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Banbury candidate interviews: Chris Nevile – Climate Party
02/07/2024
“For me the single most important thing is to sort out the climate and environment”
Chris Nevile says his decision to stand as a Climate Party candidate in the General Election came following his retirement last year. When he told his wife she replied: “don’t be stupid – now have you fed the dog!”
He describes himself as an outdoorsy type of person who is passionate about the environment.
“I was brought up on a farm in Lincolnshire,” Chris said. “We still have that family farm so I’ve seen the deterioration we’ve had in the actual world. I know the abundance that we had, which we no longer have. I want to preserve and restore that for my children.
“For me the single most important thing is to sort out the climate and environment, because without that we are truly in great difficulty.”
Chris believes making the necessary changes to address climate change are essential to protect ourselves against cost-of-living issues such as rising food prices in the future. He feels the current government has done nothing to address this issue.
“We must sort out the absolutely central issue of making sure that the economy is fit to live in a world where temperatures are probably going to rise and we’re going to see damage to the environment with the impact that’s going to have on farming. We import 60 percent of our food so we’re going to feel the effect of climate change in terms of food prices.”
For energy security Chris supports far more investment in renewables. He said: “The price of solar has fallen 90 percent in the last 10 years. It will continue to fall and the efficiency of the panels will improve. On mathematics alone it’s a no brainer.
“I would support wind farms. You can drive anywhere around the motorways of England and you see them everywhere. Wind farms have been typically sited offshore, but that’s more expensive (for obvious reasons), but I would support wind farms around here.”
Chris also supports plans to build more homes and cites the development at Upper Hayford as an example of how this can be suitably achieved.
He said: “It’s been done sensitively. It’s based on an old Air Force base which was also a big industrial site. The land had already been taken out of situations where it could have been used for anything else, such as farming.
“I’m not in favour of building necessarily on the green field sites – I don’t think we need to.
“The one thing that I absolutely would do … is ensure that building companies put a sustainable element to every house: solar panels where it’s appropriate, heat pumps, electric car chargers. Put them in when the house is built and it costs very little. Put them on once the house has been built, and it’s much more expensive.”
Chris noted the Horton General Hospital as an essential part of life here but said the NHS needs people with sensible heads to look at it rationally.
“It’s been an amazing service throughout my life. You can’t fault it as a service, but it’s not a great business. Just pumping more money in is not going to solve the core problem. We need to get clever people, have courageous decisions and just strip the politics out.”
For voters Chris feels a vote for him sends a message on the importance of the climate situation. He said: “There is no more important issue than our environment and climate change and if that is an opinion that you share, then you have to vote for it. That gives a message to the next government as to what they need to do about it and do with urgency.”
You can listen to the full interview here:
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam
Ivan Cicin-Sain On 03/07/2024 at 2:09 pm
Well done Chris for standing up for the environment. Every thing we do is founded on nature and its resources.