Cabinet to look at next steps for tackling climate change in Wiltshire
They're meeting next week
Wiltshire Council’s Cabinet will look at the next steps for tackling climate change and improving the natural environment in the county.
They're trying to approve the Climate Strategy, which sets out the next five years of the council’s journey to becoming a carbon neutral county, covering seven themes:
Transport
Homes and the built environment
Natural environment
Food and farming
Energy
Green economy
Waste
Carbon neutral council
Between September and October 2021 they held a public consultation, which had more than 1,300 responses from residents, businesses and organisations.
As part of the consultation, respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the objectives.
Most people agreed with the objectives, with 90% of respondents ‘agreeing’ or ‘strongly agreeing’ to all but five of the objectives.
Cllr Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, said:
“We had some very valuable responses to these two consultations, and this feedback have been thoroughly analysed, with officers providing detailed reports, which we’ll consider in Cabinet.
“If approved by Cabinet and then Full Council, we’ll adopt both the Climate Strategy and Wiltshire’s Natural Environment Plan, and their principles and objectives will be weaved into everything we do as a council. Using these strategies as a framework, services are drawing up delivery plans to help us to reduce carbon emissions both as a council and across the county.
“We have already reduced our own carbon emissions as a council by 80% since 2013/14, but we have more to do. If Cabinet agrees to these two strategies it will be another huge step forward for our plans to tackle climate change and support the natural environment in Wiltshire.”
The Cabinet will meet on Tuesday 1st February and if they agree to take the strategies forward, they will then go to Full Council on February 15th for final approval.