Dorset Council must shown much more ambition to take action in response to the climate emergency it declared two years ago (Wednesday’s Echo £19m investment in green schemes)

Yes, fitting heat pumps in leisure centres and solar panels on County Hall are welcome and should have been done a decade ago, but where the Council can make a huge difference in carbon reduction is in the decisions it makes.

We learned from COP26 that the climate impact of everything we do must be considered with urgency. It’s not enough to say ‘We’ve done more than other Councils’.

Dorset Council must to do everything it can to reduce emissions and in that way the climate emergency becomes the first priority - not an afrterthought.

Why do we need a plastic incinerator on the Jurassic coast at Portland, belching out Co2 and pollution across Weymouth Bay ? Reject it now and reduce climate change.

How can we cut the huge amount of Co2 from new housing ?

Build on existing sites, reduce the use of concrete and brick and bring in passive house standards for all development so that new homes are carbon zero - and make a real and meaningful contribution. Encourage the rest of us to put another foot of insulation in our roofs and fit heat pumps as they become cheaper. Wake up to climate change and act now!

When your grandchildren ask in 30 years time “What did you do to stop climate disaster?” make sure they can be proud of us.

Alastair Nisbet

Dorchester