Council climate change strategy agreed

By timesecholife on in All News, Community News, Leek news

A council has approved a strategy for its way forward in battling climate change. The SMDC Climate Change Strategy 2021-2030 was approved at last weeks SMDC Cabinet meeting.

A council has approved a strategy for its way forward in battling climate change.

The Staffordshire Moorlands District Council’s Climate Change Strategy 2021-2030 was approved at last weeks SMDC Cabinet meeting.

The final report presented by officers included the councils approach to tackling the climate change emergency and incorporated a number of updates following consideration by the councils Community Overview and Scrutiny Panel on November 15 – these changes were made to include further reference to social prescribing, rural transport, use of solid fuel, the importance of our peatland, and targets for vehicle emissions and waste, within the strategy.

With the heading, ‘Aiming low: the way to net zero,’ the strategy sets out the councils vision as: “Staffordshire Moorlands will become carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account emissions from both production and consumption.”

Their mission is to: “Encourage people, businesses and other organisations to do what they can to reduce their carbon footprint and make it easier, where we can, for those changes to happen.”

And their overall strategy has been set out as: “We will use our tools, levers and powers and apply the Carbon Management Hierarchy as we focus on our seven Ways to Net Zero; applying our values and seeking opportunities to deliver co-benefits.”

Within the introduction for the strategy document, councillor Joe Porter, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Biodiversity at SMDC, said: “The climate change nature crisis is the greatest threat that we face. It is a threat that impacts on all of us and on future generations. It is a threat that we need to respond to now, tomorrow and the days that follow with an unrelenting focus on preventing the emergencies.

“This plan explains how SMDC will contribute towards Staffordshire Moorlands becoming carbon neutral. We want to be ambitious, but we must also be realistic about what the district council can and cannot do.

“We need everyone to come together to play their part if we are going to meet the ambitious target of becoming Net Zero.

“We also need government to continue to build sustainability into key policies and laws such as the National Planning Policy Framework and Building Control Regulations. We need partners such as the County Council, which has responsibility for our roads, transport and education, to take a lead on the areas that they have responsibility for. Importantly, we also need our businesses, residents, community groups and visitors to play their part. We will do what we can to encourage a joined-up approach to tackling this vitally important issue that affects us all.

“Please support our plan, we will only be able to tackle these emergencies if we work together. Every action that we can take, no matter how small can help. Let us all do what we can to respond to this global problem.”

Within the strategy, the council has set out it’s “to do list” as: “We know that our plans will need to change as the climate emergency landscape inevitably shifts over time. With that in mind, we will make sure that we review our plans regularly so that they remain fit-for-purpose. We will update our website whenever we make changes to our plan.

“In the next 12-months we will also: Further develop our approach to target setting including milestones for action. The release of the Census 2021 data will help us to establish baselines; Enhance our monitoring procedures to make sure that the actions that we are taking are having an impact; Embed Climate Change activity within the councils annual budget and Medium- Term Financial Plan.

“Deliver the actions under Aim four of our corporate plan (Aim four: To protect and improve the environment and respond to the climate emergency); Include mandatory Carbon Literacy/ Awareness training for all new council employees; Analyse the councils procurement emissions; Conduct a district-wide pathway analysis; Hold a series of workshops to further develop a picture of ‘how’ various measures are implemented across the district and the council’s role in these1.

To read the full strategy, go online to: https://democracy.highpeak.gov.uk/documents/s26405/Appendix%20D.pdf

1 Comment

• Full of management speak meaningless twaddle. What are these 'emergencies'? Thought there was just one. What is 'social prescribing'? What are your 'tools, levers and powers'? What is the 'Carbon Management Hierarchy'? What is a 'pathway analysis'? 'Fit for purpose' - I assume the purpose is to become net zero - but if your strategy depends on persuading businesses and individuals to do that, you can't achieve that. How can you commit to keeping global warming below 1.5c when you have no control whatsoever outside our small area? I could go on, but I'd really appreciate if you would stop wasting time and money on this and do things that would really benefit our community.
  Written by ann, December 18, 2021 - Reply

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