Holme Valley Parish Council declared a climate emergency on 25th March 2019 and Full Council subsequently established a new Standing Committee to work towards the Holme Valley becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

This Climate Emergency Committee consists of both parish councillors and members of the community and it has been working hard to help the Valley reach its target.

It produced our Climate Emergency Action Plan which outlines how we will work together with our community and other levels of government to achieve the aim of being carbon neutral.

To help coordinate our varied workstreams, we appointed Michelle Brown as our dedicated Climate Emergency Coordinator (CEC). You can contact her via email at CEC@holmevalleyparishcouncil.gov.uk. We are working through the various actions of the Climate Emergency Action Plan through different sub-groups and developing partnerships with different organisations within our local community. Our focus has been trying to encourage local people to get involved and to make little changes which together help make a real difference.

Some of the ways this has been achieved over our first year are:

• Installation of a water bottle refill fountain – situated by the public toilets and across from the post office in Holmfirth, this offers the public the choice of refilling their water bottle rather than buying another plastic bottle
• The Repair Café, which takes place in Holmfirth Tech, encouraging people to fix items for free rather than throw them away
• Land use mapping which will show how land is currently being used throughout the valley to identify potential ecological uses for un-utilised land and how to bring back hedgerows to encourage wildlife
• Energy audits for the Civic Hall and Honley library to see how we can make these buildings more environmentally-friendly
• Development of a Home Energy Savings Booklet to help people save money and carbon emissions.
• Identification of locations for new bike racks in the Holme Valley with as special emphasis on schools to encourage more children to cycle to schools and to the shops
• Development of a trial for Street-side electric vehicle charging points to help people transition to electric vehicles
• Working in partnership with the Youth Climate Emergency Event to share ideas with younger people in the valley.

To find out more, please look at our dedicated Holme Valley Climate Action Website website which has much more information about our workstreams and plenty of great ideas of what you can do to help us all move towards Carbon Neutrality by 2030. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Our Climate Emergency Action Plan booklet lays out our goals.

If you would like a paper copy of the booklet you can pick one up throughout the Holme Valley including:

• Holmfirth Civic Hall
• Holmfirth Library
• Honley Library
• Holmfirth Co-op Supermarket
• Fair Trader
• Read bookshop
• Holmfirth Tech
• Various restaurants, bars and cafes around the valley

Contact the Parish Council if you would like a paper copy of the booklet to be sent to you or if you would like a full HD digital copy of the plan.

 

How can you get involved?

Contact the Parish Council

T: 01484 687460

Email clerk@holmevalleyparishcouncil.gov.uk  

deputyclerk@holmevalleyparishcouncil.gov.uk

assistantclerk@holmevalleyparishcouncil.gov.uk