Suffolk Climate Change Partnership Annual Review of Activities...flights from London to Sydney! REVIEWED THE PROJECT HAS* ORGANISATIONS IDENTIFIED COST SAVINGS OF *As of September2018

Suffolk Climate Change Partnership

Annual Review of Activities2017/18

SUFFOLK CLIMATE CHANGE PARTNERSHIP ANNUAL REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES, 2017/18

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Business Energy

Savings equivalent to

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REVIEWED

THE PROJECT HAS*

ORGANISATIONS

IDENTIFIED COST SAVINGS OF

*As of September2018

£4.2M

715AND

SEE PAGE

7

30k

500 120

8,960

CARBON SAVINGS OF OVER

AWARDED

OFFERED

SMALLTO MEDIUMBUSINESSES

impartialrenewable

energy advice

SUFFOLKCARBONCHARTER

TONNES

CHARTERS

in grant funding for energyefficiency projects(totalling almost £1.8mn)

£538k

315t community buildings of potential savings120

Identified up to Support to over

£80kCOMMUNITYENERGY GROUPS

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1,000SUFFOLK HOMES

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To fa

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35

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BY 2050

PERCENT

PERCENT

ON 2010 LEVELS

AND

Annual Review of Activities 2017/18

Welcome:2017/18 marked our tenth anniversary as a Partnership, and what a decade it was!

Beginning life as the ‘Cred Suffolk Partnership’, a Local Authority project group set up to raise public awareness of climate change issues through behaviour change campaigns in our area, we now run multi-million-

pound projects in support of businesses and private sector householders across Norfolk and Suffolk, with many thousands of tonnes of CO

2(e) avoided

as a result.

We were one of the very first local Partnerships to form around this agenda,

launching our ‘Suffolk Climate Action Plan’ at the inaugural ‘Creating the

Greenest County’ conference in 2007 with a reduction target that was soon

adopted by the Suffolk Strategic Partnership in ‘Transforming Suffolk’, the

county’s Community Strategy 2008-2028. We are now implementing our third

Action Plan and our delivery projects have won awards for their innovative

approach, some being showcased as case studies in regional strategies such

as the New Anglia LEP’s ‘Green Economy Manifesto’. Examples of this work are

celebrated in this Review.

The UK Climate Change Act 2008 enshrines in law a requirement that the

UK works to reduce its carbon emissions and our work directly supports this

commitment at a local level. The Paris Agreement of 2015 strengthens the

need to meet these commitments and if we are to successfully respond to

the challenge of keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2

degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the

temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius, then we will need

Plans such as ours to be successful.

We are proud that our work supports the delivery of inclusive growth

across the county, through a focus on improving the profitability of local

businesses via a reduction in their energy intensity and addressing the

energy efficiency of private sector housing for our residents. In addition to

cutting carbon, these projects support economic growth and jobs, improve

public health and welfare, save money for the public sector, businesses

and households, and have the potential to generate income to support

other public services.

Moreover, as the energy supply powering this growth decentralises,

decarbonises, digitises and democratises, we are strongly-placed to

help shape this low-carbon transition and our partner members will

continue to play a leading role in it. We will work to place Suffolk

at the forefront of delivering the UK’s ‘Clean Growth Strategy’ and

to ensure that we are well-placed to benefit from the UK Shared

Prosperity Fund as this develops post-Brexit.

David WaltonProgramme Manager, Suffolk Climate Change Partnership

September 2018


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The project has been running since 2012 and as of April 2018 had achieved the following highlights:

£500k

1,900

£66,000

AWARDED OVER

to deliver boiler repairs, replacements and insulation measures.

COMPLETED OVER

free home energy efficiency surveys.

OVERof fuel payments awarded, this does not include those referred to the Surviving Winter Campaign.

357homes insulated,

including loft, cavity wall and

solid wall.

345BOILERS

REPAIRED OR REPLACED.

231central heating

systems installed.

Worked in partnership to help administer two

first time central heating funds worth over £6m


4

For further information on any of the projects and activities highlighted in this Review, please contact:

David Walton Programme Manager, Suffolk Climate Change Partnership

[email protected]

01473 264842

www.greensuffolk.org

The Suffolk Climate Change Partnership – who we are

The Suffolk Climate Change

Partnership (SCCP) consists of Suffolk’s Local Authorities

and the Environment Agency, working together locally with other organisations including New Anglia

LEP, Groundwork Suffolk and the University of Suffolk under the

banner of Creating the Greenest County.

