Agenda item

The Select Committee considered a report on 6 July, 2010 which included an overview of the progress made against the council’s Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC). In January 2011 a number of stories were published in the media about the Council being liable for a £600k ‘tax’ or ‘fine’. These related to the Council’s liability under the CRC. In response the Chairman has requested more information and clarification about this issue.

Attached is a report from the Corporate Director of Neighbourhood and Planning which provides an outline of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme and what it means for Wiltshire Council.

The Committee is asked to consider the report and determine whether that based on the evidence provided and responses to questions whether they wish to make any representation to the Cabinet member.

·                    Relationship to Business Plan

Page 65 Invest in: energy efficiency

“What we are trying to achieve – To reduce our liabilities under the Carbon Reduction Commitment by reducing our carbon emissions.”

The Committee had a longstanding interest in the work undertaken by the authority to improve energy efficiency around Wiltshire with the Committee receiving an update on the Council’s Carbon Reduction Commitment in July 2010.

Following stories arising from the media in January 2011 relating to the council now expected to pay a £600k levy, a report providing an outline of the carbon reduction commitment energy efficiency scheme and what this would mean for Wiltshire Council was requested.

The Head of Climate Change was welcomed to the meeting to present the report where clarification was provided that, since consideration of the Council’s carbon reduction commitment (CRC) in July, the proposed carbon trading scheme had since been removed following central governments Comprehensive Spending Review and replaced with a levy based tax on carbon emissions per tonne.   This equated to a £600k levy which would now be paid retrospectively.

Central government was also expected to replace the national indicator set with a single data set and the Council was currently consulting in relation to the form this would take.  Further details were expected to be available from July 2011.

Although the work being undertaken to reduce carbon emissions in relation to assets was noted, the Committee felt that further work could be undertaken to ensure that employees were also fully briefed and on board with the need to reduce carbon emissions across the authority.

The Head of Climate Chance confirmed that much work had been undertaken on behaviour change which had not been included within the report and that a lot of work had been undertaken on the Carbon Management Plan which could be presented to the Committee at a future meeting.

At present the Council had agreed to take responsibility for the cost of school carbon emissions for the first year, noting that school buildings in Wiltshire currently equated to approx 40% of the annual CRC carbon emissions.  This would include responsibility for those schools opting out of authority control (i.e. academies) although the issue of emissions from academies was to be addressed.

Further comments included that a breakdown of the annual spend and how it was distributed would have been useful information to allow the Committee to better scrutinise the scheme.  The Committee also requested that details of the potential savings, in terms of electricity and carbon emissions, turning off street lights had and, accordingly, asked that Mouchel be requested to clarity the cost per light.

The first league table, which would show how well organisations were cutting their carbon emissions, was to be published in October 2011 and would include data for the last 3 years.  As the Council did not hold some historic energy data (due to Unitary status) and had been hindered by the roll out of smart metres, its position in the first year’s league table was likely to be low.

Resolved:

1)            To thank the Head of Climate Change for the report.

2)            To receive an update on the Carbon Management Plan at the Committee’s next meeting in May 2011.

3)            To request that Mouchel provides the cabinet member with the individual costs of lighting.