Rother Look at Energy Options

"Wisdom consists in not departing from Nature but in moulding it according to her laws and models."

So wrote Seneca in 4BC.

The words are engraved in ornamental paving in a park in leafy Woking in Surrey near an American-built fuel cell. By converting natural gas into hydrogen, the cell provides both the heat and the power for a leisure centre.

A statue nearby commemorates Sir William Grove, who invented the principal of the fuel cell as long ago as 1839.

Art work around the cell illustrates how his break-through now powers space missions and could be part of a package of measures which could help reduce the damage the human race is doing to Earth's environment through carbon emissions.

Over the past 15 years, Woking Borough Council - with a population similar in numbers to Rother's but concentrated into half the area and with a very different demographic profile, has committed itself to becoming carbon-neutral.

Wealthy Woking pays Council Tax set before Government capping was introduced at twice what Rother charges. It is the second-highest in Surrey.

It has now been accorded status as a Beacon Council for Sustainable Energy and charged with passing on its acquired expertise and knowledge to other councils.

Local authorities from the UK and from overseas visit the Surrey commuter-belt town with its cluster of high-tech businesses to see what it has achieved and how it has gone about it.

Bexhill and Battle MP Gregory Barker arranged last Friday's coach party, which included Rother leader Cllr Graham Gubby and Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Sue Prochak.

They were met by Woking MP Humphrey Malins at Woking's civic centre.