Bath & North East Somerset Council has received an Outstanding Achievement Award for its work in environmental sustainability throughout the local area.
The Council was honoured in the West of England Carbon Challenge (WECC) Awards, held in Bristol on 2nd December.
The awards celebrate businesses and organisations in the West of England that have made a significant commitment to sustainability during 2014.
The Council was congratulated on the broad range of energy efficiency/carbon reduction activity taking place, both within Council buildings and within the community.
Bath & North East Somerset Council is committed to tackling climate change and has made significant energy savings in the following areas:
- The Bath and North East Somerset Energy at Home scheme, which offers advice and grants to residents for making energy saving home improvements;
- The Council works to make sure its own buildings are as energy efficient as possible – the newly opened Keynsham Civic Centre is one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the country.
- This development is making a carbon saving of 90% compared to the old buildings, and will save the Council in the region of £140k in running costs each year.
- In addition to this, the Council generates 300kW of electricity from solar panels on Council buildings, including the 750 solar panels on the Keynsham Civic Centre – which cover an area equivalent to more than four tennis courts – which will generate over 230kWh of electricity each year, equivalent to the annual energy use of almost 70 homes.
- The Planning Team are working to ensure that all new buildings are built to good energy standards, through the Sustainable Construction & Retrofitting Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), the first in the country on this subject.
- Working with schools on a carbon reduction programme – this has led to £140,000 in savings during 2014;
- An LED street lighting programme will save 1.5million kWh in electricity, as well as £200,000 a year on street lighting costs.
Council Leader Cllr Paul Crossley said: “We have an ambitious district-wide carbon emission reduction target of 45% by 2026, and we are working hard with our partners in the community and local residents towards this.
“Not only does this work benefit the environment, it also saves the Council and local taxpayers’ money which can be used to support essential frontline services.”
Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Member Champion for Energy and Climate Change, Cllr David Martin, collected the award on behalf of the Council, along with corporate sustainability officer Micaela Basford.
He said: “We are committed to making Bath and North East Somerset a healthy sustainable, low carbon place to live, so are delighted that our efforts have been recognised by the West of England Carbon Challenge award.”