Agenda item

Climate Emergency Response Plan - Year 1 Update

Minutes:

Members of the Economy and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee had been invited to attend the meeting for this agenda item.

 

Members considered the report of the Corporate Director of Neighbourhoods and Climate Change that provided Members with an annual update on progress of the actions within the Climate Emergency Response Plan including an assessment of the impact of COVID-19 had on the Council’s and county wide carbon emissions (for copy of report, see file of minutes).

 

The Principal Officer – Low Carbon Economy and the Carbon and Energy Analyst – Low Carbon Economy were in attendance to present the report and deliver a presentation (for copy of presentation, see file of minutes).

 

The presentation set out details of the Council Emissions and Targets; County Emissions and Targets; Council and Countywide Actions: Looking Ahead and the new Corporate Environmental Statement (for copy of presentation, see file of minutes).

 

The Carbon and Energy Analyst provided detail of the Council’s emission targets, the levels of emissions from Durham County Council which were reducing and looking forward to the future, a target of 70% reduction in emissions was planned for five years’ time and an 80% reduction by 2030. Members were advised that the major sources of Durham County Council’s emissions were Heat, Electricity and Travel and the service needed to keep on track in relation to emissions by monitoring and targeting support.

 

She continued by confirming the percentage emissions, in relation to transport (21%), Electricity (35%) and Heat (44%). Transport was the smallest percentage and can be reduced with simple steps such as moving to remote meetings and swapping fossil fuel transport for ultra-low emission vehicles or electric vehicles. Work was continuing to reduce the percentage further with the introduction of the use of electric vehicles. Electricity had the second highest percentage of emissions in relation to Durham County Council’s carbon footprint, as we move forward we will use more electricity with the greater use of electric vehicles and using electric heating but the footprint of electricity used would reduce as the national grid moves to more renewable generation moving away from fossil fuel generation. Heat which had the largest percentage of emissions of Durham County Council’s carbon footprint at 44%, with 43% of that footprint from the use of gas heating and 1% from oil heating to heat Durham County Council buildings and it was highlighted that this is-the biggest issue for the authority.

 

Members were provided with details of the council emission reductions by service area. The largest reductions to Durham County Council emissions was from street lighting, the Street Lighting Energy Reduction Project (SLERP) which had reduced both the amount of energy being consumed from the grid and carbon emissions.

 

Countywide emissions were more difficult to achieve as there was less control and the Principal Officer advised that Durham County Council had set a target of 60% reduction by 2020. However, this data would not be available until 2022 due to national time lags in processing the data. Current data indicates that in 2018 the countywide emissions were 54%. It is hoped with the help of Government, Businesses and the public that we can improve on the 2050 target. Members were advised of aspirational targets of 82% by 2030 and 95% by 2040.

 

The progress made between 2019-20 saw a 16% reduction in Electricity due to decarbonisation of the grid and actions by Durham County Council had led to reductions in the Council’s emissions such as retrofit LED lighting in schools and other Durham County Council buildings such as the new headquarters. Although the emissions had risen for heat with a 5% increase which was largely due to weather conditions, for example if there was a cold winter then it was likely we would use more heat. However, work was being done to install air source heat pumps in Durham County Council buildings where possible. Transport had an 11% reduction in emissions, the council had trialled the use of an electric refuse collection vehicle that had been successful and was leading to the purchase of an electric vehicle. Remote working had also been successful in limiting the amount of transport and there is an expectation that transport emissions would have dropped significantly in the last twelve months.

 

Members were provided with details in relation to countywide emission reductions, projects in Housing Regeneration such as the Solid Wall Insulation Initiative and the Warms Homes Fund off gas heating systems; transport related projects such as the work being done to install electric vehicle charging points in rural areas and work in the natural environment such as the Woodland Revival project to plant 64 hectares of trees and restoration of the Peatlands were all reducing the County’s carbon footprint. The Principal Officer highlighted that in relation to the restoration of peatlands this was not recorded as a carbon saving by national data. Durham County Council along with other local authorities have highlighted this to the government. Members were reminded of the work carried out to aid Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through the Business Energy Efficient Projects (BEEP); there was work being done in the east of the county where the team were working with private organisations to use minewater to heat homes and of a business case being developed for the Durham City District Heating proposal.

