North Yorkshire: 'Extremely ambitious' carbon cutting strategy set to be launched

There are plans to make the area England's first carbon negative region

Author: Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart MintingPublished 16th Sep 2022

A public body responsible for economic development of North Yorkshire and York is set to launch an “extremely ambitious” strategy to make the area England’s first carbon negative region.

Ahead of the plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2034 being set in motion next month, York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership is seeking endorsement on its Routemap to Carbon Negative from a range of partners, such as North Yorkshire and City of York councils and the national park authorities.

The plan, which has been developed with input from numerous bodies over several years, features a plethora of targets that necessitate sweeping changes to the way residents live their lives, how businesses are operated and the area’s landscapes.

If the ambitions are achieved among the most apparent of the changes will be some 370sq km of new woodland, 20 per cent more hedgerows and 50sq km more bioenergy crops being produced by 2038.

While there is mounting debate in the area over the use of high grade farmland and scenic spots for renewable energy schemes, the proposed routemap also features a target of installing an additional 2,500 megawatt of capacity from solar, onshore wind and hydropower by 2038.

The routemap also includes targets to cut food waste by 30 per cent, car usage by 48 per cent by in the next eight years, while increasing bus passenger journeys by 49 per cent, the distance people walk by 40 per cent and cycling by some 900 per cent.

Under the plan some 250,000 homes will have carbon cutting materials retrofitted, as will more than 62 per cent of business premises, and up to 270,000 heat pumps will be deployed by 2038.

An officer’s report to a meeting of the North York Moors National Park Authority on September 26 states the routemap recognises that York and North Yorkshire “have the potential to sit at the heart of the UK’s decarbonisation plans and create significant economic opportunities”.

The report states the routemap can help build on the region’s existing industry strengths, alongside its outstanding natural capital assets – like the national parks – which can sequester carbon.

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member with responsibility for climate change, Councillor Greg White, described the routemap as “extremely ambitious”, saying it would only be achieved if central government, industry and individuals do everything they can to reduce carbon emissions.

He said: “In order to address climate change it will need us to fundamentally change the way we live our lives. It’s something people are starting to get an idea of but are not fully on board yet.

“A lot of the targets are a big stretch and will be very hard to achieve, but they have been set at that level because that’s what is needed. The temptation is to say it’s all very difficult and we shouldn’t do anything, but what we need to do is the things that make the most impact.

“I personally believe some things will need to be done at the end of the process and some things now, such as insulating more houses. At the same time we need to be working on everything else so it is ready to scale up.

“For example, I’m not convinced that we can make that move to massively reduce the number of cars and increase public transport use with the technology we have currently got.”

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.