NOT enough has been done to make the Winchester district more environmentally friendly and cut carbon emissions, according to campaign groups.

A year ago tomorrow (June 5) Winchester City Council declared a climate emergency and promised to a carbon neutral district by 2030.

However, two groups calling for action on climate change believe that although the authority made a positive start much more is needed to make this possible.

Winchester Action on Climate Change (WinACC) highlighted a number of measures that the council has introduced, including producing its first carbon neutrality action plan, changed to green electricity, and begun a carbon reduction programme on its existing and new housing stock, but would like to see more being done.

Jock Macdonald, Chair of WinACC, said: “We are sorry that much more will need to be done, and more quickly, over the next ten year, to meet the council’s own target of net zero carbon by 2030 across the district. This year, however, Covid-19 with all its human and financial costs will have impeded progress. There will also be a need for steady government funding to achieve its goal.”

Mr Macdonald said that the group is pleased that the council wants to take full advantage of post Covid-19 recovery initiatives from the government, but it is wanting to see a raft of emergency measures imposed, such as providing high quality walking and cycling routes between all the main parts of the city to encourage people not to use their cars and rebranding park and ride to park and stride.

“Meanwhile we would like to see all the major projects paused to identify further carbon savings. Some recent projects have not yet incorporated fully the new perspectives necessary in a climate emergency. Any projects that increase the carbon footprint of the council and district need to be halted.”

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But Extinction Rebellion is looking for much more robust proposals to tackle the issue.

James Miller, local group co-ordinator, said: “It prepared a glossy ‘Winchester Carbon Neutrality Action Plan’. But this plan focuses on how to cut the council’s own emissions to net zero by 2024. The council’s emissions are less than one per cent of emissions in the Winchester District. The plan didn't include robust proposals for the other 99 per cent.”

The group did say that the council made a good start when it did not support proposals to for M3 Junction 9 and opposed the expansion of Southampton Airport because both would increase CO2 emissions.

But now it wants more action from council chiefs, with Mr Miller saying: “The council must tell the truth. They must tell the people of Winchester about the sheer scale of the existential threat of climate change.

“Extinction Rebellion Winchester wants to see a climate emergency plan that covers everything. The council needs to say where Winchester’s greenhouse gases come from, and how much they can be cut in different ways.

“Then we want local people, chosen at random and informed by experts, to form citizen’s assemblies to look at the options and decide what must be done. people will follow a people’s climate emergency plan. just like we need everyone to act on the coronavirus lockdown, we need everyone to act on climate change.

The council says that it has reduced its carbon emissions by almost a fifth by switching to a green energy supply, as part of its ambitious plans to tackle climate change.

Ahead of World Environment Day, the council has also announced it will work with five Parish Councils to join up to the ‘Greening Campaign’ – this will help local communities to identify ways that residents can come together to cut carbon emissions at a grassroots level. The areas will help to test ideas that could then be introduced across the district.

Additional work to deliver a carbon neutral district by 2030 includes developing a new Local Plan to guide low carbon development over the next decade and beyond, and progressing the Movement Strategy in partnership with Hampshire County Council to provide low carbon travel options.

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Cabinet Lead, Cllr Paula Ferguson, said: “We’ve recently cut the council’s carbon emissions by nearly a fifth by switching to renewable energy for all council property, committed to spending £10m over the next decade to retrofit our housing stock to make it more energy and water efficient, started work on a new ‘park and stride’ at Bar End, agreed a network of electric vehicle charging points across the district, and planted over 500 trees.

“Supporting local people through the Covid-19 outbreak has had to be our primary focus recently, but it also presents great opportunities to recover in a low carbon way. One way we are doing this is working with Hampshire County Council to accelerate the delivery of socially-distanced walking and cycling options, and we want to support businesses to recover in a more sustainable way such as increasing the use of technology.

“Tackling Covid-19 challenges continues to be our immediate focus, but the climate emergency remains a critical priority. We’ve made good progress over the last 12 months, setting ambitious targets on carbon reduction and taking action to make this happen. We can all help on this journey to improve our quality of life now, and for future generations. The positive changes to how we live our lives made recently prove what can be achieved and we're keen to drive forward ways to get more people from across the district involved in our ambitious carbon reduction work over the coming months.”