A coalition of environmental groups have praised North Yorkshire County Council for unveiling a fresh carbon cutting strategy, but say it is missing opportunities to effect greater change.
Thirsk Friends of the Earth, Zero Carbon Harrogate, Climate Action Stokesley and Villages, CPRE North Yorkshire, The Time is Now Thirsk and Malton, Helmsley Green Team, Ryedale Environment Group and Nidderdale Environment and Climate Groups issued the cautious welcome as they also urged the region’s MPs to pile pressure on the government for greater action.
In an open letter to numerous MPs representing constituencies in North Yorkshire, York and Durham, the groups highlighted the parliamentary environment and climate charge committee’s recent concerns about delays in producing strategies and policies that will allow us to achieve emission cutting targets.
North Yorkshire County Council’s proposed carbon reduction plan has been published almost two years after it committed to do so to meet its target net zero carbon emissions target by 2030, or as near to that date as possible.
The authority, which spends £1.8m a year on energy at its offices, libraries and elderly person homes creating 4,547 tonnes of carbon equivalent emissions in 2019, has emphasised that the plan only concentrates on emissions which it has direct control over.
The plan gives no indication of emissions from the thousands of school buildings it owns.
The draft plan, which will be considered by the authority’s executive on Tuesday, highlights work being undertaken and its planned work, some of which it states will need government funding to go forward.
The report states: “There will need to be considerable financial investment to achieve the council’s aspiration to be carbon neutral.
“Some of this investment, for example in improvements to thermal insulation and heating systems, will save money in the longer term and a number of funding streams are available to support some elements of the required action, such as tree planting, decarbonisation of heating of public sector buildings.
“However, we and other local authorities will not be able to tackle every aspect of carbon reduction nor achieve net carbon neutrality without government support and action through legislation and fiscal measures.”
A report to the executive states the authority has just completed a project to replace its 50,400 street lights with new LED technology, two years ahead of schedule, saving capital costs of over £4m.
Energy and maintenance savings of £1.3m are projected for this year and a cut of 3,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.
It adds the council’s carbon-cutting strategy also includes measures, such as potentially developing a solar farm, that may not directly reduce its carbon footprint but would be environmentally beneficial.
The coalition of environmental groups, who were not invited by the council to contribute to the drafting of the carbon reduction plan, said although they had welcomed its publication, they would be examining the strategy in greater detail ahead of the executive meeting.
David Tonge, of Thirsk Friends of the Earth, said the authority’s strategy contained “some promising initiatives”, such as those on street lighting, building efficiency, heat decarbonisation and electric vehicle charging.
He added: “However, by focusing largely on its own operations, we think the council may be missing out on opportunities to use its influence more widely in order to drive more immediate, more ambitious and genuinely transformative change across the county.”
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