RESIDENTS can soon have their say on a 12-point plan designed to get Cheshire East Council on its way to becoming carbon neutral by 2025.

The local authority made the commitment at May’s annual meeting, when it recognised the climate emergency and pledged to support residents and businesses to reduce their carbon footprint.

Now, it has unveiled a draft environmental strategy for 2019 to 2024, outlining how the council intends to be kinder to the planet – and the public will soon be able to comment on it in an eight-week consultation.

Cllr Quentin Abel, CEC’s climate emergency champion, told Tuesday’s cabinet meeting the strategy should become ‘a driver for all our futures’.

“It’s incredibly important that we get everybody on board and move this forward,” the independent member for Knutsford said.

Knutsford Guardian:

“Every month that goes by, we see greater indications that there is a real problem, and it is potentially accelerating.

“The recent flooding events illustrate that beautifully, and we should be striving to make this a document that we continue to develop, and we continue to find ways to mitigate the problems we are likely to encounter.”

As well as becoming a carbon neutral council, CEC is keen to cut waste and pollution, improve air quality, and boost the availability and use of sustainable transport.

It also wants to make new developments more sustainable, and manage the environment to restore nature, conserve its heritage and enhance its beauty.

Cllr Janet Clowes, leader of CEC’s Conservative opposition, was left underwhelmed by the plans.

She said: “I have to say, whilst everything that has been said in this is acceptable and essential, I’m a little bit confused as to exactly what form the consultation will take.

Knutsford Guardian:

“Many of these initiatives are already in place, they have already been extensively consulted on and what I expected to see was the overarching carbon strategy.

“I have to say I am disappointed. I had hoped to see something a lot more dramatic in terms of that overarching carbon strategy and, if you like, some of the timelines for beginning to bring some of these initiatives forward.

“Because by the time the consultation has finished, by the time those results have been worked on, we will be a year closer – or at least, have a year less to meet our carbon neutrality by 2025.”

According to the strategy, the first three achievements should be reached by the end of next month – when the council should have published its air quality annual status report, local transport plan and green infrastructure plan.

The launch of the council’s new food waste recycling facility should then follow in January 2020, before CEC’s municipal waste management strategy is updated and an electric vehicle infrastructure strategy is produced next March.

An overarching carbon strategy with more ambitious aims for becoming carbon neutral by 2025 should be produced next April, while alternative fuel vehicles will be trialled and carbon reduction will be included in council procurement from the same month.

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The next two parts of the local plan would then follow in July and October 2020, and new ‘recycling on the go’ street litter bins will be introduced next October.

Independent Cllr Toni Fox, cabinet member for planning, added: “For me, this is very much a starting point, it is our lift off if you like.

“We are looking to open this up to as many residents and businesses as possible for them to come forward and feed through their ideas.”