Schools to get 1,000 eco trees
PRIMARY schools in Cardiff will receive 1,000 trees in November as part of the city’s recently revealed climate emergency plan.
Cardiff council will give the trees to schools to plant during National Tree Week at the end of November, so schoolchildren can learn about reducing the city’s carbon emissions and the threat of rising global temperatures.
Each primary school will also receive 20 bikes, while each secondary school will be given 30 bikes, along with helmets and maintenance tools, in a push to get more children in Cardiff cycling.
The One Planet strategy sets out how Cardiff can become carbon neutral by 2030, and was voted through by the council’s cabinet yesterday. The council will consult the public for five months before the final plan is approved.
Councillor Michael Michael, cabinet member for clean streets, recycling and environment, said: “This is not about getting rid of a couple of straws and a few cups. It’s more serious than that.
“We want to encourage residents and businesses to join us to help reduce the city’s carbon emissions. We are facing a climate emergency and all of us have a part to play.
“I think everyone now recognises the crisis our planet is facing. Cardiff itself is a three-planet city: if everyone in the world used resources the way we do here then the world would need three planets to survive. This is why we have to make changes now and why we are calling on everyone in Cardiff to join us.”
Council leader Huw Thomas said: “It’s important for Cardiff, as a capital city, to take a leadership role on this and show others what can be achieved. We have ambitions for the council and for the city. It’s a call to arms to everybody in the city to join on this journey.
“The initial consultation period will hopefully secure that buy-in from the city, before we move on to the firm delivery plan in the spring next year.
“I’ve been heartened by the correspondence I’ve received since this story went public, with people coming forward with their own ideas, suggestions and offers of help.
“This administration has always made clear: we don’t have a monopoly on good ideas. But if they are good ideas, they will become our ideas.”
But the plan to cut carbon emissions was criticised as many of the ideas included are not new.
Cllr Adrian Robson, leader of the Conservative group on Cardiff council, said: “I’m always amused when you have a 10-year strategy which quite interestingly highlights a number of things which have already been done, even long before the strategy was thought of.
“The solar farm is in here, but that has been on the cards for a number of years. It’s good to see it mentioned, but it’s certainly not a new idea. Even the Rhiwbina flood defence scheme is mentioned in this, and that’s been around for a long time, much welcomed though it is.”
Elsewhere, the opposition leader said the strategy could look at driverless vehicles, and questioned the plan to charge businesses to let employees park their cars at work.