Environmental groups will work together to encourage Allerdale Council to declare a climate emergency.

The campaigners will be out in force tomorrow to get people to sign a petition urging the council to follow the example of Carlisle City Council and Keswick Town Council.

Sustainable Keswick and Climate Emergency West Cumbria are among the groups pushing for the declaration of a climate emergency which will see environmentally friendly changes implemented across the borough.

Sally Lansbury, chairwoman of Sustainable Keswick, said: “It is tough to take forward a Climate Change Emergency Motion to Allerdale in the shadow of the current bins fiasco and the suspension of our recycling services.

“What this contract dispute has shown, however, is just how much unnecessary waste each household needs to deal with, and we can see the desperate need to reduce the amount of packaging and single use plastics that we pick up when shopping.”

It is hoped that declaring a borough wide climate emergency will put the wheels in motion to put the county at the forefront of climate measures in the UK.

Some of the measures that the groups wish to see taken as part of the emergency includes meeting the carbon neutral target by 2030, eliminate single-use plastics, promote green energy, and set targets to reduce greenhouse gasses in all areas.

Julia Robinson, a member of the climate change group, said: “Our efforts are all to get more people, towns, and areas of west Cumbria, all of them in unity, to take action against the causes of climate change.

“It is important that it happens in our centres of authority, in our towns, in our boroughs, and finally in our council because they decide so many of our systems and our services.

“They really need to be taking a lead on this issue.”

Sue Hayman, MP for Workington, is expected to sign the petition on Saturday too.

The groups will be out on Cockermouth Main Street between 10am and 1pm