IN THE coming year, Itchen Valley Parish Council is stepping up its response to the climate crisis with a series of initiatives designed to impact on the Valley’s carbon footprint.

Their Plant a Tree for the Jubilee campaign has already led to more than 100 local people and organisations agreeing to plant a tree in their gardens before the spring, all of whom received a certificate from the Council.

In addition, the council itself is planting 100 trees on its land and later this year will be distributing free trees supplied by The Woodland Trust.

And in a direct plea to local residents to consider what they might do personally to reduce their carbon emissions, a leaflet was hand-delivered to every household last week urging them to draw up their own household carbon reduction plan.

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Launching this initiative, Cllr Steve Percy said: “We really need all members of every household, including children, to think about how they personally might become part of the solution to the climate crisis and take the first step of writing it down in a plan that they can keep to.”

The council also recognises the importance of walking and is increasing its focus on improving countryside access for everybody. As Councillor Denise Rosewell reports: “We are working with local groups, landowners and residents to improve and, where possible, extend our footpath network, ensuring it is well maintained and accessible”.

The council also plans to launch a survey during the year to shed light on the attitudes and behaviours of local residents to the challenges of reducing carbon emissions and to serve as a benchmark against which progress in future years can be monitored.

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The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and has planted over 50 million trees since 1972.

It aims to protect and restore ancient woodland and plant native trees and create new woods. The trust reckons to have saved more than 1,000 woods in the last decade and restored some 34,000 hectares across the UK.

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