Newcastle Council to consider new measures to reach net-zero by 2030

Newcastle City Council will meet next week (February 24) to consider a range of measures that will help to cut carbon emissions and reach net-zero by 2030. 

During the meeting, the council will discuss various ways to allocate spending in order to increase its capacity to cut carbon, mainly by investing in new infrastructure.

If the cabinet agrees on the budget proposals, they will go forward to be debated on March 4 where the budget will be set.

According to the council, in the last financial year, they managed to reduce their carbon footprint by 13%, however, in order to reach net-zero emissions by 2030 a lot more action must be taken.

Therefore, the council are hoping to save £20.3m in the next year to set a balanced budget, they are proposing to introduce a council tax rise of 1.95%

The council will also utilise an additional £10.8m from a one-off government fund to support local people and the environment.

£1.1m of the funding will hopefully be used for 25 new rapid response teams to tackle environmental crimes such as fly-tipping.

They will also introduce new measures to tackle air pollution and will plant up to 1,000 trees.

The council hope to invest £1.2m to upgrade 45 play areas and they will also run a climate change awareness and behavioural change campaign.

Council leader Nick Forbes said: ‘We will use the £10.8m of one-off extra money to also enhance the environment so people can live in clean, green and safe neighbourhoods.

‘All the time we are doing this we will do our best to mitigate the effects of climate change while building our capacity to reduce the city’s carbon emissions.

‘We declared a climate emergency and are now actively working with partners and the public to draw up a plan that rolls out a series of carbon-reducing measures.’

Earlier this year, (January 15) a new district energy centre opened in Newcastle which will use natural gas to generate low carbon energy to homes and buildings.

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