Environment strategy for East Sussex to be considered today

An environment strategy for East Sussex is to be considered by the county council's cabinet today.

Twenty-five organisations have worked in partnership to draw up the strategy and members of the public, including children, were consulted on the contents during the winter of 2010/11.

The organisations include: district and borough councils, the NHS, the Environment Agency, voluntary organisations, the National Trust, Natural England, the RSPB, Sea Space, South Downs National park Authority, Sussex Archaeological Society and Sussex Inshore fisheries and Conservation Authority.

Things that have been agreed include:

undertaking an assessment of the economic value of the environment of the county and making it available to all decision makers to ensure its true value is factored in for infrastructure schemes and planning
providing local people with more access to large natural greenspaces for better health and wellbeing
carrying out a study to see if compost or energy can be created from food waste
providing more support for local food producers and retailers and finding people more places to grow their own food and the knowledge/skills to do so through a sustainable and healthy food action plan
providing support for local waste prevention plans and community waste management projects.

A report to cabinet today says 6.5 times more carbon dioxide is emitted in East Sussex than is globally sustainable and needs to be cut by another 1.3 million tonnes by 2026.

The report says households could save up to £250 on their annual energy bills and at the same time reduce the county's consumption of fossil fuels and cut carbon emissions.

The recycling rate has more than doubled in the past ten years, yet each family in East Sussex still throws away food worth £420 a year and businesses are spending some 4 per cent of their turnover to deal with their waste.

"We have seven internationally important wildlife habitats and an amazing 286 local Sites of Nature Conservation Importance, yet Sussex as a whole has 472 species which are globally threatened or in rapid decline," says the report.

Cabinet is being asked to agree that the environment strategy drawn up by the organisations working in partnership is adopted as the county council's environmental strategy and that its future strategies, plans and policies should have regard to the document.

If you would like to read the whole report it can be seen here.