Carbon Management Plan

Implementing the plan

North Northamptonshire Council has provided £1m of new funding over 3 years to progress the plans detailed in this plan. Significant work towards achieving our Carbon Neutral goal by 2030 has already occurred within North Northamptonshire:

• delivering Carbon Literacy training for Councillors and Senior Officers and establishing a train the trainer model for the organisation
• developed a Carbon Impact Assessment which will consider the benefit and risks associated with proposals for use of the £1m funding
• working through the Investors in the Environment accreditation scheme to externally audit and improve our performance annually
• since April 1st 2021 we have planted 4,010 trees on land we manage to improve landscape, wildlife habitats, recreation and offset carbon emissions
• a further 1,200 trees are due to be planted in urban greenspaces by the end of March 2023 through the Local Authorities Treescape Fund and other schemes by our ground's maintenance service, and through the commitment in our Tree Management and Care Policy to plant at least one new tree for each one that must be felled
• the Voi e-scooter and e-bike hire scheme has seen 517,472 trips locally of 1,064,853 km, saving 87,200 kg of CO2e
• through the Starship Delivery Robots project, providing local delivery of groceries in Wellingborough, Rushden and Higham Ferrers, 11,000 vehicle miles travelled have been avoided and saved almost 4,500kg of CO2
• secured £150,000 from the Woodland Creation Accelerator Grant, aimed at maximising tree planting. The grant will fund two officers to work both internally and externally with local communities and partners on identifying opportunities and delivering projects to maximise tree planting over the 2023/24 and 2024/25 planting seasons
• as part of our Pollinator Strategy work, 20 urban parks and greenspaces in Wellingborough and 10 in Kettering and Corby have been identified for improvements to grassland habitat for pollinators from 2023
• received Green Flag awards for Coronation Park in Corby, East Carlton Countryside Park, Hazel and Thoroughsale Woods and Rockingham Road Pleasure Park in Kettering. The award is the international quality mark for parks and green spaces
• received an International Green Apple award for Environmental Best Practices for Desborough Green Space (The Plens)
• over the last 6 months our grounds maintenance operations in Corby and Kettering have collected 155,000 Kg of green waste, saving an estimated 12,000 kg of C02e
• undertaken Climate21 and Climate22 – a Climate Change Conference ran over the last two years in November to coincide with COP26 and COP27 respectively. The most recent conference attracted nearly 2000 views on YouTube.

But there is still more to do, and once approved, our next step is to prioritise the £1m funding to support the delivery of our short-term actions as outlined in the plan under each heading.

It is anticipated that working groups will be formed for each Priority Area, with work and requests for use of the funds administered by the senior leadership of the Place and Economy Directorate, with approval from the Executive Member for Climate and the Green Environment. As projects progress it is anticipated that further capital funding bids will be required for projects or built into existing capital projects approved for works.

To ensure oversight and monitoring of the implementation of the Carbon Management Plan, updates on specific projects will be brought to the Climate Change Environment and Growth Executive Advisory Panel, along with an annual update on the Plan and Councils carbon emissions.

Investors in the Environment will also provide independent review of the work we undertake on an annual basis, with the Council able to progress through their accreditation programme which recognises organisations sustainability work and projects.

Last updated 05 January 2023