Agenda item

Purpose of the report: 

Policy Development and Review

Witnesses:

Lesley Harding, Place and Sustainability Group Manager

Bronwen Chinien, Environment and Policy Team Leader

Paul Hasley, Energy Manager

Members in attendance:

Denise Le Gal, Cabinet Member for Business Services

Jonathan Essex, County Councillor for Redhill East

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    Officers introduced the report and informed the Committee that the Carbon and Energy Policy had been updated to ensure it continued to represent value for money, community leadership, local economy and changing environmental resources.  It was noted that officers working on the new policy were working collaboratively with Finance and Property.  The policy would sit alongside other programmes such as waste management and school transport.

2.     The Committee were informed that energy costs in 2013/14 of the council amounted to £6million on corporate buildings and street lighting, and £8million on schools.  Corporate energy costs and streetlighting have been reduced over the period of the previous Carbon and Energy Policy.

3.    It was added that Surrey’s annual carbon emissions had also reduced since 2010 by 12%, or 9% after correcting for weather. This has been helped in part by the street lighting programme. The target for 2019 is for the council to reduce its carbon emissions by a further 10%.  Officers confirmed that under the street light programme, lights were made slightly dimmer but newer and more powerful bulbs would be used.  Office lighting was also questioned and officers confirmed that issues of both lighting efficiency improvements and staff behaviours, would be addressed in coming policy  period. 

4.    The Committee noted that there was an LED street lighting trial currently underway in Merrow Officers commented that the financial case to roll this out across Surrey had been investigated, but has not so far been found to present an acceptable return on investment to justify  the changes.  The Committee suggested using solar panels on school buildings but noted this would require ongoing maintenance, another suggestion was to rent roof space out for use of solar panels. Officers confirmed that a range of schools across Surrey have benefitted from solar panels and cheaper electricity.

5.    The Committee questioned whether there was effective accounting of carbon costs (“embodied carbon”) in investment decisions and whether full life cycle analysis was carried out, for example on electric vehicles.  Officers responded that the assessment and measurement process would not include full life analysis of embodied carbon, however the management of this would be considered and investigated. However, full life cycle analysis of direct energy costs to the council is conducted and desirable.

6.    The Committee were informed that the new schools building programme and other new builds would contribute to improving energy efficiency due to new building regulations.  However, this would be offset by an upward pressure on total carbon emissions caused by provision for an increased number of school places.  Initiatives to engage schools included eco summits and enabling schools to get funding from third parties. 

7.    The Committee discussed traffic congestion on the staff commute contributing to rising carbon emissions.  This was an area the service is working on in conjunction with the development of a Surrey Infrastructure Plan. 

County Councillor Jonathan Essex was invited to address the Committee and ask any supplementary questions he had on the responses officers had provided to his original points.  These questions and answers are at Annex 1 to these minutes.  Responses to his supplementary questions are detailed below:

8.    The Committee were informed that data was benchmarked against authorities in the South East Seven (SE7), however, it was noted that the councils all had different levels of performance and ambition depending on their timescales for achieving targets.

9.    In relation to wider activity to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions from the domestic sector it was noted that new funding measures i.e. Green Deal and ECO meant the service were addressing issues such as supporting affordable warmth. Officers advised, with limited resources and other support available, it is not one of the council’s priorities to seek to influence e.g. via energy efficiency advice and energy consumption in the business sector.  At the end of the discussion the Committee agreed the Cabinet should be called to review the targets of the Carbon and Energy Policy. 

10.  Officers explained that significant areas of Scope 3 emissions in relation to Waste management had previously been included in County reporting, however, as no other authorities included this data, it inaccurately presented the Council as performing negatively in comparison to other benchmarked authorities. 

11.  At the end of the discussion the Committee agreed the Cabinet should be called to further consider the targets of the Carbon and Energy Policy.  The Committee also expressed that a staff awareness campaign should be established to ensure the work force are aware of the policy and steps they can take to help reduce carbon emissions.

Actions/Further Information to be Provided:

·         That officers work with colleagues in Finance to produce a graph illustrating the cost vs the benefit of the Carbon & Energy Policy.

Recommendations:

That

a.    the Cabinet reviews the targets set out in the Carbon & Energy Policy to ensure they are appropriately ambitious and then adopts the policy

b.    The Council carries out a staff awareness campaign to highlight the costs and CO2 emissions associated with current energy use and encourage the efficient use of energy

Committee next steps:

·         The Committee receive an annual report on the progress towards the targets set out in the policy