Wiltshire Council not delivering on eco aims say climate campaigners

By local democracy reporter Jude Holden

A WILTSHIRE climate campaign group has said the Wiltshire Council are not carrying out their environmental promises and are falling short in their reaction to climate change.

Wiltshire Climate Alliance criticised Wiltshire Council on their climate change failings at the Full Council meeting last month.

The Climate Alliance wrote a list of the failings, which firstly says the council has failed to apply for government funding to improve the walking and cycling infrastructure around Wiltshire. It says: “Much is made by Wiltshire Council of its emerging Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs).

“To date, Central Government has provided a £2bn funding pot via Active Travel England. Wiltshire’s share of its most recent round (Tranche 3) has been £0.

“Tranche 4 is due before the end of the year but so far there is no sign of any bids being prepared. The LCWIPs will be of little point if the council does not actually submit and win bids to deliver active travel infrastructure on the ground.”

It goes on to say that the Wiltshire Council Cabinet member for Transport Mark McClelland makes statements about supporting motorists and not investing in schemes that might inconvenience motorists.

However, Cllr McClelland said: “We support the decarbonisation of existing transport and an increase in walking and cycling.

“That is why we plan to create Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs) for all of Wiltshire’s towns, and we have just completed the consultation for both Wiltshire-wide and Salisbury LCWIPs.

“We are working on a bid for funding from Tranche 4 of the Active Travel Fund and will have more details about our planned submission in due course.”

The Climate Alliance document goes on to criticise the council’s electric vehicle charging point scheme saying: “The council makes much of supporting people into electric vehicle use and is in the process of updating the old public charging infrastructure.

“They have now procured a contract which delivers mainly fast chargers (7kw). This seems a very short-term offering to the public. For modern electric cars (with battery sizes 40-100Kwh), the default, unless you have hours to wait, is a rapid charger (43-50kw+).

“We are concerned that this short-term council investment may turn out to be a white elephant.”

The document concludes that although there has been some good work by the council on climate change, more is needed.

For more information on the Wiltshire Climate Alliance, visit www.wiltshireclimatealliance.org.uk