Issue - meetings

(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Hamilton-Cox)

Report of Chief Officer (Environmental)

(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Tim Hamilton-Cox)

Cabinet received a report from the Chief Officer (Environment) which provided an update on the Renewable Energy Strategy (RES) and sought input into the development of key areas of the strategy.

The options, options analysis, including risk assessment and officer preferred option, were set out in the report as follows:

The report provided an update on the development of the RES and sought Cabinet’s preferred direction in a number of key areas that would determine the extent of delivery of the RES.  The development of the RES to date had seen the identification of the following priority areas where it was felt that the city council’s efforts were needed to ensure the greatest benefits:

·         Energy reduction and efficiency – Actions required to improve general energy efficiency across the council’s operations and any technological improvements which may be available to assist that aim;

·         The council’s buildings – Opportunities within both municipal buildings and council housing properties where energy improvements may be achieved;

·         Private sector properties – Opportunities where Lancaster City Council can help improve the energy efficiency of private homes in the district;

·         Transport – Opportunities for reducing the cost  and also carbon emissions of transport required to deliver the full range of Council services

·         Large-scale renewables – Opportunities for engaging in commercial-scale renewable energy projects, which will generate income and reduce energy costs.

Discussions have taken place across all Services within the city council to identify how to address these priority areas. However, Cabinet’s input was required to help inform key aspects of the RES namely: aims and targets, the Action Plan, renewable energy projects, and resources.

For the RES to have any real purpose it was essential that it:-

·         Has political ownership.

·         Has aims and targets that can be realistically delivered.

·         Has appropriate resources attached to it.

·         Has a clear business case for the individual elements of it.

·         Is clearly linked with the Corporate Plan and the Medium Term Financial Strategy

In order to achieve this it is first of all necessary for Cabinet to define the extent of their ambition for the RES. In order to achieve this Cabinet’s direction in the following areas is requested:

a)            Aims and Targets

To ensure that officers are clear of the intended ambition for the RES, it is necessary that Cabinet confirm the required objectives in terms of the overall aim and the targets that it wants to achieve through the RES’s delivery.

At this stage, Officers have proposed the following principal aim:

·         “The Council’s impact on the environment will be minimised by reducing energy consumption and using renewable energy generation technologies”

Officers have also identified the following headline target areas:

·         To reduce energy consumption by 20% by 2020 against a baseline year of 2012/13

·         To reduce the council’s carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2020 against a baseline year of 2012/13

·         xx% of the councils energy needs will be generated from renewable sources by 2020

·         xx% of the council’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18