West of England could lead the way in growing the green economy, says mayor
Helen Godwin has set a target of 50 thousand new green jobs to reach net zero by 2030
The mayor of the west of England says the region has the potential to leads the way in the fight against climate change and growing the green economy.
While celebrating 100 days in office Helen Godwin has been telling us her plans for the future.
The mayor says she's looking forward to playing a part in building opportunities for a net zero future, opportunities which include a target of 50,000 new green jobs across Bristol, Bath, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
A green job is anything that would contribute towards reducing emissions, lowering the carbon footprint and protecting the environment.
This would heavily be in sectors such as manufacturing, construction and jobs that would reduce emissions from heating our homes such as installing heat pumps and solid wall insulation.
Helen Godwin says the region should be at the forefront: “We’ve got all the ingredients.
“I think we’ve got the kind of political will, but we’ve also got the landscape, we’ve got the coast, we’ve got the green space.
“We’ve got the infrastructure already around preservation and we’ve got the will to really push forward.
She continued “The commitment from our part of the world around climate change and understanding climate resilience is massive and I think it is a huge part of who we are.
“I think we’re in a really good place to speak to investors, to speak to Great British Energy, and all of those organisations and say look, this is where you want to come and do this stuff.”
Housing is "the number one thing people worry about"
The mayor has also committed to mitigate the housing crisis in Bristol and has promised that work is underway.
The city has become the most expensive to rent outside London and the waiting list for social housing has hit a record high.
Major developments including the Brabazon site in South Gloucestershire and the development at Temple Quarter are set to bring thousands of new homes to the area.
Helen Godwin says it’s vital they’re affordable: “It’s the number one thing that people worry about I think, both in terms of their own housing cost, but then also thinking about the future.
“You know how do our kids and grandkids get to stay and live in the region.
“So it can’t all be 5-bedroom townhouses that nobody knows anyone who could afford them.”
She added that investment into infrastructure is a crucial part of building affordable homes: “People talked a lot about building all the new houses but then just the roads being snarled up because there was no new infrastructure.
“There was no new roads, there was no new train station, there was nothing to sort of support that.
“We have to make sure that those communities feel like it’s additive, that they’re going to get some benefit.”
The West Country’s bus service is “not working as well as it should”
The west country mayor also spoke on her plans to improve transport across the region.
One area of focus is improving bus services which would also contribute to the authority’s net zero by 2030 goal by reducing congestion on the roads
Helen Godwin said: “The bus network is our, at the moment, our only real public transport option and that’s not working as well as it should.
“In the future I would like that to be much more reliable, I would like the routes to be right.
“I’d like to have the ability for people to get to work easily, to get to the hospital easily, to get to school or college easily.”
She added: “In some ways I think living in this part of the world we sort of go oh well that’s never going to happen but it’s bonkers that we would think that can’t happen.
“Of course that can happen, we just need to do the work to make sure that we’re delivering the right services for people in the right places.”