Agenda item
Discussion with the Portfolio Holder for Energy and Environment
- Meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Wednesday, 5th December, 2018 2.00 pm (Item 42.)
- View the background to item 42.
Report of the Head of Legal and Governance
Minutes:
Councillor Sally Longford, Portfolio Holder for Energy and Environment, delivered a presentation outlining progress within her portfolio against the Council Plan priorities, highlighting the following:
(a)
16 of Councillor Longford’s Council Plan priorities are
green. One priority is amber;
(b)
Robin Hood Energy was set up in 2015 as a not for profit energy
company to tackle fuel poverty and sell energy at the lowest price
to Nottingham citizens. It now has over 115,000
customers;
(c)
local advice events and publicity to
help people switch energy suppliers still continue. There have been
125 ward events to date, and should be 135 by the end of the
Council Plan’s timeframe;
(d)
Nottingham won Britain’s cleanest big city at the end of
2014. This award no longer runs, but the same standards are
maintained through Neighbourhood Action Teams. Clean Champions were
introduced, and there are now around 200 of these;
(e)
one target was to double the number of
council houses with solar panels from 3,000 to 6,000. This priority
is amber as it may not be met. This is because the reduced feed-in
tariff by the government has made it less economically viable. The
target to double the number of solar panels on commercial buildings
is expected to be met, with 56 council buildings having solar
panels installed;
(f)
there are now 60 charging points for
electric vehicles operational across the city. Rollout across the
D2N2 area will begin soon and by the end of the Council Plan period
there are expected to be 170 charging points across the
city;
(g)
599 deep cleans have been undertaken in areas outside the city
centre against a target of 480. Bulwell, Clifton, Hyson Green and
Sherwood district shopping centres have been cleaned every
quarter;
(h)
over £4.2m of government and energy company grants have been
received since 2015/16 to continue the council’s programme of
insulating homes in areas hardest hit by fuel prices;
(i)
domestic energy consumption has reduced by 6% across Nottingham
private and public housing stock, with the target of 10% expected
to be met by the end of the Council Plan period;
(j)
5,709 smart meters have been installed with Robin Hood Energy
customers and the Enviroenergy Smart
Monitor was launched in 2015;
(k)
the Deregulation Act 2015 specifies that no local energy
performance standards can be set through Local Plans, removing the
council’s ability to require new homes exceed national
building regulations standards;
(l) free bulky waste collection in the city has been protected from cuts, with 60,000 collections each year. The service is actively promoted in the neighbourhoods where fly tipping is high, and the levels of fly tipping has reduced from the level of three years ago.
The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:
(m)Clean Champions work with
Neighbourhood Operations Managers to organise events such as street
cleans and litter picks. Some areas have Street Champions who can
also promote these events;
(n) from next year the garden waste collection will continue to November, on a monthly rather than fortnightly basis.
Supporting documents: