Selby District Council is signing up to a new agreement to reduce the authority's impact on climate change and develop policies to deal with the affects of the changing environment.

The Council Leader and Chief Executive will sign the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change on Thursday 17 August.  Under the agreement, Selby District Council will look at how it can be a community leader in terms of reducing the environmental impact of its services and the way it does business.  This will cover energy use, travel, waste production and disposal and the purchasing of goods and services.

The agreement commits Selby District Council to:

• Work with central government to contribute locally to the delivery of targets  to reduce carbon emissions
• Develop plans with partners to progressively address the causes and impacts of climate change
• Assess the risks of climate change on the local community and develop plans to combat these risks
• Encourage the whole community to take positive steps to reducing the causes of climate change
• Participate in local and regional networks to strengthen this work

Leader of Selby District Council, Cllr. Mark Crane, said:

"Climate Change is a global problem, but that doesn't mean that we can't take steps locally to help reduce carbon emissions; we also have a duty to residents and businesses to develop robust plans to deal with the affects of climate change.  Among other region-wide affects, in the Selby district we could see more flooding of the kind that devastated many areas in 2000, as sea levels rise and weather patterns change".

"I strongly believe that we all have to make changes to our everyday lives to ensure we leave a sustainable environment for our children, grandchildren and future generations.  As a Council, we can take the lead by making sure we reduce our carbon emissions and source supplies from more environmentally sustainable sources.  By doing so we can have a positive affect on reducing the causes of climate change, as well as using our experience to support others in working to similar goals.

"Another key element of this work will be that by reducing our environmental impact we will almost certainly help to reduce our costs too - delivering a more efficient, cost effective as well as environmentally sustainable future."