Don’t blame residents

Published: 5:15 AM July 20, 2006

Updated: 9:40 PM February 22, 2021

The recent report commissioned by British Gas blamed householders for the carbon emissions in Saffron Walden and (naturally) stated that this was associated with a low percentage of homes being connected to the gas supply and therefore unable to use it fo

The recent report commissioned by British Gas blamed householders for the carbon emissions in Saffron Walden and (naturally) stated that this was associated with a low percentage of homes being connected to the gas supply and therefore unable to use it for heating.

This seems strange, as gas is a fossil fuel. Many new builds are all electric and I chose this myself, reasoning that power generators could control emissions more effectively than I could.

The report also failed to take into consideration emissions from the local industry, e.g. farming and aviation. The latter is active throughout the year and the emissions, especially from the approach flight paths over Saffron Walden, surely settle into the "basin" tin which the town sits and where the monitored air quality is causing concern.

This increase in pollution must be a big factor to be taken into consideration in respect of the airport's application to increase passenger throughput which their own figures indicate will increase flights by 48 per cent.

Shirley Evans

Harvey Way