Bournemouth candidates in green pledge

Mr Stokes and Ms Northover advocate a new green economy

Candidates in Dorset's Bournemouth East constituency have been outlining their plans to help the environment.

Liberal Democrat candidate Lisa Northover said she wanted the town to cut its dependence on fossil fuels.

Conservative Tobias Ellwood said he would encourage residents to take advantage of Bournemouth's sunny climate and install solar panels.

Labour's David Stokes said he wanted to see a green industrial revolution based on renewable energy.

Transition town

Mr Stokes said: "When I joined the Labour Party 31 years ago I was with Friends of the Earth and we came to give a talk to the Labour Party about the environment.

"It was that that led me into the Labour Party and it's still a topic that is close to my heart.

"We want to see a green industrial revolution in terms of wave, wind, tidal and solar power."

Ms Northover said: "I would like Bournemouth to become a transition town - where a community plans forward for when we haven't got so much petrol and other resources, so we make ourselves more resilient.

"I would like to see us using locally-sourced food and to have a better community feel and for people living here to not be working really far away.

Mr Ellwood said residents would get a £6,500 grant to insulate their homes

"One way is through the Liberal Democrat national policy of gearing things towards the environment much more - by taxing air travel differently so it's per passenger instead of per plane, and by making a new economy based on environmentally sustainable industries."

Mr Ellwood said: "We are not a very energy efficient country.

"If you go into the average house, insulation is mediocre. We want to give everybody a grant of £6,500 to make their homes more energy efficient which will be clawed back because of the savings you make.

"People should be encouraged to have solar panels and, when they are making more than they need, to feed it back into the National Grid and get paid for that.

"We need to have better storage capacity, better supplies which come from reliable sources and we need to create our own energy ourselves."

The candidates standing for election in the Bournemouth East constituency are: Conservative: Tobias Ellwood; UK Independence Party: David Hughes; Independent: Steven Humphrey; Liberal Democrat: Lisa Northover; Labour: David Stokes.