AN ENVIRONMENTAL group is calling upon the new BCP Council to slash the area's net carbon emissions to zero in just 11 years.

East Dorset Friends of the Earth also wants all greenhouse gases emitted by the council to be reduced by 13 per cent each year and a target of 70 per cent of people commuting by public transport, cycling, and walking by 2030.

Other demands include upgrading the insulation of 10,638 homes per year within BCP, setting a target of reusing, recycling or composting 70 per cent of waste by 2025, with the aim of becoming a Zero Waste Authority by 2030, and adopting a target of 23 per cent tree cover for the area by 2030, compared to the current figure of 12 per cent.

However, some of the group's proposals may not find favour with council tax payers. The group wants to see diesel delivery vehicles banned from residential areas, the Wessex Fields development and its associated roads revoked, restrictions on business parking and free parking at supermarkets and reductions in black bin collections.

The statement is in response to BCP Council's decision to declare a climate emergency during July. Councillors committed to making the Council itself carbon neutral by 2030, and the BCP Council area before 2050.

EDFOE spokesman Dr Martin Price said: “We congratulate BCP Council for prioritising the Climate Emergency in its strategy for the local area. However, without specific, measurable targets, there is a serious risk that actual policies will achieve too little, too late.

"The effects of catastrophic climate warming are already upon us, and getting worse. The situation requires immediate and urgent action; our targets represent the minimum required to reach a carbon neutral BCP in time.”