| Priorities | How we will achieve this |
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Reduce the consumption of energy, promote energy efficiency and increase the proportion of power and heat from low and zero carbon technologies
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- Reduce the number of buildings we run by introducing smarter working practices and adopting a digital first approach
- Assess every building we run to find the most suitable route to carbon neutrality and take a ‘fabric first’ approach to make buildings as efficient as possible
- Pilot renewable technologies, including solar and smart storage technologies, heat pumps and load shifting control systems
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Bring our wider communities emissions in line with net zero
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- Build on our early pilot work for Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy to support a place-based, locally led and tailored approach to heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency
- Drive forward Community Renewable Energy (CoRE) to innovate and develop new approaches and technologies needed to make the move to net zero
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Tackle fuel poverty as a way to drive forward green recovery and combat climate change
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Promote active travel and ensure that public transport, walking and cycling infrastructure can support the ‘greening’ of the area’s economy over the longer term
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- Develop a continuous network, connecting residential areas to key amenities and places of employment or education, ensuring areas of multiple deprivation are prioritised
- Develop infrastructure and policies which place Active Travel at the top of the transport hierarchy and continue to consult with the public to ensure safety concerns are managed
- Ensure developers provide high quality Active Travel measures within developments and connecting to key amenities
- Work with East Ayrshire Leisure, local businesses and the tourism sector to promote active travel as a mode of transport or an activity and link routes with key attractions
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Manage waste sustainability by reducing, reusing, recycling and recovering waste to improve resource efficiency whilst working towards a circular economy
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- Encourage greater levels of recycling, including digitalisation of services, additional recycling facilities, reduced use of plastics and ‘waste warriors’ in schools
- Take forward initiatives to support reduce, recycle and reuse messaging, like litter awareness programmes, uniform/equipment swaps and reducing and ultimately banning single use plastics in our educational centres
- Expand our existing recycling offer to include new opportunities to recycle materials such as plastic film and bed mattresses
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Use the educational reform opportunities to ensure that our young people have opportunities to prepare for roles in, and gain qualifications that support the environmental sector and their communities and families
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- Development of the Ayrshire-wide Regional Skills Investment Plan to ensure that local people have necessary skills and experience to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the green transition
- Deliver new opportunities for apprenticeships across a range of emerging growth sectors, including ‘green apprenticeships’, which will help us to deliver on our net zero carbon aspirations
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Decarbonise the Council’s fleet and minimise grey fleet mileage whilst encouraging active travel through walking, cycling and public transport
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- All new fleet cars and vans should be zero emission from 2025, with all new HGV’s reaching the same target by 2030
- Encourage employees to reduce their dependence on fossil fuelled cars, through use of electric pool fleet and electric bicycles and by working at home/holding meetings online
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Ensure our communities, green networks and infrastructure are adaptable to a changing climate and reduce the risks and vulnerability to unavoidable impacts
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- Deliver new and improved infrastructure, including green and digital infrastructure, to assist in creating good quality places
- Protect and enhance East Ayrshire’s diverse natural environment and habitats and help tackle the nature crisis
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