Ilkley Town Council Declare Climate Emergency

At the December 2nd 2019 meeting the Council declared an emergency.
Read Declaration

Mayor Mark Stidworthy explains the background to the declaration in a series of video interviews which you can watch here

Ilkley Sustainability Plan

This sustainability plan was commissioned by  Ilkley Council’s Neighbourhood Development Plan working group in November 2018.

The plan has been drafted by Climate Action Ilkley with input from a number of local organisations all of whom have endorsed the document.  They are listed on the opening page.  Climate Action Ilkley are now calling on the Town Council to formally adopt the plan before the the referendum on the  Neighbourhood Development Plan in May 2021.

You can read  the plan here

Food System Impacts on Biodiversity Loss

Note the new report by Chatham House (Tim Benton) Food System Impacts on Biodiversity Loss | Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank  which demonstrates that nature cannot be restored unless we change what we eat.  It confirms the importance of our Food Choices campaign – contact Steve Peel if you’d like to help.

Ilkley Neighbourhood Development Plan

It is hoped that the plan will be the subject of a referendum in May but a final decision has yet to be taken.

These are the latest Reg 16* Documents as of February 2021:-

Reg 16 INDP 2021 Final

Reg 16 INDP 2021 Policies Map Final

Reg 16 INDP Consultation Statement 140121

Reg 16 INDP Local Green Space Assessment 020221

*Reg 16 refers to Regulation 16 in the Neighbourhood Plan Process Timetable which says
“As soon as possible after receiving a plan proposal that includes all of the relevant documents, the local planning authority must (a) publicise the following on their website and elsewhere as appropriate…”

Communicating Climate Change

Climate Outreach is an Oxford based organisation set up to promote the effective communication of climate change and therefore very relevant for us.
Quoting from their website they focus on:-

“finding ways to talk about climate change across the political spectrum; changing the way millions of people see climate change; accelerating understanding of how to mainstream low-carbon lifestyles;  ”
If you follow these links you will find your way to reports like  “Communicating effectively with the centre-right about household energy efficiency”

One of these reports Climate-Outreach-CASPI-Mainstreaming-low-carbon-lifestyles  has a case study on page 8 “engaging centre-right audiences around reduced flying”.  In the case study they suggest the words you should and shouldn’t use for an audience with centre-right values.

Ideas for Insulating your Home

Andy Walker, home insulation specialist, visits a Victorian/Edwardian property in York to explain how the insulation of the house can be improved.

List of councils who have declared Climate Emergency

If you are researching what other towns are doing about climate emergency this MySociety list is a good place to start.  I have added Ilkley to the list(Ed).
List of Towns

Best Climate Change Books

Interviews with eminent scientists discussing climate change and the best books to learn more

https://fivebooks.com/category/environment/climate-change/

Links to the Bigger Picture

Thanks to Rob Knipe for these links:-
Following last night’s discussions from Steve’s question about the ‘bigger picture’ – below are a few links to the projects I mentioned.
Please let me know if I can help with more.

Hydrogen in your gas supply

Keele University are running a pilot project to research the acceptability of injecting hydrogen into your gas supply – with positive results.  Read about it here

The Royal Society issued a paper “Options for producing low-carbon hydrogen” in  2018.  Read this paper (or at least the conclusions on page 27) here

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Hydrogen says:-
“Hydrogen will play a key role in shaping our future economy and our ability to meet our net-zero targets, the only question that remains, is when.”
Their report is well presented and provides a good background to the issues including how hydrogen can be produced – Blue v Green.  It’s 32 pages but worth a read if you are interested. You can view or download it here  20.07.15 Hydrogen-APPG-Report-2020