A VISION to make Northwich, Winsford and the rest of Cheshire West carbon neutral in 24 years has been unveiled.

Cheshire West and Chester Council's cabinet has approved a climate emergency response plan, which aims for the whole borough to be carbon neutral by 2045, while the council will try to achieve the same target itself by 2030.

The borough is one of the highest carbon-emitting areas in the UK, but there is world-leading decarbonisation work going on, including major projects in the Cheshire Science Corridor.

CWAC says significant changes will be needed to the way people live, work and travel to meet the highly-challenging goals set.

Cllr Matt Bryan, cabinet member for housing, planning and climate emergency, said: "These plans set out a comprehensive framework for our local climate action.

Cllr Matt Bryan, Labour CEC member for Upton

Cllr Matt Bryan, Labour CEC member for Upton

"We have made an ambitious start to tackling this challenge but know this is not a quick fix, and that we need further investment both locally and from central Government."

The big changes CWAC wants to see in future years include prioritising walking and cycling, introducing energy saving measures in homes, increasing recycling rates and buying local to help reduce transport emissions.

These ambitions have been developed following extensive work with communities and stakeholders via the council’s cross-party climate emergency taskforce last year.

Cllr Bryan added: "Our role as a council and a taskforce is to bring together the knowledge, skills and enthusiasm in our communities to enable us all to play our part in tackling the climate emergency.

"This starts with the council setting an example and working closely with partners to deliver on the commitments in the plans."

CWAC's plans include actions and targets that the council will regularly monitor in an annual review.

The council will also work with Cheshire West Voluntary Action and the Chester Sustainability Forum to support the 10 'green pledges' which individuals and businesses can sign up to, to declare how they will make changes to reduce their carbon footprint.

For more information see cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/climateemergency