Council pushes back net zero target by 15 years

THE target of one Scottish council to become a net zero region by 2025 is set to be pushed back by 15 years.

The extremely ambitious aim was created in 2021 when Dumfries and Galloway Council declared a climate emergency and vowed to go all out to reduce carbon emissions.

But the task has proved much more complicated than expected

– and council watchdog Audit Scotland criticised the local authority last year for having no firm plans in place to achieve net zero within the next few years.

This forced council officers and councillors back to the drawing board to come up with revised plans and a new deadline for bringing the region’s carbon emission levels down to net zero.

Capaldi told LBC he felt politics had grown too serious. Does his old co-star agree?

“I do actually. Obviously you have Trump who is beyond belief, he is literally beyond parody that man, but so is Boris Johnson.

“He’s not quite beyond parody but he was getting there. They were two of the biggest liars to ever be in power.”

That being said, he doesn’t say that satire is completely dead, noting that Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer don’t quite have the same pantomime villain qualities as those he mentioned.

“I don’t think they’re ‘arch-villains’ like those two were. So maybe there will be a place for something like The Thick Of It in the future.”

Understandably, a smile comes across Higgins’s face when he’s asked about the dialogue he provided for an episode of The Simpsons where the iconic family heads to Edinburgh.

He voiced both Hamish MacWeldon and the Ticket Booth actor in a scene which satirises what people can expect from the Fringe.

The memory of being offered the part is crystal clear, with Higgins saying he got a letter from his agent with The Simpsons logo on its header.

“I said, of course I’ll do it. I mean, what a dream because I love The Simpsons and it’s a really funny little scene,” he says. “In the titles, my own name appears next to Bart Simpson so I’m in a scene with Lisa and my name is over Bart.

“So I can probably retire on that.”

At next week’s full council meeting, a report will be tabled recommending pushing back the original regional target to 2040 and establishing a separate target for the council’s own emissions.

The report by Simon Fieldhouse, the council’s environment manager, states: “We would propose that Dumfries and Galloway Council (DGC) establish two net zero targets – one for DGC and one area-wide for Dumfries and Galloway, with different dates.

“We would recommend that Dumfries and Galloway Council becomes a carbon-neutral organisation by 2033.

“We would recommend that Dumfries and Galloway Council supports the regions to become a net zero region on or before 2040.”