9:10pm Sunday 18th October 2009
By Jo Winrow
Major players in the Bradford district’s drive to improve the environment and fight climate change will get together to monitor progress on Tuesday.
Bradford Council’s environment and waste management improvement committee will meet at the home of one of its key partners, instead of City Hall.
The meeting will take place in the board room, Richmond Building, University of Bradford, and members of the public are welcome to attend.
At the meeting, University vice-chancellor Mark Cleary will present an outline of activities under way in the district to achieve the partnership’s environmental objectives.
These include measures to improve the environment contained in the Big Plan, such as a cleaner district and neighbourhood environments, a greener environment which makes best use of natural resources, and creating a more sustainable environment to positively affect climate change.
One of the issues committee members will examine is a project designed to help small and medium-sized businesses to become more energy efficient. The Business Energy Efficiency Support Project is encouraging companies to sign a pledge to reduce carbon emissions and those that have an energy spend under £50,000 a year will be offered a free energy audit. This is set to begin next year when suitable environmental consultants to deliver the audits have been found.
The project is partly funded by the Working Neighbourhoods Fund.
It follows the Council adopting a partnership approach to tackling environmental issues with a variety of local and central government agencies, the voluntary sector and private businesses.
Committee chairman, Councillor Ghazanfer Khaliq, said: “Climate change is one of the greatest challenges to face our planet.
“The Council has a duty to safeguard the environmental wellbeing of the district, working with partners to address sustainability issues of climate change, reviewing how resources are managed and how emissions can be reduced, and air quality improved at a local level.”
The meeting begins at 6pm.
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