How is the council’s climate action plan going?

BACK in July 2019, Wokingham Borough Council, as many other local authorities have done before and since, declared a “climate emergency”. The Council went to on publish its subsequent Climate Emergency Action Plan.

We caught up with Cllr Gregor Murray, Executive Member for Climate Emergency, to find out how the Council’s strategy and plans are progressing nearly two years on.

“I think we are doing and planning a lot of great initiatives, but I am sure you will agree that it is important to do everything properly and completely, rather than just quickly,” he says.

“My focus is on making sure that all our actions are themselves sustainable into the future. This might frustrate people, and I can understand why, but we have to do things properly and make sure they last. Similarly, we can’t just tell people to do things – we have to help solve their root cause issue and change behaviours.

“Food waste recycling is a great example. We saw recycling rates start to drop off and food waste in blue bags start to increase as residents ran out of food waste bags.”

Looking at the national picture, Cllr Murray (a Conservative), feels that the Government has “taken some fantastic steps forward on climate change”.

He adds: “While I would like to have seen faster progress, I believe that taking extra time to implement laws/policies properly and to ensure no bigger problems are created down the road, is the right approach.”

The rollout of the already much-debated recycling bags, set to replace the existing kerbside boxes, is now underway – a move that as well as saving a substantial amount of money “should increase recycling rates by between 3-6%,” says Cllr Murray.

Originally described as “hessian sacks” by the council, Cllr Murray confirms that the bags are actually made from polypropylene (a plastic) and that they have “a target life span of around five years.”

Households will receive two bags, which have a greater capacity than the boxes, with their new allocation of blue sacks but can request more from the council.

He highlights that unwanted boxes can be returned, to be recycled and made in to “street furniture, such as picnic tables, tree posts, park benches and flower troughs”.

Wokingham Borough’s current recycling rate (the proportion of recyclable waste that is collected and recycled) is 52% says Cllr Murray, pointing out that this is “more than both Reading and Bracknell”, but the Council is “working on a plan to take us to 70%.” The average rate in England is 42% (Defra).

Disappointingly though, half of the waste still found in blue bags by RE3 (who manage waste in the area) is recyclable.

We have been left horrified by a mix of news and documentary footage in recent years, exposing where some of the UK’s waste ends up so it is reassuring to know that this is not an issue in Wokingham.

Cllr Murray explains: “Currently less than 6% of our total waste goes to landfill. This is typically items that there is no market for recycling, such as ashes, animal waste, sanitary products and soiled general waste.

“In 2019/20 only plasterboard, mixed paper and baled paper are not recycled in the UK. They are recycled in Europe.”

We asked Cllr Murray about residents’ concerns over any potential further development in the areas of Shinfield, Arborfield and Sindlesham, following the collapse of plans for a ‘garden village’ in Grazeley.

He says: “Right now we are in the process of proposing, consulting on and agreeing a new local plan. This is a legal requirement. This involves consulting on new sites and assessing the feasibility of them.

“Planning sites for development, choosing areas to build and not to build gives us the greatest control over the future of our Borough.

“We are required to build a certain number of houses every year - at the moment this is just over 800 per year (at one point, it could have been 1,600).

“While we are building to the required level we have control of our planning process, can set our local planning requirements and decide where we do and don’t want to build and what standards builders have to build too.

“As soon as we stop building to those target levels then firstly, the Government can step in and take control of our planning process, and second, the planning appeals inspectorate may start to approve a lot of applications that wouldn’t fit with our desired plan or with our existing infrastructure.” Watch this space then.

Cllr Murray discussed the progress that is being made when it comes to ensuring existing homes and buildings are greener: “We launched the Wokingham Community Energy Fund in January which will help support the installation of solar and other alternative energy projects across the Borough on community, charitable and other small scale project basis. We are looking to launch the initial fundraising in the summer.

“Before Christmas we launched the eco and green home grants project which fund energy efficiency measures on private homes. This includes cavity wall insulation and loft insulation as well as other upgrades, all provided at zero cost to home owners.

“As part of the local plan process we will be setting out new local planning guidance to increase the use of solar, heat pumps and other green technologies in new buildings.

“Once we have more details of the Government’s green infrastructure bank, we will be able to progress other initiatives.”

Continuing the theme of development, we have seen a good number of residents raising concerns, in local news and through social media, about the number of trees being cut down in the Borough and what they perceive to be inaction on the issue by the Council.

“Losing any trees is always regrettable.

The Wokingham District Veteran Tree Association do a fantastic job of identifying trees that should be TPO’d and WBC is very quick to action these when they come in,” responds Murray, who points out that, in some cases, such work is essential. For example, to prevent a breach of a dam at Bearwood Lakes.

“Cutting down trees in advance of a planning application to build a discount supermarket in Earley was elective and is something that we are actively working to prevent going forward,” he continues.

“The process takes time, but it also means that it is legally binding for developers to adhere to and there is legal enforcement possible if they breach it.”

Again, it has become apparent in the past year that there is a perceived shortage of managed green spaces and country parks in the Borough, with reports of overcrowding and the likes of Dinton Pastures having discouraged “non-local” visitors.

Cllr Murray disagrees: “There are more than 90 parks and managed green spaces in Wokingham Borough. In fact, almost all of our residents live within walking distance of one of our parks, SANGs or green spaces.”

He says that the situation at Dinton Pastures was a “matter of public safety” and makes the excellent point that “we have many acres of countryside and more than 170km (105 miles) of greenways and public rights of way for residents to enjoy.”

We have certainly spent the past year doing just that and avoided the more obvious locations.

In slightly better news for those who like to ‘grow their own’ and live a little more sustainably: “Many of the recent new developments have included allocated space for allotments. Mulberry Grove in Wokingham is a prime example of this. And more is planned.”

We touched briefly on the Council’s plans to make transport greener in the Borough but an upcoming tender means that is a question for another time.

We also asked Cllr Murray what the Council is doing to support ‘greener’ and more eco-friendly businesses to establish themselves in Wokingham.

“There will be announcements on this shortly that I don’t want to pre-empt,” he says.

“In the post-Covid recovery plans there is a focus around attracting more businesses to the community and we have also discussed creating green economy zones.”

Asked what else might be on the way, Cllr Murray says: “We have some great behaviour change initiatives in development right now, some of them in collaboration with other organisations and charities. I still want to hear ideas from anybody who has one.

“In terms of climate change, the only bad ideas are ones that are kept in your head because we can’t do anything with them.”