To receive a presentation on the Climate Emergency and Wiltshire Council.
Minutes:
In February 2019 Wiltshire Council passed a motion declaring the Climate Emergency, for details see http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/green-economy-climate-emergency. The council resolved to seek to make the county of Wiltshire (excluding Swindon) carbon neutral by 2030 and to establish our carbon baseline and renewables baseline. The Cabinet went further and had committed to making Wiltshire Council Carbon Neutral by 2030. When it came to Wiltshire as a county, there were lots of things outside of Wiltshire Council’s control. It was therefore easier to make Wiltshire Council Carbon Neutral as we had control of it.
To help achieve this the council would update the local plan to include the carbon neutral plan, and green policies for any new builds. Consultations would begin on the local plan in 2020. The transport plan would also be updated; public transport, walking and cycling needed to be promoted. Moving forward all Wiltshire Council plans would need to be developed to include policies on reducing carbon.
In order to able to address the problems and reduce carbon emissions the council needed to establish carbon baselines. Baseline emissions referred to the production of carbon that had occurred in the past and which were being produced prior to the introduction of any strategies to reduce emissions. The baseline measurement would be determined over a set period, typically one year. This historical measurement would act as a benchmark to evaluate the success of subsequent efforts to reduce emissions. Without the knowledge of baseline emissions, it would be impossible to reliably judge the success of any remediation efforts. To do this Wiltshire Council were talking to local universities; the Anthesis Group (SCATTER); Swindon and Wiltshire Local Economic Partnership; the Local Government Association; and other local authorities to see what they do. SCATTER was a city-based system that did not work so well for rural areas, so talks were in progress to see if a rural version could be developed.
It was estimated that each Wiltshire Council resident was responsible for approximately 7 tonnes of carbon emissions a year.
Wiltshire Council had established a Global Warming and Climate Emergency task group, chaired by Cllr Graham Wright, to consider renewable energy generation, energy use and efficiency; planning; transport and air quality; waste; land use; business and industry; the carbon baseline and renewable energy baseline. The aim of the task group was to develop an effective strategy which would then be approved by council. The council wanted to get things right, so it was worth investigating all the options.
The council aimed to adapt housing stock and council buildings to make them more energy efficient. This included introducing solar arrays over park and ride sites and solar panels on council housing stock. All street lights would be changed to LED’s which were far more efficient and decreased light pollution. These were better for the environment and would save the council around £200,000 a year. The council wanted all new housing stock to be green and were in talks with passive house builders. Changes to waste collection would also help.
The meeting was encouraged to sign up for the green pledge at: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/green-economy-climate-emergency. Cllr Whitehead had pledged to cycle to Trowbridge one day a week. If everyone made small changes this would have a significant effect.
Friends of the Earth had found Wiltshire Council to be the best performing local authority in England and Wales, however there were still many improvements to be made.
In response to questions it was stated that approximately 65% of Wiltshire could not have wind turbines due to it being an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, MOD land or restricted airspace. Decisions on wind turbines needed to have local support.
In response to a question from a member of Friends of the Earth regarding reviewing the sustainability of the A303 scheme, it was stated that the council constantly reviewed its position. The A303 road scheme was proposed after the South West was cut off by flooding on the M5. A303 decisions were usually based on the impact on the nearby villages. Cllr Whitehead was happy to discuss this after the meeting.
The Chairman thanked Cllr Whitehead for the presentation.
Cllr Anna Cuthbert left the meeting.