Green Party calls for a more sustainable building and better public transport links
Warwick District Green Party welcomes the outline planning approval for the Gigafactory[i] producing batteries for electric vehicles to be built at Coventry Airport. The factory should be a big boost to the local economy, creating hundreds of skilled green jobs, and making a massive contribution to the decarbonisation of motor vehicles in the UK as demanded by the climate crisis.
Cllr John Dearing (Kenilworth Park Hill) says that: “this is an opportunity to create a facility that not only delivers the batteries needed by the motor vehicle industry but is also as green as possible in construction and operation. But the UK’s biggest battery-producing plant should itself be climate change proofed. The current proposal fails to be truly fit for the future in two major respects:
- The huge building will be constructed only to current building regulations: the Green Party challenges the developers, and Coventry City Council as landowner, to build the factory to the BREEAM[ii] ‘outstanding’ standard. This standard would minimise carbon inputs in the building materials and the construction process. They should also monitor the performance of the building in use to ensure ongoing carbon dioxide emissions are as low as possible.
- Access to the plant for staff will be by car, bus and bicycle. Coventry City and the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LCWEP) are investing in the development of a radical new Very Light Rail (VLR) public transport system for Coventry. The VLR will be battery powered and might well use the batteries produced in the Gigafactory. The Green Party therefore calls on Coventry City Council, the LCWEP and the developers to ensure that the Very Light Rail system is extended to the Gigafactory at the earliest opportunity.”
With an ultra-low carbon building and low emissions public transport access, the Gigafactory would indeed become an outstanding beacon of our sustainable future.
[i] Warwick District Planning Committee 11th January 2022 (https://estates8.warwickdc.gov.uk/cmis/MeetingDates/tabid/149/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/637/Meeting/4316/Committee/25/Default.aspx)
[ii] BREEAM is the world’s leading sustainability assessment method for masterplanning projects, infrastructure and buildings. It recognises and reflects the value in higher performing assets across the built environment lifecycle, from new construction to in-use and refurbishment. BREEAM certification has four sustainability standards: ‘good’, ‘very good’, ‘excellent’ and ‘outstanding’. Currently the Warwick District Local Plan can only demand BREEAM ‘very good’ for new buildings.
