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Tackling Climate Emergency in Wokingham

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Wokingham Borough Council's Leader declared a climate emergency in the borough in May 2019 and the Conservatives have been working hard to develop and put into action a bold and ambitious plan.

Our Climate Emergency Action Plan is full of ideas from residents, town and parish councils, council officers and local businesses. An Executive member position was created and Cllr Gregor Murray is leading the team dedicated to reducing the carbon footprint across the borough and achieve a carbon neutral status by 2030.

There are some really exciting projects. Here are just a few:

· We have an electric vehicle trial which we will be rolling out soon

· We’re planting 250,000 new trees right across the borough

· We are creating a green bank to help residents make their homes more energy efficient,
and exploring how, as a borough, we can move away from carbon fuel heating

· The replacement Dinton Activity Centre we are building right now will be our first entirely
carbon neutral building

· We are going to build two solar farms in the next two years which will not only provide us with renewable energy, but will also
generate money which we will re-invest in our carbon neutral projects. 

These aren’t just plans – these are real projects which you will be seeing very soon.

Our plan is ambitious, but Conservatives are up to the challenge.

We are off to a good start on our goal of having a carbon-neutral borough by 2030; 20 years sooner than the government’s target of 2050. 

We have outlined 8 key action areas and committed £50million over the next 3 years to help reduce our carbon footprint:

  1. Reduce carbon dioxide emissions from transport by reducing congestion, encouraging more electric vehicles and encouraging more sustainable transport options.
  2. Reduce carbon dioxide emissions from domestic and business property by creating a ‘green bank’ to help businesses and residents to convert from natural gas to lower carbon forms of energy. 
  3. Generate more renewable energy in the borough by creating five largescale solar farms in the next five years.
  4. Create a Local Plan that specifies net zero carbon construction and infrastructure to ensure major new developments are energy efficient and use low carbon energy.
  5. Increase the levels of carbon sequestration in the borough through greening the environment by planting 250,000 new trees over the next five years.
  6. Engage with young people and support sustainable schools to promote behavioural change.
  7. Reduce waste sent to landfill by reaching a 60% recycling rate this year and a 90% recycling rate by 2030.
  8. Encourage behaviour change by having the council set an example and become net zero carbon on its own estate as well as in its policies,services and investments.

 

Attachments

Attachment Size
Climate Emergency Action Plan Progress Report July 2020.pdf 1.69 MB

News

rainbow

The Climate Change Threat to Wokingham Borough

Thursday, 19 August, 2021

Cllr Gregor Murray, Executive member for Climate Emergency Wokingham Borough Council writes Part 1 in a series on tackling the Climate Emergency

ceap wbc graphic

Conservatives enabling residents to cut carbon through changing behaviours

Thursday, 24 June, 2021

Climate change is directly related to human behaviour. The only way we can possibly reverse the impact of climate change therefore is to change our behaviour.

agenda

Conservatives back climate emergency recommendations

Wednesday, 23 June, 2021

Wokingham Borough Council’s Conservative Group has announced that it will back all the recommendations of a committee report on tackling the climate emergency.

bags

Bags protect recycling from wettest May in decades

Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

As the Wokingham Borough Conservatives manifesto promised, we have bold and ambitious plans to achieve our aim for a 70% recycling rate by 2030. It’s part of our wider plan to tackle the climate emergency and make our borough carbon neutral by 2030.

solar panels in field

Conservative commitment to fighting climate change

Tuesday, 13 April, 2021

Conservative-led Wokingham Borough Council’s climate emergency action plan is about to take a major step forward as the council submits the planning application for a new solar farm in Barkham. 

JR

Grow Back Green

Saturday, 10 April, 2021

The main governments and political parties of the world only want to talk about one thing, the planned great green transition to net zero.

Improving the air quality of all in Wokingham Borough

Tuesday, 16 February, 2021

Recently, when I walk my dog on a clear night, I have noticed that I can see more stars than I used too.

JR

The long road to net zero

Saturday, 6 February, 2021

We will soon hear of the Earth Summit in April to be set up by the USA. It will be followed by the Petersberg Group on climate change in May and the G7 in June, leading inexorably to the big global UN conference, COP 26 in Scotland in November.

Solar Energy Plans for Barkham

Wednesday, 3 February, 2021

The vision for a net carbon zero Wokingham Borough is starting to look a lot closer now as Wokingham Borough Council shares its ideas for a new solar farm in Barkham prior to submitting a planning application in the next month.   

building

Fantastic progress building new activity centre at Dinton

Tuesday, 2 February, 2021

Dinton Pastures' new multi-million pound activity centre reached a major milestone on Thursday 28 and Friday 29 January, as modules were lifted into place at the borough’s first net zero carbon building. The centre is set to open its doors to visitors in late spring.

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