EAst of Otley DEVELOPMENT
We are now calling for the Otley East scheme to be scrapped, following the UN report on climate collapse.
This week's report by the UN's International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calling for urgent action means that the Otley East planning application should be scrapped.
We are calling on Leeds City Council and the development consortium to withdraw the plan and completely rethink it.
The planning application admits to a biodiversity loss of 47 per cent which means almost half of the habitats and wildlife will be permanently damaged or lost. At the same time there is no commitment to mitigating the known effects of climate change by building a sustainable development of low energy carbon neutral homes.
This plan is based on out of date thinking and planning. It should be scrapped and totally rethought. The IPCC report and the evidence cannot be ignored any longer. Otherwise we risk not just saddling future residents of this scheme with problems and large bills for the future but damage to the whole town and its environment.
The UN report could not be more stark in its warning that urgent action is needed now to save us from even worse effects of climate change such as more wildfires, more frequent and intense storms, flooding, rising sea levels and huge damage to the land, crops and wildlife. Our wildlife has suffered huge losses in the last 50 years due to habitat destruction caused by man made climate change, pollution and urban overdevelopment.
Governments reacted swiftly and drastically to the Covid pandemic and similar decisive action is need now to tackle the climate emergency. There is no vaccine for climate collapse. This means action is required at local level quickly to reduce carbon emissions around housing development and road building as well as by national government.
We call on Leeds City Council and the consortium to withdraw this application.
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To keep up to date on the development, follow the East of Otley Action Group page and the ODD (Otley Development Disaster).
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