Three Rivers is top council in Hertfordshire for climate action, according to report

Updated: 2 February 2022

Plans to tackle climate change locally in Three Rivers have been rated as the best in the county, according to a new report.

Plans to tackle climate change locally in Three Rivers have been rated as the best in the county, according to a new report.

Three Rivers District Council’s climate strategy and action plan  scored 55% in an analysis by the not-for-profit campaigning organisation Climate Emergency UK , above the nearest ranked Hertfordshire councils St Albans City and District Council (53%) and Dacorum Borough Council (45%).

Climate Emergency UK scored 325 local authority plans according to 28 questions grouped into nine categories, including how well councils’ plans would mitigate the impact of climate change locally, whether climate and ecological emergency was integrated into existing policies, community engagement, climate education, scale of emissions targets and commitments to tackle the ecological emergency.

The performance of Three Rivers District Council has been welcomed by its Lead Member for Environmental Services, Climate Change and Sustainability, Cllr Phil Williams.

He said: “Whilst it is good news that Three Rivers are the highest ranked council for our climate action plan in Hertfordshire, we are not the highest in the country – and that is what we want to be. Our ambition as a council is to make a real difference to climate change, to protect our natural world for future generations by introducing policies today that will protect our tomorrow.

“There are steps we can all make in our lives, big and small, to help in the endeavour and I encourage residents to look at our sustainability guide to see what they can do – as well as reading our action plan to find out what as a council we are doing.”

The council has already taken a number of actions  to fight climate change. By June 2022 the council will have saved more than 150 tonnes of annual carbon emissions from the district by improving the energy efficiency of residents’ homes. In Three Rivers the council is recycling more than 63% of household waste – ranked in the top three councils in the country.

The council has also agreed to fund a new grassland management scheme to encourage nature, and will be planting 700 trees in the next planting season and has recently launched a mentoring and grant scheme  to help businesses create and deliver their own climate emergency action plans.

Read the

Three Rivers Greener Living Sustainability Guide.

Council spokesperson

Cllr Phil Williams - Lead Member for Environmental Services, Climate Change and Sustainability

Group spokespeople

Cllr Alex Hayward – Leader of the Conservative Group

Cllr Stephen Cox – Leader of the Labour Group

Cllr Joanna Clemens - Independent Councillors Group Joint Leader