Climate Friendly Communities Northamptonshire will encourage youth groups, villagers, community organisations and groups of neighbours to get together to see how they can help make the county a greener place.

The scheme, backed by every local council in the county, will be launched with a two-hour workshop at Rockingham Motor Speedway on Tuesday, October 16.

Groups will get advice from experts to introduce green initiatives and think in a more environmentally-friendly way.

Project co-ordinator Denise Marsdon said: “It’s a very broad definition of community – maybe a village, a parish council, youth or activity groups, or even just community-minded individuals who want to get involved.

“We will be here to talk to groups about the different issues, such as reducing your carbon footprint, reducing food miles, recycling more and many other practical measures such as applying for environment grants and speaking to other agencies.

“Climate change will have far-reaching effects on every aspect of our lives, and the need to address it will be with us for the rest of this century and beyond.

“Hopefully, businesses and communities will get behind us and we’ll get more groups working in their neighbourhood to spread awareness and make a difference.”

The group is already working with the eight Northamptonshire councils to work towards climate-friendly status, which is granted to communities that reduce their carbon emissions by five per cent a year.

Sara Patterson helps run Corby and Kettering Freecycle, which keeps unwanted furniture and household objects out of landfill by advertising them on the internet for free pick-up.

She said: “This sounds a really good idea and I’m interested to find out more. Community groups can make such a difference in their own neighbourhood, and hopefully the conference will help get ideas flowing and new groups launched.”

The workshop is free and will include an opportunity to exchange ideas or suggest new groups. For details call 01933 231853.