Cycle hangar and street party
Cycle hangar and street party

On 13th October 2022 Waltham Forest Cabinet officially approved our Climate Action Plan which will help deliver our net-zero aspirations by 2030. We have always been a leading borough in our climate work and this plan will make sure we remain leading in London in our approach to cutting carbon emissions.

Climate change isn’t something that is happening somewhere else. It’s happening here. We are already seeing the costs of climate change in Waltham Forest. We saw it with this summer’s heatwave and recent flooding, we see it in our energy bills and our air quality.

As you know, Waltham Forest is committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2030. This Climate Action Plan sets out how we will turn this ambition into action. The plan contains 20 actions in four areas: energy efficient buildings; a place for people not cars; consuming less and recycling more; and a greener, more resilient borough.

Our Climate Action Plan is about lower carbon emissions and better lives for our residents. Not one or the other. Tackling climate change in Waltham Forest means warmer homes and lower bills. Tackling climate change in Waltham Forest means better air quality and creating places for people not cars.

This is a huge challenge, and one that will need disruption, but we need disruption that is fair. Therefore, our plan also highlight four disruptions which will tackle the Climate Emergency, whilst also improving the lives of our residents most in need.

No one organisation can tackle the climate emergency. We will give residents, businesses, employers and community groups the support and tools to tackle the Climate crisis together. We will also create a resident panel to monitor progress and provide ideas, feedback and accountability for the Council.

We know everyone is concerned about fuel bills right now and eliminating fuel poverty is a core feature of our energy efficiency plans. We plan to start a retrofit company, ensuring we improve the poorest and most energy inefficient homes and provide advice and support to help residents improve the insulation and energy efficiency of their own homes.

Active travel has and will continue to be a huge part of our work – building on our considerable and  established national reputation- we want to make sure everyone feels safe cycling and walking in our borough. Some of the achievements to date include- 50km of segregated cycle lanes, one of the highest levels in London- with even more planned, almost 700 cycle hangars- the second highest in the UK- and 250 safer pedestrian crossings. We also now have one of the highest percentage of low traffic neighbourhood coverage in London and we have plans for even more. This has helped produce a whopping 95% reduction in number of households exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution.

We hear your calls for even more cycle storage and we promise we are working on it. We are also looking to increase the number of electric vehicle charging points so residents can switch to electric vehicles for those who still need a car.

We are taking action to ensure our borough is resilient to floods and wildfires and increasing draining in flood risk areas. We hope this is of some comfort to those who were severely impacted by the flooding in July of last year and who saw first hand the flames at the edges of our borough.

Finally – recycling! We hope to improve our recycling offer to include weekly, separate food waste collections. We want Waltham Forest to be a borough with less food poverty and food waste and a place without single use plastic. We have lots of exciting things coming down the pipeline including reuse, repair and borrowing opportunities, which were included in our manifesto ‘A Fairer Future for Waltham Forest’.

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