Climate change will be top of the agenda for Allerdale Borough Council as it looks set to follow the example of other Cumbrian authorities aiming to reduce their carbon footprint.
Councillor Sally Lansbury, representing Keswick, asked if the authority would pledge to review climate change impacts across the board “early in the new (scrutiny) committee’s work programme” at a meeting of the full council.
This would include looking at the environmental impact of areas of council operation including, licensing, waste reduction and investment decisions.
Alan Pitcher, chairman of the overview and scrutiny committee, said that this would be part of the programme was already included and would be looked at “without a shadow of a doubt”.
Earlier this month, Eden District Council voted to declare a climate emergency with the aim of making the authority carbon neutral by 2030.
The vote also commits the council to assessing the ecological impacts of all Eden District Council’s decisions and actions.
South Lakeland District Council took the lead when it became the first local authority in Cumbria to declare a climate emergency, committing to cuts in carbon emissions in the area.
And in March, Carlisle City Council became the second of Cumbria’s district authorities to declare a ‘Climate Emergency’ requiring urgent action.
The authority pledged to make the council’s activities net-zero carbon by 2030.
They also agreed to ensure all strategic decisions, budgets and approaches to planning decisions are in line with a shift to zero carbon by 2030.
Councillors also pledged to convene a citizens assembly in 2019 to oversee and feed into the development of related action plans and budgets.
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