Council thanks participants and welcomes wide-ranging recommendations
Herefordshire’s first Citizens’ Climate Assembly has been described as “inspirational” by participants.
Held over two evenings and two weekends in January, the assembly brought together an independently selected representative group of residents from across the county to discuss ‘How should Herefordshire meet the challenges of climate change?’
Participants heard from expert speakers on climate change topics including transport, housing, food, farming and land use, and found out more about the scale of the challenge, good practice and the local picture. They then discussed how things should change in Herefordshire and agreed 35 recommendations which will be used to inform and influence council policy and spending priorities to help Herefordshire become a zero-carbon nature-rich county by 2030.
The recommendations will be presented to Cabinet on Thursday 24 February for agreement on the next steps.
Councillor Ellie Chowns, Cabinet member environment and economy said:
“Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who gave their time and their energy to making the citizens’ climate assembly such a success. It was an exciting and dynamic way to bring people together to identify solutions to the shared challenge of climate change.
“The recommendations highlight some key areas of focus. They will directly influence what we do and our decisions on policy and priorities.
"We recognise the urgency of the climate crisis and we’re determined to play our part in tackling it, and for Herefordshire to be a zero-carbon nature-rich county by 2030. We intend to put an additional £1.3m into local climate action over the next year, and the findings from the assembly will help shape decisions on what this money should be spent on.
“However, this isn’t just about what the council does. We all need to work together to tackle the climate challenge and I hope the outcome of the climate assembly will also help inform and inspire others to take action.”
To view the presentation videos from the Herefordshire Citizens’ Climate Assembly, for the full list of recommendations and find out more see www.herefordshire.gov.uk/citizensassembly