Issue - meetings

Option 1: Adopt LAEP and task officers to explore a Delivery Plan

Option 2: Do not adopt the LAEP

Advantages

The LAEP can help the Council shape future Net Zero policies, strategies and guide efforts locally.

It provides high-level cost estimates for large-scale energy decarbonisation and may be used to support any future funding opportunities.

The LAEP provides a series of interventions needed to deliver Net Zero and allows the Council to better appreciate the pace and scale it needs to work at to deliver a 2040 target.

Adoption of the LAEP and delivering the next phase of work will allow the Council to review delivery models, determine its future role and confirm ambition and appetite.

A decision to not adopt the LAEP (and the subsequent Delivery Plan work) has little benefit. The only advantage would be that there would be no additional resource or funding requirements.

Disadvantages

The LAEP has quantified the investment needed to reach net

zero and there will be significant costs, which at this stage cannot be fully evaluated.

Current officer capacity is fully allocated on delivering the Council’s own Net Zero 2030 target for Scope 1 emissions. Depending on the delivery vehicle chosen, additional resource in the longer-term may be needed to deliver the recommendations of the LAEP.

The Council has ambitions to support the net zero transition for other businesses, individuals and organisations across the district. This cannot be done effectively without a comprehensive energy decarbonisation strategy.

The LAEP may act as an evidence base for future external funding opportunities. These may be missed if not adopted and resourced.

Risks

There are no direct risks arising from a decision to adopt the LAEP. Any risks will be associated with the costs of delivering (and resourcing) individual projects, which will be separately assessed as part of the eventual Delivery Plan. It will be for Cabinet to determine, on the basis of the more detailed work that follows, how to proceed with implementation.

There is a considerable risk that the absence of a LAEP will result in missed opportunities for financial funding (should opportunities arise).

There is also reputational risk to the local authority for failure to advance proposals for decarbonising the district.

The reputational risk pales into insignificance alongside the risks to residents and businesses within the district if the impacts of climate change cannot be mitigated. The LAEP is an example of how one district can make a difference.