Climate Emergency for Reading (update)

Brilliant news! Reading Borough Council unanimously voted to declare a Climate Emergency for Reading on Tuesday 26 February 2019.

See the broadcast of the Council meeting here: link to Webcast of RBC meeting.

  •  Note that the petition is presented by 12yr old Skye and an Extinction rebellion campaigner at 10 mins in. It is great to see the passion and interest from our community here.
  • The main item is at ~1hr 45 mins in.
  • It was also reported in the Reading Chronicle (27 Feb)
  • You can view the declaration here…

 

This is obviously a huge commitment for the town, with the demand for Zero Carbon by 2030…only 10 years away!

We will need everyone’s help to make this happen: public sector, businesses, national government, and all of us as individuals. We’re starting development of our third Reading Climate Change Strategy (2020-2025) so please do get involved and help us: come along to our Launch Event (13 June). There is a lot to do but together we can make it happen!

Wishing you well.

 

Chris Beales, RCCP Chair


Original post (8 Feb)

A very exciting news story for Reading: the council are looking to commit us to deliver Zero Carbon Reading by 2030. See the article in the Reading Chronicle (here).

We will update this post with more information over the next few days. There is obviously an enormous amount to do to make this happen…but it has to happen if we want any hope of limiting climate change to 1.5degC!

Over the next few months we will be starting our consultation on the next Reading Climate Change Strategy. This is an opportunity for everybody to get involved and help us get Reading ready for the challenges ahead.

 

Consultation on extending controls on single use plastic bags

This proposes to extend the single use carrier bag charge in England to all retailers, and also proposes to increase the minimum charge to 10p.

DEFRA wants to know if people agree with their assessment of the costs and benefits of these proposals and how the impacts of change will be measured.

this consultation is open until 22nd February on  https://consult.defra.gov.uk/environmental-quality/extending-the-single-use-bags-charge/

Consultation on protecting trees and woodland

DEFRA proposes  four new measures designed to increase transparency and accountability in the process of felling street trees and to strengthen the Forestry Commission’s power to tackle illegal tree felling.

Two of the measures introduce new duties on local authorities: a duty to consult on the felling of street trees and a duty to report on tree felling and replanting.

A third policy suggests the production of best practice guidance to support local authorities in drawing up, consulting on and publishing a Tree and Woodland Strategy.

The fourth measure is intended to give the Forestry Commission more powers to tackle illegal tree felling and strengthen protection of wooded landscapes.  

This consultation seeks views on these measures and their implementation and is open until 28th February

https://consult.defra.gov.uk/forestry/protecting-trees-and-woodlands/

If you don’t want to read the whole document, then perhaps make representations through the woodland trust website that has a suggested set of responses to some of the issues  https://campaigns.woodlandtrust.org.uk/page/36795/action/1?utm_campaign=2282329_B04_12624_Jan19Campaigning_190115&utm_medium=email&utm_source=woodlandtrust&dm_i=2D76,1CX21,8ZNDLA,4G981,1