Hebden Royd Town Council held its first virtual Climate Emergency Committee meeting on Monday 24 August after new regulations were put in place to allow meetings to be held electronically.
The Council session, led by newly appointed Chair Cllr Nikki Harvey, received a report on the first year of the Climate Emergency Committee from the retiring Chair Cllr Scott Patient.
Cllr Scott Patient said: “Initially we signed up to the Mayors Covenant - The EU Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy brings together thousands of local governments voluntarily committed to implementing EU climate and energy objectives.
“The Clerk and I also undertook a “Carbon Audit” of the town council which we reported back to the group. Some of the work we had already done in banning single use plastics and moving to paperless stood us in good stead. We arranged for all the new cohort of Councillors and Officers to undertake “Carbon Literacy” training, this was provided by the University of Manchester. Most attended this half-day long course which was invaluable in terms of understanding and articulating the challenge.”
Cllr Patient continued: “We have supported both the youth climate strikers with their endeavours by both providing a meeting space pre and post-strike, with links to Calderdale and through our then Mayor Cllr Stow who showed great support for the group by joining their strike.”
The full report can be found via this link on our dedicated Climate Emergency page:
The Council heard that despite the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown measures, much work has been carried out to create an Action Plan to meet the Council’s commitments to be carbon neutral by 2030. The Climate Emergency Action Plan will be sent to Full Council on the 14th October 2020 for review.
A marketing plan has also been approved and published by the Town Council which will help us raise the profile of this vital issue. The plan can be found here.
See more climate emergency news in the new Hebden Royd Climate Emergency section
Added: Saturday, 10 October 2020