Living up to their green credentials
More staycations, local food and less travel
Empty streets at the start of lockdown persuaded many people to take to their bikes
COVID restrictions have inadvertently helped Perth and Kinross councillors further reduce their carbon footprint.
At a meeting of the full council in December 2019, councillors pledged to make a positive change for the environment in 2020.
Little did they know what 2020 had in store for them.
The PA caught up with several councillors to see if they had been true to their word on this commitment, and what part the pandemic had played.
One consequence for Almond and Earn SNP councillor Henry Anderson is that he and his family have avoided foreign travel.
Instead he has enjoyed staycations in his new caravan.
He said: “We have weekends away to relatively local sites that are off the main tourist trails and secluded, thus not causing areas to become over polluted. We always leave sites in as good or better condition than we found them. We are also buying more local and quality food - mostly Scottish - thus saving on transport from countries causing a greater footprint.”
Lib Dem city centre councillor Peter Barrett has been volunteering at the Muirton Community Foodshare - an initiative aimed at reducing food waste.
He explained: “We work with Letham4all which gets short-dated produce and food close to its ‘best before’ date from supermarkets via the Fair Share programme, and makes it available free of charge.
“I also helped my wife Liz set up the South Perth Community
Food Share. The Food Shares are great at both tackling hunger and protecting the environment.”
Like many others, the councillor embraced DIY in the early days of lockdown and upcycled reclaimed timber to build raised beds to grow his own vegetables.
On behalf of the Labour and Independent group, Labour Carse of Gowrie councillor Alasdair Bailey said: “One thing we’ve learnt from this crisis is that we don’t all need to travel to Perth for every meeting.
“Our group has successfully met online throughout and we’d hope to continue to meet online when it makes sense to, even once restrictions are eased.”
SNP Perth City Centre councillor Eric Drysdale has noticed his mileage decrease more than his workload.
He said: “I have reduced my car journey mileage by 70 per cent with no reduction in workload. Working from home certainly reduces traffic congestion, and improves air quality, and it also works for me. With my health portfolio as IJB chair and NHS Tayside board member, I just need to work on increasing exercise by longer daily walks etc for my own health.”
Thanks to Perth City Centre SNP councillor Andrew Parrott’s electric car, his carbon emissions on the road have been zero.
He said: “My little electric Zoe has not contributed an ounce of exhaust emissions to the air in Perth since I bought it last September.”
Lib Dem Perth City South councillor Willie Wilson has been “greatly heartened by the number of families walking, running and cycling,” and noticed this continued as lockdown restrictions eased.
Strathmore Lib Dem councillor Lewis Simpson has been “doing even more cycling than ever” during the pandemic. The council’s former active travel ambassador says it has enabled him to see more of what is happening in Scone.
In terms of car mileage he has not claimed a single penny since lockdown and has enjoyed the shift to working from home.
He said: “Remote meetings suit me fine and I am happy to work from home.”
Cllr Simpson said he was in a “fortunate position” and it suited his circumstances but understood that for someone with a young family or poor internet connection it would not be ideal.
Fellow Strathmore councillor Fiona Sarwar wants more cycle paths.
The SNP councillor said: “We need to make provision for safe and sustainable travel.
“I have supported cycle paths across my ward and try to be accessible and ready to offer advice and support to community groups and the third sector who are seeking to make our roads and paths a more friendly place for cycling and walking.
“As councillors we also need to apply pressure for the council vehicle fleet to become increasingly electric and I am pleased that PKC is so receptive to this.”
PKC’s Conservative leader Murray Lyle told the PA his wind turbines generate enough power for his entire farm.
He said: “As far as I am concerned we have two family wind turbines so we do not take electricity off the grid. We export electricity into the grid.”
He conceded the amount exported was fairly small but it did make his farm business carbon neutral.