CONTENTS:
- County Council Climate change and environment plan
- Cost of living support
- Guided busway
- Fens 2100+
- HI Friends
- Vape battery recycling
County Council Climate change and environment plan
The council’s new Climate Change & Environment Strategy explains how the council plans to tackle two major challenges facing Cambridgeshire: climate change and the loss of nature and wildlife.
Building on the progress already made, the strategy sets out how council will cut emissions, improve resilience to extreme weather, and protect and restore nature across the county. It also shows how the council will support communities and businesses who want to take action themselves.
The previous strategy delivered several important achievements, including earning a CDP ‘A’ rating for climate action – placing the Council among global leaders in this area.
This new strategy continues that work. The long-term goal remains the same:
To deliver net zero carbon emissions for Cambridgeshire by 2045 while supporting our communities and nature to adapt and thrive as the climate changes.
Read more here
https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/climate-change-energy-and-environment
Cost of living support
From benefit checks to support with utility bills the county council has put together a collection of helpful information links collected onto a single page.
https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/communities/support-with-the-cost-of-living
Guided Busway
Still no confirmed date for the public meeting in May I am asking every two days for a date. I have received several reports of trapped animals and am pushing the busway team to make the fences more nature friendly as a matter of extreme urgency.
Once the Orchard Park to Station Road, Histon section is complete work will begin between Cambridge North and Orchard park.
Sign up to or read the regular newsletters here.
Fens 2100+
After several years of work Fens 2100+ has presented their work to leading parliamentarians, further work to raise the profile of this issue is scheduled across the summer. This body of work recognises that if you stop pumping water in our region within 2 years much of Cambridgeshire will be flooded with either rain or sea water or both.
Pumping stations and infrastructure are at the end of their working lives and we have a choice as to whether we campaign for rebuilding the current pumping network decided hundreds of years ago in the same location or reimagine where we want key protections to be located and reshape our region accordingly.
A comment on social media asked why we are not letting the fens flood as it is a good carbon sink. There is no easy answer to this. Fundamentally 700,000 people live in our area which is why the land is currently pumped, to protect homes, businesses and communities. That said there are programmes of work looking at different types of farming including water based paludiculture (which is not entirely straightforward) and some land is being flooded through bodies such as the National Trust. It is a complex picture but one that is moving forward listening to the views of local people who understand and value the place where they live.
https://engageenvironmentagency.uk.engagementhq.com/fens2100
HI Friends
I was invited to an HI Friends older peoples forum. It was inspiring to hear the work HI Friends is doing within our community for our older residents but also great to be able to help bring people together and share ideas. I know HI Friends want to hear from local people if you have any ideas or problems you’d love solved relating to our older residents.
Vape battery recycling
I was interviewed by ITV Anglia news as Chair of the Environment and Green Investment committee. Battery fires is a real issue both at household recycling and waste centres and in refuse collection vehicles. Please if you use Vapes dispose of them responsibly, there are recycling bins at all of the county’s 9 Household recycling centres. Around 90,000 have been collected so far. The issue is that the lithium batteries when crushed can trigger a really vigorous chemical reaction creating extreme heat, in a context of flammable waste this can cause serious fires and fires that after extinguishing can reignite. Please dispose of batteries safely through proper disposal bins where they can be safely recycled.
hiopcouncillors 