Greening Central Bedfordshire
Friday, 21 February 2020
We committed to invest more than £1.6 million for the planting of trees and hedgerows, at our budget meeting last night (Thursday 20 February 2020).
Following a unanimous vote to tackle climate change last year, we're developing a series of plans and initiatives to enhance environmental sustainability.
Increasing the proportion of trees and woodland across the area is one such measure, with the value of all sorts of planting (individual trees, hedges and shrubs) being well known. The benefits extend beyond climate change, to ecology and flood prevention.
The funding for this initiative will come from the New Homes Bonus.
In addressing the full Council, Leader Councillor James Jamieson, underlined the importance of moving towards a zero carbon environment.
Councillor Jamieson said:
At a national and local level, we share a commitment to tackle the climate emergency and I’m keen to explore how we can do more to unlock resources for action in Central Bedfordshire.
We are a council which is hugely ambitious to improve our environment and to build, great, sustainable communities. I’m optimistic about our ability to really make a difference, but delivery must be about more than tokenism. We need to work with our partners and our communities to affect practical and cultural change.
Our budget, also approved last night, allocates £0.75 million of revenue and up to £4 million capital specifically on environmental sustainability projects.
We also intend to develop further proposals for the Executive to consider, to fast track our environmental strategy through additional projects jointly funded by national and local government.