Climate Change and Air Quality Progress Report 2022 to 2023

Telematic systems providing digital feedback to drivers on the efficiency of their driving, such as pointing out when braking too hard, have been fitted on the majority of waste collection vehicles in the North Waste Service.

Additionally, monthly league tables are published internally to recognise the most economical drivers, which further incentivises behavioural change leading to reduced emissions.

Over 33,000 trees were planted on Council land in the 2022- 2023 planting season through our contractor planting model. Two new woodlands were created with 14,300 trees planted at Bury Farm and 14,700 trees planted at Grange Farm.

A volunteer planting day was organised at Grange Farm in conjunction with Chiltern Rangers, one of our key partners.

Despite the inclement weather the event was a great success with local Councillors, Cabinet Members, Officers from the Climate Response Team ably assisted by willing volunteer students and teachers from a nearby school coming together to plant some of the site and enjoy time in nature.

Both sites are registered with the Land Carbon Registry which provides independent quality assurance for UK based woodland creation projects. The WCUs will be used to offset the Council’s own emissions as part of our commitment to reaching net zero carbon for our own operations by 2050 (see Aim 1, Objective A).

The following figures show the cumulative sequestration of both sites forecast over the next century:

The council were only the second local authority in England to enter into a partnership with Forestry England under the Forestry England Woodland Partnership Scheme, signing a lease leading to the creation of a new 51Ha community woodland near Wing. Planting for this site is already underway and over 110,000 trees are already in the ground. Completion of the 132,000 tree site featuring a community orchard and areas of wetland to increase biodiversity is anticipated in the 23/24 planting season.

The Council continues to manage the maintenance of the Billet Field site at Black Park Country Park in the south of the County, where new EV charging infrastructure has also been installed this year.

The latest forecasts indicate that a total of 15,354 tCO eq will be sequestered through to 2124. This includes 411 tCO2e at Billet Field, 1914 and 1925 tCO2e from Bury Farm and Grange Farm respectively and a remarkable 10,984 tCO2e at Wing Wood.

Following on from the successful application to the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) for Billet Field, reported last year, of £28,380 we are delighted to report that a further £105,000 and £110,000 were secured from EWCO for Bury Farm and Grange Farm respectively.

Within the Council Land Tree Planting Programme (see Action 13 above), the Woodland Creation Design Plan for Grange Farm includes work to restore a pond on site. This will include vegetation management to reduce shading and de-silting, with a grassland margin maintained to conserve habitat

and deter access by dogs. There will also be a 4m buffer around the pond where no tree planting will take place. Once accessible by the public, the walk through the woodland will take visitors around the edge of the pond area. The location of the pond is shown in the following figure: