Sustainability and Climate

Since 2022, Thornbury Town Council has reduced its carbon footprint by 50%. It has done this by improving its working practices, reducing energy consumption and investing in energy efficiency measures. These changes not only make sense for the planet, but also for the pocket. With rising and unpredictable energy costs, which are not capped for commercial customers, reducing consumption and enhancing our ability to generate our own power, makes good economic sense too.

As our latest carbon report shows, our single biggest emitter is still our reliance on gas heating, particularly at the Town Hall. Work is ongoing to ensure this historic building can be fit for purpose far into the future. The same goes for all our buildings - any work carried out is being done so with sustainability in mind.

Amazing progress has already been made and our decarbonisation road map shows the scale of work still to do to make TTC carbon neutral. Given economic, technical and physical restrictions, we will inevitably have some residual emissions left, even after all possible decarbonisation measures have been put in place. Our approach to this is, in the first instance, to improve our carbon capture by planting trees and hedges on our own land. 

Thornbury Town Council works with organisations throughout the area to support nature and address climate issues in our town.

We have signed up as a Plastic-Free Community. This initiative, supported by the charity Surfers Against Sewage, helps communities to free themselves from single-use plastics. We aim to limit use of single-use plastic in our own operations, and help promote ways for residents to become single-use plastic free. Plastic-Free Thornbury partner with us to run many of our events.

We work with Thornbury in Bloom to promote sustainable and nature-friendly practices in horticulture. Along with the work we are doing to balance the needs of people and nature in the green spaces we manage, we run activities to support wildlife-friendly gardening across Thornbury and beyond. 

Sustainable Thornbury is an umbrella organisation incorporating Climate Action Thornbury and Surrounds (CATSA), Thornbury Community Orchard, Grow Your Own Thornbury and the Thornbury Community Permaculture Project. We actively seek ways to collaborate with Sustainable Thornbury's various branches on projects that will improve the environment in Thornbury.

The Holy Mowers care for St Mary's Churchyard and we assist them in their efforts to manage the churchyard with nature in mind. From supplying plug plants that will help to feed the birds to providing signage and equipment, we support St Mary's churchyard in becoming a haven for people and wildlife alike.

Each of the above organisations are represented on the Climate and Nature Committee and Thriving Nature Working Group as non-voting members.

In addition to the organisations outlined above, we also work with a range of partners to support nature throughout our town. These include charities such as the Bristol and Avon Rivers Trust and Avon Wildlife Trust, volunteering groups such as the Thornbury Litterbusters, neighbouring town and parish councils, South Gloucestershire Council, local schools and young people's groups and many others.

Finally, we work with the people of Thornbury to help promote and support our local environment through a series of free of charge activities and events.