Dorset Council "kicking the can down the road" on training on how to cut carbon emissions

16 April 2021

Councillor Belinda Bawden, one of the Greens on Lyme Regis Town Council, says she’s disappointed with Dorset Council’s response on her proposal they should offer Carbon Literacy training to town and parish councils across the county.

Cllr Bawden, who’s had the training herself, said: “in the light of the Climate and Ecological Emergency it seems that Dorset Council is kicking the can down the road rather than giving local councillors the training they need”. Lyme Regis Town Councillors agreed to have the training last year.

She asked Dorset Council when the training would be rolled out and said; “There was no firm date offered and the clear implication was that Dorset Council does not recognise that the Carbon Literacy training method is the one they would use, even if they agreed the principle of training town and parish councillors, referring instead to their officers' expertise in training”.  

Cllr Ray Bryan, the Environment Portfolio holder, said the Council “encouraged” Town and Parish Councils to “take up opportunities to inform their thinking on climate change”. 

Cllr Bawden says she will now offer to deliver it herself to the Town Council, to reap the benefits of the training.

Carbon Literate citizens understand how climate change will affect them – both geographically and sectorally – and have acquired the knowledge and skills to lower their carbon footprint. Training professionals and organisations delivering Carbon Literacy are quality assessed or kite-marked, and there is high profile branding for organisations putting their people through a Carbon Literacy programme.






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