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Welcome to our March newsletter containing all the latest news and updates from across West Sussex.
 Image courtesy of Darin Smith - Sussex Wildlife Trust
Here in Sussex we’re fortunate that our county is home to much iconic and wondrous wildlife, including some of the rarest natural habitats in the world. But nature is in trouble. One in six of our UK species is at risk of extinction, and urgent, locally coordinated efforts are needed to reverse this decline.
Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) are a new initiative being rolled-out across England to help with this. In Sussex there will be two strategies - one covering West Sussex and another for East Sussex and Brighton & Hove.
At the heart of every LNRS will be environmental issues that are most important to local people. If you live or work in Sussex you can have your say by taking the residents' survey below.
You can also visit Sussex Nature Recovery for more information and details of events including webinars, workshops, briefings and more.
 Senior local leaders have held a summit to discuss water issues, including flooding, water quality, sewage outflows, and water scarcity.
The summit acknowledged that working groups already exist in district and borough councils and community groups through Operation Watershed and other initiatives, which seek to tackle operational issues. The organisations who met at the summit will operate at a strategic collaboration level to support these working groups.
Leaders from the county council, Chichester District Council (who attended to provide a district and borough council perspective), Southern Water, Environment Agency, and Water Resources South East met on Thursday 8 February to discuss the issues and start developing a strategic plan to address them as future challenges. All agreed that urgent action was needed by all parties.
Each organisation in attendance recognised they had responsibility for parts of the water cycle and agreed to work together, pooling their expertise and skills, to develop a joint Water Management Plan for West Sussex.
They identified key areas for early action and collaboration:
- Implementing sustainable drainage solutions that will also enhance the environment
- Schemes to help householders to reduce water run-off from roofs
- Work with existing Catchment Partnerships to deliver solutions that alleviate catchment water pressures and improve biodiversity.
You can read more about the summit in the full press release via the link below.
Food Waste Action Week starts on Monday (18 March), and our waste and recycling team will be encouraging us all to, 'Choose What You’ll Use' by buying fruit and vegetables loose instead of pre-packaged.
Research from ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ (promoted by the international climate action charity, WRAP) has shown that buying loose fruit and vegetables could reduce food waste by 60,000 tonnes! Our own research has found that up to 40% of the contents of the average waste bin in West Sussex is food waste. This includes plate scrapings, and even packaged food!
You can find more top tips on food waste prevention here.
In addition, the award-winning Community Food Hub programme, held with partners UKHarvest, has been extended for a further 12 months, meaning that they will continue once a month across every district and borough until April 2025. Community Food Hubs are designed to rescue surplus food from suppliers that would have otherwise gone to waste. The hubs have so far prevented over 37 tonnes of food going to waste and provided food to over 11,000 people, with over 70% of residents saying that they reduced food from going to waste at home.
 Image: Giant Hogweed
Plants play a crucial role in our well-being and the environment by enhancing air quality, lifting our spirits, contributing to climate resilience, and supporting wildlife habitats. However, certain non-native plants can become invasive and harm the environment if they spread beyond their intended area.
To address this issue, gardeners can follow the 'Be Plant Wise' campaign guidance:
- Choose plants wisely for your garden, pond, aquarium, and water features.
- Prevent plant spread; keep them within your garden to avoid unintended growth in the wild.
- Compost responsibly; ensure that nothing from your garden or pond enters the wild, as it may be against the law.
 We've been promoting safe active travel by running School Streets trial schemes at three West Sussex schools; Arundel Primary School, Swiss Gardens Primary School, Shoreham, and Thomas A Becket Junior School, Worthing.
The schemes aim to provide a safer and more attractive environment for students to walk and cycle on the roads outside their schools by preventing through traffic during peak school hours, except for access.
So far, there has been a decrease in the number of vehicles driving through the restriction at all three sites, which has helped reduce traffic congestion and improve both perceptions of and actual levels of safety.
This has resulted in an increase in the number of people walking within the restricted area at all three sites.
- We are seeking your feedback on proposed designs for transport improvements between Durrington and Goring-by-Sea in Worthing to support more sustainable journeys to schools, work, and local services and recreation facilities.
- Stubcroft Farm Campsite has won a sustainability award at the recent Federation of Small Businesses awards for their pioneering business. Simon Green, its Managing Director is a Green Business Champion for the county and district & borough council funded Let's Go! Net Zero initiative.
- Are you a local business interested in decarbonising your transport and logistics? If so, book your place to attend the next Let's Go! Net Zero's free event to discover how businesses have embraced sustainable transport on 27 March at Shoreham Port.
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Want to tackle sustainability in your business but unsure where to focus? Come along to Clean Growth UK’s free net zero workshop, exclusively for businesses in Arun District. All covered in one day, there are sessions on 1 and 14 May. Please book your space in advance.
If you have any queries, want to share or celebrate local climate action, please email us: climatechange@westsussex.gov.uk.
If you know someone else who will be interested in reading this newsletter, please forward it so they can sign up using the link below.
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