MACCLESFIELD tax-payers could fork out £720,000 if they fail to help turn the borough green.
Cheshire East Council (CEC) met at a cabinet meeting last week where councillors unanimously pledged to lead the way in cutting the town’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Under the Government’s Carbon Reduction Commit-ment scheme, CEC will be held responsible for the energy use of the entire area and must monitor it, report equivalent CO2 emissions and then buy allowances from the Govern-ment to cover its usage.
If the council reduces its annual carbon emissions it will be financially rewarded, but it could face a huge bill of £720,000 if emissions fail to improve.
Finance chief Councillor Frank Keegan said: "It’s going to be a big challenge.
"We had already started doing a lot of work but the big responsibility is the schools because we have to make sure they are all carbon neutral as well as our offices and buildings."
He added: "It potentially has big implications for us, if we go up the table we get rewarded but if we go down we get punished.
"That might be up to £720,000, which is an enormous amount of money.
"It’s not all bad news – if you put money in then you are almost certainly going to improve your rank, move up the table, and get money back, which is what we are hoping to do."
