Issue - meetings

Report of the Corporate Director (Public Protection, Planning and Governance) on the proposed process and criteria for providing grants to local businesses for the purpose of improving their carbon footprint.

(1)   Cabinet considered and approved the proposed process and criteria for providing grants to local businesses for the purpose of improving their carbon footprint.

(2)   Cabinet agreed that the maximum grant to be paid to each eligible business will be up to £5,000 of agreed energy saving works and that all works to be undertaken by an eligible business must be recommended in the Council’s energy audit report, relevant to the particular business and which is provided to the business concerned.

(3)   That delegated authority be given to the Head of Planning in conjunction with the Executive Member, Governance, Public Health and Climate Change to amend the carbon emission reduction criteria should this be required once more detailed information becomes available through the energy audit on local business premises.

Report of the Corporate Director (Public Protection, Planning and Governance) on the proposed process and criteria for providing grants to local businesses for the purpose of improving their carbon footprint.

(1)       The Decision Taken

RESOLVED:

(1)     Cabinet considered and approved the proposed process and criteria for providing grants to local businesses for the purpose of improving their carbon footprint.

(2)     Cabinet agreed that the maximum grant to be paid to each eligible business will be up to £5,000 of agreed energy saving works and that all works to be undertaken by an eligible business must be recommended in the Council’s energy audit report, relevant to the particular business and which is provided to the business concerned.

(3)     That delegated authority be given to the Head of Planning in conjunction with the Executive Member, Governance, Public Health and Climate Change to amend the carbon emission reduction criteria should this be required once more detailed information becomes available through the energy audit on local business premises.

(2)       Reasons for the Decision

The Council had declared a climate change emergency, established a Climate Change Member Group and is consulting on a climate change strategy.

One of the actions in the draft strategy was involvement in an Eastern New Energy project to help up to 30 small businesses in the Borough that are keen to reduce their carbon footprint and save on energy costs. 

Officers would promote the scheme locally, identify interested businesses, carry out an energy audit of their premises and activities and then recommend changes they can make to reduce their energy use and carbon emissions.

The Climate Change Member Group has agreed that £50,000 of earmarked general fund monies should be used to help support this project.

It is proposed that local businesses that have had an energy audit should be eligible to bid for up to £5,000 to help them implement agreed works.  They may of course choose to spend more than this if they wish.

In practice we anticipate that most businesses will seek far less than the full amount, so the fund will help a large number of local businesses.

It is advised that grants should only be awarded where it has been found that every £1,000 of spend will achieve a minimum reduction of 0.5 tonnes of carbon emissions per year, to ensure the grant achieves its intended aims.