Council’s £16m for green efforts

BRINGING in a new ‘green’ fleet of vehicles and cultivating roadside wildlife verges are just part of updated, ambitious plans aiming to cut carbon and help curb global warming.

Leicestershire County Council is investing £16m in tackling climate change over the next four years and has published a refreshed strategy, underlining the authority’s commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

Plans include replacing some diesel vehicles with eco-friendly versions, working with parish councils to encourage wildflowers to flourish on roadside verges, aiming to create a carbon-neutral industrial estate and offering biodiversity training.

Coun Blake Pain, cabinet member for action on climate change, said: “As a green council, we’re committed to thinking globally, but acting locally. We’ve seen real change already and initiatives such as LED street lights and solar panels have enabled us to cut our CO2 emissions by almost 70 per cent, reduce our wider greenhouse gas emissions by 64 per cent and halve the amount of office waste we produce.

“Tackling climate change remains a main priority for the council. We have a long list of projects that we’ll continue to explore and take forward in order to face this challenge head on.”

Steps already taken include:

• building an awardwinning business park which will reduce carbon emissions by around 79.4 tonnes in its first year – the equivalent of a car travelling 238,000 miles

• working with Leicester

City Council to launch Fosse Energy, offering low-cost, renewable energy

• installing solar panels

across council and other public-sector buildings over the last 12 months - producing 2,700 megawatt hours of green electricity. The equivalent of powering 675 homes for a year

• upgrading 68,000

street lights to LEDs as part of a £20m investment programme – cutting carbon emissions by 79 per cent and electricity consumption by 65 per cent

• signing the UK100

pledge, underlining the council’s commitment to clean energy.