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Cabinet			7 February 2024
Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan Update
Timetable Meeting Date Corporate Leadership Team 16 January 2024 Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development Policy Advisory Committee 29 January 2024 Housing, Health, and Environment Policy Advisory Committee 30 January 2024 Corporate Services Policy Advisory Committee 5 February 2024 Communities, Leisure, and Arts Policy Advisory Committee 6 February 2024 Cabinet 7 February 2024
Will this be a Key Decision?		No
Urgency		Not Applicable
Final Decision-Maker		Cabinet
Lead Head of Service		Anna Collier Head of Insight, Communities and Governance
Lead Officer and Report Author		James Wilderspin, Biodiversity and Climate Change Manager
Classification		Public
Wards affected		All
Executive Summary
This is the biannual report on the implementation of the Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan. The last update report was published in July 2023.   This report includes updates on (i) the Council’s decarbonisation progress in achieving Net Zero by 2030, (ii) updates on the new strategic direction for targeting net zero housing and transportation, and (ii) key achievements and an overview of each action’s status of the Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan (Appendix 1).
Purpose of Report   Recommendation
This report makes the following recommendation to the Cabinet:
1.   That the strategic considerations for tackling net zero borough wide and action plan updates shown at Appendix 1, be noted.

Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan Update

 

Issue	Implications	Sign-off
Impact on Corporate Priorities	The four Strategic Plan objectives are: • Embracing Growth and Enabling Infrastructure • Safe, Clean and Green • Homes and Communities • A Thriving Place Accepting the recommendations will materially improve the Council’s ability to achieve all its priorities.	Anna Collier Head of Insight Communities and Governance
Cross Cutting Objectives	The four cross-cutting objectives are: • Heritage is Respected • Health Inequalities are Addressed and Reduced • Deprivation and Social Mobility is Improved • Biodiversity and Environmental Sustainability is respected   Delivering the Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan supports the achievement of the Biodiversity and Environmental Sustainability is respected cross cutting objective. It also supports cross cutting objectives of Health Inequalities are Addressed and Reduced Deprivation and Social Mobility is Improved as delivery of actions have the opportunity to improve the health of residents in the longer term and reduce residents’ energy costs.	Anna Collier Head of Insight Communities and Governance
Risk Management	Already covered in the risk section (see paragraph 5)	Anna Collier Head of Insight Communities and Governance
Financial	The specific costed proposals will be funded from within existing budgets. Future changes to policies and strategies will need to be assessed to understand the impact to ensure they remain affordable during the year and in future years as part of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy.	Section 151 Officer & Finance Team
Staffing	We will deliver the recommendations with our current staffing.	Anna Collier Head of Insight Communities and Governance
Legal	Local authorities have a duty under Section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 in exercising their functions to have regard, so far as is consistent with the proper exercise of those functions, to the purpose of conserving biodiversity. The Council’s Biodiversity and Climate Action Plan demonstrates compliance with the statutory duty.	Legal Team
Information Governance	The recommendations do not impact personal information (as defined in UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018) the Council Processes. Some individual actions may have implications in the future and the appropriate review and documentations will be completed as required	Information Governance Team
Equalities	The recommendations do not propose a change in service therefore will not require an equalities impact assessment	Policy & Information Manager
Public Health	We recognise that the recommendations will have a positive impact on population health or that of individuals.	Public Health Officer
Crime and Disorder	No implications	Anna Collier Head of Insight Communities and Governance
Procurement	Some actions will have implications and the appropriate procurement exercises will be undertaken	Anna Collier Head of Insight Communities and Governance
Biodiversity and Climate Change	The updates in this report and recommendations will support the continued implementation of the Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan.	Biodiversity and Climate Change Manager

 

 

2.      INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

 

1.      

2.      

2.1     The Policy and Resources Committee adopted the Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan on 21st October 2020. The last update was July 2023.

 

2.2     Since the last update report, officers have explored options to focus the Council’s Biodiversity and Climate Change Strategy in discussion with Cabinet and with consideration to PACs feedback over the achievability and impact of the Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan. These included ways forward in achieving net-zero housing borough-wide, progressing sustainable integrated transport, solar energy generation investment, local energy action plans, and biodiversity enhancements.

 

2.3     The largest emission sources in the borough are from domestic electricity and gas consumption which accounts for nearly one third (32%) of total CO2e emissions in Maidstone Borough (216ktCO2e in 2021), and transportation which accounts for 52% of total CO2e emission in Maidstone Borough (354ktCO2e in 2021).

 

2.4     The focus and priorities of the Biodiversity and Climate Change Strategy has changed to areas where reducing the largest impacts of the Borough’s carbon emissions can be made.

