Council in regional top three for climate change action

The council is also leading the way in adapting to adapting to climate change after its plans achieved first place in Sustainability West Midlands’ annual Local Authority Sustainability Benchmark.

In total 21 local authorities were assessed on their actions to make the West Midlands more sustainable. The results for 2022 were presented to Stafford Borough Council cabinet members at their latest meeting, held just days after the authority launched its Climate Change Adaptation Strategy.

Councillor Jonathan Price, cabinet member for climate change, said: “Of the 21 authorities, Stafford Borough were ranked in the top five of four of the main things – resource efficiency, social equity and health, sustainable energy use and adapting to climate change. Overall the council continues to make good progress towards contributing to a sustainable future.

“We’ve now raised ourselves to third place overall in the West Midlands, meaning that this council is now a recognised leader in this region. That is something I am very proud of and I’m extremely proud of the work and progress we are making as a Conservative-led authority.”

But Stafford Borough Council did not top the table in all areas. A report to the cabinet meeting said: “The only themes the council did not demonstrate progress against was clean air and water, meaning the council fell to last place, and sustainable development, where the council fell from 8th to 13th place.

“However, it’s worth noting that the data collection for the benchmark report was conducted before the Preferred Options stage of the New Local Plan was published. Therefore, the progress that has been made in this area was unaccounted for.

“Whilst the benchmarking report highlights areas where the council could make further progress against its sustainability objectives, overall, the council continues to make good progress towards contributing to a sustainable future.”

Councillor Mike Smith, cabinet member for resources, said: “We’ve come third in most cases but one area where we’ve not done so well is carbon emissions, where we’re 10th out of 21. Is that because the M6 runs through our borough?”

Councillor Price responded: “I was under the impression that carbon emissions are ultimately the emissions from us as a local authority and with our partners. I think some of that will be down to our bin fleet – in fact I think the majority of that will be – but we are working with Veolia (contracted to collect household waste on behalf of the council) to look at ways we can reduce our carbon footprint.”

Councillor Mark Winnington, cabinet member for environment, added: “We as a borough council are working with Veolia to look at ways of reducing the carbon output from the vehicles. As an example, one of the things we’re looking at is using waste oil and waste chip fat, so in the future we might be able to run our fleet with a percentage of oils that will be presumably carbon neutral.”

Deputy leader and cabinet member for community Councillor Jeremy Pert said: “I think this is a really good work in progress but we’re already a top three authority within the West Midlands area. I think it demonstrates very clearly the seriousness with which this council takes climate change.”