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London Borough of Waltham Forest Climate change strategy

Waltham Forest's population is forecast to grow by an estimated 4.4% to 237,000 by 2012 and this in turn will mean an associated increase in CO₂ emissions. As the Olympic draw nearer, the borough will have to rise to the challenge of engaging its ethnically diverse population in climate change issues to achieve its reduction targets.

Carbon Descent were commissioned to develop London Borough of Waltham climate change strategy with particular emphasis on engaging key stakeholders such as Council Members, partners in the LSP, governmental organisations, local businesses and residents. The strategy was to form part of the Local Area Agreement and was to be managed by the Local Strategic Partnership. A key element of the commission was an equalities impact assessment of the final strategy.

Prior to the commission, the council established seven internal working groups (Planning & Housing, Buildings, Transport, Managing Natural Habitats, Waste and Recycling, Energy & Procurement, Communications and Outreach) which were a key part of the development process.

Three scenarios meeting 60%, 70% and 80% carbon reduction targets by 2050 were created with a mix of low carbon generation and demand reduction measures by our VantagePoint modelling software.

Initial mitigation and adaptation actions to deliver this mix of measures were drafted and presented for feedback at six stakeholder engagement events - Council staff working groups, Council staff working group chairs, Councillors and Community Council Members, external policy bodies, Businesses, Social Enterprises and Community organisations and general public Big Conversation on Climate Change (BCCC).

Through this process, the 80% target was chosen and four interim targets were agreed to tie in with regional and national policy targets 2008-2012 (Olympics), 2012-2015, 2015-2025 (London Climate Change Action Plan) and 2025-2050 (Climate Change Bill). Specific changes requested from the stakeholder events included increasing the amount of transport measures, adding more behavioural change measures, providing more information on air pollution impacts particularly NOx, reducing the amount of biomass used and grouping actions by delivery bodies such as council, residents and business community.

An Equalities Impact Assessment workshop then assessed whether any actions would have a positive or negative impact on any segments of the community and adaptation or mitigation measures agreed. The final strategy was approved by Council cabinet September 2008 and is now available from the Council's website.

Following development of the CCS, Waltham Forest decided to adopt National Indicator 186 ‘Reduction of per capita CO₂ emissions for the whole borough' as one of the 35 indicators in their LAA. The 2012 target established for the first period of the CCS was in line with the 2011 target established by DEFRA and a 9% reduction was approved by the Government Office of London. The stakeholder engagement events and information on the council website successfully created awareness amongst the council, residents and regional bodies.