Cabinet approves Council’s climate change adaptation plan
The impact of climate change was on the agenda for Telford & Wrekin Council’s Cabinet today, when they met to review and approve the local authority’s new Climate Change Adaptation Plan, and the effects that climate change may have on the future delivery of council services.
In 2019, Telford & Wrekin Council declared a Climate Emergency, setting out a target for council operations to become carbon neutral by 2030 and is well on track to achieve this in order to mitigate the effects of climate change.
However, as a local authority the council must also ensure its services are able to react to the current and predicted impacts of climate change, so the new Climate Change Adaptation Plan, approved today (Thursday 16 May) by the Council’s Cabinet, will build resilience for the borough’s infrastructure, economy and environment.
The plan includes measures to identify, consider and best manage the effects of climate change, and ensure appropriate consideration is given to climate change when developing any new council policies, focusing on four key areas of risk: warmer, wetter winters; hotter, drier summers, heatwaves; and flooding and storms.
Councillor Carolyn Healy, Telford & Wrekin Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Green Spaces, Heritage and Leisure, said: “Not only was 2023 the hottest year on record, it also saw global sea ice coverage drop to a record low. These two records, whilst shocking, demonstrate the impact of climate change around the world today, and we are not immune in Telford and Wrekin.
“With summers predicted to get hotter, winters expected to get wetter and the increasing frequency of both significant storms and heatwaves, climate change is set to have a significant effect on the way we deliver services as a council.
“It is vital that we take action now to ensure council services and the delivery of them are able to adapt to climate change, to ensure the resilience of those services for our local communities. This new policy, supported by our Climate Risk Register, will make sure that we are able to do this, mitigating and managing any potential risks to try to limit the effects on our residents.”