Our domestic

energy efficiency and fuel poverty reduction

work aligns with the Suffolk Health and Wellbeing Strategy, which makes

clear links between housing quality and

health.Our

strategic approach is

set out in Suffolk Climate Action

Plan 3

Our work

compliments Suffolk’s Nature Strategy, which seeks to ensure the development of ecological networks across the

county as we adapt to a changing climate and Coastal Partnership East, which seeks to manage

coastal change as our climate warms.

Our work

supports the Local Energy East strategy,

which sets out the region’s collective ambitions to remain at the forefront

of Clean Growth in the UK


5


Our Vision, Target and Plan

To facilitate a reduction in absolute carbon emissions in Suffolk of 35% on 2010 levels by 2025 and 75% by 2050, in line with the UK Climate Change Act 2008. This uses 2010 as the baseline year instead of 1990 as the Climate Change Act does, as the Partnership does not have access to figures for Suffolk prior to this time, but the reduction trajectory from 2010 is consistent with the Act.

We use data published by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to monitor progress against this target.

The Partnership also sets itself the role of supporting businesses and communities to improve their resilience to a changing climate, an increasingly critical service in our local area.

The Plan sets out our progress to date in reducing emissions across Suffolk and sets out the priority themes which the Partnership will be focusing on up to 2020: Adaptation, Business Energy Efficiency & Renewables, Community Energy and Domestic Energy Efficiency. It has been developed by the Partnership with the oversight of the relevant Local Authority cabinet members and Portfolio Holders across the county. It represents the Partners’ commitment to act in support of the wider target for Suffolk, with emissions reduction activity focused on the Domestic and Industry & Commercial sectors.

The Actions underlying this Plan will be implemented in partnership with the SCCP’s members across the county;

progress is monitored by Partner members at Quarterly Steering Group meetings.

“Suffolk wants to be an exemplar in tackling climate change and protecting and enhancing its natural…environment…to be the county with the greatest reduction in carbon emissions”.

The UK Climate Change Act 2008 established a target for the UK to reduce its emissions by at least 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. This target

represents an appropriate UK contribution to global emission reductions consistent with limiting global temperature rise to as little as possible above 2°C. To ensure that regular progress is made towards this long-term target, the Act also established a system of five-yearly carbon budgets, to serve as stepping stones on the way.

The first five carbon budgets, leading to 2032, have been set in law. The Committee on Climate Change, which advises the UK Government on emissions targets, states that meeting the fifth carbon budget (2028-32) will require emissions to be reduced by 57% on 1990 levels in 2030.

The carbon budgets (and hence Suffolk’s target) are also consistent with reductions needed to meet the Paris Climate Change Agreement: to limit global warming to below 2°C. The progress of the Agreement will be reviewed every five years through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its intention is to peak greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible.

In line with the Act, the Partnership has set its own target:

In March 2017 we published Suffolk Climate Action Plan 3: Fostering business and community resilience, reducing carbon emissions and increasing local economic growth, our third such plan.

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In June 2018 we launched a group buying solar scheme for residents, businesses and communities across the county. Solar Together Suffolk aims to

get the most competitive offer available on solar PV panel installations by consolidating the buying power of participants in the scheme, which is also running in London, Essex and Norfolk.

Solar Together Suffolk represents great value through a quality-assured, Council-backed offer. It has the benefit of increasing renewable energy generation, leveraging private investment into the local renewable energy industry and raising the profile of solar energy locally. Through the scheme we have achieved around a 20% discount on market price whilst ensuring quality levels are high – achieving this through the resultant economies of scale.

Partnership Activity

Our latest project: Solar Together Suffolk

Our partner iChoosr provide the template marketing materials, manage the registration of residents through the dedicated website, the auction of the offer to installer companies and associated due diligence, contracting with residents, installation

of the panels including quality assurance and any post-install issues. Suffolk County Council has oversight of the process, performance and any complaints should these arise.

Installs will take place from October through to March 2019 ahead of the closure of the Feed-in-Tariff scheme to new applicants on April 1st 2019. We expect to help our residents install a massive 2.3MWp of solar power in Suffolk through the scheme, helping them save money on energy bills and gain an income from their panels before the government incentive scheme closes.

2,900registrants


The scheme is led by Suffolk County Council, working in partnership with our Borough and District Councils via the Suffolk Climate Change Partnership.


Suffolk County Councillor Richard Rout meets Mr Couldridge from Stowmarket, who received one of the first solar panel installations under the Solar Together Suffolk scheme.

KiezebrinkBased in Bury St Edmunds, Kiezebrink UK are one of the largest suppliers of exotic animal food and raw meat diets in the UK. They have recently been awarded grant funding from the Business Energy Efficiency (BEE) Anglia project to increase their processing and freezer storage facility.

Following an independent energy audit, Kiezebrink UK successfully applied for a grant of £17,000. The energy savings gained by implementing this project will amount to 37.7 CO

2(e) per year, plus

cost savings of £7,500. This will support future growth within their business, while working to protect our environment.

Without the funding supplied by BEE Anglia

we wouldn’t have been able to afford the extra cost of installing energy saving freezer condensing units, frequency inverters and LED lighting. Our aim is to grow the company without having any increased impact on the environment. Implementing these energy saving techniques will help us achieve this goal.

Alasdair Gordon, Operations Director at Kiezebrink UK.

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Business support

The BEE Anglia project is supported by the European Regional Development Fund and is being

delivered across the region through a partnership of Suffolk County Council, Norfolk County Council, Groundwork and Nwes. The project has three core offers that have been designed to help businesses reduce carbon and save money using independent advice, funding and recognition for their efforts:

Free Energy Reviews – Energy experts will visit the business’ premises to conduct a free, impartial and independent review that identifies the best cost and carbon saving opportunities.

Grant Funding – BEE has funding to support participating businesses to implement innovative energy efficiency measures.

Carbon Charter Accreditation – This local accreditation helps businesses to stand out from the crowd with independent verification of their sustainability management.

Businesses interested in any aspect of this service can find out more and register online (www.beeanglia.org) or call Groundwork on 01473 350370. Dedicated advisors can answer any queries about eligibility for the programme or potential grant projects.

So far Business Energy Efficiency (BEE) Anglia has awarded more than £437k in grant funding for various energy efficiency projects (totalling more than £1.5M) including radiant heating, vehicle tracking, wood burners and lighting. Any energy efficiency measure is considered: approval is based on being able to demonstrate sufficient associated energy savings.

As of September 2018, the project had reviewed 715 organisations and identified cost savings of £4.2M (£5,812 per business) and carbon savings of over 30k tonnes (42 tonnes per business). The savings identified are the equivalent of 8,960 flights from London to Sydney!


CASE STUDYBEE Anglia


Effici

ency (BEE) Anglia Busin

ess Energy

in grant funding for various energy efficiency projects (totalling more than £1.5mn)

£437k

£538k in grant funding forenergy efficiency projects(totalling almost £1.8mn)**as of November 2018

So far Business Energy Efficiency (BEE)Anglia has awarded more than

£538k


8

Suffolk Carbon CharterThe Carbon Charter (www.greensuffolk.org/charter) is an accreditation awarded to those businesses that are doing their bit towards Creating the Greenest County. The Carbon Charter was launched by Suffolk County Council and the Environment Agency in 2010 as a means for local businesses to have their achievements verified. In the years since, nearly 500 Charters across the three levels (Gold, Silver, and Bronze) have been awarded to firms of all sectors and sizes. Holding the certification has become the recognised mark of sustainable business.

With support from BEE Anglia, the network continues to expand, including through the launch of a separate Norfolk Carbon Charter branding. The partnership with the East of England Co-op has now seen over half of their Locally Sourced businesses accredited. Regular events provide opportunities to share learning and introduce members to new technologies, as Charter members are encouraged to progress to the next level. With a growing demand from consumers for evidence that their purchases are sustainably sourced, the Charter is helping local businesses to win contracts. But the focus of the scheme remains building a

collaborative network that supports continual progress.

Suffolk Carbon Leaders

In 2014-15 the Suffolk County Council-funded Suffolk Carbon Leaders programme (SCL) provided highly tailored

and specialist support to 157 Mid-Sized businesses across Suffolk.

The crux of the programme was supporting these businesses to reduce their energy spend and carbon footprints. By the end of monitoring in 2015, annual savings of 1,300 tCO

2e resulted from projects already

implemented – but affordable projects delivering savings of nearly 22,000 tCO

2e were identified, with

many of these having since been taken forward.

Where SCL differed from previous strands of work was in the scale of the resource on offer to each company, allowing them the time to undertake a full review and then work through the implementation of projects identified. This helped tackle the barriers to project implementation that are often encountered in larger businesses. The flexibility of the programme was highly valued by participants, with 95% saying they would recommend the support to other businesses.

