Agenda item

The Communities Manager introduced the Carbon Management Plan Update report and said that this was the fifth year of presenting an update to Scrutiny. He noted that the report covered activity between 2024 and April 2025 due to when national data was released.

The Team Manager for Environment gave a detailed presentation to the Group and said that significant progress had been made towards the Council’s 2030 net?zero target and the Government’s 2050 UK target. He highlighted a number of key projects that the Council had achieved, being:

·       Rushcliffe Arena Solar Project

·       Cotgrave Leisure Centre, Sir Julien Cahn and Gamston Community Hall decarbonation Projects

·       90% reduction in fleet emissions

·       Offsetting - £860k of Grants from Trees for Carbon fund granted for planting and managing trees cover at Wolds Wood and Rushcliffe Woods

·       Warm Homes: Local Grant and Energy Company Obligation 4 across East Leake and Borough wide.

·       EV Charge Points at Nursery and Bridgford Road Carparks

·       Home Energy Advice Team 2

·       Facilitating Ethical Solar Loans at Railway Heritage Centre Ruddington

The Team Manager for Environment explained that the Council had achieved a reduction in carbon emissions equivalent to removing five Cotgrave Leisure Centres, or 124 properties from the national grid.

The Communities Manager provided an update in relation to the Council’s offsetting strategy. He explained that following review of the Council’s land holdings, which were limited, and open spaces and also consideration of working with partner agencies, Cabinet had agreed to proceed with acquisition of land within the Borough, of grade 3 agricultural land value or below. He explained that suitable land had been identified and purchased at Rushcliffe Wood (Upper Broughton) which had a brook running through it and Wolds Woods (near Kinoulton) which was formerly a woodland. He said that these two sites would provide 123% against the Council’s identified sequestration offset requirement and so provided some flexibility for the Council. He said that deer and rabbit fencing would be installed to help protect the planting initially and added that the Council had secured £860k of grant funding which covered the cost of all the tree planting and 15 years of maintenance for both sites.

The Team Manager for Environment informed the Group about the Council’s key projects for 2026-27, being:

·       Gresham Sports Pavillion - install solar PV and improved water management system 

·       Edwalton Golf Course Refurbishment – including energy measures and adding solar PV to roof 

·       Streetwise Solar – solar electric scheme on the roof to supplement EV charge bays installed last year

·       Hound Lodge Energy Efficiency – development of implementation of insulation programme

·       Develop a Scope 3 (supply chain emissions) monitoring and reporting mechanism for all RBC operations to support mapping and maximising efficiencies.

The Team Manager for Environment also highlighted the Council’s future pipeline projectto decarbonise the whole of Rushcliffe Arena and said that the Council would explore future funding schemes to decarbonise heating as the current gas boilers/combined heating powerplant came to the end of their life.

The Team Manager for Environment said that the Council was also supporting community decarbonisation schemes, such as the Warm Homes Local Grant scheme and the Affordable Warmth Solutions Innovation Fund (in collaboration with Nottingham Energy Partnership) and also installation of EV charging points at Bridgford Road and Nursery Road. He added that it had also contributed to the production of a Local Area Energy Plan (LAEP) which would provide a comprehensive energy map across the local area showing where energy was being used most, where it was being wasted, where was fuel poor and where the biggest businesses were through colour coded 3D digital modelling. He said that the LAEP for the Rushcliffe, Broxtowe and Gedling cohort was due to be published at the end of April.

Councillor Barney and asked how the Council would ensure that the woodlands were protected in future years and about long term removal of plastic tree guards. The Communities Manager confirmed that the Council owned the two sites, with clauses within those sales for uplift if there was any future change in usage and was also looking at potential local nature reserve classification to provide greater protections. He said that there was extensive deer netting and rabbit protections on both sites which reduced the need for plastic guards. He added that the tree contractors would replace any trees that died within the first three years.

Cllr Phillips asked about Rushcliffe Arena solar panels and whether they would fully power the site. The Team Manager for Environment said that they would power circa 50% to 60% of the energy requirements of the site, that the panels were 400-500kw each and that there would be 1038 of them and that they had been fully funded through EMCCA grant funding. The panels would also sit flat on the roof so would benefit from all day sun and would cover the whole roof and it was anticipated would save the Council circa £2m over their lifecycle.

Cllr Matthews asked about future maintenance costs andliabilities for all of the Council’s solar projects and also about financial implications for the EV charging points. The Communities Manager said that income generation from the solar panels would cover costs for lifecycle maintenance and confirmed that the panels had a lifecycle of around 20 years. He said that the Council’s capital programme also had provision built in for future cost and noted that the Council was putting in place low energy measures such as LED lighting at its sites to minimise energy consumption also. In relation to EV charging point installations, he confirmed that this was being undertaken by an external company who were financing installation of the necessary infrastructure and who would then receive the payments from the EV chargers usage. He noted that as the bays were in car parks, parking tickets would be required for people using the EV chargers and that their installation provided a social value for the community.

Councillor Grocock asked for information about financial savings and economic benefit to the Council and the local area. He also referred to the low DEFRA scoring for Rushcliffe for wildlife diversity but thought that the woodland creation work would help address this.  The Communities Manager explained that the Council had produced a Nature Recovery Strategy which fed into the Nottinghamshire Nature Recover Strategy and said that the Council was creating a meadow and a lake and wet habitats in the new woodlands. He explained that in part the Borough’s low score was due to it having much productive agricultural land. The Assistant Director of Environment and Communities said that the output economic information could be included as part of the next annual update to the Group.

Cllr Mason referred to LGR and asked how the Council’s climate commitments would be protected through the reorganisation process. The Communities Manager said that whilst the new authority would set its own climate targets the Councill was focussed on delivering and achieving as much as possible up to that point and noted that the 2050 borough wide carbon neutral target was a legally binding Government target. The Team Manager for Environment added that the need to retrofit net zero interventions in properties would remain and hoped that the work to address this would continue.

Councillor Plant asked how the Home Energy Advice Team initiative was publicised for borough?wide uptake and the Team Manager for Environment said that the Council worked with the Local Energy Partnership to promote it including through social media platforms and had found that most support required was around how to go through the process. He confirmed that 40% of carbon emissions came from housing but that 98% of the housing stock was within the able to pay market and as such, support was needed in encouraging those households to part fund/take out a loan to finance those improvements.

Cllr Billin asked about solar panels on carparks and also scope 3 emissions from the HVO supply chain. The Team Manager for Environment said that the Council’s HVO procurement was certified to only come from waste oil and Government conversion statistics put it at 90%, factoring in processing and diesel transportation. In relation to solar panels over car parks, he said the current methodology and costs of installation made it unfeasible but confirmed that the Council was continuing to monitor.

Members of the Group thanked Officers for their hard work and were pleased and encouraged to see the significant work being carried out by the Council.

Councillor Billin suggested that next year’s update report be presented to the July 2027meeting to allow officers time to include the latest national emissions data.

It was RESOLVED that the Communities Scrutiny Group noted the progress to date of the adopted carbon management action plan and priority projects for the forthcoming financial year 2026/27.