countries to the European Union. ‘Homeless Link’ has highlighted the problem in a recent publication on A8 Nationals and while Government policy is sound in principle, it is inhumane to leave people on the street without support (as it is to leave asylum-seeking families destitute). CSM urges the Labour Party to think creatively and to make commitments to a just solution to this issue.

5.4 Justice in housing is not simply about rough sleeping – it is also about the right to a decent home. There is a crisis in social housing in some areas of high demand (particularly in London) where there is simply not enough accommodation for the families who need it. As Shelter has demonstrated, the prevalence of overcrowding in some areas has a severe impact on child poverty and other related issues, such as educational attainment and community cohesion.

5.5 CSM welcomes the investment outlined in the Comprehensive Spending Review but there is a huge task ahead, given the years of under-investment. Housing inequality is growing and the focus on home-ownership means that the gap between those who are asset-rich and those who are asset-poor is likely to widen. CSM urges the Labour Party to make a commitment to conducting a thorough investigation into housing inequality in the UK as the basis for radical action.

5.6 We also urge the Labour Party to set a clear policy that where new housing is built, particularly in some of the new growth areas, plans must be laid at the outset for the development of sustainable communities in both environmental and social terms (with the necessary infrastructure in place).

6 Rural Communities

6.1 The Labour Party has done a great deal to tackle the needs of rural communities, often denigrated through the efforts of right-wing groups such as the Countryside Alliance who wrongly portray us as a purely urban movement.

6.2 In fact the fight against rural poverty has been an important strand of work for the Labour Movement during its entire history, and this has been given fresh impetus in the last ten years. The Labour Group of Rural MPs published a number of policy papers between 1997 and 2001, leading to the creation of DEFRA – the first time that “rural affairs” rather than farming had been explicit in a Department’s title and priorities.

6.3 The Labour Party is the first Party to hold a specific Rural Conference, which helped to drive Labour Party policies such as rural economic development, the work of the RDAs, the rural housing commission, the designation of a new National Park in the New Forest, the development of the Sustainable Development Fund to promote engagement in National Parks and AONBs, as well as legislation for the “Right to Roam” and now on coastal access. Even controversial legislation on hunting has strong support in rural as well as urban communities.

6.4 We therefore urge the Labour Party to campaign confidently in rural areas and in policy papers to acknowledge the needs of rural communities, to hold a further Labour Party Rural Conference in 2009, to continue to develop the engagement on urban dwellers with the countryside, especially the National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty