Peterborough City Council sets up new committee to coordinate city's response to climate change

The council has set up a Climate Change and Environment Scrutiny Committee, which will highlight and ask questions about the work the authority is doing to tackle climate change and enhance the environment.

The committee held its first meeting earlier this month where the council’s flood management strategy was scrutinised, as well as its local area energy plan.

The group will meet five times per year, with meetings open to members of the public and broadcast on the council’s Youtube account.

The committee's creation follows the work of the cross-party climate change working group and comes at a time when the council is expanding its climate change and sustainability team.

The committee will explore reports on the work being carried out to reach the council’s net-zero carbon by 2030 ambitions, mitigate for extreme climatic events such as flooding and heatwaves and review the authority’s biodiversity and ecology plans.

The council has also been running Carbon Literacy Training sessions for councillors and staff that focus on climate change and explain how we can all play our own individual roles in reducing our carbon footprints.

Councillor Nicola Day, Green Party Group Leader, who is Chairing the committee, said: “The creation of this new Climate Change and Environment Committee is a welcome and vital next step forward in being able to scrutinise the councils work around our net zero ambitions.

“We are increasingly seeing extreme weather conditions and local government has an important in role to play in both reducing carbon emissions and mitigating the extreme effects of climate change for local communities. We are also keen to explore our biodiversity and ecology strategies as we know without the natural world, life would become very difficult for people.”

Councillor Marco Cereste, cabinet member for the environment, added: “We owe it to our children and grandchildren to take action now to reduce our impact on the environment and that is why we are fully committed to making the council's activities net-zero by 2030.

"It is vitally important that councillors of all parties come together, through this new committee and in our general work to make a positive difference. We must take action now to reverse the trend of increasing consumption of natural resources and instead put Peterborough on the road to becoming a truly sustainable city.”

For more information about what the council is doing to tackle climate change visit Peterborough City Council’s website.