AN environmental-themed event, designed to help local people reduce their carbon footprint could take place in Westbury next June, with keynote speakers, exhibition stands and new initiatives.
The aim of the free event is to give residents proactive advice on how to combat the effects of climate change locally, as well as the opportunity to hear from groups such as the National Trust, English Heritage and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
Westbury Town Council voted to agree in principle to the idea at a meeting of the full council on Monday 6th November and the idea now awaits final approval by the Westbury Area Board, part of Wiltshire Council.
The town council had initially planned to hold a climate emergency networking event in spring next year but Westbury town councillor, Matthew Dean, who is the environment lead at the Westbury Area Board, suggested making the event a collaboration between the two councils, so that more funding could be raised to create a bigger event.
“We want to do something quite ambitious that will put us on the map in west Wiltshire,” explained cllr Dean at the meeting. “We feel it is important that this event has a range of speakers and some exhibitors that would show things that would actively interest our residents on the climate issue.
“The idea is to have an event going on all day, as well as something in the evening, so that we can encourage those with different working hours to attend as well. This event would act as a mini-conference, rather than lots of workshops.”
Ideas have been discussed such as providing something that people can take away from the event, such as a packet of seeds or eco light bulb. New initiatives are also being considered such as CityTree – where moss planters are installed in urban areas for carbon capture and filter, as an alternative to large-scale tree planting.
Cllr Gordon King, who chairs the Westbury Area Board, added, “What we’ve found out since Covid is that people in Westbury are really interested in environmental matters. In fact, when I speak to people, environmental issues score very highly on top of people’s own personal agendas, so in that respect, cllr Dean has hit the nail on the head.
“I anticipate that when this event is held it will be a success. This project hasn’t been brought to the area board as of yet, so the area board has not been able to look at it so far but speaking as myself, as a Westbury town councillor, I support this entirely.”
Cllr Jane Russ, who chairs the climate emergency sub-committee at the town council said, “We had already thought of doing this, so when cllr Dean offered this up, we were going to pull his arm off as the support of the Westbury Area Board would be appreciated. I cannot recommend this proposal highly enough and I think it is important that we remain an actively interested council and this would help show us being active.”
The project awaits approval by Wiltshire Council’s Westbury Area Board before the details can be finalised.
