A PLAN plan to cut the council’s carbon emissions to zero in the next nine years – and for the whole borough to follow suit by 2050 – has been labelled not bold enough.

The Conservative administration’s draft carbon reduction strategy has just finished a period of public consultation and will be revised considering responses before being put to cabinet for approval and formal adoption.

The strategy says the council is committed to “an 80 per cent reduction in the council`s corporate carbon emissions no later than 2030, striving towards 100 per cent with carbon offsetting by the same date, with the aim of making the council’s estate and activities net-zero carbon by 2030.”

To reduce its own emissions, it has a 12-point plan to cut emissions from its own buildings and streetlights, vehicle fleet, staff mileage on duty and travel to work and council houses and flats.

It says the council will need an offsetting plan because it will be impossible to cut all its emissions. And it will act as an example to others in the borough to encourage them as a way making Swindon carbon neutral by 2050.

But Labour councillors think it should be more proactive.

The party's spokesperson for sustainability Jane Milner-Barry said: “We welcome the fact that the council has published a draft carbon reduction strategy and setting a target of 2030 for ending the council’s own emissions, but why has it taken so long?

"For two years or more we have seen a steady stream of detailed carbon reduction plans published by local authorities large and small, from Greater Manchester and Bristol to Ipswich and Stroud.”

The Labour group has sent four pages of its comments to the administration and Coun Milner-Barry said: “Why is there so little emphasis on borough-wide emissions? Other authorities are taking on their responsibilities as leaders in the great enterprise of city-wide decarbonisation.

"The strategy talks vaguely about 'supporting the wider borough on its journey towards net zero'. What does that mean? The council needs to accept a leadership role.

“In December, central government stepped up its emissions goals to require a 68 per cent reduction by 2030 based on a 1990 baseline. This needs to be the minimum requirement in the strategy for emissions from all sources in the Swindon area, though we should aim higher. The next decade is going to be crucial.

“The council needs to reach out to the whole borough in 2021 and ask all our residents, and all the businesses and organisations based here, for theirideas about we can transition to a net-zero Swindon.”

Labour group leader Jim Grant said: “This a missed opportunity for Swindon. There is very little in the strategy about how the town could benefit from the transition to net zero.

“The Conservative council should be looking to position Swindon, with its brilliant location and transport links and its skilled workforce, at the forefront of the green recovery we need to see post-Covid-19.

“The Labour group is looking for a much more forward-looking attitude when the implementation plan is published.”

The Conservatives have not yet responded to a request for comment.

The council has already begun a borough-wide programme of replacing all its streetlights with LED lamps, which will cut emissions by 60 per cent.