Chesterfield Borough Council has approved a new annual delivery pan that aims to ensure the council is a carbon neutral organisation by 2030 and that the borough is carbon neutral by 2050.
Investing in even more green vehicles, continuing to make council homes more energy efficient and making further progress towards decarbonising key council buildings – including leisure centres and the Town Hall – are among the actions set out in Chesterfield Borough Council’s climate change plan for the coming year.
The annual delivery plan, which runs from April 2024 to March 2025, was approved by Cabinet on Tuesday 19 March, as the council continues towards its targets.
This is the council’s second delivery plan since introducing a new Climate Change Strategy in 2023. Over the last year progress has been made towards decarbonising the council’s fleet, distributing grant funding for energy efficiency improvements in private homes, and engaging with the community about climate change.
The new plan is built around the six themes set out in the council’s strategy, including buildings and energy use, travel, green space and land use, communications and engagement, data and monitoring, and council influence.
Councillor Martin Stone, Chesterfield Borough Council’s cabinet member for climate change, planning and the environment, said: “Climate change continues to be one of the biggest threats to our future, and the action we take today will make a difference for Chesterfield’s tomorrow.
“Despite the unprecedented financial challenges facing local government, we must keep up our momentum with a sense of urgency that this issue demands.
“We can’t tackle everything at once, but we remain clear that our priority must be to address the areas which create the biggest carbon emissions – for example, we know that transport and energy use in buildings are the two biggest challenges and these form a key part of our plans for the next year.
“At the same time, we will continue our work to support our communities, including businesses, to be able to play their part in our goal of becoming a carbon neutral borough by 2050 at the latest.
“This is a clear plan for the next year that shows what we are aiming to achieve and includes a range of actions that can be measured in terms of carbon reduction and track our progress towards our targets.
Starting work on the major decarbonisation of the council’s operational buildings is a key aim over the next financial year. This includes surveying the Town Hall, Queen’s Park Sports Centre, the Innovation Centres and the Stonegravels Depot.
Comprehensive building surveys will help identify the investments that need to be made in these buildings to reduce the council’s carbon footprint. This follows on from work completed in 2023/24 which helped identify improvements needed at the Healthy Living Centre for which the council seek external funding to deliver.
The council will also be reviewing its car parks to see if these can support renewable energy generation, as well as parking.
Housing is another key area, and the council is committing to building new homes which achieve an EPC rating of Band A. Making homes more energy efficient not only helps reduce the carbon footprint, but it can also lower the cost of energy bills. The council will also continue to distribute grant funding for homeowners to ensure all properties in the borough can benefit from improved energy efficiency.
Measures which require contractors and suppliers to robustly demonstrate their green credentials when being considered for work with the council will also be strengthened, as part of major changes to the authority’s procurement processes and social value policy. This will ensure that council suppliers are working towards a common goal of delivering a lower carbon future.
Travel is another important area where the council aims to make progress by introducing more electric vehicles into its fleet. but also understanding how employees travel to work and the barriers that stop them from choosing lower carbon travel options.
This year the council has beaten its target by planting more than 5,000 trees and in the next year it is again committed to planting at least 1,000 trees across the borough. Work to develop a natural burial site in the borough is also progressing.
Councillor Stone added: “As well as our own targets, we also need to continue to work with our communities to reduce emissions and to minimise the impact of climate change on our residents. Through our Climate Forum we’ll continue to work with the community to help everyone to make the changes that will secure our future.
“I’d encourage our residents to look at what we are doing to tell us what more they think we can do but also to understand what they can do in their homes to make a difference.”
To find out more about what Chesterfield Borough Council is doing to tackle the climate crisis please visit: www.chesterfield.gov.uk/climate-change
