Action plan to tackle climate change in Dorset
Dorset Council declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency.
A draft action plan's been prepared for how Dorset Council intends to tackle climate change over the next 30 years.
The local authority declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency last year.
A draft Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy was produced in July 2020.
This presented eight key areas for action to ensure that the Council's services and estate become carbon neutral by 2040, and across the whole Dorset Council area by 2050.
Following approval of the strategy, Cabinet members asked for a costed action plan that identifies what the Council will do to hit the strategy's targets.
In a paper set to go to Dorset Council's Cabinet on Tuesday 6 October, a report sets out the findings of this work and gives an idea of working costs to feed into the budget setting process.
The paper also recommends that both the Climate Change strategy and action plan are taken to public consultation at the end of October.
The draft plan contains 187 actions for how the Council will tackle climate change over the next 20-30 years.
Around 97 of these will require additional funding, totalling in the region of £127m over that period.
Examples of actions proposed include:
Make the most of renewable energy opportunities of all Council-owned buildings.
Construct or buy into large renewable energy installation/s (solar panels or wind turbines).
Use Council buildings in trial projects to test the use of hydrogen heating.
Reduce use of fertilisers on council land by increased use of locally produced compost.
Cllr Ray Bryan, Dorset Council's Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, said:
"There are some quick-wins within the plan that we'll be looking to get in place as soon as possible, but there are also hugely ambitious actions - especially regarding renewable energy - that I'm excited to hear what the public think about.
"Some actions just need us to change how we do things, but others will require extra funding, changes in government legislation and close partnership working."