Oldham’s Green New Deal Date: 16.01.20 |Categories: Featured While the Growing the New Economy convention is a national event, it is great to be working with Oldham Council to hold it in one of the first places we really started to focus on the theme of co-operative and social enterprise place-based innovation. Leader of Oldham Council, Councillor Sean Fielding, has produced a short series of blogs to provide some background to the event, the first of which we are pleased to share here. Our aim at Oldham Council is for us to become one of the greenest boroughs in the country and, in the process, do our bit to tackle climate change as well as help our residents. In November 2019, we declared ourselves the UK’s first ‘Green New Deal Council’, which will transform us into a destination for green tourism and green business. So how are we going to do this? In consultation with residents, businesses, staff and elected members, we are preparing a new strategy that will help us to become a centre for environmental excellence and business opportunity. With flagship projects such as Northern Roots – a 160-acre eco-park – and the £350 million regeneration of Oldham Town Centre, including a radical overhaul of its energy infrastructure, we have the potential to become a trailblazing example of how the ‘think global, act local’ approach can help to secure the economic future of residents and communities. We have already focussed over the last few years on reducing carbon emissions and protecting biodiversity – despite the challenges of reducing our budget. And we have done this through award-winning programmes such as Warm Homes Oldham (the borough’s affordable warmth programme) and Generation Oldham (the borough’s community energy programme). These programmes have delivered real financial savings for households, schools and community groups, whilst engaging residents directly in thinking about the energy they use and the wider environmental implications. These programmes also address Oldham’s other priorities, such as health and wellbeing, and building community confidence and expertise. To find out more about the convention and to book, please click here.
Oldham’s Green New Deal Date: 16.01.20 |Categories: Featured While the Growing the New Economy convention is a national event, it is great to be working with Oldham Council to hold it in one of the first places we really started to focus on the theme of co-operative and social enterprise place-based innovation. Leader of Oldham Council, Councillor Sean Fielding, has produced a short series of blogs to provide some background to the event, the first of which we are pleased to share here. Our aim at Oldham Council is for us to become one of the greenest boroughs in the country and, in the process, do our bit to tackle climate change as well as help our residents. In November 2019, we declared ourselves the UK’s first ‘Green New Deal Council’, which will transform us into a destination for green tourism and green business. So how are we going to do this? In consultation with residents, businesses, staff and elected members, we are preparing a new strategy that will help us to become a centre for environmental excellence and business opportunity. With flagship projects such as Northern Roots – a 160-acre eco-park – and the £350 million regeneration of Oldham Town Centre, including a radical overhaul of its energy infrastructure, we have the potential to become a trailblazing example of how the ‘think global, act local’ approach can help to secure the economic future of residents and communities. We have already focussed over the last few years on reducing carbon emissions and protecting biodiversity – despite the challenges of reducing our budget. And we have done this through award-winning programmes such as Warm Homes Oldham (the borough’s affordable warmth programme) and Generation Oldham (the borough’s community energy programme). These programmes have delivered real financial savings for households, schools and community groups, whilst engaging residents directly in thinking about the energy they use and the wider environmental implications. These programmes also address Oldham’s other priorities, such as health and wellbeing, and building community confidence and expertise. To find out more about the convention and to book, please click here.