Agenda item - Discussion with the Portfolio Holder for Energy and Environment

Agenda item

Discussion with the Portfolio Holder for Energy and Environment

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: