Climate change remains the challenge of our generation and we are making it a high priority.
Image description: Climate Action Plan Part One with four circular photos showing wind turbines, electric vehicle charging, footprints and a family cycling.
In July, at a meeting of Cabinet, we agreed an ambitious new Climate Action Plan which outlines our direction and intention to address climate change and create a greener, healthier, more resilient Westmorland and Furness.
This plan signifies our commitment to tackling climate change and providing leadership in the drive to become carbon net zero.
Read our Climate Action Plan Part One.
Listen to Councillor Giles Archibald, our Cabinet Member for Climate and Biodiversity talk about climate change and what our new action plan aims to achieve.
To help shape and inform Part Two of our Climate Action Plan, we'll be running a series of 'Climate and Nature' events across Westmorland and Furness throughout October.
These events are open to everyone and will be an opportunity for you to hear from us about the impacts of climate change on our area and our response to the climate crisis, but more importantly for you to let us know what you are doing to address climate change, share your views on future actions and ask any questions you may have.
The events will be held in the following locations:
- Kendal
- Penrith
- Barrow
- Ulverston
Plus, we'll be running an online session.
Keep an eye out for more on these in the coming weeks!
Following a Government announcement, Westmorland and Furness Council has been confirmed as the responsible authority to lead on the Cumbria Local Nature Recovery Strategy and will be working with local communities to develop a tailored nature recovery strategy for the area.
 Image description: a panaroma of Ullswater.
As one of 48 local authorities announced as the responsible authority, Westmorland and Furness Council is set to receive an allocation from a £14 million funding pot.
This latest funding will allow the council to build on the success of the Cumbria Local Nature Recovery Strategy pilot developed in 2020 following Cumbria being chosen as one of five pilot areas in the country to trial the development of a draft Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS).
Work can now begin to finalise the strategy based on the pilot and accelerate the delivery of achieving the overall vision for nature recovery in Cumbria:
'Cumbria’s wildlife in rural, urban and coastal places will be actively looked after and treasured. Healthy ecosystems on land and sea will support a sustainable local economy valued for its natural assets and contribute to the wellbeing of residents and visitors.'
Westmorland and Furness Council, as the responsible authority, will lead on the project working closely with key partners such as Cumberland Council, the Lake District National Park and Yorkshire Dales National Park, along with wider stakeholders and communities.
The purpose of the LNRS is to restore and link up habitats so that species can thrive, and agree the best places to help nature recover, plant trees and woodland, restore peatland, mitigate flood and fire risk, and create green spaces for local people to enjoy.
With an agreed LNRS in place, the nature recovery work of everyone in Cumbria, from the designated landscapes and large conservation partnerships, to farmers, local businesses and community groups, can help to deliver a bigger, better and more joined up nature recovery network across the whole of the county.
Read more about this announcement.
In August, we launched a new grant fund of £900,000 to support local partnerships to tackle climate change, support nature recovery and ensure a fair transition to a low carbon future for our communities.
The Climate and Nature Partnership Fund will support partnerships in delivering their ongoing work to tackle climate change and recover nature, working together to take action on:
- Mobilising action within the community for climate change and nature enhancement
- Tackling climate change
- Enhancing biodiversity
- Restoring natural habitats
- Improving water quality
- Promoting community engagement and participation in environmental and sustainability projects
This scheme is one of 14 projects representing £5m of priority investments for Westmorland and Furness agreed by the Council's Cabinet, reflecting our key priorities for the area, including funding for local areas, biodiversity and nature, sustainable transport, social care, children, culture and education.
We look forward to sharing more over the coming months on how the successful grants from this Fund will support action to tackle climate change and recover nature.
|
Cumbria’s Plan Bee strategy has been developed by the Cumbria Local Nature Partnership, as part of our Planting for Pollinators project. Its goal is to help people take action for pollinators.
 Image shows some bees and a butterfly pollinating a purple flower.
Our populations of bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects are in decline and need our help.
Did you know that Cumbria is home to approximately 5,000 species of wild insect pollinators, including bumblebees, solitary bees, hoverflies, beetles, butterflies and moths?
Cumbria's Plan Bee highlights a number of actions that everyone in Cumbria can take to help our native insect pollinators.
We all depend on pollinators. They play a vital role in our food production, pollinating many fruit and vegetable crops, and are also a key component of our natural world; however, many species are in trouble.
We urgently need to make our gardens, public greenspace and farmland more pollinator friendly.
We need to get everyone thinking about pollinators, everyone taking some action (however small) and to get every available piece of land working for pollinators.
Plus, we need commitments from key organisations, groups, businesses, farmers, gardeners and landowners to deliver the priority actions identified.
Read more and make a pledge today.
With funding from Westmorland and Furness Council, the national charity Garden Organic recruits, trains and supports an enthusiastic team of volunteers who promote home composting across the county.
The volunteers or ‘Master Composters’ as they are officially known are volunteers who spend time encouraging home composting in their local community, inspiring householders to take up composting and ensuring those already composting do so effectively.
Master Composters come from many backgrounds and age groups; their unifying feature is their enthusiasm for composting and their ability to engage with and make a difference to their local community.
To help their work, the team will be opening a new ‘compost demonstration site’ later this autumn at Ford Park in Ulverston.
Having a permanent location where Master Composters can demonstrate composting and where people can come in to read the explanatory display boards will be a welcome addition to the service. More demonstration sites are planned in the coming months too.
For more information about the demonstration site opening, follow Recycle for Cumbria on Twitter or Facebook.