As well as the potential for larger direct savings, an additional benefit of working with mid-sized businesses was the potential to catalyse wider, broader change through their supply chains and contacts. This work therefore also generated interest in the EBA service and has fed directly into the increased delivery seen under BEE Anglia.

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157 Mid-Sized businesses across Suffolk

SCL

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Mauldons Brewery receive their Silver award, July 2018


9

In August 2014, the SABRE project won a Green Apple Environment Award in the national campaign

to find Britain’s greenest companies, councils and communities. SABRE (Support and Advice to Businesses around Renewable Energy) competed against more than 500 nominations for Environmental Best Practice.

The project offered 120 small and medium-sized businesses and social enterprises in Suffolk the opportunity to discover their potential to generate renewable energy by providing them with independent and impartial support and advice on investment opportunities created by Feed-in Tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive.

SABRE was a three-year partnership project between Groundwork Suffolk and Suffolk County Council on behalf of the Suffolk Climate Change Partnership and was part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

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SABRE

Denny Bros Ltd BackgroundDenny Bros Ltd is a family owned business whichwas started by brothers Douglas and RussellDenny in 1945. The company was a generalprinter

until the 1970’s when they invented andpatented the leaflet label Fix-a-Form®. In 2008they achieved ISO14001 accreditation

and havesince undertaken several resource efficiencyprojects which have reduced their electricity useby over 40%, gas by 28% and water usage bynearly 50%.

SABRE SupportDenny Bros Ltd reviewed SABRE’s recommendationsand

chose to install solar PV. It provided them witha worthwhile return on investment and 6 – 8 % oftheir annual electricity

supply. SABRE gave furthersupport to help identify suppliers and the system’sspecification. A Voltage Optimisation System wasinstalled at the same time and the combinedsystem has reduced their electricity consumption byaround 20% since installation.

Denny Bros Ltd said:

”We’d encourage other businesses to follow thisvery worthwhile approach, leading to reducedenvironmental impacts and realistic commercialreturns on their investment.”

”SABRE has helped us to deliver an excellent solarPV installation and greatly increased ourawareness of renewable technology”.

Solutions & Benefits

CASE STUDY


SCL

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SCL

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SCL

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CO2savings:

468T over 20 years

www.greensuffolk.org/sabre

Installed measure: Solar PV

Cost savings after payback: £211K over 20 years

Size of installation:

50kWp

PV installation cost:

£63,000

Payback: < 5 years

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Warm Homes Healthy People is a county wide partnership project, comprising all

Borough & District councils in Suffolk. The project provides practical support, information and assistance to those living in fuel poverty. Most of these households are comprised of one or more vulnerable tenants, tenants with long term health conditions, the old, young and those with disabilities.

In Suffolk there are an estimated 43,330 households in fuel poverty, approximately 12% of the population. These levels are the highest in the East of England, both in terms of number of households and proportion. This can be partly explained by the large areas of Suffolk off the gas grid. Suffolk has an estimated 136,129 such properties: that’s 39% of the households in Suffolk! The relationship between off gas areas and fuel poverty is well documented with off gas homes having excess heating costs of £670 per year. In addition, the worst properties are more likely to be located in such areas, with 70% of F/G rated properties off gas (National Energy Action, In From the Cold, 2017). There were 314 excess winter deaths in Suffolk over the winter of 2015/16, furthermore National Energy Action estimate for each death there are 8 hospital admissions.

Project intervention is aimed to achieving the following-

Reduced health inequalities.

Improved health outcomes.

Reduced impact of cold homes on health.

Reduced excess winter deaths.

Reduced hospital admissions, re-admission and delayed discharge.

Reduced pressure on the health and social care system.

Warm Homes Healthy People has recently started to work closely with Ipswich and West Suffolk Foundation Trust. The project Health Liaison Manager has been awarded an honorary contract to work with wards and discharge planning teams. The goal is to identify any patients who were admitted due to cold homes, and to make sure no patient is discharged into a cold home.

The project has a dedicated helpline (03456 037686), and currently has the following offer for eligible Suffolk residents,

Free home energy efficiency surveys from a City & Guilds Level 3 trained surveyor

Fuel payments, including oil and pre-pay meters

Assistance with boiler repairs and replacements

First time central heating installations (National Grid and Affordable Warmth Solution’s Warm Homes Fund)

Free advice and signposting

Free draught-proofing

Loan heaters


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Domestic Energy Efficiency

Suffolk Energy Action

Suffolk Energy Action is the campaign name that Suffolk’s Councils

use to promote domestic energy efficiency offers to our residents. The service places emphasis on using local installers to undertake the work, thus supporting Suffolk’s low carbon economy.

