People are asked for views on Climate Change projects

Chichester District Council will be holding four in-person drop-in events and three online sessions to help people find out more about the consultation. The events will provide the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the proposals with council officers. People will also be able to find out about the work that others are doing to help tackle climate change in the area.

The consultation events will begin with an online session on Monday 1 July from 7pm to 8.30pm. Later that week, the first in-person event will take place at Leconfield Hall in Petworth on Wednesday 3 July from 3pm to 7pm, with people welcome to drop in at any point during this time. Refreshments and a children’s colouring competition activity will be provided at all of the in-person events, and people will also have the opportunity to fill in the council’s online survey and enter a draw to be in with a chance of winning a sustainable living prize worth up to £500.

More information about the events, including links to the online meetings and details about the prize draw — including terms and conditions — can be found on the council’s Climate Change hub at: https://letstalk.chichester.gov.uk/climatechange

As part of the consultation, people will be asked their opinions on potential projects that could help individuals and communities in the district to reduce their emissions. This information will be used to help inform Chichester District Council’s new climate emergency action plan.

“As a council, it’s vital that we play our part in helping to fight climate change,” explains Alison Stevens, Divisional Manager for Environment and Health Protection at Chichester District Council. “The council’s emissions are only about 0.5% of emissions in the whole district, but since we declared a Climate Emergency in 2019, we have been working extremely hard to cut our own emissions, for example in our buildings and in our vehicle fleet. We have a clear idea of what we need to do, so this consultation focusses on helping individuals and organisations of all kinds in the district to cut their carbon emissions.

“This is a really important opportunity for residents and businesses across the Chichester District to help shape the plan and for us all to come together to help tackle a crisis that affects everyone. The ideas that could potentially be included in the new action plan have been put together after working with teams across the whole council, and now it’s over to our residents to see what they think. Some carbon reductions can only be successfully accomplished at a national or international level, so the emphasis is on the areas where we believe we have the most influence and can make the biggest difference.

So far, we’ve helped some people to make their homes more energy efficient and generate their own energy through renewable energy measures, but there is a lot more that can be done. We’ve worked with a range of businesses to help them become more sustainable and we’re also part of a government-funded project that has led to over 50,000 trees being planted in the district. In addition, we’ve installed electric vehicle charge-points in our car parks and we successfully bid for £1.3 million to help reduce carbon emissions at our Westgate Leisure Centre. We have a number of projects that are still in progress, including work to reduce emissions from homes in the district. We’re now looking ahead to see what else we can do to cut carbon emissions. Although we are asking people to help shape the plan, I would like to stress that many of the projects will depend on council resources and external funding, so at this stage, we can’t guarantee that they will go ahead, even with public support. Even so, it’s important that residents know what the potential options are and can feed into the strategy.”

The survey will be available online from 1 July 2024 at: https://letstalk.chichester.gov.uk/climatechange/participate with videos that help to explain each project. For those who do not have access to a computer, a pull-out paper version will also be included as part of the council’s residents’ magazine, ‘initiatives’, which people will be able to fill out and post to the council when it is delivered from Monday 8 July.

The council is also encouraging people to join its Let’s Talk Panel so that they can be notified as soon as the consultation goes live. There's no commitment — people can choose which consultations they wish to take part in. To sign up, you can visit: www.chichester.gov.uk/letstalkpanel.

Once the results have been examined and the final plan written up, it will be discussed by Cabinet and Full Council for approval in summer 2025, when the current plan ends. The new plan would run until 2030.