East Ayrshire Council seeks views on climate change
With the eyes of the world currently focused on climate change, and with global solutions being discussed at COP26, East Ayrshire Council is looking closer to home, with the launch of its own climate change strategy, and is asking everyone who lives and works in the area to take a look, give their comments and have a say in how we can all work together to achieve net zero targets.
The strategy started with a call from the East Ayrshire Children and Young People’s Climate Change Conference held for the first time in 2019. They asked the Council to look at every aspect of how it functions and see where changes could be made to cut carbon consumption and emissions.
The Council responded by setting up a Members and Officers Working Group (MOWG) which also included members of partner organisations and representatives from the East Ayrshire Young People’s Cabinet.
Officers from all the Council’s services were asked to scrutinise their functions, buildings and working practices to see where changes could be made both immediately and in the future, and thus the Clean Green East Ayrshire Climate Change Strategy was born.
Councillor Claire Leitch, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Net Zero, Environment and Climate Change, Equalities and Inclusion, chaired the group. She explains: “This new strategy is a blueprint for the whole council and beyond. It looks at where we are now and where we want to be in future, and this includes everyone, not just the council but individuals, our partner organisations and businesses.
“We’re very excited to be launching this strategy, but it’s not something we can do in isolation – we need all of East Ayrshire on board if we’re to meet our targets, so we want everyone to take some time to give us their views by visiting our Clean Green East Ayrshire Webpages and taking part in through our online consultation.
“This is just the first step on a long tough road to a better future for everyone. Along the way we’re hoping to tackle food and fuel poverty, provide STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) educational opportunities, jobs and apprenticeships, improve housing standards and boost local business. By getting on board with changing the way we work and live, we’re all helping each other as well as the planet.”
The Clean Green East Ayrshire Climate Change Consultation runs until Friday 25 November.
· Read the Clean Green East Ayrshire Climate Change Strategy
· Visit the Clean Green East Ayrshire webpages
· Sign up with our StayConnected service to receive regular updates by selecting “Clean Green Climate Change”
· Read about our UK100 Net Zero pledge