| Improving the Environment |
Built and natural environments play an important role in how people feel
about where they live, work and spend their leisure time. We want an
environment that will be valued by residents and visitors to the district.
A clean, high quality, safe local environment is integral to the districts
regeneration. It will contribute to our sense of health and wellbeing, and
the creation of strong, safe, and sustainable communities. We will work to
create a clean, green and attractive visible environment within all of our
communities, develop and improve parks and open spaces, at the same
time as reducing levels of environmental crime. We will also deliver new
approaches to managing and disposing waste, ensuring reduced use of
landfill whilst improving recycling facilities.
We recognise that climate change is one of the biggest threats to our
communities and way of life for instance domestic housing contributes
27% of all UK carbon emissions. Lifestyles, how we travel and the
resources we all use have an impact on the environment. Resources such
as oil and gas are limited and will become increasingly expensive.
Environmental wealth is a key contributor to regeneration and reducing
levels of deprivation and social exclusion. We will also work to ensure that
communities and services are able to adapt to the effects of climate
change.
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| Our Long-term Ambitions for the Environment |
By 2020, all residents will place a high value on the districts built and
natural environment. We will be taking concerted action to rapidly reduce
and manage the impact of human activity on our climate and environment.
We will have a cleaner district and neighbourhood environments, closing
the gap in levels of cleanliness between neighbourhoods, and increasing
the sense of safety and wellbeing. Citizens will take responsibility for the
cleanliness of their streets, parks and open spaces.
We aim to have a greener environment which makes best use of natural
resources. This will involve new approaches to managing waste in order to
minimise waste, maximise recycling and reduce waste going to landfill,
recovering value and energy from our waste stream.
We will create a more sustainable environment to positively affect climate
change. We aim to use resources efficiently, minimising energy and water
use, re-using as much as possible, and expanding the use of renewable
energy and locally sourced fuels. The Council will be an exemplar of good
practice, and will provide leadership to support organisations and
communities to reduce consumption of carbon-based fuels and understand
the importance of sustainable design, production and consumption. These
approaches to manage carbon and our impact on climate change will also
result in more sustainable transport, improved air quality and water
management.
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| Recent Achievements |
Cleans-ups and awareness-raising by the Environmental Task Force
has resulted in increased resident satisfaction with the cleanliness of
local neighbourhoods, rising by 13% in some areas. This has been
recognised by a regional "Improving Lives" award.
The percentage of waste recycled and composted has increased
across the District, from 9% in 2002/03 to 27% in 2007/08 as a result of
a green waste service, bin inserts and improvements to waste recycling
centres.
The percentage of people satisfied with the cleanliness of the District
has increased from 45% in 2003 to 63% in 2007, while the levels of
cleanliness of our streets has risen from 60% to 88% (using the Tidy
Britain/ENCAMS standard).
Four parks in the district have received Green Flag awards for best
practice in the management of green spaces. The percentage of
people satisfied with the quality of parks and open spaces has
increased from 63% in 2003/4 to 69% in 2006/7.
The West Yorkshire Local Transport Plan continues to promote limited
growth of traffic in peak periods as well as working to increase road
safety.
Over the past 4 years more than 4 million of external funding has
been invested in the district's parks, woodlands and open spaces.
A successful bid to the Government's Community Energy Efficiency
Fund (CEEF) led to a pilot scheme in Great Horton & City wards up to
the end of March 2008. The scheme demonstrated the effectiveness of
a new approach to help promote and streamline a range of services
focused on improved housing, energy and water efficiency.
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