Our Climate Action Plan

Since declaring a Climate Emergency in 2019, the Council has been working to achieve net zero carbon emissions from our operations by 2030 as well as working in partnership to reduce carbon emissions for the whole of Rossendale. We are doing this by:

• Improving energy efficiency of our buildings
• Switching to sustainable forms of transport
• Reducing waste, increasing tree cover, enhancing biodiversity and adopting to impacts of climate change
• Working in partnership with businesses, community groups, schools and colleges in and around the Borough to take action against climate change

Buildings and energy use

The Council set aside £1m carbon reduction fund to fund decarbonisation projects to make our operations net zero by 2030. We are using some of our carbon reduction fund to improve energy efficiency and decarbonise our buildings.

In line with our building heat decarbonisation strategy, we are replacing fossil fuel based heating systems with low carbon alternatives. We are also replacing old light fittings with energy efficient LED fittings whenever practical. These interventions have already resulted in significant reductions of carbon emissions from our buildings since 2019.

Transport

The Council is committed to transitioning our fleet away from carbon-based diesel and petrol power. We are implementing a Council fleet decarbonisation plan to accelerate the shift to electric and hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO). The Council took delivery of our new electric service van in September 2024, increasing our EV fleet to 10% of our total vehicle fleet.

A large number of our employees are able to combine home and office working reducing carbon emissions from their commute to work. On days when staff need to travel to work, we have encouraged staff to choose sustainable travel options including walking, cycling and public transport where possible. We have fully electric pool cars available for staff business travel.

Rossendale Council is committed to supporting businesses and members of the community to switch to electric vehicles. To make this possible, we are increasing EV charging infrastructure in the Borough to make it easier for people to use electric vehicles. Using funding from Department of Transport, we have recently installed 30 new Electric Vehicle (EV) charge points across multiple car parks in Rossendale. The new charge points became fully operational on 15th November 2024 to serve residents, EV drivers, and visitors (New electric vehicle charge points installed across the Valley | Rossendale Borough Council). Additionally, we are working with Lancashire County Council to install more EV charge points in 2025 using funding from the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) scheme.

Waste and the wider environment

The reduction in waste streams including plastics and food waste can help us to fight against climate change. We need to shift from a wasteful high consumption “throw away” economy to a more circular and sustainable one.

We are working to refuse, reduce and recycle single use plastics. The Council has embarked on a community-wide campaign to promote refuse, reuse and recycling to increase reduce waste in the Borough. Our award winning “check before you chuck” campaign resulted in 26% increase in recycling and 6% reduction in general waste.

Biodiversity

The Council has taken a number of measures to improve biodiversity in the Borough and maximise potential for offsetting our carbon emissions in line with our Climate Action Plan including:

• Launching a study to explore the state of biodiversity in the Borough and how to increase biodiversity
• We are working on a Biodiversity Net Gain policy and approach for Rossendale
• In 2021, we launched the Rossendale Forest initiative to increase tree canopy cover in the Borough

For more information please visit our biodiversity page

Flooding

We are working with the Environment Agency, Lancashire County Council and the local community to address flooding and its impact in the district. You can access flooding information here: General flooding information | Flooding | Rossendale Borough Council

Air Quality

Information about air quality in the Borough can be found here: Air quality in Rossendale | Rossendale Borough Council

Working in partnership and community engagement

The Climate Emergency is the biggest challenge facing the planet and we understand that we have to go beyond making our operations net zero and work towards enabling the whole of Rossendale to be carbon neutral well ahead of 2050. To achieve our ambitions, we need to work in partnership with businesses, community groups, educational institutions and households.

We commissioned the Rossendale Climate Action Network in 2022 to engage communities in and around the Borough, and inspire them to take action against climate change.

The Council has partnered with Rossendale Valley Energy and Valley Heritage on various projects to engage and provide energy advice to local communities, including the LEAD project, and deliver low carbon projects including the Net Zero Terrace Streets project.

We are looking to partner the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) on research projects to produce detailed evidence base and practical solutions to reduce carbon emissions in the Borough.