Fareham council to spend £10,000 to begin work on its carbon neutral pledge

FAREHAM Borough Council is to spend £10,000 to begin its work to be carbon neutral by 2030.
Terena Plowright (far left) is bringing her environmental campaign to Fareham thanks to help from the council.Terena Plowright (far left) is bringing her environmental campaign to Fareham thanks to help from the council.
Terena Plowright (far left) is bringing her environmental campaign to Fareham thanks to help from the council.

The funding was approved for the council’s Climate Change Working Group at meeting of the council executive on Monday March 2.

One of the first pieces of work the money will enable is establishing the council’s carbon footprint, with a baseline figure expected in the summer.

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Council leader Sean Woodward said he was ‘very confident’ that the council could meet its commitment regardless of the size of the footprint.

He said: ‘That’s the first piece of work.

‘It’s silly to begin work until we have established a baseline of our carbon footprint.

‘We are committed to reaching the target regardless of the baseline.

‘Hopefully the baseline will be low and then we will be reaching the target sooner.’

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All committee reports and executive decisions will have to include climate change and carbon reduction impacts.

The funding will also support a community engagement project that will tackle a range of environmental issues from fuel waste to flooding.

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Terena Plowright, the organiser of the Greening Campaign, said she was ‘really excited’ to begin work across the borough.

She said: ‘We will be helping to reduce fuel poverty when we tackle things like poor insulation.

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‘And long term it will reduce the impact of climate change which is incredibly serious.

‘There will be training session to get the resident of the community involved.

‘It’s a bottom-up process, but we will be working hand in hand with Fareham Borough Council.’

The activist, who founded the South Downs Show but has stepped back from the event to focus on environmental issues, is working with Hampshire County Council to roll out her campaign across the county.

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It comes as Fareham Borough Council looks to honour its 2018 pledge to stop using single-use plastics by the end of this year, with the authority no longer using plastic straws and stirrers within its offices.

Ferneham Hall has also switched to plastic straws, and Solent Airport has removed vending machines that dispense single-use plastic products.

Cllr Simon Martin, executive member for Streetscene, who has led on the council’s drive to eradicate single-use plastics, said: ‘As part of the council’s drive to be plastic-free by the end of 2020, the council’s vending machines are all being replaced with eco-friendly alternatives.'

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