Agenda item

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet provides high level in principle approval to the solar rooftops and Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Phase 3b (PSDS3b) schools and corporate buildings projects proposed to be taken forward in this report.

2.    That Cabinet delegates business case approval of the solar rooftops and the PSDS3b schools and corporate building decarbonisation projects to the Cabinet Member for Environment, the Cabinet Member for Property and Waste, and the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, on the recommendations of the Executive Director for Environment, Transport and Infrastructure, the Executive Director for Resources, alongside Capital Programme Panel.

3.    That Cabinet agrees the delegation of approval based on the costs of the two combined programmes being no more than 10% above the total cost presented here.

Reasons for Decisions:

These projects are set out in the Greener Futures Climate Change Delivery Plan, which was approved by Cabinet in October 2021, and will deliver direct reductions in carbon emissions and generate energy savings for Surrey County Council and the schools in scope. The list of buildings in the decarbonisation and solar rooftops programme is included in Appendix A.

These projects and the associated costs are part of a wider programme of projects and initiatives that put together plot a pathway to achieve net zero 2030 for Surrey County Council as an organisation with the ambition of being overall self financing. The approach to financing SCC’s net zero 2030 programme outlined in Greener Futures Finance Strategy is coming to Cabinet for approval in July 2023.

The principles of accepting Government grant funding to enable such projects was agreed by Cabinet in April 2022 (Surrey’s Greener Futures Grant Programmes). The principles of these PSDS3b programmes are as already approved in December 2022 for the previous PSDS3a funded programme and will be adopted for similar future programmes, the next of which will be PSDS3c in autumn 2023. The principles are described further in Appendix B. The principles are fully in line with those which will be presented in the overarching Greener Futures Finance Strategy, which will be brought to Cabinet in July 2023.

A high-level summary of the projects is set out in this paper along with the business case development timescales. To meet the time constraints requiring installation over the summer months it is not possible to bring a fully costed business case for all projects based on final scheme designs to Cabinet, as such this report requests that approval of the final business case be delegated to Cabinet Members via Capital Programme Panel recommendation.

To make use of this year’s funding and to maximise the financial savings, the projects need to be undertaken this summer and have a very short time scale for delivery.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee)

The report was introduced by the Cabinet Member for Environment who explained that Cabinet was being asked to give in principle approval to the solar rooftops and Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Phase 3b schools and corporate buildings projects proposed in the report. These projects were set out in the Greener Futures Climate Change Delivery Plan, which was approved by Cabinet in October 2021, and will deliver direct reductions in carbon emissions and generate energy savings for Surrey County Council and the schools in scope. Five maintained schools had been included in the project and eleven corporate buildings. £6 million of government funding would be need to be utilised by March 2023. Business case approval of the solar rooftops and the PSDS3b schools and corporate building decarbonisation projects would be delegated to Cabinet Members, Executive Directors and the Capital Programme Panel. The Cabinet Member for Education and Learning stated that this project would allow the five schools involved to really make some significant savings in their energy bills and lead the way on decarbonisation and solar panels.

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet provides high level in principle approval to the solar rooftops and Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Phase 3b (PSDS3b) schools and corporate buildings projects proposed to be taken forward in this report.

2.    That Cabinet delegates business case approval of the solar rooftops and the PSDS3b schools and corporate building decarbonisation projects to the Cabinet Member for Environment, the Cabinet Member for Property and Waste, and the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, on the recommendations of the Executive Director for Environment, Transport and Infrastructure, the Executive Director for Resources, alongside Capital Programme Panel.

3.    That Cabinet agrees the delegation of approval based on the costs of the two combined programmes being no more than 10% above the total cost presented here.

Reasons for Decisions:

These projects are set out in the Greener Futures Climate Change Delivery Plan, which was approved by Cabinet in October 2021, and will deliver direct reductions in carbon emissions and generate energy savings for Surrey County Council and the schools in scope. The list of buildings in the decarbonisation and solar rooftops programme is included in Appendix A.

These projects and the associated costs are part of a wider programme of projects and initiatives that put together plot a pathway to achieve net zero 2030 for Surrey County Council as an organisation with the ambition of being overall self financing. The approach to financing SCC’s net zero 2030 programme outlined in Greener Futures Finance Strategy is coming to Cabinet for approval in July 2023.

The principles of accepting Government grant funding to enable such projects was agreed by Cabinet in April 2022 (Surrey’s Greener Futures Grant Programmes). The principles of these PSDS3b programmes are as already approved in December 2022 for the previous PSDS3a funded programme and will be adopted for similar future programmes, the next of which will be PSDS3c in autumn 2023. The principles are described further in Appendix B. The principles are fully in line with those which will be presented in the overarching Greener Futures Finance Strategy, which will be brought to Cabinet in July 2023.

A high-level summary of the projects is set out in this paper along with the business case development timescales. To meet the time constraints requiring installation over the summer months it is not possible to bring a fully costed business case for all projects based on final scheme designs to Cabinet, as such this report requests that approval of the final business case be delegated to Cabinet Members via Capital Programme Panel recommendation.

To make use of this year’s funding and to maximise the financial savings, the projects need to be undertaken this summer and have a very short time scale for delivery.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee)