It is sadly typical of the Labour Party and its deputy council leader, Councillor Leonie Cooper, that they should focus on the negative rather than celebrating the success of the Wandsworth Green Awards.

I would like to congratulate the Wandsworth Guardian for getting the awards going. However, it was a unanimous decision of the council's environment and leisure committee (of which Coun Cooper is a member, though she wasn't at the meeting in question and didn't raise the matter afterwards), and then by the full council, that we should focus the effort on a scheme for local residents, as part of the successful launch of Our Greener Borough.

The results speak for themselves. Last year we attracted 34 entries - this year we got 75.

This is alongside the several hundred residents who have signed green pledges to take action to protect our environment.

I understand that Coun Cooper is embarrassed at the record of her Government on the environment - after a seven per cent fall in UK emissions of carbon dioxide between 1990 and 1997, they have gone up by more than two per cent over the last 10 years, despite evidence that we should actually be cutting them enormously if we want to avoid climate change.

But, instead of trying to divert attention away from this failure, she might instead congratulate the joint winners of the award, Joseph Anido and the St George's Healthcare Trust, the 12 runners-up, which included two local schools, and indeed all the entrants and other environmentally-minded residents who are more interested in actually protecting the environment than nitpicking over who gives out the awards.

Councillor Malcolm Grimston
Executive member for environment and leisure