 

There had been 44% of the county’s waste reused, recycled or composted and there was success in the Single Use Plastic pledge. Members were advised of various schemes and projects planned for 2021 such as further tree planting, oyster farms; electric vehicle schemes such as try before you buy which was targeting SMEs but Durham County Council would also take advantage of this scheme. Members were advised that one of the key areas to come from the consultation was the necessity of continuous awareness raising and a new website was launched to address this.

 

Looking ahead to 2021 for the reduction of Durham County Council emissions, work is continuing on a Zero carbon emission depot; the use of air source heat pumps; the use of electric vehicles where possible in Durham County Council fleet; the Low Carbon Team was involved in the leisure centre transformation programme. In relation to monitoring Durham County Council was looking to improve its Building Energy Management System across its estate which would assist in fault finding and ultimately for repairs to be carried out remotely.

 

Members were advised of the Environment Strategy based on the Environmental Statement report that was agreed by Cabinet at its February 2021 meeting. A draft action plan for the Environmental Statement has been put together with the involvement of senior managers across the Council.

 

The Chair thanked the officers for their comprehensive report and presentation and advised that Members could see the variety of work that needed to be done to progress the actions within the Climate Emergency Response Plan. He also thanked the team for their hard work to make sure the council could deliver on the targets that the council had set, he looked forward to the new 2022-24 plan.

 

The Chair then referred to the report in relation to e-cargo and asked for an explanation of what this was as he had not heard of this previously. He then referred to the graph at paragraph 28 in regard to reducing carbon emissions and commented that transport was an issue, although the council were making huge improvements, he was concerned of the wider aspect in terms of industry and heavy goods vehicles and busses and asked what work could be undertaken to help reduce emissions.

 

The Principal Officer responded that e-cargo was an initiative to deliver the last mile of a journey using a bicycle they started to look at this scheme before the pandemic and Newcastle City Council had a similar scheme that they ran in conjunction with the NHS and ZED move where blood and tissue tests were taken from the Royal Victoria Infirmary to the Centre for Life using electric bikes and cargo bikes. In County Durham, colleagues from the Sustainable Transport had initiated an e-cargo trial in Durham City working with the market traders to deliver produce to customers living in a radius of two miles from the city centre. He would speak to the Sustainable Transport team to ascertain if the pilot had been successful and update members. In relation to the Chair’s question regarding transport the service expected the price of electric cars to be equal to that of petrol cars by 2025 as demand increased. Vans and heavy good vehicles were more difficult as the vehicles were more expensive but other local authorities had taken a significant lead on this such as Manchester City Council who had purchased 27 electric Refuse Collection Vehicles (RCVs), but they were an urban authority who had shorter collection routes. The Council had done some mapping work and commented that the RCV that was trialled had been successful on all routes. Coventry City Council were hoping to be one of the first cities outside of London to have all electric buses. Electric vehicles were more expensive, but prices were reducing.

 

The Carbon and Energy Analyst added that the new bus station in Durham City would have cables installed to support electric buses.

 

Mrs Morris welcomed the update and the developments around the plan and targets and commented that detailed delivery plans were needed but raised concerns regarding other ‘players’ that she hoped the council would be able to bring into the plans such as industry, schools and highlighted that young people would need the necessary skills to support this sector in the future. She asked given that the target for electric cars by 2030, if Durham was going to hit this target then the infrastructure would need to be in place and commented that a target of 100 vehicle charging points would not be adequate for the demand generated and would everyone have access to charging points for their vehicles. She also referred to the servicing of electric vehicles and that currently the skills needed to service electric vehicles were not quite there and suggested this was a skills growth area for the future.

 

Mrs Morris then asked what was being done to meet recycling targets and if there was going to be a substantial reduction in incineration and landfill in favour of recycling as she had concerns around incineration projects and the CO2 emissions that were generated from the incineration process which were often higher than the emissions from burning coal. Was the council working to a target of no more incineration or landfill.

