After last week’s rejection for the THIRD time of the East Surrey Green Party’s motion for Reigate and Banstead Borough Council to declare a Climate Emegency, and after their pathetic justification that they ‘are moving fast enough’ a recent report, Transport for the South East State of the Region 2023 Report highlights two very clear areas where the Tory council is failing.
In the main, the report deals with how the South East measures against the rest of England in terms of transport usage, accessibility to public transport, transport activities and trends where the SE is improving or getting worse in terms of transport sustainability. It’s worth a skim read for some surprising and slightly worrying stats.
What does jump out is when the South-East is broken down into areas to a) illustrate the pace of the rollout of public charging infrastructure and b) the average CO2 emissions per capita for transport.
The report identifies correctly that those living in more rural areas of the south-east have less access to public transport and generally have longer car journeys as people and services are just further apart.
Sadly for Reigate and Banstead, neither of these justifications hold water. Yes we have rural areas, but they’re not in the same distance league as the Sussex weald for example.
Yet Reigate and Banstead are only ‘middlin’ for Transport Emissions per Capita. Somewhere between 166,000 – 215,000 tonnes of CO2 per person annually.
Reigate and Banstead is not as rural, and has shorter distances and better public transport options than either neighbouring Mole Valley or Tandridge and yet they both score better, whilst Epsom and Ewell to the north scores in the best 20%.
Source: Transport for the South East State of the Region 2023 Report
The second disappointing stat is the number of public EV chargers installed per 100,000 people in each area. Whilst Brighton and Hove, and Folkstone get top billing at over 100 per 100’000, Reigate and Banstead sit in the worst fifth.
Source: Transport for the South East State of the Region 2023 Report
In fact it’s even worse, a check of Reigate and Banstead’s own website the real number is revealed.
“The council currently operates four electric vehicle charging points in the borough”
FOUR, with a population of around 147,000.
If the Conservative councillors who lead Reigate and Banstead spent as much effort in implementing simple climate solutions in the borough rather than just gaslighting it’s residents. Reigate and Banstead would be cleaner, more climate friendly and frankly a better place to live.
