Telford & Wrekin Council marks year of climate action with new electric vehicles
Telford & Wrekin Council is today marking a year since declaring a climate emergency by announcing that it will place an order for six new electric vehicles to join its fleet.
The new electric vehicles will be replacing diesel vans which currently operate in the Neighbourhood Enforcement and Highways Teams. The move is a further step in the Council’s plan to go carbon neutral by 2030.
In June, the inaugural meeting of the Borough Climate Change Partnership was held with members from across Telford and Wrekin.
The Council has continued to work to reduce its carbon emissions over the past 12 months, including switching to a green electricity tariff, saving 1,252 C02 emissions annually, which was extended to schools in April 2020.
A Sustainable Buildings Initiative is helping to deliver CO2 reductions across Council facilities. LED lighting schemes across corporate buildings (Darby House, Wellington Civic Centre, Telford Ice Rink and Telford Tennis Centre), as well as solar PV at Telford Ice Rink have delivered energy savings of 439,072kWh – this is also helping to save the Council nearly £60K annually.
The Council also successfully rolled out a new weekly food waste collection service, saving more than 900 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
The Council has a successful track record of reducing its carbon footprint with emissions reduced by 44% since 2005 and progress accelerating since 2011.
Cllr Carolyn Healy, cabinet member for Climate Change, said:
“Climate change affects everyone and we must continue to take action to change this.
“We’re really pleased to be able to announce the purchase of these new electric vehicles to replace diesel vehicles in our fleet, this is another great step towards further reducing our carbon emissions.
“Despite the obvious disruptions that coronavirus has brought, we have continued to work to find ways to implement our Action Plan so that we can still meet our 2030 target.”
Cllr Richard Overton, Deputy Leader with responsibility for Enforcement, Community Safety and Customer Services, said:
“This announcement means that we have the very latest vehicles being used for our work in the borough.
“They will help us to reduce our carbon emissions while also providing an efficient way to continue to create a better borough through highways improvements and enforcement.”
Climate Change Champions
Last month the Council launched its latest volunteer role: Climate Change Champions.
The Climate Change Champions will promote climate change and sustainability to their local communities. They will share information, take part in events, lead by example, and encourage people in their communities, schools and groups to give their views and get involved.
Champions will already be passionate about the subject and will want to learn more about current global issues, as well as how they affect the borough on a local level.
This role is suitable for all ages, and would be ideal for families to do together, we just ask that under 18s have parental consent before signing up as a volunteer.
