North Northamptonshire Council has announced that it is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030.
Since the authority came into existence in April 2021, work has been ongoing to tackle climate change and look after the environment.
Over the next 12 months, the authority will continue to develop its wider approach to this, building on the work already underway.
The council, subject to approval at a full council meeting this week, has proposed £1m worth of funding over the next three years to tackle climate change.
It is expected that elements of this funding will be used to develop a carbon management action plan and establish a climate change and environment strategy.
In the immediate term, the funding will also be used to roll out environmental awareness training for all councillors and staff in a phased approach, starting in March.
Commenting, North Northamptonshire Council’s Executive Member for Climate and Green Environment, Councillor Harriet Pentland said:
“At a meeting of the council in July 2021, we declared a climate and environment emergency, which was a very important commitment for us to make as a new council.
“At the time, we said that we would set a date for reaching carbon neutrality once we better understood our current carbon emissions by consolidating the position of our predecessor authorities, the most prudent approach to take.
“We are now in a place to give a realistic, whilst ambitious, timeframe by which we can reach this important goal.
“And while we have set a goal for 2030, addressing climate change is a much longer-term commitment that will require innovation and widespread change.
Leader of the North Northamptonshire Council, Councillor Jason Smithers said:
“I’m proud of the work we have done so far and look forward to seeing further measures put in place to move towards this goal.
“I would like to personally thank Councillor Pentland and her Executive Advisory Panel for moving forward with pace and getting NNC [North Northamptonshire Council] to this point so early on in this new council’s journey.”
Since its inception, North Northamptonshire Council has undertaken much environmental activity.
This includes instigating a tree planting initiative, which has seen more than 2,000 planted in the past three months, as well as continuing a campaign to ‘feed the bees’ by allowing wildflowers to flourish in some roadside verges, where appropriate.
The authority also hosted its own conference in November 2021, NN Climate 21, which showcased the measures already in place and in development to reduce carbon emissions in the North Northamptonshire area.
Included in this were details of the rollout of on-street electric vehicle charging points at seven locations in the area.
This has been further progressed and residential, on-street locations have been chosen to address the charging needs of those who do not have access to a driveway, or any other means of privately charging their vehicles.
PSE will be hosting a Public Sector Decarbonisation in association with Liberty Charge virtual event on 17 March 2022. Join us for the full day event by registering here.