 

                 I.        Net Zero Housing - Progress with looking at how the Council can improve the condition of domestic homes, looking at gaps and how we add value through the potential new energy officer role, while also looking at the Council’s own buildings and growing housing stock.

 

               II.        Sustainable Integrated Transport - To focus on ‘future focused transport innovation workshop’ for Councillors to develop a shared vision, expand awareness of innovative transportation solutions, enabling long-term sustainable transport planning, and building political commitment for environmentally friendly transportation, with preliminary work to bring data/inputs from a variety of stakeholder views (including young people) to the workshop for consideration.

 

             III.        Develop a ‘Parking and Borough wide EV strategy’ - to explore partnerships, provisions for on street infrastructure, that align with national climate goals, reduce range anxiety and stimulate the EV market, and look for opportunity to combine it with the town centre lighting strategy to include on street EV chargers.

 

              IV.        Renewable Energy - to maximising the renewable energy generation on MBC estate.

 

                V.         Create a Planning policy framework for solar farms in the local plan - creating zoning for renewable energy generation for longer term policy and allocated land as part of the local plan review process.

 

2.5     A summary of progress for the five areas are outlined in this report.

MBC Decarbonisation

2.6     The Council has set an ambitious net zero by 2030 with substantial financial commitment already set aside. As outline in Appendix 2 of the July 2023 Action Plan Update report, the most substantive impact the Council can directly have on reducing Carbon Emissions are of its own operations, buildings, fleet, and contracts.

 

Carbon Footprint

2.7     The Carbon Footprint of the council’s buildings and fleet is updated twice a year using automated energy data by Laser Energy. The Council’s dashboard is used to calculate MBC’s scope 1 and 2 emissions (Reporting on scope 3 emissions is still under investigation). This process helps to identify priority building upgrades and fleet replacement priorities, enabling officers to accurately monitor progress/changes in carbon emissions of the Council. The dashboard also shows the Boroughs historic emissions by sector, which support officers on Borough wide priorities in keeping with the National Government’s 2050 Net Zero commitment.

 

2.8     The Council’s total C02 emissions for scope 1 and scope 2 have decreased overall by 10.4% when comparing financial year 2021/22 to 2022/23. Scope 1 decreased by 15.1% and scope 2 increased by 3.7%. In both years, the largest source of scope 1 emissions is from the Maidstone Leisure Centre, accounting for 51.1% off total emissions. The second largest cause of emissions is Maidstone House (17.6%).

 

2.9     The emissions produced from our Depot’s fleet/vehicles was not available for tracking until January 2022, therefore data is missing for the most part of FY 2021/22. However, in 2022/23, the largest cause of emissions was the heavy-duty waste collection vehicles used for our Commercial Waste service.

 

Figure 1: The Council’s Carbon Footprint Summary

 

 

 

 

Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Application

2.10  Officers have committed considerable time to preparing and submitting large scale bids for public sector funding to decarbonise the Council’s estate as it is in the direct control of the Council.

 

2.11  In November officers submitted a largescale bid for Phase 3c of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) for £3,126,536 to retrofit Maidstone House. Included in the bid were provisions for developing detailed designs, upgrading the heating system, replacing the glazing, fully insulating the building, upgrading all the lights to LED, and installing Solar PV on the Link business terrace roof. The preparation of this bid included a complex and technical set of documents and schematics, energy saving calculations, costing and quotes evidence, project management programme, and risks register. The submission of the bid is a first come first serve organised by Salix, where applicants need to submit a bid a soon as the portal opens to be in for a chance to be considered. officers were able to submit the application in under 4 minutes and are currently replying to technical queries and developing the project programme with Salix. Members will be notified should we be successful with the grant application.

 

Fleet Decarbonisation

2.12  The Depot has undergone substantial upgrades to ensure it has the capacity to transition to an electric fleet in line with a direct aspect in the Council’s control to reduce emissions from the fleet. The electricity capacity of the Depot was increased by 277kVA by connecting to a nearby substation with minimal ground works needed. The increased capacity has enabled the instillation of an additional x10 EV chargers in October 2023, bringing the total to 31 plug in charging points installed at the Depot.

 

2.13  There is now sufficient capacity to charge the growing number of EVs on site for the medium term, which currently stands at 11 EVs with 2 more ordered for 2024, out of a total of 65 vehicles in the fleet (replacement vehicles are selected as per the Green Fleet Strategy).

Domestic Housing Net Zero

2.14  Domestic electricity and gas consumption accounts for nearly one third (32%) of total emissions (216ktCO2e in 2021). The UK government’s aim is to have 600,000 heat pumps a year being installed by 2028, just 55,000 were installed in the UK in 2022. In regard to Action 2.1 to “Explore grants schemes for residents, landlords and housing associations, for retrofitting insulation, and low carbon heating systems,” Officers have now completed a net zero scenario for existing housing across the borough, using Parity Projects software. The scenario can be used to develop a cost-effective retrofit programme that aligns with the Borough’s carbon reduction targets and gives the Council pathways for every property in the borough to identify the lowest cost route to Net Zero.

