An East Lancashire local authority is examining whether it can use energy generated from disused coal mines in the borough.
The possibility of geothermal mine energy schemes is just one of the options being examined by Burnley Council as it seeks to become carbon net zero by 2050.
This and other measures, including planting thousands of trees and installing electric vehicle charging points, were outlined by the authority's deputy leader Cllr Margaret Lishman in a report to colleagues updating its Climate Change Strategy.
She told Wednesday night's Burnley Full Council meeting: "In summary, the council have made good progress against their climate actions, with some notable achievements in carrying out in-depth heat decarbonisation plans across the largest 10 operational buildings with EON, increasing the number of electric vehicle charging points, establishing ‘Our Journey to Net Zero’ council webpage to encourage positive behaviour change, working with partners to consider the feasibility of geothermal mine energy schemes, and becoming the first council in Lancashire to achieve the Silver Carbon Literate Organisation award.
"A grant of £17,000 from Trees for Cities was used to create 15 urban woodlands, one in each ward, in which volunteers planted 7,500 woodland trees, and 50 large specimen trees have been planted in areas of the borough that have very few trees using a grant of £66,000 from the Forestry Commission’s ‘Urban Tree Challenge Fund’, with a further 50 trees to be planted in the autumn.
"The action plan is reviewed annually with completed actions removed, some actions amended where necessary and new actions added as they come forward.
"For example, the action ‘To review investment options and agree a net zero target for the council’ has been significantly progressed.
"A Roadmap to Net Zero has been produced, outlining potential costs and timeframes for climate actions, and the council has agreed to a net zero target of 2050 at the latest.
"The action 'Review leisure centres and sports facilities to assess options for improved recycling facilities’ has also been completed, with a full review undertaken and systems implemented for full recycling of both staff and customer items across all leisure centres.
"The carbon budget records and monitors the council’s carbon emissions annually.
"This identifies areas of highest emissions and can be used to inform where the council target their resources and how they develop their strategic interventions to maximum effect.
"Going forward the heat decarbonisation plans for council buildings will be incorporated into our roadmap to net zero, so we can assess costs and timeframes for action."
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