Feedback invited on plan for West Berks to become carbon neutral by 2030

West Berkshire Council have set out an eleven page plan on how they intend to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Now they are asking for your views on this plan, which flows from the council’s 2020-30 Environment Strategy document.

The plan includes details of how the council will install solar panels on all its buildings, convert all its vehicles to Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles, invest in local renewable energy, install insulation and improve energy efficiency in its buildings etc. Each item is flagged up as being planed for the short, medium and long term with an estimate of the scale of predicted carbon saving impact it will have (low/medium/high).

The council announced the draft plan consultation as follows:

We are pleased to announce that we have released our draft Delivery Plan to complement our published Environment Strategy 2020-2030.

This is a draft plan and there will be changes made prior to a formal decision being made by the Executive in the summer.

It lays out a framework of actions that will set us on our way to reaching carbon neutrality for the district by 2030 and picks up on the statements of intent made in the Environment Strategy. 

Cllr Steve Ardagh-Walter, Executive Member for Environment at West Berkshire Council, said: “Protecting and preserving our environment as we work towards carbon neutrality by 2030 is a challenge we all face in regards to climate change and sits across all Council projects for residents and businesses.

“This draft Delivery Plan details the actions and timelines we are working on to achieve our main objectives in a way that benefits residents, businesses and our environment. Our objectives include carbon neutrality, responsible economic growth, healthy communities, resilience to climate change and working with our partners and communities.

“With this in mind, the plan will remain ‘live’ and will be continuously developed between now and 2030. The work to deliver the Environment Strategy will evolve as we develop partnerships and new opportunities arise.

“We want to ensure our draft Delivery Plan will act as a basis for us to work from and we are encouraging residents and businesses across the district to use this opportunity to read through the draft plan and provide their feedback via our online survey by 26 April 2021.”     

We’d like your feedback on our draft Delivery Plan

If you have any comments on the actions we have set out, we would love to hear them. Please fill out our quick survey here to tell us your thoughts. This survey will be open until 11:59pm Monday, 26 April 2021.

Join us for our Facebook Live discussion: 5.30pm Tuesday, 30 March 2021

Hear from Cllr Steve Ardagh-Walter (Portfolio holder for Environment) and Jon Winstanley (Environment Service Director) during our Facebook Live session on the draft Delivery Plan.

You will have an opportunity to learn more about the work we’ve already started as well as our aims and ambitions going forward. Please submit your questions beforehand by emailing us on: [email protected] by 3pm on Friday 26 March.

It will take place on our West Berkshire Council Facebook page – give us a like to stay up to date on our news.