Agenda item

Members considered the report of the Corporate Director of Regeneration and Local Services that informed Members about the latest development relating to European Funding and other funding for Low Carbon projects (for copy, see file of minutes).

The Sustainability and Climate Change Team Leader was in attendance to present a report and advised Members that she has received a letter yesterday confirming that the Council would continue in the current round of ESDF EU funding for the 2014-2020 programme, which in fact would continue until 2023.

The Council had received an award of £18 million in EU funding that was ring fenced for low carbon projects and the North East Region had received £80 million.

Members were updated on the three projects that had been approved in 2016, which were the Business Energy Efficiency Project (BEEP), LOCARBO and Rebus. Members were informed that the projects were going well.

The Sustainability and Climate Change Team Leader advised members of a new housing project, Solid Wall Insulation Innovation (SWII) and gave an example of works that had been done at Craghead. Properties had benefitted from external insulation that looked similar to the original brickwork and suggested that members may want to view this project for themselves by way of a site visit.

Durham County Council were also involved in two further ERDF low carbon project bids that were currently seeking approval which were the Louisa Centre Minewater Project and Business Energy Efficiency Support (BEES) North East. The Louisa Minewater project would take heat from the mine water via heat exchanger and use it to heat both the building and the swimming pool. The Sustainability and Climate Change Team Leader advised that she had witnessed an example of similar work in the Netherlands.

Councillor Kay sought clarification if the Louisa Centre Project was geo thermal and the extraction of heat. The Officer confirmed that it was geo thermal and was the extraction of heat from underground sources.

Councillor Kay then asked for an update on the Eastgate project. The Officer responded that they had drilled down which confirmed that warm water was present under the site but Durham County Council did not own the land and there was nothing that could be done with the heat generated as there was no nearby housing estates. The heat could be used for an horticultural project for example, but the ERDF EU funding scheme would not fund such projects.

The Sustainability and Climate Change Team Leader suggested that County Durham was ripe for geothermal projects because of the old mines and advised that in Devon and Cornwall an initiative had been taken and were going ahead with sustainable heating projects. Often up to half of energy consumption is down to heating, however there was no magic solution and sustainable heating was a big challenge. In the relation to the Louisa Centre project the service is currently awaiting a decision on the outline bid and if this is successful a full bid will be written.

Members were advised of the Business Energy Efficiency Support project has been submitted for full approval. This is a bid led by Newcastle on behalf of Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland and Sunderland Councils. If successful aims to help SMEs over the wider North East LEP area following the BEEP model.

The Officer then updated Members on Sustainable Transport there are plans for a sustainable transport for Durham City with departments across REAL service grouping looking at what can be done, such as electric vehicles, park and ride options, cycling and walking the project is in its early stages and a bid may be possible to be taken forward in the autumn.

Members were advised of the Regional Energy Commission and Hub, which is in its very early stages but funds have been allocated from Government to the LEP to fund an officer to develop a regional energy strategy.

Members were advised that the Leader had signed up to UK100 in 2015 which is a network of local government leaders who seek to devise and implement plans for the transition to clean energy which is 100% clean energy by 2050.

The Chairman referred to the BEEP project and asked if there had been a substantial increase in the take up from small to medium enterprises and if not was it a confidence issue with new technologies.

The Officer responded that they had done lots of work with SMEs and there had been a substantial increase in projects. The original guidance from government covered only basic areas with a small grant element that focused on energy assessment which was free. There only challenge was reaching out to and finding businesses. The guidance had now changed allowing projects to look at more innovative areas such as lighting and insulation and can offer a capacity grant and it is going well. The team was working on an information leaflet that pulls together all offers that are free at point of delivery and grants available. In relation to the North East LEP project the Sustainability and Climate Change Team Leader suggested that it may be more difficult to reach SMEs.

Mr Kinch referred to the SWII project and the high costs of solid wall installation and asked if the service held a list of authorised installers. The Officer advised Members that they did not keep a list but can confirm that having insulation in a stone built property makes a huge amount of difference to energy bills.

Councillor Kay referred to the division neighbouring his own that had received s106 monies for the construction of a biomass plant in Chilton and which they had difficulty spending due to the restrictions and was concerned that the monies were held by the Council and was looking for suggestions as to how the monies could be spent. He then referred to sustainable transport and as a keen cyclist himself, he thought Durham County Council could do better for cyclists. The journey from the Howlands Park and Ride for a cyclists was dreadful and that the National Cycle Network did not link up with Bishop Auckland. Councillor Kay explained that in Newcastle the council had introduced electric bikes and asked if Durham County Council had considered this.

The Sustainable and Climate Change Team Leader advised that this was a good idea and may be part of the project and was led by the Sustainable Travel Officer if the councillor wanted more information on the project.

The Officer responded that with regard to the S106 monies for Chilton this was passed to the community about a year ago and could now be used for energy efficiency.

The Chairman referred to the Chilton S106 monies and that the community had agreed to go ahead with smaller environment improvements and they had talked about district heating but the costs were too high. The Officer advised Members that Dalkia pad pushed to get district hearing installed but the housing developer would not put in the infrastructure.

Councillor Sexton asked if BEEP was open to charitable organisations and resident associations etc., The Officer responded that the project was ERDF funded, and was open to community interest companies but not resident trust companies and suggested that Councillor Sexton speak with her team for more information. However, the regional project does include these categories.

Councillor Milburn sought clarification if the Louisa Centre project was fully funded by ERDF. The Officer responded that the ERDF funding only covered 60% of the costs but it was financially viable. Councillor Milburn then referred to the SWII project work carried out at Craghead which had instantly reduced the bills by a third and had made a huge difference to the people living in the properties.

Councillor Brown referred to sustainable transport and that Durham University were proposing to build a cycle path from Howlands into the city centre and increase the path width at Church Street to encourage students not to use cars.

Councillor Crute referred to the Regional Energy Policy Commission about accountability of the commission and of his concerns in relation to governance of the commission and how this would fit with regional issues and to be certain that issues are raised at the appropriate level.

The Sustainability and Climate Change Team Leader advised that it was early days for the Regional Energy Commission, she had been involved at an officer level and had been co-opted on to the group that was made up of 10/15 members including Durham and Newcastle universities and believed the right people had been included. In relation to governance of the commission she was unable to answer that question.

Councillor Crute advised that this was something that needed to be followed up on and could not recall it had been mentioned at regional level but we need to look at structures and bring back to a later meeting.

Resolved: (i) That the report be noted.

(ii) That the Committee receive further progress updates.