Agenda item

Claire Langdon will be in attendance to discuss the Council’s plans to cut its own and residents’ carbon emissions, and how the green agenda can be used to create new jobs and boost Wiltshire’s economy.

The Chairman welcomed Clare Langdon, Manager of Green Economy Team, to the Area Board.

A presentation was given on the Council’s plans to cut it’s own and residents carbon emissions and how the green agenda could be used to create new jobs and boost the economy.

A quiz was given based on Wiltshire’s energy consumption. It was noted that Wiltshire Council had been aiming to reduce it’s carbon emission by tackling energy efficiency, affordable warmth, renewable energy and sustainable transport.

So far in the Malmesbury area the leisure centre has had a number of invest to save projects which have delivered energy efficiency and cost savings on fuel bills. The project installed technology to generate both electrical power and heat for the leisure centre. A combined heat and power unit has reduced the cost of running the leisure centre by using gas to generate electricity for use on site, instead of drawing it from the National Grid. Heat is a side product of this process and is used to warm the building and pool water, therefore reducing the need for additional heating. This installation has saved approximately £47,000 over the past two years of operation.

Lighting upgrades had also taken place across the leisure centre. On average 25 per cent of energy use at sports facilities is consumed by lighting. As well as improving energy efficiency, it is also important for sports lighting to be high quality in terms of light emitted, robustness and durability. The sports hall, swimming pool hall, studio, gym and reception areas have all benefited from new lighting, including the use of LED. The total estimated savings from these improvements, and the use of occupancy sensors is £5,700 a year.

Through the EU funded SEACS (sustainable energy across the common space) programme, an energy ambassador was employed by Wiltshire Council to work with schools for 18 months, from late 2012 to early 2014.

Sherston Primary School was one of nine schools that received in depth support from the SEACS ambassador. As well as identifying practical ways for the school to reduce its energy consumption, pupils took part in workshops to make them more aware of the energy the school uses. This included using a thermal imaging camera to show heat loss from the building.

Luckington Community Primary School also participated in this project. Pupils at the school joined others in Wiltshire to make posters reminding people to switch things off; as part of their campaign of awareness raising and energy reduction. A pupil at the school submitted the winning entry to the poster competition and the school received power saving devices for every PC and laptop as a prize.

Community Activity:

Since 2011 the Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership (MVCAP) have had a website dedicated to identifying local community issues and addressing them by forming partnerships with local agencies, organisations and community service providers.

One of the actions to come out of this voluntary group is the community led One Planet Action Plan, which focuses on four key areas:

Reduce our carbon footprint

Reduce our waste

MVCAP Sustainable Transport - Malmesbury Area Transport Hub

Improve local community facilities and voluntary services

The Energy Resilience Plan aims to develop energy resilience in Wiltshire  as a whole by helping to make the counties energy supply more secure, affordable and sustainable.

A question was asked about heat prevention for homes and it was noted that within the core strategy there is provision to build energy resilient homes. In the past that had not been the case. It was also noted that the Malmesbury Neighbourhood Plan supported hydro electric and domestic solar panels.

Another question was asked about wall cavity for solid walls. It was noted that due to solid wall cavity being very expensive the funding from the utility companies would not support this. Although the Green Deal would be worth looking into which supported home owners.

The Chairman thanked Clare for the presentation.