 

2.15  The domestic housing net zero scenario shows an average mean cost of £23,400 per house for achieving net zero across the borough, and a mean of £7,800 per house to achieve a minimum Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) C rating. These findings can be used to target specify parts of the borough for investment, or heat pump prioritisation, and can be assessed in terms of low-income and priority areas. Officers will use the scenario data to develop strategies, identify energy-efficient retrofitting opportunities, and create strategic areas to support Net Zero domestic housing across the borough, seek partnerships, and open up opportunities for large scale funding to support residents reduce their utility costs.

Transportation Net Zero

2.16  Across Kent, Carbon emissions are generally maintaining a downward trend in terms of tonnes of CO2 per capita. Across North Kent transport emissions comprise the largest component (39%) of emissions followed by domestic (29%). Across the borough of Maidstone, carbon emissions have steadily decreased from 1044ktCO2 in 2005 to 677ktCO2 in 2021. Carbon emissions from transport in Maidstone have showed a slower rate of decline, reducing from 442ktCO2 in 2005 to 354ktCO2 in 2021.

 

2.17  In respect to Action 1.5 to “Deliver an Electric Vehicle (EV) Strategy for the borough that provides sufficient EV charging infrastructure” there are currently 66 public charge points in Maidstone and 27 of these are 50 kWh devices. On a per population basis, Dartford has the highest rate of provision in North Kent with 73.6 EV charge points per 100,000 people, whilst Maidstone has 37.3 EV charge points per 100,000 people. Plug-in vehicle ownership is steadily increasing in Maidstone. The zero-emission vehicle mandate requires 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans sold in England to be zero emission by 2030, increasing to 100% by 2035. Maidstone is expected to require 1,377 public EV charge point sockets by 2030 and 2,735 by 2035 to meet the increase in demand from zero emission vehicle users.

 

2.18  In respect to Action 1.1 to “Update the Integrated Transport Strategy, and work towards a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan” Kent County Council (KCC) is currently consulting on the Kent Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan (KCWIP). The KCWIP is part of the Government’s Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan process. It has a 10-year timeframe but is a ‘living document’ subject to regular review. At present Maidstone Borough Council is preparing for the development of its own LCWIP to cover the Borough. This will be complementary to the KCWIP when it is developed and support the delivery of the active travel actions in Maidstone’s Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan.

 

2.19  The Quality Bus Partnerships has been replaced with Local Bus Focus Groups. Establishing a new Local Bus Focus Group as outlined in the KCC structure within the BSIP, would align with Action 1.8 to “Actively participate in Quality Bus Partnership and ensure that the borough’s infrastructure is bus friendly” as well as supporting several actions in the plan to reduce borough carbon emissions and pollution, while supporting public transportation.

Other Achievements in the Action Plan

 

Climate Emergency UK Scorecard of the implementation of MBC’s Action Plan

2.20  In October 2023, Maidstone Borough Council was scored joint 35th place out of 186 Councils, and 3rd in Kent on the implementation of our Action Plan. Climate Emergency UK (CEUK) has assessed all UK Councils on the actions they've taken towards net zero. This is a second phase update on CEUKs 2021 scoring of Councils Plans. Scores across the country were low with the district average score of 29% with Maidstone scoring 35%.

 

2.21  In summary, MBC has been recognised for its actions and has scored well relatively to other authorities, however several actions were inaccurately scored or missed by CEUK and the full breadth of MBC progress is not completely captured by this scoring. For more information please see CEUK’s Press Release. Officers will take these scores on board as part of prioritising aspects of the Action Plan that scored poorly.

 

Maidstone’s Eco Hub

2.22  The Eco Hub hosted 14 events and talks to raise awareness and create positive behaviour change on climate action, energy efficiency, sustainable living, biodiversity loss, and the cost-of-living crisis, and partnered with over 24 local sustainable businesses, community groups, and charities.

 

2.23  1,926 visitors came into the Eco Hub over 17 opening days, with an average of 113 users per day. This is a 121% increase in users of the Eco Hub in 2023 when compared to the 2022 pilot project.

 

2.24  In partnership with The Mall Maidstone, Officer’s entered Maidstone’s Eco Hub for the ‘best local authority/private sector partnership’ Revo award, and Maidstone’s Eco Hub is one of three projects that was shortlisted for this national award.

 

2.25  Officers in the climate change team also worked with the communications team, waste team, and welfare officers to run a community support roadshow which visited three locations in the Borough to help residents with the cost-of-living crisis.

