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Consultation on Wiltshire Council’s Climate Strategy begins

Wiltshire Council is giving residents, businesses and local groups in the county the opportunity to have their say on its Climate Strategy, which will help to shape the next five years of the council’s fight against climate change.

From Wednesday 1 September to 11.59pm on Sunday 17 October, people can comment on the draft strategy, which covers seven delivery themes: transport; built environment; waste; green economy; energy generation, storage and distribution; natural environment, food and farming; and carbon neutral council.

At the same time, the council will also be consulting on its Green and Blue Infrastructure (GBI) Strategy, Our Natural Environment Plan, which looks at the future for Wiltshire’s natural environmental assets and how the council can help protect and enhancement them for the benefit of people and biodiversity.

‘Blue infrastructure’ means water courses such as rivers, lakes, canals, ponds and wetlands, while ‘green infrastructure’ covers plant life such as fields, forests, hedgerows and parks, and the GBI Strategy will set a clear vision, goals and principles to help mitigate against the effects of climate change, maintain and improve biodiversity, and help to provide improved access to the countryside.

People can share their views on both draft strategies by taking the online surveys during the engagement period, and there will also be a series of joint online and in-person events covering both strategies that people can join to find out more and ask questions. To join these events, people must sign up online in advance. The full schedule of engagement events is as follows:

  • 9 September, 6.00pm, online launch event with Claire Perry O’Neill
  • 15 September, 10.30am to 11.30am, first engagement webinar
  • 30 September, 7.00pm to 8.00pm, second engagement webinar.

There will also be a Libraries drop-in session on 27 September, between 10.00am and 12 noon at Chippenham Library.

For more information about the Climate Strategy and to sign up for the online events, go to www.wiltshire.gov.uk/climate

For more information about the GBI Strategy, go to www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-bio-green-blue-infrastructure