Climate Change Newsletter Edition 8
UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).
Flintshire County Council (FCC) has been allocated £13.1 million in total, to invest over three years. An investment plan was submitted to outline the key priorities which are relevant across North Wales. These investment priorities are:
- Community and place
- Supporting Local Business
- People and Skills
Out of the 23 Flintshire only UKSPF projects 5 of these are carbon related projects, which includes:
- ADAPTS
- FAST
- The Flintshire Fund
- Flintshire Green Digital Strategy
- North Wales Growth Vision
North Wales Growth Vision Opportunities
The North Wales growth vision opportunity is aimed to support businesses, communities, and residents to access funding for multiple opportunities such as net zero transition specifically, through the Growth Deal Smart Local Energy project, building regional capacity in reducing carbon emissions and improving biodiversity through ANW’s pioneering methodology and related learning, Development and ongoing operation of an online monitoring platform for regional partners.
Contact: Nia Medi Williams, info@ambitionnorth.wales
The Flintshire Fund
The Carbon Reduction grant will provide first stage support to enable the creation of carbon reduction business plans for a range of low carbon technologies including energy production opportunity, packaging, retrofit insulation, lighting upgrades and fleet decarbonisation amongst other initiatives. The aim is to strengthen local business networks that support business to start, sustain, grow and innovate.
Contact: Rowan Jones/Toni Godolphin, flintshirefund@anturcymru.org.uk
Flintshire County Council provide more information on the UKSPF homepage, if you would like to explore these funding opportunities further.
Did you know?
Wales Climate Week 2023
Wales Climate Week 2023 was held on 4-8 December with a focus on answering the question of “how do we tackle climate change in a fair way?”.
It’s an incredibly important question which Flintshire County Council looked to support through public engagement at Ruthin Market Hall on the 7th and Wepre Park on the 8th. The events brought teams across Denbighshire and Flintshire County Councils together including Climate Change Teams, Waste, Domestic Energy and Biodiversity teams, Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB, Natural Resources Wales and Biogen.
Members of the public met with the various teams, discussing the climate and nature emergencies and the ongoing work towards addressing them. Focussing on climate change, people calculated their carbon footprints, taking home simple and accessible actions (e.g., washing clothes at 20°C) so to contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Welsh Government’s “Climate Conversations” consultation was also held where the public could give their thoughts on two presented questions helping to develop Welsh Government’s Just Transition Framework.
Conversations focussed on how emissions can be reduced in a fair way ensuring better places to live and work, and how the public can be involved in action on climate change fairly. Many topics were covered in this activity such as public transport, financial support, and waste, and were informative, full of energy and a valuable opportunity for people to have their thoughts heard. These conversations will be fed back to Welsh Government but will also support development of Flintshire County Council’s current and future climate action.
Welsh Government’s Just Transition Framework consultation is open until 11 March 2024 and members of the public can submit their responses via this link.
Tree planting for Wales Climate Week
Flintshire County Council staff, and volunteers from Equans who installed the solar farm, came together to plant over 300 trees at Flint solar farm. In 2021, Storm Arwen caused some damage to the solar farm. This planting will grow to create a shelterbelt, providing the solar farm with protection during periods of heavy wind. These included Scots pine, Italian alder, sycamore, and the addition of some little hazel and sweet chestnut. Not only will these trees provide protection from the wind, but they will also play a critical role in mitigating climate change and flood risk and increasing biodiversity.
What are pesticides?
Pesticides are used to control weeds and diseases among plants/insects/fungi/herbs and can exist in many forms. Some of these pesticides can have an adverse effect on the environment with the chemical herbicide Glyphosate, documented as having a negative environmental impact.
Link Between Pesticides and Climate Change
There has been emerging evidence of pesticides directly and indirectly affecting climate change, through the production and transportation of the pesticides. As well as affecting the soil’s ability to sequester carbon, when the soil quality is reduced due to chemicals, it can reduce the water retention of the soil. This will have an adverse effect when flooding occurs as not as much water can be retained, with flooding occurring more frequently due to a changing climate. It is also suspected to be harmful to nature particularly pollinators such as bees. Flintshire County Council have taken action to reduce the use of herbicide across the estate by investing in the non-chemical Foam stream system which uses heat and plant starch to kill target weeds.
Demonstration Day
Flintshire County Council’s biodiversity team held a demonstration day investigating alternative products. Suppliers were invited to the event to demonstrate a suite of alternative methods to chemical control. A range of measures including mechanical, electrical, textile and heat based were demonstrated to address the range of weed control situations we face. An extensive number of invited guests from Welsh Government, Network rail, North Wales Wildlife trust, local authorities and charity organisations attended the event. Demonstration day was proven to be a successful day for exploring alternatives where overall 100% of attendees who completed the feedback form agreed that Flintshire County Council demonstration day was ‘informative’.
This Month!
Waste Consultation
Reducing consumption of raw materials and increasing reuse and recycling to recover important resources is a crucial part of the council reaching net zero carbon. The council have created a draft Resource and Waste Strategy, which sets out the direction to reduce waste and exceed Welsh Government statutory recycling targets that are currently not being achieved.
The council is inviting residents to provide their feedback on the draft Resource and Waste Strategy between 1 December to 12 January 2024. During this time there is an opportunity to discuss the strategy face to face in community information drop-in events. The draft strategy is live on the council website along with a short questionnaire. Paper copies can be emailed to streetsceneadmin@flintshire.gov.uk or posted to:
Flintshire County Council,
Streetscene and Transportation,
Alltami Depot,
Mold Road,
Alltami,
Flintshire,
CH7 6LG
Responses must be received no later than 12 January 2024, if you require any more information visit the council website.