Guildford Labour Appoints Climate Crisis Officer

Published on: 3 Aug, 2019
Updated on: 14 Aug, 2019

Guildford Labour has appointed Andy Giess as its first climate crisis officer.

He will be responsible for liaising with other climate groups in Guildford and Surrey, interpreting national policy in the local context and looking at policy initiatives which can be fed back to the party nationally.

Andy Giess has been appointed as Guildford Labour’s first climate crisis officer.

Guildford Labour adds that he will “also be keeping an eagle eye on the performance of the recently elected Guildford Borough Council and ensuring that they deliver on their recent promises to the electorate”.

And that: “All policies emerging from the new council will be subject to Andy’s intense scrutiny. Andy has only recently moved to Guildford from Devon but is already engaged with many local groups and sees climate change as the key focus for all political parties.”

Andy Giess said: “This role is really important to me, but I recognise it will be a challenge. We need to seek agreement across the board on green issues, as by working together we can achieve much more”.

Responses to Guildford Labour Appoints Climate Crisis Officer

Jacob Allen Reply

August 4, 2019 at 3:07 pm

Any political party that does not have environmental sustainability at the forefront of their agenda is not fit for purpose in the twenty-first century! This is a great step forward for Guildford.
David Roberts Reply

August 5, 2019 at 1:06 pm

Could Andy please examine Labour councillors’ strangely servile support for the Tory Local Plan and tell us how this can possibly be consistent with combating climate change?

The plan is by far the biggest issue on the local agenda. If he fails to speak up against it, we will know that his appointment is merely a political stunt.
Jules Cranwell Reply

August 5, 2019 at 2:32 pm

Perhaps Andy can convince his Labour councillors to stop supporting the local plan, which will be ruinous to the environment.
jim Allen Reply

August 10, 2019 at 4:54 pm

Its OK folks the Liberals have declared a climate emergency – no further action or comment required all in hand….
Ben Paton Reply

August 11, 2019 at 11:56 am

Does Mr Geiss have any particular expertise in environmental matters?

The article makes no disclosure about his background, what his interest in the environment may be, and why he got the job. Were there any other candidates for this role?

It would be impressive if the Labour Party had indeed appointed someone with a disinterested interest in the environment, serious analytical skill and the intellectual honesty to follow the evidence to its logical conclusions.

Sadly, experience of political parties today suggests it is more likely the this is just another political appointment for which the most important attribute was tribal loyalty.
- John Perkins Reply
  
  August 12, 2019 at 6:38 pm
  
  I think Ben is wrong. The most important attribute was a grey beard.
Brian Creese, Guildford Labour Party Reply

August 12, 2019 at 1:44 pm

It is very easy to say things like the Local Plan “will be ruinous to the environment”, but where is the evidence?

I would suggest that the Local Plan will be far better for the local environment than its alternative – no Plan. Without a Local Plan all land is open to developers everywhere in the borough; planning is like the Wild West where anything goes.

The Local Plan is more important for what it rules out rather than rules in. If an area is not allocated for house-building, then there is little chance that a developer can get house building approved. If the plan demands two-bedroomed housing for local families, developments offering small houses will be favoured.

A plan-less, laissez-faire approach to planning will be a disaster for our environment and will inevitably lead to inappropriate, wasteful, unneeded multi-million pound mansions.
- Jules Cranwell Reply
  
  August 14, 2019 at 2:00 pm
  
  Here is the evidence requested:
  
  1. 70% of new homes (around 10,000) in the countryside.
  2. Total reliance on cars for travel to places of work schools from the above homes, with the resulting increase in pollution.
  3. Destruction of land required for planting of 30,000 hectares of trees, required under the government’s policy to become carbon neutral by 2050.
  4. Reduction of arable land required to reduce the 60% of our food imported, to thereby reduce the carbon impact of food miles.
  
  We had enough of ‘project fear’ over “Wild West” development during the development of the current plan.
  
  Nobody is saying we should not have a Local Plan, and the ongoing JRs do not seek to throw it out; they seek only to amend it into a plan which works for residents.
Dave Middleton Reply

August 14, 2019 at 3:38 pm

So, an unelected, apparently unaccountable individual, who has been appointed by a minority (in Guildford) political party and presumably therefore will have a leaning to, if not bias, towards that party, will be holding our newly and democratically elected borough council to account?

Funny, but I always thought that was the role of the electorate and the free press.
Andy Giess Reply

August 15, 2019 at 4:04 pm

You wonder what anyone’s expertise is, especially as we now face a crisis that for the last 49 years society has hoped would go away and someone else could deal with.

Environmentalist have warned that global warming was created by us. If our lifestyle of chasing more and more does not change it will exacerbate a rise in global temperature.

The choice and responsibility is ours but we have a knack of ignoring this as self interest takes over.

What has this got to do with an appointment for a volunteer to look at the climate crisis for the local labour party?

Is it to deal with the crisis we face and the best solutions and methods in managing the crisis?

Is it to have vigorous academic discussion from scientific knowledge to radical philosophical debate based on long standing environmental issues, or is it just self fulfilment of ignorance of another volunteer dabbling in issues they are not remotely interested in?

Hopefully, as a youth officer working in Shropshire and Telford, a Citizens Advice worker in North Wales and a volunteer in North Devon working with environmental issues and member of various groups from Greenpeace to Co-operative party I have some knowledge.

But I am always learning and I don’t admit to having answers. But by working together we may find solutions if the crisis is to be reduced.

Yes, I also have a political view that challenges the society and some of its values so that a more equal society is created, but that’s socialism – a view I have held since my youth some 50 years ago.