Climate Change Strategy - Introduction
For many years, our teams have delivered projects and services which have positively contributed to the mitigation of climate change.
We have improved the biodiversity in our green spaces with our wildflower meadows, differential mowing of our verges, the annual management of our large meadows and the inclusion of bird boxes, bat boxes and hibernacula and wildlife only spaces. We have also improved the quality of our wetlands across the borough with new pond creation, existing pond improvements and a new reed beds in Astley Park and Yarrow Meadows to clean up the water which flows into the River Yarrow. Our woodlands been proactively managed to eradicate non-native species and to enhance the age and variety of trees found within them.
Chorley Council has a proven track record of working in collaboration with stakeholders, partners, funding bodies, customers, and parish councils. We have delivered schemes to provide natural flood management working with the Environment Agency, on the river Yarrow to 'slow the flow' of river water providing resilience upstream. We have also delivered projects to promote sustainable energy and we have taken steps to drive up the levels of recycling we achieve as a borough. In 2019, we committed to significantly increasing our tree cover and we embarked on a tree planting programme involving our communities which will deliver a tree for every resident of our borough by 2025.
This strategy brings all of this work together and sets out our ambitious vision, priorities and action plan which will help us all to achieve a greener, carbon neutral Chorley which is well placed to meet the needs of our future generations.Our comprehensive programme of activity will deliver real, tangible change such as converting our council vehicles to electric powered, decarbonisation of our buildings, requiring our suppliers to demonstrate their goods and services are carbon neutral, and also investing in the improvement of our canal towpaths and enabling improvements in cycle provision and bus stops.
There are things we can deliver as a council and there are many, we will need your help with, from all walks of life- our local residents, our partners, our young people, and our businesses. Climate change affects us all and together we can make a contribution and protect our Chorley for future generations.