|
No.
|
Climate Action
Plan 2020-22
|
Scrutiny Review
recommendations 2021
|
Status
|
Progress
update
|
|
|
Framework
(governance, leadership, communications, data, policy &
partnership working):
|
|
1
|
Set up robust
governance: Establish a senior Officer board to oversee delivery of
this plan.
|
(no similar
recommendation from the Scrutiny review)
|
Complete
|
Officer board set
up in July 2020. Co-chaired by Chief Operating Officer and Director
of CET, with representatives from every department.
|
|
2
|
Develop a
communications plan: Set out clear messages and comms routes,
Member and staff engagement, & integrate public engagement via
the Environment Strategy
|
15 a) Develop an
interactive communication/information platform, which includes
details on what the Council itself is doing on climate change and
to discuss opportunities where residents may take an active role in
lowering community carbon emissions
|
Complete
|
A climate change
communications plan was agreed by CMT in March 2021 and is being
implemented (e.g. press releases, Yammer articles, staff
newsletter, website updates, promotion of Solar Sussex Together to
residents). This work is now part of business as usual.
|
|
3
|
Improve
greenhouse gas (GHG) baseline data: a) Update ESCC’s GHG data
management plan and improve transparency by explaining the methods,
data, processes, assumptions, estimates, changes and quality checks
used.
b) Obtain more accurate GHG data for staff commuting, priority
suppliers and renewables already installed at schools.
|
(no similar
recommendation from the Scrutiny review)
|
In
progress
|
a) The Orbis Energy
Team have developed a documented process on what detailed annual
GHG data is collated, how and from where. b) Covid and the
work on Future Work Styles has altered staff commuting, so data
will be collated once a new 'normal' has become established. c)
More accurate data is being requested from some large suppliers,
notably as contracts are re-procured, and better quality data is in
the process of being collected on renewable energy installations
and to capture energy generation and export data.
|
|
4
|
Review
ESCC’s policies, strategies, programmes, projects and
practice to align with the climate emergency: policy should provide
clear and stable direction and a simple set of rules that supports
corporate climate change mitigation and adaptation
|
16a)
Business case evaluation and procurement decisions should include
an assessment of the carbon impact of the proposal.
|
In
progress
|
Discussions have
been had with other local authorities to see whether there are
tried and tested examples of good practice that ESCC could learn
from, including via South East 7. The outcome of this work
will inform updated corporate report writing guidance to provide
appropriate advice to report authors.
|
|
5
|
16 b) Reports
that go to the Executive and Council should include an assessment
or statement of the carbon emissions impact of the
proposals/decision in the report where relevant and
material.
|
In
progress
|
As
above
|
|
6
|
Work in
partnership with other organisations to share resources & good
practice: continue to work with all Sussex local authorities on
developing organisational and area-wide carbon plans.
|
15b) The Council
to use its convening power to co- ordinate the actions it is taking
on climate change with its partners, and in particular with the
District and Borough Councils in East Sussex.
|
In
progress
|
The Council hosts
the East Sussex Environment Board, which is one of the sub boards
to Team East Sussex and leads on delivering the East Sussex
Environment Strategy. The Strategy includes a commitment to develop
a road map to net zero for the county, which is being developed
with a range of partners, including through regular meetings with
the District and Borough Councils.
|
|
7
|
Work with SE7 partners on climate change.
|
17) The Council
lobbies Government at a national level via ADEPT and the South East
7 partnership, to amend the planning system and building
regulations so that the carbon performance of new buildings,
including school buildings, can be taken into account in planning
decisions.
|
In
progress
|
The Building
Regulations are a separate regulatory framework to the planning
system. The planning system allows local planning authorities to
require energy efficiency standards that exceeds the minimum
requirements of the Building Regulations where there are Local Plan
policies in place to do so. Both the planning system and Building
regulations are being reviewed by government. In October 2020 the
Council responded to the Planning for the Future White Paper
expressing the need for the planning reforms to complement climate
change targets, and we continue to work with networks such as ADEPT
to lobby government for change. New school project designs now
reflect increased focus on climate change priorities and how this
is informing the new 10 year capital programme.
|
|
8
|
Produce an annual
progress report: report to County Council each September on
progress and identify additional resources that may be
required
|
(no similar
recommendation from the Scrutiny review)
|
In
progress
|
This is the first
annual report to the Council on progress against the climate
emergency declaration
|
|
|
Emissions from
buildings:
|
|
|
|
|
9
|
Behaviour change
programme – corporate: develop an engagement plan to create
an energy-aware culture amongst staff and Members & develop a
network of climate emergency champions to accelerate
change
|
15 a) Develop an
interactive communication/information platform, which includes
details on what the Council itself is doing on climate change and
to discuss opportunities where residents may take an active role in
lowering community carbon emissions
|
In
progress
|
A climate change
communications plan was agreed by CMT in March 2021 and is being
implemented (e.g. press releases, Yammer articles, staff
newsletter, website updates, promotion of Solar Sussex Together to
residents). This work is now part of business as usual.
