TAVISTOCK Town Council has declared a climate emergency.

The council agreed this week to make the declaration in line with other local authorities and to set up a dedicated working group, after deferring the decision for nearly two months while research and a plan of action was undertaken.

The motion of declaring a climate emergency was first brought to the table in July but councillors were reluctant to make the declaration without having more information about what it would entail for the council and its tax payers and were keen to have a plan of action in place alongside making the statement.

Since then, the council endorsed a policy workshop which identified sustainability and the environment as the priority for development by the council.

Members of the budget and policy committee met last week to make the recommendation to full council to make the declaration and establish the working group.

Councillors were told that the creation of a ‘sustainability and the environment’ working group would enable the council to review what was being done nationally and how that might apply to Tavistock, what the council already does to reduce its environmental impact, to look at whether issues identified by councillors may or may not be appropriate for the council and to help the council put together an informed package of what it would like to achieve before the next elections in 2023.

The council was told of a number of measures already being taken, including a programme for replacing standard lighting with LED lighting; operation of cardboard and rubbish compactors to reduce cost, improve recycling efficiency and reduce landfill requirements; measures to make council premises more energy efficient; an extensive management plan around biodiversity for Whitchurch Down; ongoing tree management works; re-wilding of certain areas and promoting recycling, among other things.

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