 

The Principal Officer agreed that in terms of electric vehicles there was a skills gap and these skills were essential to the green revolution. There was already a number of further education colleges that had shown an interest in developing new programmes for the manufacturing of air source heat pumps and highlighted that these skills were key in the future workforce. In reference to charge points for electric vehicles, the Principal Officer indicated through the Scaling on Street Charging Infrastructure (SOSCI) project 100 electric vehicle posts had been erected with each post having two charging points. Durham County Council were installing charging points at its depots and buildings and the authority has worked closely with Northern Power Grid (NPG) to ensure they have capacity to accommodate all the additional charging points. The infrastructure was key, as the grid was going to be under tremendous pressure which could be mitigated through increased battery storage. Northern Power grid and the Network Distribution Operator (NDO) in our area were all consulting very widely and very closely with all local authorities and they had assurances that there were no issues. The Principal Officer indicated that there were also private charge point operators in operation.

 

The Corporate Director for Neighbourhoods and Climate Change added that Mrs Morris had raised some interesting points and indicated that by 2030 petrol and diesel cars would no longer be sold as new cars and when you consider the network of fuel stations and think how that was going to be replaced, there was still a long way to go. This was both national and international and Durham County Council would do what it could when opportunities came along and continue to further develop the network over the next eight to nine years. In terms of the recycling the Corporate Director advised that the authority was doing everything it could to maximise recycling and were waiting for the Environment Bill to go through parliament that would put new duties on county councils and waste collection authorities and disposal authorities and provide the funding and infrastructure to support these new duties. He continued that he hoped that this would take a lot of the biodegradable materials out of the waste treatment process and help increase recycling. There would always be residual waste left over which needs to be dealt with and there is a lot of discussion concerning whether burning to create energy was the right thing to do. The council were working with several other local authorities in the region to procure a new residual waste disposal facility that had been planned to take account of all the additional recycling measures that were coming through in the Environment Bill, so they would be minimising the amount of residual waste that would go through that plant with all seven authorities having huge commitments to increase recycling and to reduce residual waste and ensure that the waste management system was sustainable.

 

Councillor Wilkes referred to Appendix two of the report and was delighted that Abbey Leisure Centre was to benefit from both solar panels on the roof and a new air source heat pump system. This was brilliant news and would assist with the leisure centre becoming almost carbon neutral. He thanked the team for their effort and time in putting together the bid to receive the funding. He then referred to school buildings and the backlog of repairs and maintenance with only a small rebuild programme and asked to what extent could the Council’s carbon footprint be reduced by installing energy efficient systems in schools and if there were opportunities for match funding to be acquired if the Council put in additional funding.

 

The Chair added that this was a valid point and that support was needed to attract funding to help with the maintenance of school buildings and it was additionally difficult to track funding because in most cases it was usually done on a bidding process.

 

The Principal Officer responded that schools accounted for 44% of Durham County Council’s building emissions so anytime a building was undergoing a retrofit for lighting, roofing or heating it was important that the Low Carbon Team were involved as early as possible to investigate if there was the opportunity to embed low carbon elements and gave an example of a school in the county that was due for heating replacement with an air-source heat pump that would reduce CO2 emissions however this would also require additional funding. The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme had funding available and that Durham County Council had requested funding for seven projects and had been successful in obtaining three lots of funding. They had been informed yesterday that there was going to be further funding available with submissions by 7 April 2020 and projects completed by March 2022 which were 100% funding and that the Service would do their best to maximise this funding.

 

Councillor Wilkes suggested that additional funding was put forward so that where work was being done the Low Carbon Team were involved to see where or what else could be done at that time and not to install new systems such as gas central heating boilers that would need to be taken out after only a couple of years to meet government targets. He continued that if the authority could put money towards the government budget, they could make a huge difference and save money for the schools.

 

The Chair indicated that this would be taken forward to the appropriate body to investigate this.

 

Councillor L Brown thanked officers for their presentation and was pleased that carbon reduction was on track. She expressed her disappointment that the photovoltaic cells on the rooftop of the new headquarters were an afterthought and the new office block at Aykley Heads did not meet British Research Establishment Environment Assessment Method (BREEAM) standards and was worried about the commitment from Durham County Council to carbon reduction.

 

The Chair commented that members had seen the council’s commitment to carbon reduction as Councillor Brown had commented on the excellent report. Everyone could look at small projects and think we could have done better but improvements were being made and solar panels would be on the new headquarters.

