EnEffect very British: a MODEL visit at Kirklees and Leicester!

From June 1st to 5th Energie-Cités members Kirklees Metropolitan Council and Leicester City Council hosted representatives from the Czech city of Koprivnice and from the Bulgarian cities of Lom and Gabrovo. These cities had indeed been awarded with the first prize in three categories of the MODEL Award competition 2008 which gathered a total of 30 excellent applications.

This delegation had an opportunity first to attend the “Tackling Climate Change Open Days” organized in Huddersfield and then to get acquainted with the equally outstanding experience of Leicester in the field of energy efficiency. The seven participants were deeply impressed by the comprehensive initiatives and awareness raising campaigns that their British hosts implemented to address and tackle environmental issues. They also used this opportunity to take back home a good deal of ideas for their own municipal strategies such as:

• Practical actions to address and encourage the community to actively participate in a concrete way to save energy, switch to renewable energy sources and limit waste
• Enhance the younger generation’s commitment to educate their children as responsible citizens
• Strong commitment for sustainable design and construction of municipal properties
• Promotion of local transportation planning and incentives to use soft transport modes
• Use benchmarking and exchange of experiences with fellow local authorities to identify new and innovative good practices

Last but not least, a lot of useful contacts could be made with representatives of different cities participating in the “Tackling Climate Change Open Days” were carried out and will also serve as a basis for future cooperation.

For further information: www.energymodel.eu