Sunday, November 14, 2010

“Going green” in Westminster and Huntingdon

“Going green” in Westminster and Huntingdon is an article about the Green House in Huntingdon. When I read the headline I thought this was to do about Djanogly's main home in Westminster and his weekend retreat in Alconbury. I was wrong. The article is about Djanogly being appointed "Environmental Champion" for the Ministry of Justice. In the article it states: "This scheme is part of our determination, led by the PM, that Ministers should lead the way for the public sector to set an example in carbon reduction."

The way I read this is Ministers (Djanogly is an Under Secretary of State - lowest on the paid Ministerial rung) should lead the way. I take this to be personally and in public life.

This made me think about Djanogly and his claims on the public purse for his house in Alconbury and other ways he could reduce his carbon emissions.

Firstly, I was drawn to the cost of his two houses. Djanogly has a rather large house in Westminster and one in Alconbury. Working in London, not that far from his offices I thought he would be better off ditching his Alconbury house.

Secondly, there are the expenses of running this second house. The electricity and gas costs for 2008/09 are known as Djanogly claimed these and they have been published. Will Djanogly be leading the way by cutting down on his energy costs at his Alconbury home? He couldn't live at both houses at the same time but he claimed for the expense at living at one house whilst the other was empty.

Thirdly, Djanogly could always use public transport to get his family from their Westminster home to Alconbury and back again by train and bus. Of course no buses run through Alconbury on a Sunday. So Djanogly couldn't return to start work on Monday morning. A non-goer there.

I just feel it is rather ironic that our MP commuting between 2 large houses by car has yet to show anything about how he would change his life to cut his carbon emissions. As "Environmental Champion" he should lead by making personal cuts. At the moment it is everyone else and not Djanogly who is taking the lead.

No comments: