Herts County Council's Sustainability Action Plan doesn't contain Enough Action on Tackling the Climate Emergency

"Hertfordshire County Council's Sustainability Action Plan doesn't actually contain enough action on tackling the Climate Emergency," claims the County's Liberal Democrat Group.

Whilst welcoming Herts County Council's announcement that it is finally making a start on addressing the climate emergency, Liberal Democrat County Councillors have nevertheless condemned the Conservative Council Leaders' proposals in their Sustainable Hertfordshire Action Plan. They say that these proposals lack ambition and are most unlikely to meet the council's target of zero carbon emissions by 2030.

Steve Jarvis Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on the Environment said, "The first step in any realistic plan to cut carbon emissions is to understand how much carbon the council is emitting now. However the so-called "action plan" only proposes doing this for buildings rather than all of the council's activities.

Simple improvements like dimming more street lights which has been proved to work and could be done right now, are only going to be explored and introducing low carbon vehicles in some areas is apparently something that is not proposed until after 2025".

"There are many other areas such as renewable energy usage and helping schools to improve their energy performance which have been identified, but seem to have no commitment to progress in any defined timescale"

"If the Council is serious about the climate emergency and cutting its emissions to net zero by 2030 it needs to do a lot better than this.

It should also be setting an example to residents and businesses across the county to encourage them to cut their own emissions."