 

The Principal Officer responded that the team would be looking to maximise low carbon opportunities throughout the rest of the Aykley Heads site, but he could not comment on particular projects. He indicated that BREEAM was included in the County Durham Plan.

 

Councillor Sexton echoed other members sentiments about all the hard work that had gone into the plan and that this was fantastic given the size of the team. He indicated that they needed a clear and transparent plan to track progress and what effect this would have on delivery timescales. He then referred to cycling in County Durham specifically the new bollards on cycle lanes and suggested that the bollards attracted an accumulation of debris and detritus around them and around drains and gullies; he also highlighted the issue of needing to avoid subsiding drains when cycling but because of the bollards you could not move out of the way and asked if there was a machine to clean around the bollards and the drains and gullies. He also referred to the electric vehicle charging points in the SOSCI scheme, highlighting that in his ward he had a concentration of about 900 homes without garages or driveways and suggested that officers should consider the location of some charging points as they may not get used if they were located in the more remote parts of the county.

 

The Principal Officer responded that in relation to charging points it was an issue but there were different options that some local authorities had taken including cabling or ducting over pavements or utilising streetlights. Durham County Council had looked at various options and adopted the Charge Point Delivery Plan. There were a number of fast charging points, but they were towards the main highway network and the SOSCI project was partly based on cost and if the cost to get to the network was too expensive it would not proceed. The authority is looking to install charging points in some Durham County Council car parks and some social housing car parks too. It was more difficult to install charging points on land that was not owned by the council.

The Corporate Director for Neighbourhoods and Climate Change indicated that the highways team had been looking at the issue of houses that don’t have drives and how they would get the cables across the pavements from the house to the car. Some authorities had introduced licensing schemes where you paid a fee that sometimes included a cable guard. This issue did not just affect Durham and had been taken to the Regional Highways Group who were looking across the region to ensure local authorities in the region worked in harmony on this and they did not want different regimes which would be negative against electric vehicles. In terms of the bollards he advised members that the bollards were installed to encourage active travel during the pandemic and had to be installed quickly as the funding was only available for a number of weeks and were not long term planned pieces of cycling infrastructure. They would have other projects that would improve the cycling infrastructure across the county.

 

Councillor Avery referred to the Street Lighting Energy Reduction Project (SLERP) in particular the removal of columns on housing estates which had resulted in these areas now being dark. He asked what could be done to improve the illumination of the lights.

 

The Principal Officer advised that this would be passed over to street lighting colleagues.

 

Councillor Crute indicated that he was going to raise street lighting under the work programme agenda item. He continued that there is a need for the committee to look at the effects of the SLERP. This project had worked well to the extent that it had produced huge dividends in energy reduction but there was a need to look at any unintended consequences. He added that there is in the current climate a need to look at the impact of the removal of columns in urban areas but specifically in relation to rural areas where columns have been removed on roads connecting villages. This could also be picked up by Safer and Stronger Overview and Scrutiny Committee or Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

The Chair agreed that this was something that could be raised under the Work Programme item.

 

Councillor Hall referred to the launch of the forthcoming website mentioned in the presentation that was welcomed as a number of residents had asked him what they could do as local residents, and for detail of what the council is doing to encourage residents to reduce carbon emissions. He commented that the CO2 targets were extremely important but alongside that there were opportunities to potentially increase community resilience by making sure households and businesses had affordable heat and energy. There was an opportunity for the forthcoming planning process to include this alongside the CO2 targets and look at the practical benefits for local communities and businesses that could be achieved through certain projects at the same time.

 

The Principal Officer responded that the website was intended to be a community website and would be focused on what local communities and businesses were doing so would include things such as case studies, it would also have links to Durham County Council’s corporate website in relation to what the Low Carbon Team were doing.

 

Resolved: (i) That the progress made against the delivering of the first year of the Climate Change Emergency Response Plan and the forecast drop in Council emissions, magnified by the influence of COVID-19 across the estate be noted.

 

(ii) That members received a further update report in 2021/22 on the progress made against delivering the actions of the Climate Emergency Response Plan.

Supporting documents: