Issue - meetings

Report of the Head of Environment

Consideration was given to a report of the Head of Environment, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting, updating Members of the progress of the Carbon Management Strategy and Action Plan.

The Head of Environment began a presentation on the progress of the Carbon Management Strategy and Action Plan.

He noted that all councils across the country have been graded on their climate action plans and activities to date, with the organisation Climate Emergency UK assessing authorities across nine key sectors. Councils were given a percentage on how well they are meeting their targets and addressing each area. Gedling Borough Council has been recognised for its actions and ambitions to tackle the climate emergency, along with Rushcliffe who both were graded the highest of the seven Nottinghamshire councils with a score of 46 per cent each.

APSE Carbon Benchmarking & Key Actions:

In order to see how much work is required to reach the council’s target by 2030 the Council’s carbon footprint baseline has been established and an additional piece of work on our grey fleet has been undertaken through a GBC staff travel survey. This will enable the council to monitor and cut emissions moving into the future.

Internal Influence

·       In the public estate, buildings, fleet, housing, parks and woodlands

·       Align procurement & commissioning with Net Zero

·       Embed climate action in decision making and business cases

·       Provision of training and building skills for climate change and energy system

External Influence

·       Leading partnerships and supporting/co-designing initiatives

·       Growing supply chains and low carbon skills and economic growth

·       Local Area Energy planning for EVs and Heat Pumps, flex and storage

·       Planning policies for net zero

·       Transport and active travel

·       Consistent recycling & waste collections

·       Public engagement

·       Project readiness

It was noted that the following projects had been implemented so far:

Buildings

·       Installation of solar panels – Civic Centre, Richard Herrod Leisure Centre, Jubilee Depot

·       Installation of energy efficient LED lighting – Civic Centre

·       Installation of pool covers and new energy efficient pumps at our leisure centres.

·       An energy efficient window replacement programme is included in the Council’s approved budget.

Car Parks

·       Installed new LED street lights.

·       EV charging points installed at High Street

·       Arnold (2 units)

·       Fredericks Avenue, Carlton (6 units)

·       Haywood Road South, Mapperley (1 unit)

·       Morrison Street, Netherfield (6 Units)

Waste and Recycling:

·       The Council is working with countywide partners to reduce contamination levels for recycling whilst increasing recycling rates.

Fleet

·       The Council is currently trialling a number of electric vehicles which aims to reduce pollution in Gedling.

Parks and Open Spaces

·       The Council has created a solar panel farm at Gedling Country Park, has a large programme of planting new trees, and is developing new wildflower pollination areas.

Planning:

·       The Council is pushing developers to install electric vehicle charging points as standard on new homes, and the Council’s Local Plan has a number of policies on climate change, energy efficient designs and renewable energy generation.

The Climate Change Officer, Sim Duhra, introduced herself and detailed the community engagement activities she  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34