More forward thinking is needed in Brighton and Hove on renewable energy and the council is making progress here.

It has already set up a unique Sustainability Commission and has bought all its electricity from a company relying on wind and wave power.

A group of architects, council representatives and housing association officials, some from Sussex, have just returned from a trip to Scandinavia.

Sweden is a colder country than Britain, yet solar panels are used extensively to produce heat while gas from sewage provides a natural supply for fuel.

Wind turbines were rejected at Shoreham Harbour a few years ago yet along one of the breeziest coastlines in Britain, they could provide a useful source of power