Mendip has been recognised as a top ten District Council for its impressive performance in tackling climate change.

Campaign group Climate Emergency UK ranked Mendip an impressive 9th best District Council in the whole country.

Your local Council was awarded 71% overall, with top marks in mitigating and adapting to climate change, understanding the co-benefits of climate action along with the risk of inaction, and our commitment to tackling the ecological emergency.

Climate Emergency UK published its 'Council Climate Plan Scorecard', which assesses and compares all UK local authority climate and ecological emergency declarations and action plans, with their Climate Action Plans.

Cllr Tom Ronan, Portfolio Holder for Strategic Policy and Climate Change, said "I'm pleased to see the Council's commitment to fighting climate change has been recognised nationally.

"I would like to thank my fellow councillors and the officers for their dedication in making this happen.

"But the hard work continues as we persevere with more projects and initiatives to continue on our path of creating a better and more secure future for Mendip."

Climate change projects Mendip has recently been working on include:

• Launching a £50k Climate Emergency Fund which will provide 14 projects across the district with money to work towards eco initiatives in the community.
• Working in partnership with the AONB, Reimagining the Levels and Somerset Wildlife Trust to help plant nearly 7000 trees, restore hedgerows and protect biodiversity.
• Partnership working with the Centre for Sustainable Energy and the other Somerset Authorities to deliver Green Homes Grants to help improve energy efficiency and decrease the carbon footprint of homes in Mendip.
• Developing additional planning policies to ensure new housing developments are more sustainable and energy efficient.
• Working on a project to better understand the emissions from agriculture and how these can be mitigated and reduced.
• Reporting annually on our own civic emissions as well as monitoring and reporting on emissions across the district.
• Expanding the Strawberry Line multi-user path, to ensure safe, sustainable travel for residents and visitors to Mendip.

See how other Council's ranked, here: councilclimatescorecards.uk. Keep up to date with the Council's climate action here: www.mendip.gov.uk/article/8647/Climate-Emergency. Download the Council's Climate Action Pledge Card and see what small changes you could make to tackle climate change at home: www.mendip.gov.uk/media/23954/Mendip-Climate-Change-Pledge-Card/pdf/Mendip_Climate_Action_Pledge_card.pdf.