|
|
10
|
Behaviour change
programme - schools: update & disseminate the energy saving
guide for schools.
|
4 a) The Council,
in conjunction with maintained schools, should publish comparative
data on energy efficiency (e.g. league tables and energy
performance), set a carbon reduction target and encourage
engagement with pupils in learning projects and activities to
reduce carbon emissions
|
In
progress
|
The Council
holds the relevant energy data, however the energy performance of
schools varies for a number of reasons, which means that it would
not be possible to compare schools on a like-for-like basis. It
would also be complex and costly to try to set school-specific
carbon reduction targets, therefore it’s recommended that
schools should be encouraged to aim for a 13% per year carbon
reduction target, in line with the Council’s overall target
and the target for the county.
There’s long been engagement with schools on energy
reduction, energy efficiency and renewables, for instance through
the promotion of ESCC's energy fund and working with the Youth
Cabinet to develop a school energy auditing tool.
|
|
11
|
(no similar
recommendation from the climate emergency action plan)
|
3) a) The Council
to consider through the RPPR process opportunities for capital
funding within the core capital programme to carry out carbon
reduction projects in its corporate buildings, notably building
fabric improvements, and lobbies Government for additional funding
in this area.
|
In
progress
|
The Council has
invested capital in carbon reduction projects for a number of years
and in October 2021 Cabinet agreed an additional £3.867m for
corporate carbon reduction work up to 2023-24. The Council
has also engaged with, and been encouraged to provide feedback to,
BEIS and MHCLG on the need for consistent and long-term funding
from government to enable local authorities to take further action.
Salix are proposing to revise the changes to one of their funds in
light of feedback from ESCC.
|
|
12
|
Planned
Maintenance & Capital programmes: 1) Establish a robust process
for identifying, prioritising and delivering projects.
2) Prepare an annual programme of energy efficiency projects linked
to the maintenance and capital programmes.
3) deliver a pipeline of whole-building energy efficiency
projects.
|
3b) In developing
energy efficiency projects, the Council should take a whole
building approach, which is based on whole life
costings.
|
In
progress
|
Updates to the
County Council’s Capital Strategy in February 2021 included
the emerging relevance of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG)
considerations. The Strategy will now be further updated to
support the County Council’s climate emergency declaration.
Work to tackle climate change has become a part of the
Council’s core business due to national legislation and is a
key priority for the Council, therefore opportunities for
investment will be considered as a basic need.
|
|
13
|
6) The Council to
review the payback periods used for major building refurbishment
projects and adjusts the provision of capital funding for carbon
reduction projects to enable more work in this area to be carried
out based on whole life costings.
|
In
progress
|
|
14
|
Install low
carbon heating in buildings to replace gas and oil boilers: review
boiler replacement programme and assess options for replacing with
heat pumps
|
1) Priority
consideration should be given to the implementation of low carbon
heating systems, e.g. the use of ground source and air source heat
pumps, in all newly commissioned buildings and when renewing
systems in existing buildings. The most energy efficient type of
heat pump currently available should be used where possible (e.g.
ground source, then air source heat pumps).
|
In
progress
|
To ensure that
the costs and benefits of any potential project is balanced with
the Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) implications of carbon
reduction initiatives, the following will be considered as part of
the Council's Capital Strategy:
1) Energy efficiency measures at the start of any capital project
and included in the whole project costs when establishing a
business case. 2) Where possible, ESG schemes to be integrated
within existing funded programmes, e.g. boiler replacement
programme with low carbon replacements as part of the capital
building maintenance programme. 3) The specific technology to be
deployed (e.g. heat pumps etc) will be dependent on a range of
factors including the age, type of building and its levels of
insulation/heat retention. 4) A whole building approach to include
whole life costings which will range from shorter to longer term
pay back periods. It may be possible to use short term savings to
subsidise longer term improvements. This will include building
fabric improvements and also greater awareness of energy efficient
use of buildings by end users.
|
|
15
|
4 b) The Council
consider through the RPPR process providing capital funding for a
pilot project to install heat pump technology in one of the
County’s maintained schools as a best practice case
study.
|
In
progress
|
Funding from the
national Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund was secured in 2021 to
carry out a whole-building energy retrofit to Ninfield primary
school, including the installation of heat pumps, and to carry out
feasibility studies to decarbonise heating in a number of other
buildings. This work will be completed by summer
2022.
|
|
16
|
2) The Council
should keep the use of hydrogen gas heating technology under review
and ensure all new or replacement boilers are capable of being
‘hydrogen ready’.
|
In
progress
|
Currently, it is
not possible to source “hydrogen ready” boilers.
