Calls for a greener council
Shropshire Council must begin to cut the carbon footprint within its own operation and in the wider county, the green party has said.
The council has agreed to set up a task and finish group to develop an action plan to reduce carbon emissions and to lobby Central Government to come forward with proposals for local climate change measures.
Councillor Julian Dean, who successfully proposed the moves last month, says action needs to be taken urgently.
He wants to hear from Shropshire residents who have ideas about how changes can be made.
The Green Party councillor said the motion passed by the council was good but the council also had to act and act quickly.
"This is a good starting point in Shropshire, but we now need to build a momentum to tackle the challenge of climate change.
"The UN has told us that we have to make changes to prevent a catastrophe."
The Council Leader and Chief Executive will write to a cabinet minister asking when central government will come forward with proposals for local climate change measures and the council will add The Environment to its portfolio.
Councillor Dean said that the unitary authority must also start looking itself at ways of cutting down emissions.
"We should be setting our own targets, not waiting for central goverment to set them for us.
"The first thing it could look at is changing its fleet of vehicles to electric, that would be a simple way to begin," he said.
"Then it should be looking at its plans for the 'revamping' of the Shirehall and look at all the ways that carbon emissions could be cut in that development.
"There have been calls for more car parking at Shirehall but we could look further that simply providing spaces for cars. We need to look at other ways that people can travel to work."
Councillor Dean said that Shropshire Council should also start building moves to cut carbon emissions into its contracts with private companies.
"Tenders should take into account how carbon friendly the company is and how carbon friendly the bid it," he said.
"In the longer term we also need to look at planning.
"There are houses being built across the country that are carbon neutral and these should be the houses we are encouraging. Also when we are looking at housing developments we have to look at speed limits. Lower road speeds are known to reduce emissions."
