Overview and Scrutiny
25 January 2012
Agenda Item No______12_______
UPDATE ON PROGRESS UNDER THE CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY THEME
AND DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY REFRESH
Summary:
Conclusions:
Recommendations:
This report outlines progress with projects in our Carbon
Management Plan and wider sustainability work. It includes a
draft refresh of the Council’s Environmental Sustainability
Strategy.
Three projects have been implemented in our Carbon
Management Plan, all in conjunction with ICT. Since 2008 we
have reduced our electricity costs by £20,000 as a result of the
Carbon Management Plan projects that have been completed.
A draft refresh of the Council’s Environmental Sustainability
Strategy is appended for comments and approval.
This year’s Green Build event was the most successful to date
with over 7000 visitors over the weekend.
Subject to any suggested amendments made by the committee,
the draft Environmental Sustainability Strategy review is
approved for adoption by the Council.
Cabinet member(s):
John Lee
Contact Officer, telephone
number, and e-mail:
Ward(s) affected:
All
Helen Dixon, Sustainability Coordinator, 01263
516271, Helen.dixon@north-norfolk.gov.uk
1. Introduction/background
1.1 This is the latest biannual report requested by the Overview and Scrutiny
Committee, to provide an update on the work of the Sustainability Team.
Overview and Scrutiny
25 January 2012
2. Action to date and future plans
2.1 Carbon Management Plan
The Council’s Carbon Management Plan commits the Council to reducing its CO2
emissions by 33% (from a 2008-9 baseline) by 2014. This will help keep energy bills
similar to what they were in 2008/9, and avoid a predicted £1.4million cumulative cost
increase by 2014. This will be achieved by implementing about 30 projects over the 5
year period 2009-14.
Since the last update 3 projects have been implemented, all involving ICT:
The ICT server virtualisation project is taking place over two years (2010-12). To date
39 servers have been virtualised, an additional 27 servers have been created and 6
remaining servers require virtualisation.
An evaporative cooling system has been installed in the server room, which replaces
the air conditioning unit.
As a result of these two projects electricity use in the server room has gone down from
8.4kWh to 2.8 kWh, a reduction of 76%. The server room was using 13% of the
electricity used in the Cromer office and is now using 4% and we estimate this will result
in a saving of £400 per month on our electricity bills, assuming prices remain the same.
A project to rationalise the number of printers in the Cromer office is also underway with
agreement from the ICT Strategy Group. The project has identified under-used printers
and then plans to remove these. This will help reduce the use of electricity and paper in
the Cromer office.
Based on today’s prices our head office electricity costs have reduced by £20k between
2008 and present, as a result of 5 projects in the Carbon Management Plan being
implemented.
2.2 Environmental Sustainability Strategy Review
The Council’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy is due for review by April 2012.
The new draft Strategy is appended for comment and approval. This version has been
approved by the Environmental Sustainability Board.
The strategy includes NNDC’s environmental policy on p3 which remains unchanged
from our previous policy. It then outlines the rational for action, including links to our
new corporate plan, the memorandum of understanding between the Local Government
Group and Department of Energy and Climate Change, and a recent citizen’s panel
survey on climate change.
Our key achievements to date are listed on p5 along with a discussion of the key
challenges facing the district – climate change, protecting and enhancing the natural
Overview and Scrutiny
25 January 2012
environment, reducing resource consumption and engaging and enthusing our
residents, businesses and visitors.
A number of targets are listed on p9, and the action plan to deliver those targets stars
on p12.
2.3 Environment Awards
This year’s winners of the Environment Awards were:
Category
Winner
Description
Reducing Carbon
Emissions
Drury’s Yard, Southrepps
Biomass-fuelled heating of a
small housing development
Raising Environmental
Awareness
Mundesley Junior School
Food glorious food - project to
promote local food
Improving Natural
Spaces
Plumstead Village Pond
Pond Rejuvenation and Creation
of a Wild Flower Meadow
John Sweeney Award
Truly Local, Stalham
Developing a business website
Western Terrace
Allotments, Sheringham
Securing a water supply
From 2012 onwards there will only be one award given: ‘The John Sweeney Award for
Environment Excellence’, bringing the Environment Awards more in line with the
Graham Allen Award.
2.4 Green Build
This year’s event took place on 10 and 11 September at Felbrigg Hall and was
sponsored by Kier, the Council’s new waste collection, street cleansing and grounds
maintenance contractor. Over 60 exhibitors attended covering a range of topics
including renewable technologies, energy efficiency, sustainable transport and how to
produce your own food. Many of these businesses are from the local area and the
event represents a key opportunity for them to promote themselves and generate
business. There was also a full programme of talks by expert speakers, children’s
activities and a farmer’s market showcasing the best local produce. Over 7,000
members of the public attended the event, the highest number ever, indicating how
important residents feel about green issues and the environment. Next year’s event will
take place on 8 and 9 September.
2.5 Planning issues
Since the last update we have responded to 156 planning consultations regarding
compliance with Core Strategy policies EN6 and 7. We have noticed a market increase
in the number of applications for renewable technologies in response to the
Government’s Feed in Tariff as shown in the table below:
Overview and Scrutiny
25 January 2012
Year
Wind turbines
Solar panels
Heat pumps
other
total
2008
6
5
0
0
11
2009
9
5
0
0
14
2010
6
11
3
1
20
2011
13
32
9
3
54
2.6 Norfolk Climate Change Task Force
The task force comprises officers of all Norfolk Authorities and was awarded £20k from
Sustainability East to develop a county-wide communications campaign and supporting
web presence around the issue of greener living. The Sustainability Team and
Communications Manager are involved in working groups delivering both projects. The
aim of the website is to provide a ‘one stop shop’ for advice on energy efficiency,
renewable energy and green living for County residents and the Communications
campaign will publicise the website and key themes such as saving energy and money.
Both are due to be launched in the spring.
2.7 Bittern Community Rail Line
The launch of the North Walsham Station Travel Plan which the Sustainability Team
made a significant contribution towards, was delayed due to the franchise change from
National Express East Anglia to Abellio taking place in early February 2012. However
the 24 February has been proposed as a launch date for the plan, and a verbal update
on this will be given at the meeting.
3.
Risks and Implications
3.1 Financial
The Carbon Management Plan (2.1) has funding approved and the remaining projects
are being funded through the Sustainability Team budget. Any actions requiring
significant additional funds would be proposed to members through the growth-bid
process in the usual way.
3.2 Reputational
Implementation of these actions, contained in the Environmental Sustainability Strategy,
alongside appropriate publicity and promotion will help the Council become a
community leader and exemplar in the area of environmental sustainability. The actions
already undertaken have achieved significant and beneficial media coverage for the
Council.
4. Equality and Diversity
There are no equality and diversity issues arising from this report.
Overview and Scrutiny
25 January 2012
5. Conclusion
Three projects have been implemented in our Carbon Management Plan, all in
conjunction with ICT and since 2008 we have reduced our electricity costs by £20,000.
A draft refresh of the Council’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy is appended for
comments and approval.
This year’s Green Build event was the most successful to date with over 7000 visitors
over the weekend.
6. Recommendations
Subject to any suggest amendments made by the committee, the draft Environmental
Sustainability Strategy refresh is approved for adoption by Full Council.