More Weather on the Way

The traffic chaos has moved to other parts of the country with fresh falls of snow last night over central southern England. The last few days have seen trains delayed for long periods in the Channel Tunnel, airports closed, and here in our area, no trains running on the Hastings to London service.

I have heard complaints that roads have not been gritted but have seen gritting lorries out myself. The weather has been so severe that the effect achieved by the gritting has not been lasting. The roads have frozen over again within hours of gritting taking place. This is winter. There is always the likelihood of snow and icy conditions.

I believe that the real problem lies in communications or at least in a lack of it. The complaints heard most frequently relate firstly to people not being told the cause or extent of the problem and secondly those supposedly in control, or not in control as the case may be, not planning for such eventualities. The performance over the past few days of the Managing Director of Eurostar was an object lesson in how not to explain yourself. However, there is a need for individuals to start taking more responsibility, whether it is by not making journeys that are not absolutely necessary or simply making sure the pavement outside their house or their neighbour's is kept clear.

There should be no doubt that man is contributing to climate change. Global warming means we will experience greater extremes of weather which could mean colder wetter winters, as well as droughts in the summer. Better technology however is giving us improved warnings of what the weather is likely to be in a few days' time, which should enable better planning, if we choose to use the information.

But we cannot solely rely on Governments to take the necessary action. The disappointing conclusions reached by the Copenhagen summit illustrate this perfectly. After two weeks of negotiations world leaders failed to come to an agreement on the best way to tackle climate change. Once again we ask what needs to happen before governments tackle the climate crisis before their very eyes.

For months we hoped that Copenhagen would be the moment when the world agreed it would tackle climate change. But our leaders have let us all down. There is no legally binding commitments and insufficient agreement on emissions cuts or aid to developing countries.

Liberal Democrat MEPs have been working hard to get the necessary agreements and action. It is so disappointing that Heads of Government did not follow that example.