The government is due to publish a heat decarbonisation plan in the
near future, which may help ESCC to plan for a transition to
hydrogen boilers. In the meantime, ESCC is an active member of
Hydrogen Sussex, which works with a range of partner organisations
to understand and prepare for the emerging hydrogen
economy.
|
|
17
|
New build: ensure
the 2008 ESCC sustainable buildings policy is being implemented and
report on its effectiveness.
|
(no similar
recommendation from the Scrutiny review)
|
Not
started
|
During
2020/21 there was no staff capacity to take this forward. However,
given the policy and carbon incentives to decarbonise heat and,
following a successful bid to the government’s Low Carbon
Skills fund, a consultant was appointed to produce a corporate
decarbonisation of heat plan, including desktop studies for 24
sites to extrapolate and give estimated costs for our building
portfolio to reach net zero.
|
|
18
|
(no similar
recommendation from the climate emergency action plan)
|
5) The Council
lobbies the Department for Education to provide sufficient funding
for new schools to be built to a carbon neutral standard and
provide funding for major improvements to retrofit energy
efficiency and carbon reduction measures to all school
buildings.
|
In
progress
|
The Council has
engaged with, and been encouraged to provide feedback to, BEIS and
MHCLG on the need for consistent and long-term funding from
government to enable local authorities to take further
action.
|
|
|
Emissions from
street lighting:
|
|
|
|
|
19
|
Improve energy
efficiency – street lighting: a) Install energy efficient LED
lights.
b) Review dimming and switch-off policy.
|
7) The Council
should: a) Explore the scope for further energy savings by reducing
the amount of time street lights are on through ongoing maintenance
and replacement programmes. b) Explore the use of alternative
technologies such as solar and wind turbines for less essential lit
signs and other street furniture. c) Keep the use of intelligent
lighting systems for street lighting under review and install
intelligent lighting in the car parks and campus at the County Hall
campus as an example of best practice.
|
In
progress
|
a) The Council is
in an 18 month programme to replace the remaining 16,000 sodium
lamps with very low energy LED lamps, which will reduce carbon
emissions by a further 600 tonnes per year. We will continue to
explore further reductions through part night lighting and we will
work with communities to apply this where appropriate, though this
needs to be balanced with public safety. b) The Council has
installed a number of solar powered signs in the past but they have
not proved to be reliable. However, as technology and reliability
improve, we will continue to explore the use of these technologies
for use across our lit network. c) A review of intelligent street
lighting systems was undertaken by a consultant in summer 2020 and
concluded that they would not provide carbon savings or a financial
return. Savings were better achieved by programming the new
lighting units to switch off at night as they are installed and
where this is approved. As intelligent lighting technology matures
so the costs are likely to decrease, so the use of intelligent
lighting systems will be reviewed again in 2022-23. County Hall
campus lighting was upgraded in 2016. The lamps have in¬built
daylight sensors and the main car park lights have lamps that are
programmed to dim overnight between midnight and 5am. A data logger
was used in November 2020 to confirm that dimming is taking place,
which brings a saving of about 45%.
|
|
|
Emissions from
transport, including commuting:
|
|
|
|
|
20
|
Grey fleet
review: commission review by the Energy Savings Trust.
|
(no similar
recommendation from the Scrutiny review)
|
Complete
|
A grey fleet
review was completed by the Energy Savings Trust in 2020 and is
being used to inform the development of the staff travel plan (see
below).
|
|
21
|
Develop and
implement a staff travel plan: to cover both business mileage and
commuting.
|
8 a) explore more
varied patterns of working to determine what is the best level of
remote working from a staff perspective and for the Council to meet
its business needs and reduce carbon emissions. b) Work is
undertaken to support cultural change to embed changes in working
practices that reduce the need to travel, or encourages less
travel, such as the use of technology to hold meetings remotely and
provide training using remote meeting technology. c) The Council
explores the provision of more capacity for drop-in centres / hot
desking and collaboration space in regional offices so staff do not
always need to travel into the main office buildings, including
County Hall, as part of the future workplace planning arrangements.
d) The Council investigate the introduction of hybrid committee
meetings where councillors can either attend remotely or in
person.
