Stafford residents team up with council for climate action

Residents will join forces with Stafford Borough Council at the climate change and green recovery stakeholder panel.

The council asked for people to get in touch with them if they wanted to be a part of the stakeholder panel.

Councillor Jonathan Price, cabinet member for environment, believes it is an excellent opportunity for the council and those passionate about the environment to work together.

He said: "I am really excited that we have a group of residents that have put themselves forward to be a creative force for generating great ideas and promoting initiatives that will benefit our community and beyond.

"They have enormous passion about what they want to see, and that is what is important to us, we want their energy to drive schemes forward, challenge the status quo, and take a hands-on approach."

Some members of the panel are already strong voices on groups such as ‘There is No Planet B’ and ‘Sustainability Matters’ and will have their inaugural meeting as a group in February.

The borough council set a 2040 date to be carbon neutral from its own activities and last year added ‘Climate Change and Green Recovery’ as one of four priorities in its new business plan.

Work has progressed quickly and was recently recognised in a survey published by Sustainability West Midlands in which Stafford was placed 9th overall in the region.

The authority has partnered with Keele University, the Centre for Alternative Technology and other Staffordshire councils to look at what is required to achieve the zero carbon targets.

Proposals to remove carbon from the atmosphere have also already been agreed, such as creating a new Local Nature Reserve in the centre of Stafford, including hundreds of trees.

Previous measures included replacing cremators which more than halved gas consumption at the crematorium on the town’s Tixall Road and installing solar panels to the roof of the Civic Centre in Stafford.

Councillor Price added: "We are heading in the right direction to being a ‘zero carbon’ authority.

"We have already demonstrated that we are not just talking the talk when it comes to tackling climate change.

"We made it a priority and we will work as quickly as we can to make us carbon-free from our own activities.

"We are, though, a very tiny cog in a global wheel and locally we need our community, businesses and organisations to do their bit to contribute to this agenda."