We have directly enabled the installation of energy efficiency measures for more than a thousand Suffolk householders over this time, realising thousands of tonnes of annual CO

2 emissions

and bringing in over £10mn to fund measures which directly benefit residents struggling to heat colder homes. Measures installed range from simple loft and cavity wall insulation to boiler replacements, first-time central heating systems and solid wall insulation, all helping make homes cheaper to run and more comfortable to live in.

Warm Homes Healthy People

As our energy system decentralises, it becomes more viable for communities to play an active role in generating energy from the Suffolk landscape and SCCP has been at the forefront of supporting groups who want to take the initiative. Our support has covered awareness raising and planning support, funding and feasibility studies through to direct investment in installations.

To boost awareness and confidence, we have produced a community energy toolkit and run several workshops, including one this year during Community Energy Fortnight in association with the Suffolk Association of

Local Councils. This event was the launch of a campaign to support groups to consider community energy and the environment as part the Neighbourhood Planning process. Over 40 parish councils attended, where they received expert advice from SCCP, the Centre for Sustainable Energy, Community Energy England as well as hearing from local case studies. Further workshops are planned to help these projects develop from initial concept to installation.

For those more advanced community energy groups, we have helped them access over £80,000 in funding from government support programmes like the Rural and Urban Community Energy Fund, to investigate the feasibility of solar energy cooperatives, district heating networks and community owned biogas plants amongst other community scale solutions.

This work saw the founding of Green Energy Nayland and Power 4 Kelsale-cum-Carlton, two of the UKs first solar energy co-ops that saw over 150 community members contribute to crowdfunding 5 solar PV arrays connected to community facilities. Work with Sunrise Energy in Ipswich also led to solar PV installations at St Elizabeth’s Hospice, several Scout buildings and a soon-to-be installed biosolar research roof at the University of Suffolk. We have also supported the rollout of solar PV on the county’s libraries and schools, working with the social enterprise Solar for Schools to promote an innovative roof rental and educational offer to both LEA maintained schools and Academies.

SUFF

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11


Community Energy

The project has been running since 2012 and as of April 2018 had achieved the following

highlights:

Worked in partnership to help administer two

first time central heating funds worth over £6m

£500k

1,900

£66,000

AWARDED OVER

to deliver boiler repairs, replacements and insulation measures.

COMPLETED OVER

free home energy efficiency surveys.

OVERof fuel payments awarded, this does not include those referred to the Surviving Winter Campaign.

357homes insulated,

including loft, cavity wall and

solid wall.

345BOILERS

REPAIRED OR REPLACED.

231central heating

systems installed.


12

An ongoing programme of support the SCCP offers is free and impartial energy and CO

2(e)

saving advice for community buildings like village halls, sports and social clubs and Town Council offices. Our service has provided in-depth advice and support to over 120 community buildings across the County, helping these vital community facilities become more sustainable in all senses of the word. Through our energy advice audits and reports, we’ve

identified up to 315t CO2(e) of potential savings and

our follow-on support has brought in £85,725 of grant funding which enabled improvement works to the value of £316,300 to go ahead. As well as these environmental savings, the facilities have lower running costs, look better and feel warmer, which in turn leads to increased bookings and helps secure their role in the communities’ future.

Community Buildings

...support to over com

munity buildings

120

£316,300

£85,725Follow-on support has brought in

of grant funding enabling

of improvement works to go ahead

135tUp to

CO2(e) of potential savings


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Adaptation to Climate Change:

Business ResilienceSuffolk Coastal Business Resilience is a collaborative project between Suffolk Coastal and Waveney District Councils

(SC&WDC), Environment Agency (EA) and Groundwork Suffolk (Groundwork), with support from New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership and Suffolk Chamber of Commerce.

Resilience is about forward planning and being prepared for an event rather than reacting after it has happened. With this in mind, SC&WDC, the EA and Groundwork created an innovative new online tool, The Business Efficient Resilience Toolkit (BERT) to help businesses to review their current resilience status against a number of different factors, to build a tailored resilience action plan and to develop a full business continuity plan.

With funding from SC&WDC a free support package surrounding the toolkit was provided by Groundwork which included telephone and email support, onsite reviews and group workshops to coastal businesses in Suffolk and Norfolk.

During the three years Groundwork successfully supported 92 businesses via on-site resilience reviews and telephone and email support both providing bespoke action plans based on the online BERT toolkit to support their resilience planning processes. In addition, five workshops have been held directly supporting 45 organisations who were able to take away actions to improve the resilience of their organisations.

