Labour environment chief asked to 'practice what you preach'

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sat 22nd Mar 2008

Cllr Clement-Jones (left) and Cllr Scriven (right) with the offending publications

The local Labour politician in charge of promoting environmental issues on Sheffield City Council has been taken to task for endorsing the sending out of an 'obscene' amount of glossy brochures. Lib Dems are now seeking assurances that the supposed climate change champion will think again before she agrees to unnecessarily waste valuable resources.

Councillor Mary Lea, Labour Cabinet member for the Environment, endorsed the distribution of large glossy brochures to all 84 councillors and some council employees with elementary information on how waste is collected.

The wasteful package contained two large glossy brochures, that included the slogan 'reduce, reuse, recycle', and a covering letter from Cllr Lea. Local Liberal Democrats have highlighted that the information could have easily been sent by e-mail which would have saved on wasting paper.

By sending the brochures Cllr Lea has broken the Council's own policy of using paperless correspondence where possible and encouraging partners to do the same, which was introduced by the Lib Dems when in power.

Cllr Simon Clement-Jones, Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet member for the Environment, said: -

"We where extremely surprised to receive large envelopes containing an obscene amount of paper and glossy brochures when the information could have been sent by e-mail. Given the Council policy of using paperless communication and encouraging partners to do the same, this unnecessary waste should have been avoided."

"What's even more concerning is that the person who endorsed breaking this rule is the Labour politician who is supposed to be the local environment champion! If local people are to have confidence in what Cllr Lea is saying then she really should practice what she preaches."

"It's vital that we all contribute towards protecting our environment, that means we should be thinking about the 'reduce, reuse, recycle' mantra. We hope that Cllr Lea takes this on board and instances like this can be avoided in the future."