Case studies

The ownership of EV chargepoints in the public realm is a new uncertain challenge for councils, given the rising public expectation and government’s opaque guidance regarding resources/funding. For a council, who are seen by the public as a trusted local provider, the problem is how we translate policy and funding into physical, publicly accessible charge points, whilst meeting procurement, consultation, and other requirements.

Find out how officers in Cambridgeshire are exploring the issues affecting and influencing rural transport in relation to decarbonisation.

Support and funding have been available in Derbyshire to retrofit homes in the social housing and private rented sector, and to homeowners in fuel poverty through several funding mechanisms including the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and the Sustainable Warmth Competition.

The London Borough of Barnet secured Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) funding (PSDS1 and PSDS3) from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures in public buildings, including offices, schools, libraries and community services, with a focus on heat pumps.

Working with MacRebur and Shell as part of the ADEPT SMART Places Live Labs Programme, Cumbria County Council has introduced ‘plastic’ roads around the county using products which replace some of the bitumen with recycled waste plastic.

Since 2014, Cumbria County Council has invested £12.9 million in its LED Street Lighting replacement and improvement programme, replacing over 45,000 streetlights with more efficient and cost-effective LED technology.

Cumbria was named as one of five pilot areas to receive a share of a £1 million fund from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in August 2020 to develop a draft Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) pilot.

In November 2020, Cumbria County Council’s Cabinet unanimously agreed the council’s first Carbon Management Strategy which sets out how they will respond to the international, national and regional aspiration to achieve a low/net zero carbon economy by 2050.

Cotswold District Council secured funding from the LGA Housing Advisers Programme to collaborate with two neighbouring councils to plug a perceived gap in the market for succinct, direct and practical advice on how to achieve net zero housing, both new build and retrofit.

Cornwall is working towards an ambitious target of being Net Zero by 2030 and are finding ways of cutting their carbon footprint, while improving the quality of life of their citizens. Making energy efficiency improvements to existing properties is a key part of their response to tackling the climate emergency.