Several organisations with multiple sites have been engaged that are rolling out the resilience review process across the groups including TA Hotels Group

and Access Community Trust who have been supported to develop in-house skills in resilience planning. Cost Cutter chain (MACE etc), the Lowestoft Tourism Group and Aspalls stable of public houses have all promoted the resilience support programme to their membership. Suffolk Cottages, a holiday letting business, are being supported to review the risk of their property portfolio and educate the visitors as to the local risks from severe weather.

I was extremely impressed with the response of my staff and their diligence in taking responsibility for the execution of the plans that would protect the business from loss.

Their involvement in the creation of the plans was crucial in that ownership process and the BERT process helped make us to make the plans wide reaching and robust.

Paul Barkshire, Director of car dealership PFK Lings Ltd

92 BUSINESSES

Durin

g th

e th

ree

year

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ndwork supported


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The Suffolk Sustainability Institute (SSI) was formed in partnership with Suffolk County Council in Feb 2018. This predominantly academic research-based

entity will collaborate, develop, inform and support the widespread diffusion of sustainable technologies, practices and social models across several themes that inform the regional green economy and global sustainability agenda:

Biodiversity

Green Infrastructure

Energy

Travel and Transport

Sustainability for Education

Social Sustainability and Wellbeing

Sustainable Food Systems, with an overarching theme of Technology.

This creates an interlink between specialist academic research disciplines and business/societal needs.

Sustainability involves changes in our private and public thinking and lifestyles. The challenges of building economic capacity and equality in sharing the benefits of these changes can only be achievable through the active partnerships of government, civil

University of Suffolksociety, industry and business – underpinned by applied, scalable research. Necessarily ambitious, in addition to UoS and SCC, the Institute has active engagement at Advisory and Operational Board level from key growth organisations in the wider region, including the Environment Agency, Groundwork East, Muntons, the New Anglia LEP, University of East London and Wild Anglia, with many more local organisations collaborating on specific projects.

Knowledge exchange and development is fundamental to UoS and a commitment to widen sustainable development literacy as a key lever of change is an important part of the SSI’s role. UoS is currently developing a program of professional practitioner and leadership training and several thematic partnership Conferences and workshops will run during the new academic year.

For more information on the SSI please contact:

University of Suffolk: [email protected]

or

Suffolk County Council: [email protected]

The Environment Agency Flood Warning Service: registration of each business was checked and where appropriate updated or fresh registrations encouraged. Alongside this all organisations were encouraged to share the Environment Agency Flood Warning Service details with their staff to enable them to check their home addresses and travel routes for potential flood risks and to register themselves where appropriate.

During 2017/18 the BERT project was also supported by Essex and Suffolk Water. The funding enabled the project to include information on the value of local water courses and specific advice on the protection of these water courses from pollution during severe weather events or other emergencies. It also enabled the inclusion of Anglian Water’s Keep it Clear project promoting the message “Stop and Think – Not Down the Sink” and the Environment Agency’s Yellow Fish pollution prevention programme. Both key relevant messages to BERT to not just the businesses but the employees with them who are equipped to take and implement the learning at home.

Advice and information was also given on opportunities to engage the organisation’s staff with the local ecological landscape including local and national wildlife

organisations, local wildlife sites and the potential for improving the business premises for biodiversity. This brings benefits to the local habitats and the health and wellbeing of the staff.


15

Examples of Partner ActivityWest Suffolk Councils

Greener Business GrantThe Green Business Grant is funded by St Edmundsbury Borough Council and Forest Heath District Council to help local businesses and organisations reduce their energy use and save money. Eligible businesses based in West Suffolk can apply for up to £1k to fund capital works designed to improve business environmental performance.

The grant funds a wide variety of measures, including:

insulating buildings

replacing heating controls and lighting

installing more energy-efficient alternatives to existing equipment.

Andrew Hunter, who runs Bury Physio in Bury St Edmunds, applied for £1,000. The money went towards the cost of a project to replace fluorescent tube lights with low wattage energy efficient LED lighting.

100 grants totalling £76k have been awarded since 2011, generating lifetime cost savings estimated at £1.3M and CO

2 savings estimated at 6k tonnes.

The Supply Chain NetworkThe aim was to help suppliers of Ipswich Borough Council, St Edmundsbury Borough Council, Suffolk Coastal District Council and Waveney District Council understand the opportunities of working as a delivery partner: making their internal procurement procedures more sustainable and sharing their understanding and learning with their own suppliers, distributors and wholesalers with respect to resource efficiency. The Network was designed to provide the opportunity for sharing experiences and ideas through formal networks, delivering meetings, training workshops, collaboration and discussions, all supported via Resource Efficiency East.

