The New Green City Regions Index compares the environmental performance of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough city region with the five other city regions electing new metro mayors in May. *
The index, published by the leading environmental organisations Campaign for Better Transport, National Trust, The Wildlife Trusts, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, and Green Alliance, (1) measures the city regions against a range of green indicators, such as air quality and green infrastructure, as well as sustainable housing and transport. (2)
To achieve their economic goals, cities will need to be attractive places to live that are easy to get around, with clean air and high quality greenspace. They will need to be resilient to climate change, with future proofed plans for housing and transport.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough city region performs better than other city regions on:
- Clean energy: an impressive 34% of electricity consumption is met by renewables compared to a national average of 19%; this is the highest among the city regions
- Cycling: the region came out top for cycling, with 6% of people cycling five times per week
- Recycling: at 49% it is ranked top for recycling rates alongside the West of England
- Care for built heritage: only 1% of Grade 1 buildings are at risk despite the city region having by far the most listed buildings
But it faces a number of green challenges:
- Transport: the city region has by far the highest vehicle miles travelled per year per person (5,415 miles). The region also has the lowest bus use with 38 passenger journeys per person per year (compared to the highest use in The West Midlands at 95 journeys)
- New homes: the city region has a pressing need for new homes, but only 44% of development in the region is on brownfield land, resulting in increased pressure on the city region’s natural environment and greenfield land.
- Green infrastructure: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has the lowest spend on open spaces per person per year at only £10 and has not reported on the management of its Local Wildlife Sites since 2011
- Air quality: Like all city regions in the index, Cambridge and Peterborough is breaching air quality limits for toxic NO2
The new mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will have a range of opportunities to improve the city region’s local environment including developing strategic housing and transport plans, and increasing funding for clean and green transport, housing and green spaces through investment funds and consolidated transport budgets.
Stephen Joseph, chief executive of Campaign for Better Transport, said: "The top priority for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's new Mayor must be keeping the flourishing economy on track while tackling widespread dependency on cars. Congested roads, dirty air and patchy public transport are damaging the environment and public health, and excluding whole communities from access to jobs and services. The new city region Mayor will have a vital role in showing that high levels of growth can be combined with better transport and a low carbon future."
Paul Miner, planning campaign manager at the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), said: “There is acute pressure in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough region to provide new homes, but less than half of housing development is on brownfield sites. The new mayor will have the chance to work with local authorities to prioritise brownfield building and relieve pressure on the countryside. We would also like to see the new mayor consider ways to increase funding for local open spaces.”
The new Green City Regions Index is the first of a two-part analysis. The second part will be published in a report ‘Greening the City Regions – opportunities for new metro mayors’ and will set out the actions the new metro mayors can take to make their cities greener, cleaner and more resilient.
* The city regions electing metro mayors on 4 May 2017 are Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City Region, Tees Valley, the West Midlands and the West of England. The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough city region is a combined authority made up of Cambridge City Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council, Fenland District Council, Huntingdonshire District Council, Peterborough City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council.
(1) The Green City Regions Index will be published in full in April 2017 as part of a report highlighting the opportunities and actions the new city region mayors can take to improve their local environment.
(2) Indicators have been selected based on their ability to reflect the health of the environment in each city region across a range of issues, as well as their ability to reflect the policies and activities that support the improvement of the environment. There has also been consideration of the powers of the new metro mayors and their ability to influence environmental performance in the city regions. Due to the limited nature of data in some areas, these indicators should not be considered comprehensive, but rather provide a high level picture of the region’s green performance.
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Media enquiries: Please contact Faye Scott, head of research, Green Alliance on [email protected] or 07932 845 330 with all requests.
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