‘The New Reform Controlled Council At Havering Wants To Turn A blind Eye To The Climate Emergency And Just Deny It’s Happening.’
The Member of Parliament For Dagenham and Rainham-Margaret Mullane writes in the Havering Daily.
In ancient Rome, the ill fated Emperor Nero was condemned for literally fiddling while Rome burned. The current Reform controlled Havering Council should be equally slammed for denying that there is a climate emergency.
Residents in my Dagenham and Rainhamconstituency unfortunately know only too well from the devastating fires that swept through and affected communities, that our climate has changed and that action is needed at all levels. There have been three different issues and causes of fires in our area. The most troubling and persistent of these are the ongoing underground fires at the former illegal landfill site at Arnolds Field Launders Lane.
Whilst it’s true that the Arnolds Field fires are not directly caused by heatwaves, raised air and ground temperatures often instigate the blazes and bring about the toxic smoke that blights Rainham too often.
Four years ago during the summer heatwave of 2022 two wildfires broke out on the same day with devastating effect in the Dagenham and Rainhamconstituency, one on fields at Wennington Village and another off Ballards Lane in Dagenham. 34 homes were destroyed in these two wildfires.
The most recent outbreak of fires in the constituency have hit Ingrebourne Valley. Over the last three weeks there have been a succession of grass fires. While there have been suspicions that at least some of these have been deliberately started, there can be no denying that the extremely high temperatures and lack of rainfall play a significant part in these wildfires.
And of course we are not alone in this. Turn on the news and you see fires devastating large areas of Europe and also Scotland and Wales. Climate change is causing mayhem and misery. These changes also bring about other exceptional weather events including torrential rain downpours at other times. Again, Rainham village suffered from a weekend of extreme rainfall six years ago this month when many homes in roads off Wennington Road were flooded.
It seems like the new Reform controlled Council at Havering wants to turn a blind eye to all this and just deny it’s happening. I am not prepared to do the same. That’s why I have been working with the Environment Agency and Council to get to grips with Arnolds Field and called on local authorities and landowners to cut firebreaks around the perimeter of fields to prevent fires spreading.
Ignoring climate change should not be an option for any responsible authority. We ignore this at our peril and our children and grandchildren will pay a terrible price if we neglect to act. Unfortunately, the hapless Reform councilors of Havering apparently are either unaware or unconcerned, I will continue to speak up and maybe at some point they will see sense, reverse their decision and act.
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forget going green until the economy has been rectified . climate change needs to be controlled but not by fanatics like the labour party or Milliband
Climate change is a load of nonsense made up by the woke left Loony bins