|
In
progress
|
The development
of a staff travel plan will be commissioned from a specialist
consultancy. This will be informed by the roll-out of Future
Workstyles. The staff travel plan work will review the
policies and incentives currently in place (e.g. existing flexible
working arrangements) and put forward costed recommendations for
addressing the points raised in the Scrutiny review, alongside
other staff travel items (e.g. electric vehicles).
|
|
22
|
9 a) The Staff
Travel Plan is revised to encourage, and where appropriate
consideration is given to the potential for incentivising, the use
of other travel modes (e.g. walking, cycling and public transport)
and the uptake of Electric Vehicles to reduce carbon
emissions.
|
In
progress
|
|
23
|
(no similar
recommendation from the climate emergency action plan)
|
9 b) The Council
considers lobbying the Department for Transport to make changes to
season tickets for train and bus travel so they can be used
flexibly by staff commuting to work
|
Complete
|
The Flexi Season
ticket was introduced nationally in June 2021. It offers 8 days of
travel in 28 days, any time, between two stations. However,
it cannot be used in conjunction with other ESCC discount offers,
such as the Easit travel card.
|
|
24
|
Install EV charge
points: Identify where to locate which types & number of
chargers, and delivery mechanism, for staff & visitor
use
|
10) Electric
Vehicle (EV) charging points are installed at the main office
buildings, or at least County Hall, with a plan agreed by the end
of March 2021.
|
In
progress
|
In March 2021
Cabinet agreed for the Council to explore options for procuring EV
charge points on the corporate estate and the highway
network. An internal team has been established to take this
forward, including looking at our own fleet and the car lease
scheme, and a new post of EV officer has been agreed and the
recruitment has started. The Council is part of a network of
transport authorities (KCC, BHCC, WSCC and SCC) that share
information on their respective approaches to EVs. Partner
organisations will be engaged via SPACES.
|
|
25
|
11a)
Smaller own fleet vehicles should be replaced by EVs in the short
term when the leases expire. 11b) Review the car lease scheme to
encourage staff to select low emission or zero emission
vehicles.
|
In
progress
|
|
26
|
(no similar
recommendation from the climate emergency action plan)
|
12) The Council
should keep the market for larger hydrogen powered vehicles under
review, with a view to undertaking early pilot schemes and
eventually phasing out the diesel-powered larger vehicles in its
fleet in line with Government policy.
|
In
progress
|
The Council is an
active member of Hydrogen Sussex, which works with a range of
partner organisations to understand and prepare for the emerging
hydrogen economy. The Council submitted a joint bid for
£12.8m to DfT’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas Scheme
to help purchase 37 hydrogen buses with BHCC and Brighton &
Hove Buses but was unsuccessful.
|
|
|
Emissions from
water & waste:
|
|
|
|
|
27
|
Reduce waste:
consider requiring all sites to sign up to the same waste contract
& set up food waste collections from all kitchen
areas.
|
(no similar
recommendation from the Scrutiny review)
|
In
progress
|
These actions
will deliver relatively modest carbon savings and there is
currently limited staff capacity to take these forward. The
Property Contracts team have made some progress, working with waste
contractors to widen provision of recycling and food waste services
to schools.
|
|
28
|
Reduce water
usage: Install water efficient fittings in all appropriate toilets,
urinals, taps & showers
|
(no similar
recommendation from the Scrutiny review)
|
Not
started
|
These actions
will deliver relatively modest carbon savings and there is
currently not the staff capacity to take these forward. Scope has
been identified for awareness raising amongst Property FM managers
and controllers of premises to enable low/no cost
actions.
|
|
|
Emissions from
procurement:
|
|
|
|
|
29
|
Engage priority
suppliers: a) obtain scope 1 & 2 GHG footprints of transport
& construction contracts above >£1m p.a.
b) embed low carbon outcomes into new contracts including low/zero
emission vehicles.
|
11 c) The Council
to consider specifying the early use of low emission vehicles in
the procurement of major contracts (e.g. the Highways maintenance
contract), where feasible
|
In
progress
|
The Council is
working with a few suppliers to gauge the ability of different
markets to measure their greenhouse gas footprints and is working
on requiring low carbon outcomes from high value contracts with
large carbon footprints (e.g. from the new highways
contract). This includes considering whether to specify the
early use of low emission vehicles.
|
|
30
|
Offer practical
support to all other suppliers: Provide energy audits and grants to
local SMEs in the supply chain (e.g. via LoCASE) and eco-driver
training for transport providers
|
(no similar
recommendation from the Scrutiny review)
|
Complete
|
The Council has
promoted take up of the LoCASE offer of free energy audits and
access to grant funding to SMEs within its supply chain. This is
targeted at those suppliers that don’t have the capacity or
in-house skills to take forward carbon reduction measures within
their business (eg. many of the social care providers).
