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Tag Archives: Local Authorities
Councils and community action on climate change
August 2011: Friends of the Earth briefing on the changes needed at the Energy Bill’s Report Stage to drive forward council action on climate change. The briefing sets out that Government needs to provide:
• Clarity about what councils need to do locally through advice from the Committee on Climate Change
• All councils to have a local climate change strategy setting out a plan for energy saving and clean power – involving local residents, businesses, and institutions like schools and hospitals – and Government to support councils to roll out the green action needed
The 10 Pillars of Local Energy Security
July 2011: A new paper from the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) which, in the light of the Government’s recent announcements on electricity market reform, proposes that the main responsibility for leaders in councils now is local energy security. Communities, businesses and the council itself need energy to function and the supply should be reliable and sustainable. The right energy in the right place, now and in the future.
Posted in Library, News
Tagged Energy Saving Trust, Energy Security, Local Authorities
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New National Planning Policy Framework
26 July 2011: As written about previously, Government yesterday released a draft of its new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). This, the Government says, presents a “new, simpler framework for the planning system that safeguards the environment while meeting the need for sustainable growth… replacing the current suite of national Planning Policy Statements, Planning Policy Guidance notes and some circulars …to just 52 pages of policy…and is a key part of reforms to make the planning system less complex and more accessible, and to promote sustainable growth.”
The Government’s previous detailed guidance document has now been replaced by two paras (152 and 153). The NPPF states that: “… local planning authorities should …recognise the responsibility on all communities to contribute to energy generation from renewable or low-carbon sources… consider identifying suitable areas for renewable and low-carbon energy sources, and supporting infrastructure, where this would help secure the development of such sources… identify opportunities where development can draw its energy supply from decentralised, renewable or low carbon energy supply systems and for co-locating potential heat customers and suppliers. “
This is a draft NPPF, and a series of questions on the proposals set out in it are in the accompanying consultation document, including six specific questions on energy (14c-f, and QB 4,5). The deadline for responses is 17 October 2011. A consultation workshop in London is to be held on 7 September 2011. Further details are in:
CLG’s press release, a NPPF summary, the Draft NPPF, and the
NPPF Consultation document, and finally the
NPPF Impact assessment.
Government renews focus on cities
19 July 2011: The Government today announced new support for cities in order to harness their potential to drive growth and prosperity. CLG Minister Greg Clark has been tasked to take on the role of Minister for Cities and the Deputy Prime Minister will chair a new Ministerial Group on Cities.
The Core Cities – the eight largest cities outside of London – will be an initial focus of the group as they seek to develop new ideas. Greg Clark has, during his time as Shadow Climate Change Secretary, been a strong proponent for decentralised energy which will be hopefully be an issue he turns to in his new role, helping remove some of the barriers for cities – including London- to support the development of localised heat and power schemes.
Renewable Energy Roadmap
July 2011: Alongside the publication of the White Paper on Tuesday [see story below], the Government also published a ‘Renewable Energy Roadmap‘ which “outlines a plan of action to accelerate renewable energy deployment – to meet the target of 15% of all energy by 2020 ” – now said to be a four-fold increase over current levels of renewable energy consumption.
Government has highlighted before the importance of local authorities in helping support the growth of renewable energy and has also recently changed legislation to ensure that local authorities can themselves play their part as renewable energy developers (see letter from Chris Huhne to all leaders and chief executives of local authorities) .
The 100 page Roadmap is, however, incredibly ‘lite’ on the contribution that local authorities can play, pointing only to the work funded by DECC to produce nine regional studies to help “identify and maximise opportunities for the deployment of renewable and low carbon energy technologies in their area.” The Roadmap goes on to state that “Local Authorities and communities will be able to use the results of these assessments to inform development of their local and neighbourhood development plans.” [page 24]
and that:
“While the focus of the project has been to present the results at sub-regional and sub-national scales, much of the original data can be interrogated down to Local Authority level. This original data is available to Local Authorities to undertake their own analysis.” [page 25]
DECC goes on to say that one of their priority actions will be to:
” …Reform the local planning system in England to ensure that it supports economic growth, give communities a greater say and stake in development, and help local authorities and communities to identify opportunities for the deployment of renewables using analysis from regional studies.” [page 30]
Seven of the nine assessments for England are now available through the DECC web site – London’s renewable energy assessment study is awaiting publication, anticipated to be sometime later this year.
Posted in Library, News, Renewable Energy
Tagged DECC, Local Authorities, Planning, Renewable Energy
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How TIF funding could boost retrofitting in the UK
11 July 2011: The Guardian has published a comment piece today highlighting how “Tax increment financing could be used to fund grants for sustainable improvement to the country’s housing stock“. TIFs provide new borrowing power opportunities for local authorities in England, and was first announced as a Government proposal by the Deputy Prime Minister back in September 2010. The issue of TIFs and business rate retention was also looked at in some detail recently by the City Finance Commission.
‘Ten Steps to Save the Cities’
7 July 2011: The New Economics Foundation have set out today ten ‘tried-and-tested solutions’ from their work on local economic development to propose a new way forward for UK cities. Included amongst these is to “Invest in local energy. At present only 0.01 per cent of electricity in England is generated by local authority-owned renewables, despite the scope that exists to install projects on their land and buildings. In Germany the equivalent figure is 100 times higher.” Two examples are cited – both in London:
“The London Borough of Haringey has launched their own Haringey 40:20 organisation, involving business and civil society, because of the scale of the challenge – one in four homes will need to improve energy efficiency, 20,000 will need some kind of renewable generator capacity fitted, and 30,000 local homes will need to be linked up with local energy networks.
But if cities generate energy then local people are employed. If local authorities have a stake in the financing of this, then the surplus can be re-invested into the less well-off areas of a city to increase sustainability. If community organisations are able to invest in energy generation, like the pioneering Peckham Power company in London, then there will be an ongoing benefit to local people which has huge implications for local economies.”
Survey of carbon reduction targets of councils in England
June 2011: Research by Friends of the Earth (FOE) has shown that most councils in England have not set themselves targets for cutting the CO2 emissions from their local areas. The survey found that just 28% of councils in England have a medium-term target to reduce CO2 emissions in their area.
London councillors asked to ‘plan local’
2 June 2011: Organised by the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) in partnership with Urban Forum, an event was held for London councillors to learn more about different renewable technologies and how they could support their communities in developing locally owned renewable energy projects – and therefore generate local energy and income streams. Further information on the workshop and how to run a similar event locally available here.
What future now for the wider sustainability agenda?
May 2011: Interesting article on IDEA’s website highlighting how policy changes and budget cuts are causing local authority sustainability managers to reposition their work to fit new priorities.
Cities should be allowed to become more financially independent
23 May 2011: The City Finance Commission have today published the results of their inquiry into the current system of city local government finance recommending that cities should be allowed to become more financially independent, to strengthen their ability to drive both local and national economic growth, deliver localism and to increase care for their communities. Of interest to supporting the development of low carbon solutions, the report proposes that new Tax Increment Financing (TIF) powers for local authorities and Business Improvement Districts should be introduced to support local infrastructure investment.