Information about environment and transport can be found in the sections below.
Environment and Transport
Protecting and enhancing the cityʼs environment is integral to Wolverhamptonʼs future success – making it not only a more attractive place to be, but also helping to improve economic, health and social outcomes. Wolverhamptonʼs environment impacts on all those living, working or visiting the city and everyone has a responsibility to invest in the environment so that it is maintained for future generations. Evidence is mounting that increasing greenhouse gas emissions are causing a rapid rise in global temperatures and the effects of this are likely to be felt both now and in the future. It is therefore a fundamental challenge for Wolverhampton to secure a sustainable future by significantly reducing CO2 emissions, becoming a low carbon economy and by ensuring we are well adapted to the unavoidable effects of climate change.
CO2 – Energy use in the home is a major contributor to climate change. If all houses in the city were fully insulated (excluding those without cavity walls), had double glazing and draught proofing, the cityʼs CO2 emissions would be reduced by over 626,000 tonnes every year.
The Council will be expected to meet significant carbon savings as part of the overall UK requirement under the EU Commission requirements to reduce emissions by 15% by 2020. These requirements to lower emissions, save money, create jobs and prosperity for the city will not only complement each other, but by working towards each aspiration in a unified way will actually strengthen each part and maximise the potential for delivery.
Estimates of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions from local authority operations, or NI185 was adopted as part of the Council’s LAA in 2008-09 and required targets to be set for reducing its emissions up until March 2011. This National Indicator requires the collation of energy and fuel data across the Council’s buildings and fleet. A target of 2% year on year CO2 reductions was decided upon starting from a baseline of 74,586t CO2 for 2008/09.
Affordable Warmth – This is a major issue for households on low incomes, with many not able to afford to heat their homes adequately in the winter. This puts older residents and other vulnerable people, including children, at risk. Over 25% of residents in Wolverhampton are at risk of fuel poverty. The definition of fuel poverty is a household where people spend 10% or more of their income on fuel. In Wolverhampton, the % of households defined as being in fuel poverty (10% measure) in 2011 was 18.2%. Wolverhampton City Council will target households with low energy ratings (or, Standard Assessment Procedure) for energy efficiency measures (e.g. insulation and upgraded central heating) as a way of tackling fuel poverty. Houses are rated from 0 – 100, with 0 being very inefficient and 100 being highly efficient.
Disposal of Household Waste – Local Authorities are responsible for managing, collecting and disposing much of the UK’s waste material. Each year we set targets for the percentage of waste recycled in Wolverhampton. For 2010/11 our target was to recycle 35.57% of the city’s waste. We successfully exceeded this target and achieved 36.05%. For 2011/12, our target is to recycle 38.24% of waste. The table also shows that Wolverhampton is the second-best performing Black Country local authority, after Walsall. Although Wolverhampton’s performance is good within a Black Country context, the recycling rate in Wolverhampton was 4 percentage points lower than the England average for the 09/10 financial year.
Fly tipping – The Council receives around 2800 reports a year of fly tipping on council and private land. Each case is investigated to establish if there is evidence of the offenders. Where satisfactory evidence is obtained the Council prosecutes. In 2012 there were 9 prosecutions and 7 warnings issued for waste duty of care offences. These are where waste producers (commercial and domestic) have not taken sufficient measures to ensure that their waste is properly disposed of.
Rights of Way – Wolverhampton was given city status in 2000 and is located on the northwest of the metropolitan West Midlands which is the tenth largest conurbation in Europe. At just six miles across and with a quarter of a million residents, it is a densely populated and highly urbanised area. Despite being a very built-up city, Wolverhampton has around 75 kilometres of public rights of way. These are mostly footpaths, with a few bridleways and cycle paths. They are a key part of the highway network in Wolverhampton. Wolverhampton City Council has a duty, as highway authority, to maintain rights of way for the benefit of all highway users. The network comprises 521 footpaths, 17 bridleways, 5 cycle paths and one BOAT (byway open to all traffic). The majority of the footpaths are surfaced with tarmac or concrete slabs and could best be described as ‘alleyways’; very different from the typical image of a public footpath in a rural setting. As a result, the issues and problems associated with rights of way in Wolverhampton tend to be different to those in rural areas. For more information, please visit http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/transport_streets/rights_way/rowip.htm