 

Solar Projects

2.26  Officers have identified seven potential solar PV projects on Council buildings to maximise the renewable energy generated on these buildings for direct use by the Council cutting utility bills and reducing the Council’s carbon emissions with a relatively fast payback period for investment (outline in Appendix 2 of the July 2023 Action Plan Update report). Progress on these projects includes:

 

·         Submission of the PSDS bid to include provision for a 16 kWp solar PV array to be installed on the Link Building business terrace roof, combined with green roof. Pending success of bid.

·         Preplanning advice to install a 122kWp solar PV canopy over the Mote Park Car Park to be private wired and used to reduce costs of the Leisure Centre. Pending Preplanning advice.

·         Investigation into doubling the existing 60 kWp array on the Parkwood Depot roof top to private wire for use of the depot, charge the growing number of Electric Vehicles in the fleet. Pending Investment / Council Decision.

·         Lockmeadow Leisure Complex has the largest capacity of MBC properties for solar PV instillation of 995 kWp over 4 roof locations. Pending Council Decision.

 

LED light upgrades

2.27  Upgrading to LED lighting can have a substantial decrease in utility costs and generally have a very fast payback period. Several MBC buildings have now been upgraded to fully LED lighting, including:

 

·         The Depot’s lights have all been replaced in November 2023 to LEDs.

·         Maidstone House Lights have all been replaced with LEDs during the summer 2023.

·         The Crematorium Chapel lights have all been replaced with LED lights in Autumn 2023.

·         The Elephant House Cob Tree, all the lights have been replaced with LEDs.

 

2.28  Parking Services remain committed to 100% LED lighting in MBC car parks by the end of 2025. Lamps are being replaced with LED lights as and when they require replacement.

 

Tree Planting and Rewilding

2.29  Officers are continuing to seek partnerships for tree planting and rewilding projects. In Autumn 2022 and spring 2023 the Council’ planted 5,800 trees as part of several partnerships with landowners and Parish Councils (details here). This planting season, officers have identified a number of potential projects and partners with an estimated 6,000 trees to be planted in Spring 2024. Officers are also supporting the preparation for mandatory 10% Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) which came into law in January 2024, to find alternative funding for continued tree planting and rewilding projects.

 

The Rural England Prosperity Fund

2.30  Climate Officers have led the organisation and distribution of the Rural England Prosperity Fund. MBC was allocated £539,728 to spend between April 2023 and March 2025 to be awarded to projects for rural communities across the borough. Officers supported applicants and supported the panel with technical inputs. Phase 1 of the funding saw grants awarded as listed below:

 

·         Staplehurst Free Church (SFC) which received £45,000.

·         Teston Parish Council which received- £45,000.

·         Hollingbourne Parish Council - phase 1 funding £22,466 / phase 2 funding allocation of £16,906.

·         Boxley Parish Council - phase 1 funding £22,466 / phase 2 funding allocation of £32,532.

 

2.31  Officers are now in the process of rolling out the second phase of funding, open on Monday 27th of November to Monday 22nd of January 2024, and supported applicants through a free Introductory webinar held on Wednesday 6 December to highlight key information, provide details of phase one’s successful projects, and answer any questions, as well as through the Sustainable Business Directory that showcases an array of eco-businesses to support upgrades and retrofits.

 

 

 

3.   AVAILABLE OPTIONS

 

3.1     That Cabinet continue to receive these updates every six months and are recommended to note updates on implementation to ensure ongoing progress towards tackling net zero borough wide.

 

3.2     The Cabinet could ask to receive an update more or less frequently.  However, this is not recommended as less frequently wouldn’t offer the oversight and more regular updates wouldn’t allow sufficient time for substantial work to be undertaken.

 

4.        PREFERRED OPTION AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

 

4.1     That Cabinet note the strategic considerations for tackling net zero borough wide and action plan updates shown at Appendix 1.

 

5.       RISK

5.1     Responding to the climate emergency is a key corporate risk.  Ongoing monitoring of the delivery of the Action plan is a key mitigation as the annual review of the action plan is ensures continued accountability.

 

5.2     Understanding the costs associated with achieving net-zero and allocate resources effectively, prioritise initiatives, putting appropriate capacity to seek funding, and set realistic targets and timelines.

 

6.       CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK

 

6.1     The Policy and Resources Committee adopted the Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan on 21st October 2020. Progress has been regularly reported to Policy Advisory Committees and the Cabinet, with the outcome of the consideration of this report to be reported to the Cabinet ahead of the meeting.

 

7.       NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

 

7.1     Continue to update the implementation of the Action Plan, monitor progress, and updates to members.

 

8.        REPORT APPENDICES

 

The following documents are to be published with this report and form part of the report:

·   Appendix 1: Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan Implementation Status