Interested in becoming a Master Composter? If you are interested in attending one of the training courses to become a Cumbria Master Composter please email the local coordinators Frankie Kennett and Debbie Adkins at mccumbria@gardenorganic.org.uk.
Need the help of a Master Composter? If you need advice, want a composting talk or have an event Master Composters could attend please email: mccumbria@gardenorganic.org.uk, or telephone Westmorland and Furness Coordinator Frankie on 07391 082073 or Cumberland Coordinator Debbie on 07584 343847.
Image description: a person adding a bowl of food waste to their compost bin.
|
Did you know that in the UK, around 40,000 tonnes of batteries were sold in 2020, with only around 18,000 tonnes being recycled - that’s 45% - but we need to do better.
 Image description: a pot of different sized batteries to be recycled
It’s easy to think you are doing the right thing by popping dead batteries into your general household waste bin, but did you know that they can cause fires in bin wagons and waste processing plants if you do?
When your waste or recycling is collected, any batteries that are in there are likely to be squashed, compacted, punctured or shredded. When this happens, they can ignite resulting in dangerous fires.
Lithium-ion batteries are thought to have caused over 250 fires at waste facilities over the year to March 2020 - over a third of all fires. These are the type of batteries usually found in laptops, tablets and mobile phones as well as some toys, shavers, electric toothbrushes and even e-cigarettes.
Batteries can also hide in toys and other items where it is difficult to remove them if the item no longer works.
Why not try rechargeable batteries? They could save you money, are overall better for the environment, and can even last longer per charge than most disposable batteries.
To avoid the risk of dangerous fires and help the environment, we should all try to remove batteries from items wherever possible and never put items with batteries into your general waste bin or regular recycling. Make sure you recycle them separately instead.
Batteries can be recycled easily at our Household Waste Recycling Centres.
Find your nearest Household Waste Recycling Centre, across the Westmorland and Furness area.
All supermarkets and a lot of other shops also have battery recycling bins. The ‘Recycle Now’ website has a helpful battery section where you can pop in your postcode and find your nearest battery recycling facilities.
Until 31 October 2023, the cost of many bus journeys in England will be limited to £2 per trip.
As part of a Government initiative, a maximum £2 Single fare will apply on many bus services across Westmorland & Furness and Cumberland, aiming to assist individuals in traveling for education, work, and medical appointments during the current cost of living crisis.
In Cumbria participating operators include:
- Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire (all services in Cumbria plus 555 to Lancaster and 685 to Newcastle via Hexham)
- Blueworks (11 / X7 / X12 / X60 / X70)
- Cumbria Classic Coaches (106 / 570 / 571 / 572)
- Go North East (681)
- Kirkby Lonsdale Coaches (81 / 82 / 550 / 551 / 552 / 581 / 583)
- Western Dales Bus (S1 - S6)
Only the operators listed above are participating, so normal fares will continue to apply on all other services.
Find out more about fares and bargain tickets.
Find out more about bus services in Westmorland and Furness.
Find out more about community transport.
Did you know that 18.2 million kitchen 'FadTech' are gathering dust in UK cupboards, when they could be reused or recycled?
 Image shows Joanna Page & Ortis Deley standing with kitchen 'FadTech' electricals
Latest research shows that 92% of us own kitchen 'FadTech' - from air fryers to bread makers, blenders to chocolate fountains, juicers to popcorn machines. But for one reason or another, nearly 50% of households say their once-trendy items are now gathering dust in the back of their cupboards.
Like anything with a plug, battery or cable, your old kitchen electricals contain precious metals that could be recycled into something incredible! Just imagine, the 2.4 million blenders gathering dust across the UK could be transformed into 2.1 million defibrillators!
Actor and presenter Joanna Page, and TV presenter and host of The Gadget Show Ortis Deley have teamed up with Recycle Your Electricals to encourage the nation to fish out their FadTech and let it have a new lease of life by donating or recycling it.
Watch Joanna Page & Ortis Deley chat about kitchen 'FadTech' electricals gathering dust in UK cupboards.
Find out more about recycling small kitchen appliances and your nearest donation or recycling point by visiting the Recycle Your Electricals website.
Did you know from 1 October, the Government is introducing a ban on certain single use plastics?
 Image description: a world amongst a variety of single use plastic like cutlery and disposable cups.
The items that will be banned are:
- Single-use plastic plates, trays and bowls
- Single-use plastic cutlery
- Balloon sticks
- Ready-to-consume food and drink in polystyrene containers.
Businesses who continue to supply single use plastic items after the legislation comes into effect could be given a fine.
It is estimated that England uses 2.7 billion items of single-use cutlery each year - most of which are plastic - and 721 million single-use plates, but only 10% of these items are recycled.
Certain plastic items, such as straws stirrers and cotton buds, have already been banned.
Plastic pollution takes hundreds of years to break down and inflicts serious damage to our oceans, rivers, and land. It is also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, from the production and manufacture of the plastic itself, to the way it is disposed.
It is expected that banning these items will have a significant impact on reducing plastic waste and littering in England. Plastic cutlery, for instance, was in the top 15 most littered items in the country by count in 2020.
For more information and guidance, visit gov.uk.
How we talk about climate change can inspire and motivate people to act, or make it feel more overwhelming and confusing than it needs to be.
By understanding the issues, we can help explain to others why it's important to act on climate change, the scale of that action and how to be part of that change on an individual and community level.
To help, we'll be sharing useful links and highlighting some great resources that help explain the main issues:
|
