Council Leader’s New Year Message To Wandsworth Residents

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Ravi Govindia talks about how in 2020 the borough will work to tackle climate change

 

In his New Year message to the people of Wandsworth, the Leader of Wandsworth Council, Ravi Govindia, talks about how in 2020 the borough will work to tackle climate change.

Speaking from the Smugglers Way materials recycling facility (MRF), he said: “In the latter part of 2019, I made the most important pledge of my time as council leader. I pledged to make this council carbon neutral by 2030 and now we build on the work already begun to deliver that pledge.

“This MRF recycles 20 tonnes of waste every day. What cannot be recycled is bulked up here, loaded onto the barges and taken downriver where it is turned into energy - enough electricity to heat and power 13,000 homes. We will be working hard over the next few weeks collecting over a hundred thousand Christmas trees - our seasonal contribution to tackling climate change.

“Speaking of trees, I'm really proud of this council's record in planting and nurturing trees across the borough. In total we maintain over 60,000 trees in the borough. Last planting season we planted 540 trees and in the last two years, twelve hundred and forty new trees were added to our stock. Once again helping us on our way to meeting our target to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. Here I want to say a special "thank you" to our Tree Wardens who help us in delivering this care for our trees.

“Wandsworth is a fantastic place to live and work with several big parks and Commons and so many local open spaces. We remain committed to investing and enhancing our parks just as we are committed to investing in our libraries and in our schools. 2020 will see further progress on our exciting regeneration of Nine Elms and the York Road and Winstanley estates, delivering modern homes for Wandsworth people. Our house-building programme continues to deliver our pledge of a thousand new homes, providing a genuine housing choice for Wandsworth people.

“Our WorkMatch programme has already placed local people into jobs and next year the team will be helping even more Wandsworth people into work. All this links up with our desire to support our residents with more housing, better schools, improved environment in a vibrant and a cohesive community.

“On behalf of Wandsworth council may I wish you all a happy, healthy and a prosperous New Year.”

January 7, 2020