Over £17.5m grants have been awarded as Wrexham Council continues to reach zero carbon emissions by 2030.

The plans will be the subject of a report to scrutiny on Wednesday and it shows a wide range of projects that have been completed or are planned for the future as part of the Decarbonisation Plan.

The report identifies over £17.5 million that has already been awarded from various funding bids to allow projects such as the installation of solar panels on leisure centres, delivering local water conservation and protection education, increasing woodland cover and engaging communities in woodland development, management, and restoration, providing on-street residential electric vehicles charging, and fully funded net two zero new build pilots for primary schools.

In his report to councillors, Climate Change Champion, Cllr David A Bithell, outlines the progress against five key themes:

  • Buildings and Energy
  • Transport and Mobility
  • Land Use and Green Infrastructure
  • Procurement (how we order our goods and services)
  • Influencing and enabling change

Senior officers have been nominated to undertake a leadership role for each of the themes to ensure that decarbonisation is embedded into everything the council do and oversee progress.

The council has said that it will continue to work with partners and has just announced the Five Low Carbon Communities initiative. They will work closely over the coming year or more to see what impact consistent and community-generated activity can achieve.

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The council can also identify a working group and start a series of community engagement events in the coming months to design a low-carbon community plan for each area.

Cllr Bithell said: “There’s no doubt an awful lot of hard work has gone in by officers to progress the work on a council-wide basis but also to work within our communities on the many projects that they have completed or are in the process of completing.

“It won’t be easy achieving our goal of being carbon neutral by 2030 but the work undertaken to date shows that our commitment is growing. With even more community support and education in the pipeline the future is looking good.”

“I look forward to presenting the report on Wednesday.”

You can watch the webcast of the Homes and Environment Scrutiny Committee online or read the report in more detail.