|
|
|
Renewables:
|
|
|
|
|
31
|
Identify
opportunities to install PV and other renewables plus battery
storage on buildings & land: commission viability assessment of
renewables on buildings & land
|
3c) The Council
should explore installing solar panels on its buildings and energy
storage where this is possible. In particular, the Council should
explore the feasibility of installing solar panel canopies over the
car parks at County Hall and use the resultant energy in the
building and to power Electric Vehicle/electric bike charge points
in the car parks.
|
In
progress
|
The Council secured
funding in 2021 from the national Public Sector Decarbonisation
Fund to install solar PV and storage batteries at 6 sites.
The installation of solar panel canopies in the car parks at County
Hall will be considered as part of the work on staff travel, for
which consultancy support will be procured.
|
|
|
Off-setting:
|
|
|
|
|
32
|
Explore carbon
off-setting: work with the Sussex Local Nature Partnership to
explore options and costs for off-setting with natural capital
benefits
|
13) The Council
to keep opportunities for investing in natural habitats under
review for inclusion in a carbon off-setting plan at the
appropriate time when the science has been
developed.
|
In
progress
|
The Council hosts
the Sussex Local Nature Partnership, which has developed a Natural
Capital Investment Strategy, which identifies carbon storage and
sequestration as a key area for natural capital investment. The LNP
has secured funding from Natural England to map where in Rother,
Wealden and Eastbourne carbon sequestration could take place, for
instance through habitat management and/or tree planting. The
Council is also leading a SELEP-funded project to better understand
the potential scale of supply and demand in the voluntary carbon
off-set market and to determine how it could encourage the
development of the market.
|
|
33
|
14a) The
Council to develop a carbon off-setting plan which includes
investment in woodland creation, natural habitats and renewable
energy generation.
|
Not
started
|
A plan will be
developed once it’s clear, for example from the action above,
what the local market is able to deliver and at what cost, so that
the costs, benefits and risks can be assessed with greater
certainty.
|
|
34
|
14 b) Review the
Property Asset Disposal and Investment Strategy to identify land
availability and opportunities for carbon off-setting habitats and
investment in the development of solar farms.
|
Not
started
|
The Council has a
database of land holdings already used to identify key sites for
investment. This can be used to complete a systematic review
of sites to determine whether they might be viable for investment
in off-setting, though ESCC is not a large landowner. A set of
criteria will need to be developed to sieve sites in line with
Council priorities. 14b) In addition to the response to 14 a), the
Council's asset management plan 2020- 2025 will consider land sites
availability and suitability for solar farms. A business case will
need to be formulated to understand the capital investment and
ongoing management/expenditure requirements.
|
|
35
|
(no similar
recommendation from the climate emergency action plan)
|
18 a) ESCC to
build on the existing Dutch Elm Disease Strategy to develop a
Strategic Tree Policy and action plan to manage Ash Dieback, Dutch
Elm Disease and other tree diseases/pests which includes a
programme to replace lost trees where possible (subject to safety
issues) to mitigate the impact on carbon absorption.
|
In
progress
|
East Sussex Highways
have a tree inspection policy which forms part of the current
Highways contract. This is supported by a Tree Inspection Manual,
which deals with how inspections and remedial work are prioritised
on a risk-based approach. Schools and Property are creating a
strategy via Orbis in conjunction with Surrey County Council.
In May 2021, the Council successfully applied for £300,000
from Defra’s Treescapes fund to replace highway trees lost to
disease in Seaford.
|
|
36
|
(no similar
recommendation from the climate emergency action plan)
|
18 b) Both County
and District/Borough Planning teams should be encouraged to attend
the master class training provided by the Forestry Commission on
the retention and protection of woodlands and trees.
|
In
progress
|
Discussions are
being held with the Forestry Commission to determine what
appropriate training they could deliver to planners. This will then
be raised through the East Sussex Planning Liaison Group (attended
by Heads of Planning), the Local Plan Managers Group and the
development Management Forum.
|
|
|
Grid
flexibility:
|
|
|
|
|
37
|
Assist integration
of low carbon technologies into the national grid: Review ESCC
estate for opportunities to provide Grid Flexibility services such
as Demand Side Response and Battery Storage
|
(no similar
recommendation from the Scrutiny review)
|
In
progress
|
The Council secured
funding in 2021 from the national Public Sector Decarbonisation
Fund to install solar PV and storage batteries at 6 sites. This
work will be completed in 2022.
|
