A NEW group has been set up to co-ordinate a campaign to get residents, councils and businesses in South Lake-land to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and prevent climate change, reports James Williamson.

The South Lakeland Campaign Against Climate Change Group (SLCACC) was formed during a meeting at Kendal Town Hall on Monday night that was attended by 50 people, including members of the public and representatives from organisations such as Friends of the Earth.

Formation of the group comes in the week that the Government unveiled its draft Climate Change Bill with Environment Secretary David Miliband calling for an independent panel to set ministers a carbon budget' every five years in a bid to cut emissions by 60 per cent in 2050.

Members of the new group exchanged ideas on how to further the campaign, such as asking businesses to avoid using plastic-bottled milk and requesting that supermarkets display information on how many miles it has taken and what type of transport was used to get products on to their shelves.

Other suggestions included encouraging South Lakeland District Council and Cumbria County Council to reduce street lighting, increase cycle routes and turn down heating in public rooms.

It was also mooted that Kendal could take steps to becoming a transition town. This would encourage people to work together to produce a series of community-based schemes to help cut carbon dioxide emissions and use of fossil fuels.

Alternatively, the scope of this initiative could be widened to allow South Lakeland to become a transition district.

South Lakeland World Development Movement secretary Dave Cope said the transition town initiative was of particular importance.

"I think that this is the beginning of something big and this time next year there will be a national movement for promoting transition towns like there is now for Fairtrade," he said.

MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale Tim Farron said that the campaign was about raising awareness and coming together to make a difference.

"I will be making sure that I write to local people, businesses and schools to make sure that they are changing their lifestyles and reducing their energy dependency," he said.

Mr Farron has also launched his own consultation on the draft Climate Change Bill and has invited people to share their opinions on it by visiting www.timfarron.com.

In addition to the carbon budget, the bill plans to encourage investment into low-carbon fuels and technology such as solar power, as well as capping carbon emissions and making it quicker and easier to introduce future policies on controlling emissions.

l The next meeting for the South Lakeland Campaign Against Climate Change will be held on Tuesday, May 15, at Kendal Town Hall. For more information, telephone Mr Cope on 01539-729599.

l AN MP has praised a green initiative in South Lakeland to his colleagues in the House of Commons. Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, tabled an Early Day Motion to celebrate the launch in Coniston of a hydro-electric system, set up by villagers Sue and Jonathan Hext and George Tarr, which harnesses the power of Church Beck to power up to 300 homes, which was reported in last week's Westmorland Gazette.