HHP hosts Sky News for Gordons green Budget

On 22nd March, Gordon Brown delivered possibly his last budget. It was trailed as potentially including a significant amount of measures tackling environmental issues, and in particular 'gas-guzzlers' on our roads.

Sky News set themselves up for the day at HHP with a live satellite link, waiting to respond to any significant issues concerning the environment. They used HHP as a backdrop and a hook into environmental subjects. The most significant measure announced was the increased fuel duty on 'gas-guzzling' cars or 'Chelsea tractors' as they have been unaffectionally labelled. We were asked to comment on what we thought of this whilst making a clear statement about the measures the residents at HHP have taken to address transport emissions - this included filming our electric car and array of human-powered machines (bikes!). Although we welcome any step to discourage the use of vehicles that are inefficient in their fuel use, the budget changes seemed more tokenistic (equivalent to an increase in costs of about half a tank of fuel) than a serious measure to tackle pollution.

There were about 6 live links during the day, including finishing with a live debate between resident Simon Tilley and a local 4X4 fanatic. Rather bizarrely, there seemed more consensus than conflict with the 4X4 fan agreeing on the whole with the need to limit pollution from vehicles.