FOLLOWING a strange week of freezing nights, high winds and summer-like daytime temperatures, the County Landowners and Business Association has issued a warning to members to start taking immediate steps to combat climate change.

That change has already started, says the CLA. "It is a scientific fact that global warming will have a direct impact on land use right across the country," said Dorothy Fairburn, the association's Yorkshire director..

Miss Fairburn said that parts of Yorkshire had already been affected by flooding this year and last: "The worst case scenario indicates that the rise in temperatures could lead to severe droughts in summer and flooding in winter.

"Landowners and managers can make their contribution towards minimising the effects of climate change by reducing their reliance on fossil fuels and by moving towards a more sustainable future by growing new, alternative fuel crops.

"Within 50 years, we believe these new crops will have to be grown in the UK, and over the same period energy efficiency will have to improve dramatically. This will be achieved by cutting back on the use of fossil fuels and the use, for example, of small-scale bio-mass power stations.

"We all have a responsibility to do something. Energy efficiency begins in the home and from there it should spiral out to landowners, businesses and government."