Public Buildings Should Be 'Warm Zones' This Winter, Says Brighton & Hove Councillor

Public buildings should be used as “warm zones” this winter, according to a Labour councillor who will seek formal backing for the idea in the coming week.

With energy bills soaring, Councillor Amanda Evans, deputy leader of the opposition Labour group, is calling for “all public spaces, including libraries, schools and museums” to be considered.

She also wants officials to ask “private and public sector anchor institutions … to contribute spaces” to a “warm bank network” for those in need.

Councillor Evans said:

“Now that the autumn weather is here, I am receiving more and more mail from residents – and increasingly, small business owners too – literally petrified about how high their bills are already and how much higher they may go this winter.

“Blaming the ‘cost of living crisis’ in general and the energy crisis in particular on Russia and the war in Ukraine just won’t wash, given that this country has never received more than 6 per cent of its fuel from that region.

“Many other countries far more affected by the situation have nonetheless managed to protect their citizens from the kinds of profiteering increases we are seeing in the UK.

“The multiple crises here are clearly more about both the mismanagement of our economy and rampant cronyism, particularly under the last two of the four Conservative Prime Ministers we have had in the last decade.”

She also wants the council to ask the government to reinstate the ban on fracking – or hydraulic fracturing – when water is pumped into the ground to release gas and oil trapped within layers of rock known as shale.

The controversial practice hit the headlines when the exploration company Cuadrilla Resources prepared to carry out test drilling in the Sussex village of Balcombe in 2013.

The Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas, was among the protesters who were arrested. She was charged with a public order offence and acquitted in court.

The government called a halt to fracking in Britain in 2019 amid concerns about earth tremors near a site in Lancashire – but the ban has been dropped as energy bills soar.

Councillor Evans added:

“The energy crisis will not be solved by restarting the fracking that has caused such environmental devastation across Philadelphia and elsewhere.

“As frightened as I am too by the crippling bills coming our way, I am more frightened of the idea that one of the areas deemed suitable for restarting this deadly dangerous form of extraction is so close to our city.

“It will not in any way address the energy crisis for consumers, merely line the pockets of billionaires further still.”

She plans to ask a meeting of the full council to restate its “strong opposition” to fracking and repeat its declaration that Brighton and Hove is a “frack-free zone”.

The full council meeting is due to start at 4.30pm on Thursday (20 October) at Hove Town Hall. The meeting is scheduled for webcast on the council’s website.