Gwent Wildlife Trust is to receive a share of a £2.5 million grant to Wildlife Trusts Wales from the National Lottery to help local communities in Newport tackle climate change.  The project will empower young people to take the lead on local climate change action in their own areas.  Young people will receive training and skills including learning how to create green roofs and rain gardens, dig ponds, plant community orchards and hedgerows for wildlife corridors, and to take part in peatland restoration.  This grant is among the first to be announced as part of the National Lottery funded Climate Action Fund, a ten-year £100 million fund to reduce the carbon footprint of communities.

The Budweiser company has appealed against Newport’s refusal of their application to display a large logo at the top of the approved wind turbine on the Caldicot Levels which will provide renewable energy for their Magor brewery.

GAVO Volunteer Team and Monmouthshire County Council, initially with Tintern and Abergavenny, are recruiting Volunteer Ambassadors to provide a warm, local welcome and to signpost visitors to the wide range of things to see and do in Monmouthshire, encouraging them to explore their beautiful environment and venture further across the county. More areas are expected to follow in due course.

Volunteers have been at the heart of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and their work in supporting communities has been overwhelming. Now as Monmouthshire County Council moves to the next phase of supporting businesses on their road to recovery, volunteers are being called upon once more.  As well as promoting local businesses, the aim of the Volunteer Ambassadors will be to give reassurance to people who may be nervous about interacting with other members of the public in a busy area or who may have been missing social contact.

Anyone wishing to be considered for the roles would need to meet certain criteria and be available from mid-August to mid-September.  For more information, the full role description, criteria and applications please visit  https://gwent.volunteering-wales.net/vk/volunteers/my_opportunities_info_ur.htm?PID=10158118&searchqs  (Tintern) or   https://gwent.volunteering-wales.net/vk/volunteers/my_opportunities_info_ur.htm?PID=10158064&searchqs  (Abergavenny)

The Welsh Government has outlined the measures it will take to improve the country’s air quality under its Clean Air Plan for Wales: Healthy Air, Healthy Wales, revised following consultation – https://gov.wales/clean-air-plan-wales-healthy-air-healthy-wales.  The measures outlined in the Plan will work alongside existing schemes to reduce public exposure to air pollution, such as the Active Travel Act and the Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns Initiative.  Some of the measures are:

• significant investment in active travel infrastructure, improving rail services and supporting decarbonisation through our aim for a zero tailpipe exhaust emission taxi and bus fleet by 2028.
• investigating measures to support a reduction in personal vehicle use such as road user charging, Clean Air Zones and/or Low Emission Zones.
• implementing our electric vehicle charging strategy and supporting an increase in the proportion of vehicles which are ultra-low emission (ULEV) and promoting a shift to ULEVs for waste collection.
• increasing air quality monitoring through the development of a new Air Pollution Monitoring Network.
• intelligent tree and hedge planting alongside expanding woodlands to support air quality improvements.
• strengthening the control of emissions in agriculture.
• new planning advice in the shape of an updated Technical Advice Note (TAN) 11: Noise, which will also incorporate guidance on air quality and soundscape.
• proposals for a new Clean Air Act for Wales to enhance existing legislation and introduce new powers to further tackle air pollution.

Local development plans have not previously addressed agricultural developments in any great detail. The administration has set up an intensive agriculture working group to consider how LPAs can better understand the impact on the environment during plan preparation and the consideration of planning applications.