The government’s announcement that all our energy could be produced from renewable energy sources by 2035[3] is both a huge opportunity and a huge challenge for South Yorkshire, where much employment and economic activity still relies on the energy-intensive industries on which it built its original wealth. This is crucial as we move towards 100% renewables.

One quarter of school children learn in areas that have above acceptable levels of pollutants in the air. Working with local councils and education authorities I will support the enactment of miniature clean air zones around schools to promote cleaner air in high impact areas as well as larger-scale developments like the Sheffield Clean Air Zone. I would also push for higher fines on people who leave their vehicles idling when parked up. It’s wrong for so many reasons!

I support creating more diverse and sustainable woodland areas, and would encourage the development of the White Rose Forest further into South Yorkshire, while working to develop the Hallamshire Forest further. Trees and woodlands help our physical and mental well-being, so I would promote the establishment of urban micro-woods such as the one in Barnsley, so that we can have this benefit wherever we live.

We cannot afford for areas of South Yorkshire to continue to suffer from flooding, as they have been in recent years. I will work with councils, environmental agencies and landowners to develop ecologically sustainable flood-management upstream, and to lobby central government for more active flood-defences to protect our communities.

As an EV driver myself for a number of years, I realise the benefits of electric vehicles- and the challenges. I will work to get more EV chargers installed, so this greener form of transport is available and reliable for more people, and get more public transport / taxis using electric power.

I will also look to bring Vehicle2Grid technology into South Yorkshire, where renewable energy can be stored via car batteries and then fed into the grid at times of high demand, to give a more sustainable way of greening our energy network.

Litter is a blight on everyone’s lives, and so I will push for mandatory maximum sentences for anyone who wilfully litters our wonderful county. I will also work with fast-food companies in a trial to ink-jet numberplates on packaging, so we can trace offenders more effectively.

Illegally noisy cars ruin many people's environment, so I will push for stronger measures, such as installing “noise cameras” to capture offenders and work towards making noisy vehicles a mandatory fail at a MOT test; currently it is discretionary.