ABSTRACT
Environmental considerations inform each and every aspect of its work. Every house is zero-rated, every drop of rainwater is to be used to flush the loo or directed to a Sustainable Drainage System, every roof is to be green and the Authority has installed solar panels on all Council buildings. The Chief Executive has however drawn the line at a similar approach for Environmental Appraisals and Strategic Environmental Assessments: for a short period citizens were required to complete these whenever they had their bedrooms decorated or bought a nice new dining suite. The Environment Agency, for example, has consulted widely on a policy called ‘managed realignment’ of coastal defences in the north west which would, inter alia, involve more or less the whole of Grimethwaite becoming an active part of a naturally functioning flood plain. Jeremy Sheene instructed the planners to come up with a new policy which left no room for doubt as to the Authority’s green credentials.
