In September 2019 there was a Climate Strike in Chorley, involving several schools and hundreds of local residents. Following the strike, in November 2019 the Council declared a Climate Emergency - the text of the declaration is here. It sets a 2030 target for the borough to become carbon neutral.

In February 2020 a Council working group produced a report on “Developing the Green Agenda” which included recommendations for reducing the council’s carbon emissions. It can be found here.

The Council have followed through on some of these actions, including employing a Climate Change Programme Officer, and developing a tree planting strategy.

Crucially though, 2 years after declaring an emergency, the Council have yet to publish a roadmap showing what the current climate impact of the borough is, and how we will get this to zero by 2030. This is urgently needed. Houses built now will still be standing in 2030, many cars bought now will still be running in 2030, the Local Plan being developed now by the Council will still be in place in 2030.

If we want to be zero carbon in 2030, we need a Roadmap now that shows us how we will get there!