Skip to main content
Banner image for Wokingham

Wokingham

Conservatives
Site logo

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
  • Campaigns
  • Meet Our Team
  • Contact Us
  • John Redwood
  • Manifesto 2022

Listening to Experts - Part 3 Tackling the Climate Emergency

  • Tweet
Thursday, 2 September, 2021
dinton new centre

Cllr Gregor Murray, Executive member for Climate Emergency Wokingham Borough Council writes Part 3 in a series on tackling the Climate Emergency

After declaring a Climate Emergency, we were faced with two challenges. Firstly, to work out the detail on how we would reduce our carbon footprint; and secondly, to decide on the best way to pay for it. 

To help choose the most effective course of action we should take, I wanted to listen to people who are experts. Those experts came from three areas: environmental charities and interest groups; environmental businesses; and our residents.

Over the last two years, I have met with and engaged numerous individuals and organisations – either virtually or in person – to discuss and understand what they think Wokingham Borough Council could be doing to combat climate change. I’ve spoken with, and attended events, hosted by environmental groups such as Extinction Rebellion, Friends of the Earth, and Climate Emergency UK. I’ve met with the Woodland Trust to discuss what the right species of native trees that we should plant are, and where. I’ve spoken with local environmental groups and charities, attended events in Parliament and discussed our climate emergency with some of our local MPs.

I have met with independent bodies to understand how we can reduce carbon from our existing buildings and homes, and how to create planning guidance locally that will enshrine low and zero carbon development into our building development. 

In Wokingham Borough, we are blessed with having several industry-leading environmental businesses based within our boundaries. Many are at the cutting edge of green technology and developing solutions to the climate crisis. I have met with a number of them to discuss ideas ranging from developing solar farms and at home solar, battery and heat pump technology, through to innovative solutions for absorbing particulate matter from the air and improving in-room air quality. 

We also undertook to ask our residents what you thought we should do, and what ideas you had for tackling climate change locally. Several thousand ideas came back and all of them were reviewed and considered. Some we were already planning to do, such as tree planting and rewilding. Other ideas made us look at existing projects differently. One example was the new Dinton Pastures Activity Centre which, when it opens, will be the first carbon-zero building in Wokingham Borough. Some people raised challenges, such as the affordability of making climate friendly home improvements, which led us to explore and launch the Help to Heat scheme. And there are many more ideas that we want to implement once we work through how to implement them and how to pay for them.

Paying for our Climate initiatives isn’t easy. We get less money from the Government than any other unitary authority in England. Our budgets are always stretched, and we must work hard to ensure value for every pound we spend. Many climate initiatives, particularly those that will encourage sustainable living, will cost the Council a lot of money. Unless it’s completely unavoidable, we don’t want to pass that cost on to you. There are grants and other funding available for some of our initiatives, but others we will have to find the money for. That’s why we must look at investing into solar farms and similar initiatives first. Even after paying back the loan required to fund it, a solar farm will generate a surplus in revenue. This money will help to pay for rewilding, active transport infrastructure, increased recycling, home efficiency programs and potentially many other climate initiatives.

 

Next week :- Let’s talk about Energy

Part 2 

  • Local News

You may also be interested in

earth

Tackling Climate Emergency in Wokingham

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.

gregor murray

Gregor Murray

Wokingham Borough Council - Norreys
Executive Member for Resident Services, Communications and Emissions

My wife Heather and I moved here 6 years ago when we wanted to buy our first house together. We chose Wokingham because it offered us everything our young and growing family needs.

JR MP

More productivity, higher pay

Monday, 27 June, 2022

Most governments want higher productivity, or say they do. most grasp that if you get people to produce more goods or services in a working week you collect more revenue and can share that with employees.

Show only

  • Articles
  • Local News
  • Media
  • National News
  • Opinions
  • Reports
  • Speeches
  • Speeches in Parliament
  • Westminster News
  • Written Questions News

Join or Renew

Help us take action on local issues and build a better Britain.

accepted-payment-cards

Donate

We rely on the support of individuals like you.

accepted-payment-cards

Wokingham Conservatives

Footer

  • About RSS
  • Accessibility
  • Cookies
  • Privacy
  • About Us
ConservativesPromoted by Alison Swaddle on behalf of Wokingham Conservatives, both at 30 Rose Street, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 1XU.
Copyright 2022 Wokingham Conservatives . All rights reserved.
Powered by Bluetree