CLIMATE change may be preventing bees from carrying out the vital job of pollination by upsetting their life cycles, a study has shown.

FLINTSHIRE County Council and energy supplier npower could help transform more than 1,000 homes in Higher Shotton in one of the first initiatives of its kind in the UK.

A NEW interactive Google Earth map showing the impacts of a 4°C warmer world has been launched by the Government, in partnership with the Met Office.

AIR quality maps will show exactly how fresh the air is where you live.

Cheshire West and Chester Council have begun publishing their work to monitor air quality on new web pages.

Residents can find out what the air is like where they live or work just by typing in a postcode.

A series of links within the maps go to current air pollution levels, monitoring graphs, historical data and permitted processes regulated by the council. The provision of real-time data on graphs - updated every 15 minutes - means you can also search by location or pollutant. 

Councillor Lynn Riley, executive member for community and environment, said: "We understand that many people in our communities are concerned about air pollution and the improvements we have made are in direct response to what our communities are telling us.

"We hope that being able to monitor your local environment in real time, will provide some reassurance to our residents, and also provide opportunities for people to get involved with the things within their area that really matter to them."

The interactive maps can be used to obtain information about current air pollution levels from sophisticated real-time monitoring stations, historical readings from more than 80 diffusion tube sites and the industrial processes regulated by the council.

YOUNGSTERS have been seeing how their garden grows thanks to an eco-friendly initiative in a Chester school.

A leading fuel management expert is calling for incentives to help local authorities improve their vehicle fleets' efficiency.

James Cowham, Managing Director of Economy Tuning, says that council spending on vehicle fuel can be optimised without compromising service provision.

WORK has started on a major cycleway project that will link Crewe and Nantwich.

A GROUP of volunteers from Chester are determined to get back to nature when it comes to food.

UP TO a quarter of the workforce in England's Northwest will need to green their skills by 2020 as the region responds to climate change by building a low carbon economy.

Climate campaigners yesterday called for the clocks to be put forward one hour to save 450,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

Their study showed being an extra 60 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time would cut electricity significantly as evenings would be lighter.