Bedford Borough Council is supporting Mental Health Awareness Week and the theme this year is Nature.

Research on the mental health impacts of the pandemic showed going for walks outside was one of our top coping strategies and 45% of us reported being in green spaces had been a vital for our mental health.

A Councillor has issued a call for local organisations to consider whether they can 'share in the benefits' of Bedford Borough Council's Climate Change Fund, following a discussion of the scheme's many successes at last night's Climate Change Committee Workshop.

The Climate Change Fund helps to reduce the carbon emissions of the borough via match-funded energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy installations on community buildings, cutting both carbon emissions and the running costs of the not-for-profit organisations who run them. Improvements delivered with support from the fund have included solar panels, air source heat pumps, efficient LED lighting and much more.

We must rebuild as a fairer, greener and more caring country in the aftermath of Covid.

Boris Johnson has utterly failed to deliver an ambitious programme

So it is crushingly disappointing that the Government's plans will fail on every account - still failing small businesses and the self-employed, still not rising properly to the climate challenge and still ignoring millions of people caring for loved ones at home.