At the request of the Chair, the Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Regeneration and Property is invited to update on climate change initiatives within the Borough Council.
Minutes:
The Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Regeneration and Property (Cllr R Betts) provided updates on the climate change initiatives being undertaken by the Borough Council.
These included:
· Providing infrastructure for electric vehicles. Phase 1 had seen 36 charging stations installed around Tonbridge and Malling, all in Borough Council owned car parks. A further 60+ charging stations were being installed as part of Phase 2.
· Leybourne Lakes Country Park. The eco-café was an exemplar of renewable energy and used energy created from the lake using ground source heat pumps. The County Park also had a wildflower meadow which had recently been extended.
· The Borough Council had emphasised its commitment to climate change by creating a Cabinet portfolio for Climate Change, Regeneration and Property and engaging a Climate Change Officer.
· There were a number of rewilding projects throughout the Borough including one at River Lawn, in Tonbridge and these required assistance to get established and better signage to educate on the aim of rewilding.
· Undertaking a survey to understand the Borough Councils carbon footprint which illustrated that 70% of CO2 emissions came from the Leisure Centres, 28% from the waste service collection vehicles and the remainder from the organisations own estate, including buildings and staff commuting. The Borough Council planned to migrate staff from the inefficient Gibson East building into the newer Gibson West. This proposal also included plans for installing photovoltaic panels (PVP) to generate power using green energy sources and would result in the Borough Council ‘headquarters’ being carbon neutral.
· Successfully bid for grant funding to assist with decarbonisation projects and been awarded approximately £1.5M from Sports England and Public Sector Decarbonisation. This funding will be used over the next 2 years to install more solar PV panels and an air source heat pump at Larkfield Leisure Centre.
·
Successful completion of solar PV panel installation
at Tonbridge Swimming Pool in March.
· Established a scheme to plant 1000 trees per year.
· Achieved 50% of all waste recycled which made Tonbridge and Malling one of the top achievers in the country. This was thanks to the excellent contribution of residents.
· £40,000 of Green Business Grants had been awarded and a further round of the West Kent Rural Grant was available until September if parish/town councils wished to apply.
Reference was also made to the anaerobic digester plant at Blaise Farm Quarry which produced gas from food waste and could supply 5-6,000 homes in Kings Hill; and the Allington Quarry Waste Management which incinerated waste to produce electricity. The use of both of these facilities meant than less than 1% of waste produced in the Borough went to landfill.
Members welcomed the update on the initiatives being undertaken which demonstrated the good work being taken by the Borough Council in meeting green objectives and of which the wider community were unaware. It was suggested that a regular newsletter be provided to inform parish/town councils. The Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Regeneration and Property offered to provide regular updates at future meetings of the Parish Partnership Panel.
There was general discussion on a range of topics related to climate change including the loaning of infra-red cameras to identify buildings with high energy leakage; the potential of moving to electric vehicles for the waste services contract; the creation of wildlife corridors which parish/town councils could establish on their own land and the Woodland Trust initiative of providing saplings to community groups. The value and importance of gardens in supporting biodiversity was also recognised
The Cabinet Member indicated that the purchase of infra-red cameras was an action still to be progressed, whilst actions related to the waste service would be reviewed and assessed when the contract was up for renewable in 2027. The Borough Council could also promote the Woodland Trust initiative when applications were open.
The Chair indicated that visits to Leybourne Lakes Country Park and the Allington Quarry Waste Management should be considered as parish/town councillors could find this beneficial.
Finally, it was noted that the West Malling ‘Great Big Green Weekend’ offering an opportunity to celebrate and educate would be held on 8 June 2024.