Deadline nears for contributions to Council carbon crackdown

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East Cambridgeshire District Council is urging all residents to submit their suggestions to help the council reach net zero carbon emissions before their February 28th deadline.

The Ideas Forum, which is the place where residents can submit their comments, has reopened to collect suggestions ahead of the formation of the Council’s next annual Climate Environment and Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan.

This will be the Council’s second annual Action Plan, and will look to build on the  first plan, which outlined the Council’s top 20 actions for tackling climate change in 2020/2021..

All suggestions which are submitted to the Ideas Forum before the deadline, will be collated and considered by the Council to help form their next annual Environment and Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan for 2021/22.

The Council has continued to make progress with their top 20 commitments for 2020/21 and have already completed a number of actions including, implementing a culture of homeworking to lower carbon emissions from business travel,  switching to a 100% renewable electricity contract at its headquarters and replacing all council-owned street and car park lighting to LED bulbs.

Councillor David Ambrose Smith, chairman of the Operational Services Committee, said:

“Our commitment to reducing carbon emissions across the district is long-standing and unwavering, and we are incredibly proud of the progress we have made towards meeting the goals we set out last year.

“While we will continue to work on those targets until June, and beyond, we are also paying great attention to the future of our district’s environmental aims.”

Once created, the next action plan will be presented to the Operational Services Committee in June 2021 for formal adoption.

Councillor Julia Huffer, Member Champion for Climate Change and the Natural Environment, said:

“We are very grateful to the residents of East Cambs for their fantastic submissions to our Ideas Forum so far and it is wonderful to know that so many in our area are as conscious of our responsibilities to the environment as we are.

“I urge all of those who are yet to submit an idea to our Ideas Forum to get involved with our progress by submitting their ideas before the deadline on 28th February.”

Residents can submit their ideas in a number of ways including online, by visiting the East Cambs website, emailing climatechange@eastcambs.gov.uk or by calling the Customer Services Team on 01353 665555 during office hours.