Agenda item

To receive an update report on the Council’s progress to becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

The Cabinet Member: Neighbourhoods, Planning and Sustainability presented the report of the Director: Housing, Customer and Commercial Services.

The report provided an update on the progress the Council has made over the last 12 months to meet its target of becoming Carbon Zero by 2030 and the additional work undertaken to reduce carbon emissions by 61% and the development of a corporate climate change risk register.

In 2019, the Council declared a Climate Emergency and set out an ambitious target to ensure its activities and operations are carbon neutral by 2030. The report highlights ongoing improvements the Council has made to key buildings including investment in leisure facilities to improve energy efficiencies and sustainability, funding into cycle routes as part of the Council’s Active Travel Scheme and enhancing Council-owned green spaces and nature reserves to support climate adaptation and implement mitigation measures.

The Council had continued its investment into housing schemes such as NuPlace to provide properties that are more affordable to heat, tackling fuel poverty and health impacts of living in cold and damp conditions.

The Council’s Corporate Decarbonisation Action Plan reflects the organisations priorities for Climate Change and is divided into the following themes:-

• Adaptation
• Affordable Warmth
• Biodiversity & Carbon Sequestration
• Borough Resources/Waste
• Corporate Catering
• Corporate Estate
• Highways and Transport
• Investment in Business
• Planning Policy
• Plastic Free
• Communications and Engagement
• Performance and Monitoring

There were several actions the Council was seeking to address as a result of factors outside of its control. Electrical grid connections remained a huge constraint on the expansion of renewable energy generation and the Council was working with partners to continue to lobby Central Government and the National Grid to overcome barriers for delivery.

Cabinet Members recognised that Climate Change continues to be one of the most significant issues that affects the Borough’s residents, communities and businesses and welcomed the measures that had already been taken to reduce energy in key buildings, invest in affordable warmth and housing programmes to provide energy efficient properties and improve walking and cycling routes. It was noted that the importance of climate change was a culture which was embedded into the Council’s service strategies and Cabinet Members thanked officers for their work.

The Leader of the Conservative Group commented on the amount of work the Council had done so far in response to the mitigation of carbon emissions and thanked officers for their work. He was pleased to see further improvements had been made to cycle routes and transport networks and asked officers to continue to assess these routes to ensure not only they remain available to residents but are also maintained and accessible. It was noted that the Local Plan presents an opportunity to look at urban densification and avoid building on green field space. He also raised concerns around electrical grid connections and the ability to accept and transmit electricity and supported the Council in its efforts to request a timescale from Central Government on when the grid will be updated to the flexibility it needs to both receive and accept power.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group welcomed the report and was pleased with the amount of nature reserves the Borough currently has. He noted the importance of lobbying as a Local Authority to strengthen planning standards for new homes and suggested that buildings are retrofitted with insulation. Acknowledging that some houses need to be built in green spaces, it was requested that officers reconsider the use of green spaces for building works as part of the Local Plan.

The Cabinet Member: Neighbourhoods, Planning and Sustainability advised that the Council would continue to lobby Central Government around the reduction of plastic production and building home standards. The Local Plan has a landscape first approach, and green spaces would continue to be considered as part of this approach. It was recognised that electric grid connections remained a challenge however the Council was working closely with National Grid, West Midlands Combined Authority and neighbouring local authorities in developing regional energy plans.

The Leader recognised the work of the Environment Scrutiny Committee as a consultee for monitoring the progress of the Council’s Adaptation Plan.

RESOLVED – that:

a)    the progress the Council has made over the last 12 months in its journey to become carbon neutral by 2030 and that it has now reduced its carbon emissions by 61% from a 2018/19 baseline be noted;

b)   the importance of climate adaptation and the additional work the Council has done to develop a corporate climate change risk register as set out in section 4.33 of the report be noted; and

c)    that the purpose of the report in relation to the Council’s response to the Climate Emergency Declaration and referral to Full Council for information as part of the ‘Matters Determined by the Cabinet’ report be noted.