37 Suffolk suppliers were engaged, including the delivery of 44 two hour-plus assists for delegates.

The grant certainly tipped me into doing the work,” said Mr Hunter. “Although the overall cost of the project was

about £2,400, the £1,000 I received in support made the business case for it. Previously, the lights used 3kilowatts, compared with 400watts with the LED lights for around the same level of lighting. That is a dramatic reduction which will lead to savings for the business, especially as our gym runs from 7am to 8pm, so we have the lights on a lot. I’d encourage other businesses to look into taking up the grant offer to help fund their own sustainability projects.


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Resource Efficiency East delivered 1-2-1 support to seven businesses, completing five Business Resource Reviews (BRR) which identified 30 recommendations or initiatives and four Environmental Management System (EMS) Reviews. A range of resource efficiency savings were identified.

Electric vehicle awareness eventsHeld in the busy Charter Square in Bury St Edmunds, these annual events showcase a range of electric vehicles available from local dealerships and are a chance for motorists to find out more about their benefits, both financial and environmental.

Cllr Alaric Pugh, St Edmundsbury Borough’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Growth said: “Electric vehicles generally cost just 3p per mile to run compared to around 10p for a petrol or diesel car so there is a huge economical saving to be made for West Suffolk residents and businesses, while many models will run well over 100 miles on a single charge.

Electric vehicles produce zero emissions and are key part of The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ plans to improve local air quality. Figures from Public Heath England suggest that poor air quality is a contributory factor in one in 20 deaths of people aged

30 and over, even in more rural areas such as West Suffolk.”

Park homes and fuel povertySt Edmundsbury Borough Council has several park home sites and has long recognised the clear need for

the retrofit of these prefabricated structures, given the higher than average risk of fuel

poverty amongst park home residents. In 2015, a successful bid was submitted to National Grid’s Energy Innovation Fund to fund energy efficiency improvements at Shepherds Grove Park in Stanton.

In total, £100,000 was secured to fund new gas central heating systems and

external wall insulation (EWI). National Grid also installed new gas connections to

14 homes where the residents were over the age of 70. In addition, match funding was provided by St Edmundsbury Borough Council and the county-wide Warm Homes Healthy People project.

Shepherds Grove Park was selected due to the poor standard of existing insulation and the high level of fuel poverty among residents, all of whom are over 55 years old. Many are retired and spend considerable periods of time at home, so being able to maintain a warm and affordable property is essential.

Park homes have traditionally missed out on nationally mandated insulation programmes due to

Toggam Solar farm near Lakenheath in West Suffolk is an example of how the public sector can invest in energy generation to create income to help fund essential council services and become a leader in carbon reduction.

As part of its renewable energy investment programme, Forest Heath District Council acquired the 12.4MW site in July 2016, at the time the largest District Council-owned solar installation in the country. The purchase was made using capital in line with the Council’s capital programme. Under local Government finance rules, Councils are not allowed to use capital to plug annual funding gaps as eventually the money will run dry. Instead they can use the money to create a revenue

stream which is invested straight back into local service delivery. Renewable energy generation gives the Council a stable, long term investment return as well as making a significant contribution to the organisation’s environmental commitments.

In the first year the site generated 12,039MWh of electricity, bringing in £1.2m of income. After considering the capital outlay, this delivers a net income of £308,000 to fund local services. Along with its other assets, Forest Heath can offset around 4,900 tonnes of CO

2 and provide enough power to run 3,500 homes.

As a result, and with work to improve its own energy efficiency, Forest Heath District Council is now a carbon neutral organisation!

Renewable energy investment in West Suffolk


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East Suffolk Councils – Enabling community and business action

Our Business Plan sets out plans for the Councils to become financially self-sufficient, to enable our communities to make the best use of facilities available within their local areas and to support a strong, sustainable and dynamic local economy. All while ensuring that we protect, enhance and make sustainable use of our environment, including managing the effects of our changing coastline. The following projects are part of our approach which will also serve to reduce carbon emissions:

The East Coast Carbon Efficiency Project (ECCE)This Green Apple Award winning project provided over £197,000 of grant money to 59 businesses, and accredited 100 businesses with the Suffolk Carbon Charter between 2012 and 2014. The on-site reviews identified cumulative potential annual savings of more than £1.2M and 6,200 tonnes of CO

2. ECCE built

on the success of the Suffolk Coastal Business Energy Advisor Service which supported 146 businesses and identified cumulative potential cost and carbon savings of £698,822 and 3,711tonnes of CO

2(e). ECCE was a

three-year partnership project between Suffolk Coastal & Waveney District Councils and Groundwork Suffolk

their classification as temporary accommodation. A prerequisite for our installer partner Cornerstone (East Anglia) Limited was being able to secure a 25-year installation warranty for the EWI, as this had not previously been possible.

