A special blog this week from both Cllr Stephen George, leader of the council, and Cllr Carole Mulroney.
A special blog this week from both Cllr Stephen George, leader of the council, as he says thanks to Cllr Carole Mulroney. Carole has served her six months as deputy leader, and here she updates on the council’s progress tackling climate change.
I hope you’re all enjoying the unusually warm and sunny autumn half term holiday. As the clocks go back this weekend, don’t forget to set your alarm for the Halloween Parade this coming Saturday.
It is a slightly different blog this week, as I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to Cllr Carole Mulroney for her six-month stint as deputy leader of the council. Her passion for Southend-on-Sea, and also the topics covered within her portfolio, is apparent with the way in which she speaks about them in the chamber. Not least the green agenda. So before she passes over the deputy leadership to Cllr Martin Terry, I wanted her to have the opportunity to tell you what has happened in the past year.
An extra word from Cllr Carole Mulroney, whose portfolio includes environment, culture and tourism. Here she explains about the work that has been taking place around our green agenda.
The past year has seen an incredible amount of evidence-based climate action taking place at the council and across our city as we continue our ambitious journey towards achieving net zero by 2030.
It’s also been a year since we appointed Jo Gay, the council’s first ever head of climate change, and I have worked closely with her and her team to embed our climate change programme within the council and across our city.
The largest sources of carbon emissions in Southend are residential emissions (46.2%), commercial energy (28.1%) and road transport (25.7%), so it’s essential as individuals and as organisations, we understand how our activities contribute to city-wide emissions and to work with our communities and stakeholders to reduce them.
This year alone has seen us achieve more than 50 climate positive actions - far too many to list here - but the highlights include: the construction of the council’s first ever zero carbon affordable homes; the rollout of the Green Homes Grant; strengthening our coastal resilience; the recruitment of over 100 street champions to help improve our neighbourhoods and environments; the launch of the city’s first climate hub; a new dedicated climate action website, and so much more.
In fact, we have so much proactive news to share that we are currently finalising a new ‘green’ newsletter to share more of what we are doing as and when it happens, so look out for details of this and how you can subscribe.
The cost-of-living crisis requires organisations as well as individuals to spend with caution and get the best value for money. We have maximised grant funding with well thought through bids to our benefit, and our evidence-based approach ensures we understand the scale of the challenge - and that reminds me, the council also achieved ‘A status’ earlier this year with the Carbon Disclosure Project!
We know that prioritising the climate change programme benefits our city socially, economically, and environmentally - a true win-win-win for all who live in, work in, and visit Southend.