Council’s low carbon success
Thursday 08 July 2010
The carbon footprint of every local council in England has been published for the first time and West Somerset Council has been named as one of the country’s lowest emitters of CO2.
The new figures calculate the CO2 produced by councils in powering and heating their buildings, as well as emissions from business travel, fleet vehicles and even refuse trucks.
The emissions data was collected from local authorities across England for the 2008/2009 financial year and shows that East Cambridgeshire (574 tonnes), East Northamptonshire (606 tonnes), Broadland (806 tonnes), Isles of Scilly (854 tonnes), and West Somerset (881 tonnes) local authorities are the five lowest emitters.
West Somerset Council has undertaken a series of actions to rationalise its assets and has introduced new schemes to reduce the amount of CO2 used. These include:
- centralising the majority of staff in a single purpose-built headquarters in Williton which features rainwater harvesting facilities, wood pellet boiler and a range of other eco-friendly technologies
- introducing a green travel plan that encourages staff to walk, cycle, car share and use public transport
- A range of on-site recycling facilities for staff including plastic, paper and batteries
- monitoring its carbon use to continually look for new ways to reduce C02 consumption
Cllr Chris Morgan, West Somerset Council's Lead Member for the Environment, said: "We are delighted that our energy-saving measures have been recognised.
“We are a small council but we serve a very large rural community. Services such as our benefits home visiting service for people who are unable to travel plus general services such was refuse and recycling require vehicles, so getting ranked in the top five lowest emitters in the country is a real achievement.
“Monitoring our CO2 emissions, rationalising council assets and centralising the majority of our staff in one building have resulted in big savings.
“Our running costs are now lower and we are aiming to reduce them further wherever possible. This has had an immediate and positive effect for council taxpayers, which can only be a good thing.”
Editors’ notes:
The data was collected as part of National Indicator 185. National Indicators were established for Local Authorities to report on from April 2008. All National Indicators are currently under review by CLG for future years.
For statistical release information, full tables and methodology please click on the following link: NI 185: Percentage CO2 reduction
For more information contact:
Stacey Beaumont
Media, PR & Communications
sbeaumont@westsomerset.gov.uk
01984 635285