Eastbourne Borough Council’s Cabinet agreed a brand new corporate energy and water policy at its meeting on 7 February. The policy sets out 6 aims to cover the next 4 years which will see the Council reduce its energy and water costs, reduce CO2 emissions, reduce pollution, promote conservation, reduce consumption and lead by example.
Councillor Chris Williams, Cabinet portfolio Member for efficiency commented “The Council has a duty to its citizens and tax payers to take a strong lead on climate change. Through our work on developing planning policy for house construction, reducing emissions and costs from our own buildings, and educating local people about how to reduce their carbon footprint, the Council is central to reducing the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere.”
“The very substantial energy price rises over the past year has focussed many peoples minds on just how much energy they consume, waste, and then pay for. It has hit hard at the Council too where we have seen our costs increase by £300,000 in less than two years. To help counter this we have invested over £100,000 this year into new energy efficient seafront lighting and over £80,000 into energy saving measures at some of our prime sites. Next year we will invest £350,000 into new windows for our 1 Grove Road offices to replace the originals installed in the early 1960’s. And we will be looking at the feasibility for using more green energy, like solar power.”
“I want to go further by encouraging all new developments within the town to be carbon neutral, by inviting businesses to follow the Council’s investment example into conservation and reduction measures, by asking all our citizens to play their part in this global challenge by doing what they can to save emissions, waste and their own money, and by asking everyone for their good ideas on what the Council can do to drive out loss and waste and drive in efficiency and conservation”.
