Warwickshire County Council climate change and sustainability newsletter

Welcome to the November 2022 edition of the Warwickshire County Council climate change and sustainability newsletter.

Find out more about the things that have been happening in Warwickshire around climate change and sustainability over the last month.

The Sustainable Future of Warwickshire

Residents, businesses and community groups across Warwickshire are being invited to have their say on our draft Sustainable Futures Strategy.

The new draft Sustainable Futures Strategy establishes our direction and priorities to reduce carbon emissions, support biodiversity and promote economic growth across the County. It directly addresses the significant challenges of climate change, which poses a risk to Warwickshire communities and economy, and declining biodiversity, which impacts on both our wellbeing and economic prosperity.

Because the breadth of work to be done is so significant, the Council has established objectives to cover six key themes:

Transport – We want to have zero emissions surface transport across the County, increasing the use of sustainable modes of transport, with every resident having access to zero carbon private, public and active transport options.

Energy – We want to live and work in a County that is powered entirely by clean fuel or renewable sources.

Built Environment – We want to live and work in buildings that are energy efficient, powered by clean energy sources and connected to nature.

Resources, Waste & Circular Economy – We want a County where all waste is diverted from landfill and there is a circular economy that provides commercial opportunities and new jobs

Sustainable Communities & Green Economy – We want to have a County that is measured by prosperity and health, where people have the skills and access to new green jobs, and where all the industries contribute to sustainable, equitable and healthy communities.

Natural Capital and Biodiversity – We want a habitat-connected landscape for people to enjoy, and wildlife to thrive.

A summary of the draft strategy is available here: www.bit.ly/SustFuturesExecSumm 

The complete draft strategy is available here: www.bit.ly/SustFuturesStratFull

Here you can listen to Steve Smith and Matt Whitehead from Warwickshire County Council talking about all things sustainability and climate change in this new podcast: : https://letstalkwarwickshire.podbean.com/e/climate-change-and-sustainability-in-warwickshire/

20,000 Acorns in the ground as Warwickshire’s Tree Nursery takes root

It is great news for the environment and our tree planting aspirations as the recently approved tree nursery plants its first 20,000 acorns at the centrally located site in the County.

We have ambitious tree-planting plans that will see a tree for every resident planted across the County over the next eight years. This has been strategically planned to restore parts of forests and wooded areas that have been long lost to time, such as the ancient Forest of Arden, which once covered most of the county and beyond into Staffordshire and Worcestershire.

The UK market for trees is rapidly expanding with many local authorities and businesses making commitments to plant trees as part of their climate change response plans and efforts to make their businesses carbon neutral. As carbon sequestration schemes develop and the carbon market is established there is likely to only be higher demand for trees to be planted around the UK.

Most trees are currently imported from Europe where there are well-established nurseries that grow large numbers of trees from seed. Whilst this has previously been a source of low-cost whips and saplings, concerns about rising importation costs and the transfer of disease as well as a desire to reduce the carbon footprint from transport are making the UK tree nursery market more attractive.

Residents thinking about embarking on their own tree-planting during the 2022/23 season can find out more information here: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/news/article/3588/growing-a-greener-warwickshire-tree-planting-season-2022-23

A Warwickshire that is sustainable now and for future generations

Since we declared a Climate Emergency in 2019. we have already started working towards our goals of reducing our carbon emissions to net zero by 2030 and to support and lead Warwickshire as a county to do the same by 2050 or earlier, if at all possible.

Progress towards these important targets has been made through a variety of schemes and initiatives that include the following:

Electric Vehicle charging – Over the last 18 months, we have been successful in submitting bids to secure approximately £800k of grants and investment to help improve EV charging availability in Warwickshire. As a result of securing this funding, it has been able to deliver 170 7kw charge points, across 26 charging hubs located in a mixture of locations across the County.

The combined public and private charge point installations have had a significant positive impact. Warwickshire’s position compared to the English average has moved from below to above the England average over the period 2020-2022 with an average of 51.6 charging devices per 100,000 people in population across the County.

Find out more: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/roads-transport/charge-points-electric-vehicles

Active Travel – We are actively encouraging residents to ditch their cars for short journeys (less than 5 miles) and to choose active travel alternatives such as walking or cycling.

In order to make active travel possible and desirable for residents, we are investing significant amounts of money in active travel schemes across the County. One such high-profile scheme is the Kenilworth to Leamington Cycling Route, which will develop a new five-kilometer cycle track between Kenilworth and Leamington Spa. Find out more: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/major-transport-construction-projects/a452-kenilworth-leamington-spa-cycle-route-k2l

The Green Shoots Fund – The fund, at £1 Million, is the largest fund of its type offered by a Local Authority in the UK and has already been used to fund a variety of community and voluntary sector climate change projects across Warwickshire.

The application period for the second round of Green Shoots funding closed recently and successful projects will soon be receiving their offer letter.

Find out more: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/regeneration-projects/green-shoots-community-climate-change-fund-2022

Help reduce Warwickshire’s residual waste

Residual waste is any collected household waste that, for a variety of reasons is not able to be sent for reuse, recycling or composting.

We seek to minimise waste and then to reuse, recycle and compost as much of the remaining amount as possible thereby leaving less that must be disposed of by alternative means.

We recycle about half of Warwickshire’s household waste but still manage in the region of 130,000 tonnes of residual waste a year. Approximately 100,000 tonnes of this is sent to energy from waste facilities, where energy is extracted from it in the form of electricity and/or heat.

The remaining 30,000 tonnes are disposed of via landfill. We have two contracts for landfill disposal, one of which expires in March 2023, which formed the basis of this approval to tender.

From pedal to pasture: Recycling the Commonwealth bicycle

From the very early planning stages through to the delivery of an outstanding summer of sport across the region, the Birmingham 2022 Organising Committee made every effort to become the first-ever carbon-neutral Commonwealth Games. And, true to the spirit of this, the straw was reused by local farmers feeding livestock with the raw materials of the giant bike.

Solarvision Lighting Technologies expands in Warwickshire

Solarvision Lighting Technologies, which is based in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, specialises in providing off-grid solar lighting for streets, residential developments, industrial parks, leisure clubs, schools and shopping centres.

Warwick Library’s final Seed Swap event – Saturday 26 November

The Seed Swap events are hosted by a volunteer group called Bee Friendly Warwick and encourage people to make use of surplus seeds, particularly from homegrown fruits and vegetables, in order to reduce waste, enrich local biodiversity by creating more flowers for pollinators, and to help others in discovering the enjoyment of growing different types of plants at home.

It is common practice when sowing seeds to plant plenty at the same time in case not all of the seeds survive. Some may never germinate, whilst others that do grow may become damaged by factors such as extreme temperatures or insects. However, if the majority of the seeds sown are successful, or produce a lot of fruit and vegetables to harvest once established, it can leave one person with too many seeds to manage. The Seed Swaps, which are free communal events, enable residents to exchange their excess seeds with each other to reduce waste and encourage more people to try growing varieties of flowering garden or greenhouse plants, including fruit and vegetable plants, at home.