County Voice

Climate Change and Biodiversity

Largest multi electric vehicle charging hub in Wales to arrive at Rhyl

A new multi electric vehicle charging hub is to be installed in Rhyl.

Work has started to install an electric vehicle charging hub at West Kinmel Street Car Park, Rhyl.

The charge park, the first of its size in Wales and the second current largest in the UK, will offer capability for charging 36 vehicles simultaneously.

The introduction of the hub, funded by the Welsh Government, follows the successful installation of chargers at Kings Avenue car park at Prestatyn.

Located at the west end of the car park the hub will be a mix of ‘fast’ 7kwh chargers for local users who have no access to off street parking and ‘rapid’ 50kw chargers for a quick top up and also to assist local taxi drivers on the uptake of electric vehicles by minimising disruption to operational work time. All the chargers at the hub will be open for public use.

Work on the site is expected to take up to 8 weeks to complete.

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We are really pleased to be able to launch this exciting project for Rhyl to deliver support for local electric vehicle owners. This charging hub will also support our important climate change work and be of clear benefit to nearby households who don’t have the capability for off road charging facilities.

“We also hope this hub will help encourage more visitors to come to Rhyl on the knowledge they have this facility to charge their vehicles and also be an asset to commuters arriving at the town to use the nearby train station by enabling them to park and charge.

“We understand that there will be some disruption on the car park while the site is installed and we thank people for their support and patience whilst the hub is built. Spaces will still be available on the West Kinmel Car Park and also at nearby town car parks while the work is carried out.”

Three of the parking bays and charging units will be specifically allocated for disabled users.

The charging units will also offer a range of bilingual payment options including, contactless card, App driven and RFID Card.

Daytime and peak time users will still pay for a parking space at the hub however the electric vehicle bays will have no parking charges levied between 5pm and 8am as per the rest of the car park.

Council receives Carbon Literacy award

The Council has formally received a Carbon Literate Organisation Bronze Award.

The award was presented to the Council at an event held on Thursday July 14 at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, by the Carbon Literacy Project.

The Council declared a Climate Change and Ecological Emergency in July 2019 and has since committed to becoming a Net Carbon Zero and Ecologically Positive Council by 2030, in addition to reducing carbon emissions from the goods and services bought.

The Council also changed its Constitution in October 2020 and all decisions made must now 'have regard to tackling Climate and Ecological Change'.

Over 200 staff and councillors were taken on an intensive one-day course to improve carbon literacy across the organisation and all staff are now able to access a new online E-Learning package which introduces them to Climate Change issues and how they can play their part to make a difference in their daily role and at home

The Council has become just one of 52 carbon literate organisations in the UK and Ireland.

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We are delighted to formally receive this award on the back of our continued drive to becoming carbon neutral. Protecting and improving our environment is a top priority for us and we are fully committed to continue reducing our carbon footprint and also increase biodiversity across Denbighshire.

“We are grateful to all staff who have supported us in achieving this accreditation as it will continue to help us ensure that all of our services understand their carbon footprint and what contributions they need to make to reduce it.”

End of season work begins for biodiversity project

End of season work is set to take place across the county’s wildflower meadows.

From the beginning of August, the second cut of the season will take place at the Council’s Wildflower Meadows Project sites.

This year’s season includes over a 100 managed wildflower meadows that have contributed to improved species richness across Denbighshire. These make up nearly 35 football pitches worth of native wildflower habitat.

Already this year the Council has recorded an early purple orchid, a pyramidal orchid and nine bee orchids on sites where they had previously not been recorded.

The project which is part of the Council’s wider Bee Friendly campaign is also in place to support the recovery of bees and other insect pollinators in the county.

As the flowering season is at the end, August will see Streescene staff visiting sites across the county carrying out cutting with specialist mowing equipment. The cuttings are removed off the meadow sites to help lower the richness of the soil and also support a low nutrient ground that our native wildflowers and grass need to grow.

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “All of our sites are left uncut between March and August. Cutting late summer gives the flowers the chance to set seed to continue improving the biodiversity of the meadows they grow in.

“This also allows our Biodiversity team to collect seeds from sites to take back to the Council’s tree nursery for growing. Plants we grow from seed are used to further boost the biodiversity of sites across Denbighshire.

“We would like to thank everyone for their support for this important climate change project during the flowering season and look forward to seeing how the first batch of native plants grown at our nursery are introduced into sites over the coming months.”

If you want to learn more about our Wildflower Meadows Project, please visit the link below.

https://www.denbighshire.gov.uk/en/environmental-health/climate-and-ecological-change/wildflower-meadow-project.aspx

Nursery generates thousands of plants for wildflower sites

Thousands of plants have been grown locally to boost a Council biodiversity project.

The Council’s local provenance tree nursery at Green Gates Farm, St Asaph, has produced nearly 8,000 plants during its first growing season.

The nursery has been funded by the Welsh Government, through the Local Nature Partnerships Cymru ENRaW project and Local Places for Nature grant.

And following the Council’s declaration of a Climate and Ecological Emergency in 2019, the project is part of an ongoing commitment to enhancing biodiversity across the county.

Thirty types of wildflower plants have been grown at the nursery, including bristly oxtongue, cat’s ear, goat’s beard, hound’s tongue and rough hawkbit.

The plants grown will be taken to existing wildflower meadows across the county to boost the range of flowers at the sites and maintain local biodiversity.

The nursery is also on course to produce over a 1,000 trees that will be planted across selected woodland sites in the county to support the local environment.

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We are really pleased with the results of the first year’s crop of wildflowers at the nursery. Our biodiversity team is currently planning distribution to those wildflower sites across the county that need extra support to mature and I look forward to seeing more colours and variety appearing at meadows next year.

“We are also extremely grateful to the fantastic volunteers who have helped us achieve this number of plants by giving up their time to help out at the nursery.”

“We are keen to continue our volunteering opportunities for anyone who has an interest in the local environment, keen plant growers or those who generally want to learn more about the biodiversity projects the Council runs, especially as we approach the outside planting season.”

If you would like to volunteer, please get in touch at biodiversity@denbighshire.gov.uk.

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