20 September 2023
Rich and I attended the Climate and Ecological Emergency working group meeting in September. Its title may be a bit of a mouthful, but it was really encouraging to see the work being done across so many departments in Swale.
Highlights are:
- Trees: more than 300 to be planted across Swale in the coming season on council land
- Electric charging: 18 new charge points
- Solar panels: continuing work on getting these on council buildings
- Car clubs: successful schemes in Faversham and Sittingbourne, with plans for an electric car to be added to the hybrids in Sittingbourne (there is already one in Faversham)
- Walking and cycling : developing a Swale -wide infrastructure plan, so we have projects ready to go as and when funding becomes available
- Recycling: looking at ways to improve recycling rates from bin collections
- Climate literacy : this may not be an obvious topic to focus on , but is arguably the most important . It is about improving the understanding amongst staff and members of the council of the issues around the climate and ecological emergency that we are facing, helping people to see that everything can and should be looked at with the impact on the planet in mind: something all of us need to do.
Alastair Gould
alastairGould@swale.gov.uk
