A new Climate and Environment Action Plan which will help guide South Derbyshire District Council towards becoming Carbon Neutral by 2030, was approved by its Environmental and Development Service Committee on Thursday.

In addition to highlighting the actions which will need to be undertaken to achieve the target, the report also listed some of the achievements that have already been recorded since the Council declared a Climate Emergency in 2019. These include:

• Negotiating a corporate energy contract with a carbon neutral provider

• Revising the procurement tendering process to improve carbon neutral criteria within the scoring process so that the Council's future contractors demonstrate their environmental commitment

• Creating and delivering a new 'South Derbyshire Healthy Homes Assistance Fund' and ensuring that 99.8 per cent of private rented properties in the District meet new Energy Efficiency Regulations to reduce the number of residents living in fuel poverty

• Successfully bidding for just over £1,000,000 in funding to make energy improvements to the worst performing, low income, owner-occupied properties in South Derbyshire

• Installing a further 16 electric vehicle charge-points in public car parks owned by the Council to help promote the transition to electric car ownership

• Buying two new refuse collection vehicles fitted with electric tail lifts saving £1,500 in fuel and 3000kg of carbon per vehicle per year with a 20 decibel sound reduction

• Buying electric rechargeable grounds maintenance equipment

• Undertaking a successful wildflower planting pilot which has been developed further for 2021-22

• Reviewing the Council's waste collection services with proposals approved to achieve the 60 per cent recycling and composting target by 2024.

Councillor Steve Taylor, Chairman of South Derbyshire District Council Environment and Development Services Committee, said: "The report details the positive progress we are making towards our target of carbon neutrality which also brings with it a wide array of co-benefits.

"These include cleaner air, more active transport, improved health and well-being, improved biodiversity and technical innovation, all of which have the capacity to deliver significant economic and social improvement as well as environmental gains."