TAKING all of Winchester’s cars off the road for a year would still not be enough to meet the city council’s carbon footprint targets.

That was the stark warning from a city councillor worried about the scale of the challenge facing Winchester City Council as it tries to cut carbon emissions by 30 per cent in four years.

Councillor Robert Hutchison told a council meeting that carbon would need to be reduced by 50,000 tonnes a year over the next four years – but he calculated that only 500 tonnes was due to be saved over the next year.

The council measures its carbon emissions in various ways, such as emissions from consumption of natural gas and electricity at councilowned or leased buildings and from business mileage of council vehicles and of elected members and staff in their vehicles.

Cllr Hutchison said that based on the idea of 60,000 cars in the district each producing three tonnes of carbon, this would still not work out close to 250,000.

According to a council report, Winchester district’s carbon dioxide per capita figure remains the highest in Hampshire.

Cllr Hutchison called on the council to think about how they were going to achieve the carbon footprint reduction and to put in some realistic programmes and outcomes.

“This is where the future jobs lie so we need to get on with it,” he said.

Council leader Councillor George Beckett said that the council took the issue seriously and would deal with it in balance to its other responsibilities, but said that it had taken many steps to reduce carbon emissions, such as low emissions park and ride buses.

He said there appeared to be a connection between an area’s prosperity and carbon footprint and that he would not apologise for the prosperity of residents.

A plan to reduce emissions, which includes developing renewable energy projects and encouraging householders and businesses to take actions, was approved by councillors but is subject to the council’s budget meeting in February.