Cabinet agrees climate change recommendations

Cabinet councillors at Lewes District Council have agreed a wide-ranging list of recommendations to help lessen the impact of council services on the environment.

The report follows work done by an internal Climate Change Action Group. The group was set up to review local services and how they can be changed and adapted to become more environmentally friendly.

Councillor Isabelle Linington, Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment, said:

“The action group included a cross-party group of councillors who have done a terrific job looking at all aspects of the council’s operation. This obviously included travel and how we can better utilise technology to reduce the number of journeys between various sites and the reduction of CO2 when travel is unavoidable.”

The travel related measures include encouraging greater train use between all council sites and engaging with Southern about overcrowding and reliability, increased use of virtual meetings and more car-sharing.

Senior officers will also seek commitments from bus companies about not allowing engines to idle when waiting in traffic or picking up passengers.

Developments in Lewes District Council’s social housing include:

• Improving insulation & thermal performance
• Installing more efficient appliances and using more renewables such as solar, high efficiency electric heating and hot water, and battery technology
• LED lighting in common parts and grounds
• Modern time switches to activate and turn off lighting

Councillor Linington added:

“We’ve allocated £5,000 to install a drinking fountain at the superb skate park in Lewes and this is on top of the existing commitment to do the same at the incredible new skate and BMX facilities being developed in Newhaven.

“We have to reduce single-use plastics and I hope the young people will bring their water bottles and refill them.”

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