Environment
Environment
Our district is an attractive place full of opportunities, offering clean, safe and green spaces for all to enjoy. Our spaces are important in supporting people’s health and wellbeing, providing opportunities to enjoy the natural environment as well as access to highquality built environments.
We need to protect our environment to safeguard it for current and future generations. Through our Climate Change Strategy, we will work with people, partners, developers and other businesses across the district to help them fulfil their responsibilities and be mindful of their impact on the local environment.
What we heard from our residents, communities, businesses, members and stakeholders:
- The importance of protecting our countryside.
- The need for green space which is clean and safe.
- The need for developments to consider the environmental impacts and the need for healthy spaces.
- The importance of continuing to address the impacts of climate change.
- The importance of tackling recycling behaviours and reducing littering across our district.
- The need to educate people on caring for the environment in which they live and work.
Our Key Priorities:
- Protect and enhance our built and natural environments across the district, providing good access to open spaces and increasing biodiversity.
- Continue to deliver a cohesive and integrated response to climate change adaptation and mitigation.
- Support residents and businesses to reduce their carbon footprint and be more resilient to climate related impacts.
- Improve the way that we manage waste and encourage residents and businesses to reduce, reuse and recycle more
We will do this by…
Ensuring we have the right policies and guidelines in place to encourage developers to adopt sustainable processes, incorporating green infrastructure and nature-based solutions in our urban planning such as creating parks, green corridors and wildlife friendly landscapes.
It is important that we continue to raise awareness of why we need to protect our natural environment and habitats and highlight how this contributes to the overall well-being and quality of life for residents while preserving the natural heritage for future generations. We will ensure that our public spaces including parks, playgrounds and trails are kept clean, safe and inviting for all to use, improving access to our open spaces and looking at how we can develop cycling and walking trails to connect people to parks and open spaces.
We will raise awareness and help to educate people on the environment so individuals, communities and businesses can get involved and have a better understanding of the importance of sustainability and their role in reducing their environmental impact. It would be ideal if individuals and businesses set personal sustainability goals, such as reducing energy consumption, adopting eco-friendly
transportation options and practicing waste reduction and for businesses to set goals to reduce emissions, adopt sustainable supply chain strategies and implement energy efficient practices. We will ensure that as a Council we do this too and encourage our staff to adopt their own goals.
Through campaigns we aim to nudge behaviours by highlighting the benefits of sustainability and showcase stories to inspire others to take action, sharing innovative ideas and providing access to resources and funding to tackle climate change. We will also regularly monitor and evaluate data related to climate change impacts and emergency response efforts to help guide decision making and identify areas which most need our support in developing more effective and tailored solutions to address climate change challenges that may be specific to our district.
We want to ensure that we work with our partners to implement and improve our waste management strategies looking at ways in which we can prevent waste at its source by encouraging concepts such as responsible consumption and re-use.