We asked for a statement from the Council on the fact that the post of Director of Environmental Strategy is being abolished.  We were particularly interested, we said, in what effect that would have on climate action in Manchester.  Here (in full, no edits, no snarks) is what they sent.

Cllr Nigel Murphy, Manchester City Council’s executive member for the environment, said: “We have had to review all of the City Council’s services following the savage government cuts, and as part of this it was felt that our Environmental Strategy  service would be better placed if it was moved into city policy, putting it at the heart of what we do.

“The post of  Head of Environmental Strategy was created to put strategies and structures in place enabling the City Council to work closely with businesses, charities and other organisations across Manchester to reduce the city’s carbon emissions, and to  begin to embed low carbon thinking in the policies and operations of the Council.

“The current Head of Service has done an exemplary job in setting up these systems, and much of the work we now do is either becoming more integrated with other areas of city policy or focused further afield, working with our colleague authorities across Greater Manchester to address the challenges and opportunities of climate change across the city region.”

Close readers of MCFly will have their own opinions on all this.

When we were chasing the Press Office up for this quote, they mentioned that Manchester has done well on an Environment Agency CRC (carbon reduction commitment) league table.  “Send us the info.” we said. It arrived first, but then good news always travels faster.  Here it is –

Cllr Nigel Murphy, Manchester City Council’s executive member for the environment, said: “We have become one of the first councils to embed low carbon thinking at the heart of everything we do, from developing services to monitoring what each department is doing to cut emissions.

“Being placed at the top of the league table for public sector organisations, and fourth in the overall list, is a crucial step, recognising that the steps we’ve put in place to reduce our carbon emissions are already yielding results. Our commitment to become more environmentally friendly will save money as well as showing that we are leading the way in reducing emissions across the city.”

We contacted the Environment Agency for a comment. They told us this;

All the information – including the table and what our policies and procedures are – can be found here: http://crc.environment-agency.gov.uk/pplt/web/plt/public/2011-12/CRCPerformanceLeagueTable20112012