The measures were installed between December 2015 and February 2016. In total, 24 properties benefitted from external wall insulation, with ten of these also receiving new gas central heating systems. The properties with existing heating systems and therefore only receiving EWI are expected to enjoy lifetime carbon savings of 25 tonnes and energy bill reductions of at least £237 per year. Park homes receiving both measures are expected to benefit from lifetime carbon savings of 64 tonnes and energy bill reductions of £402 per year.

Residents have reported a significant improvement in comfort levels in their properties, with many commenting that their thermostat has been turned down a few degrees and that their home remains warmer longer once the heating is turned off. Many residents have been lifted out of fuel poverty by the scheme, which has been very well received and sets an excellent template for future park home retrofit in the region.

24properties benefitted from external wall insulation

Dec 2015 – Feb 2016


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in progress and planned imminently, over 75 tonnes of carbon will be reduced per year. To help realise this, a small sum of additional money has been provided for Groundwork to support Suffolk Coastal community buildings to implement recommended measures. Meanwhile, in Waveney, the Suffolk Climate Change Project Officer will fulfil this function.

Deben SolarAs part of our Deben Leisure Centre refurbishment we have worked with Pulse Build & Design and East Green Energy to ensure the installation of 30kWp of Solar PV. As all the electricity generated will be used on site this will reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with utilising grid energy by 162 tonnes over 20 years – equivalent to cutting out 7,485 return journeys to Lowestoft or just less than one years-worth of staff travel.

Installing solar has helped us meet two aims of our Business Plan: Financial Self-sustainability – lower energy bills which will reduce the costs of running the centre by at least £3k a year, and Community Enabling – demonstrating that even without the Feed-in Tariff, lower prices of panels and associated costs can make solar viable as part of a refurbishment project.

Electric vehicle charging networkTo further the aim of Highways England to have 95% coverage of the main routes in the UK so that there is a rapid charge point every 20 miles on the strategic road network, BMSDC has undertaken to procure up to 11 EV charge points on behalf of its neighbouring authorities in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk and arrange for their installation via a Highways England grant. On top of this programme we have installed our own ‘fast’ EV charge points in Hadleigh and Sudbury and are considering another in Stowmarket.

Renewable heating on our own estateWe have been successful in obtaining Affordable Warmth funds to accelerate our programme of installing air source heat pumps into our properties that are off the gas network. 180 properties that are currently using storage heating or antiquated electric warm air systems

will receive central heating over the next 18 months, the £400k grant along with council funds will enable this to happen.

Babergh & Mid Suffolk District Councils

StreetlightsClose to 100,000kWh of electricity per annum and 43 tonnes of CO

2

will be saved each year now that BMSDC have converted their streetlights to LED. The Districts only own about 200 lights in pay and display car parks and garage sites, but the environmental savings are significant – as are the financial savings in the region of

£9k per annum.

and was part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

Thriving Community BuildingsThe innovative Thriving Community Buildings (TCB) project (2014-2018) offered 63 communities in East Suffolk assistance to build resilient buildings.

Initiated by the Greenprint Forum and developed and delivered by Groundwork with support from Suffolk Coastal and Waveney District Councils, the project was funded by the East Suffolk Partnership, Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB, with additional support from Community Action Suffolk, Environment Agency and Suffolk Climate Change Partnership.

TCB offered communities help with resource efficiency, renewable energy, energy management, health and safety, governance, safeguarding, financial management and fundraising, business planning, employment and emergency support. A key strength was strong partnership working, access to high levels of professional skills and connections with funding providers.

Carbon savings were not calculated for all support offered. However, based on measures implemented,


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For further information on any of the projects and activities highlighted in this publication,please contact:

David Walton Suffolk Climate Change Partnership

[email protected]

www.greensuffolk.org

Documents

Suffolk Climate Change Partnership Annual Review of Activities...flights from London to Sydney! REVIEWED THE PROJECT HAS* ORGANISATIONS IDENTIFIED COST SAVINGS OF *As of September2018