Last week, the Steady State Manchester group presented to the Economy Scrutiny Committee at Manchester town hall. We were really encouraged by the positive reaction of councillors to the importance of approaching the economy differently. The acknowledgement by leader of the council, Richard Leese, that there is such thing as good growth and bad growth was a real step forward in our eyes. At this meeting, the following promising recommendations were made. We realise these are the first step in a very long and challenging process but we are genuinely excited about the possibilities they offer:

(in no particular order)

1. That all council report include ‘environmental implications’. This would be consistent with the curent anti-poverty and ward level requirements for reports – these apply to all council reports – for example to full council, to other committees, to executive and to bodies like directorate managment teams.

2. Setup a sub group to look into the recommendations put forward by Steady State Manchester to the meeting: this could be a ‘task and finish’ group of councillors to look at the issue. To read the four recommendations click here (Food/working hours/ a ecological dashboard/retrofit and youth employment).

3. The monthly dashboard that goes with every report includes environmental data as well as economic factors.

4. All councillors go through carbon literacy training within a year.

5. Recommendations from a previous green conference by the committee to be taken forward.

Related articles

• Food and Green Index: Manchester Council To Look Into SSM Recommendations (steadystatemanchester.net)
• ‘In Place of Growth: What New Thinking and New Language do we need to Revitalize Local Economies?’ A Workshop for Academics, Campaigners, Councillors and Citizens. Thursday 13th of June. (steadystatemanchester.net)
• Video: Professor Kevin Anderson talks to #Manchester Economy Scrutiny Committee #climate #mcc (manchesterclimatemonthly.net)