Climate Change

Crewe & Nantwich Borough Council Climate Change Information

Period - June 2007 to May 2008

What have we achieved as a Service Provider?

We have signed the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change. This has committed us to preparing a plan with our local communities to address the causes and effects of climate change and to secure maximum benefit to our communities.
We introduced an automated email system (email2db) – below we have statistics proving that customers are indeed using our electronic forms of contact more and more, which will be saving an awful lot of paper, envelopes and printer toner.

ASP form returns (e.g. vacancies, change of address)

Year	Forms
2006	1194
2007	1515
2008	596

CMS form returns (e.g. comments and complaints)

Year	Forms
2006	132
2007	321
2008	82

Recycling

Recycling performance is at 39.33% at the end of Q3 against the current year target of 34.63%. This figure compares to 33.67% at the end of 2006/07.
Garden waste recycling has now been introduced to all areas of the Borough.
The recycling education team have been delivering talks to various groups in the Borough including Scout/Guide groups, schools and community forums.
Drinks Carton and Foil recycling banks are now at some of our recycling sites.
Working alongside the Cheshire Waste Partnership to deliver outreach activities at events such as Crewe Carnival and Nantwich Food Festival as well as our own events in both Crewe and Nantwich town centres to promote various recycling campaigns.
We are supporting, along with a small RSL, a Junior Community Wardens group to encourage responsible citizens. The group includes youngsters who have been a nuisance on their estate. The group are rewarded by a variety of incentives such as leisure vouchers, free McDonalds for their efforts in keeping their area tidy and by reporting ‘grot spots’.

Housing - From 17th March 2008

We offer £100 per measure cash back Energy Grants called CANDI to householders in the Borough who install cavity wall insulation, solid wall insulation or loft insulation.
We offer £500 cash back Energy Grants for Renewable Energy to households in the Borough who install a renewable energy technology, such as solar power, wind power, water turbines etc.
We offer CANDI heating grants. This involves repairing or replacing central heating and/or installing insulation measures for people who are vulnerable to the cold due to long term health conditions or infirmity, but aren’t eligible for a Warm Front grant because they don’t receive benefits. They also have to be in some ill-health that is affected by cold and/or damp.
We offer energy efficiency advice and financial support to Cheshire Energy Efficiency Advice Centre and provide advice to residents. This allows householders to make more of an informed decision about insulation and heating measures and the availability of any financial assistance they may be entitled to. Residents can access the advice centre via a freephone line.
We undertake targeted marketing campaigns and questionnaires for residents to ascertain energy efficiency of properties, and offer advice and information. Since August 2006 we have carried out, through the Cheshire Hotspots programme, promotional events, which have allowed us to reach different communities in the borough and speak to them directly, close to their home.
We have distributed free of charge to residents, through the Private Sector Housing Team, Community Development and Social Policy, Anchor Staying Put and the Small Repairs Service, a number of low energy light bulbs and cold alarms. We give advice on where they should be installed. They are also given to all Anchor Staying Put clients, after some work has been carried out.
Where possible, all initiatives offered through the Crewe & Nantwich Renewal Policy, will allow the inclusion of energy efficiency measures to ensure that the properties are brought up to the Decent Homes Standard, including the property providing a reasonable degree of thermal comfort.
We promote and refer vulnerable householders and private tenants to the Government’s Warm Front scheme for insulation measures and heating.
We have been part of the Leader+ group that has developed the http://www.checkrenewables.org website for Cheshire.
We have advertised energy efficiency via a number of publications, including Seniors magazine, supermarket advertising, free energy efficiency calendar.
We have just completed a two year Energy Saving Trust Implementation Programme for Solid Wall Insulation called Warmer Walls.

Housing - From 1st April 2008

As part of the new renewal policy, we will assist Warm Front applicants who have got a contribution towards the grant, up to the maximum of £300.

Environmental Health

We continue to review and assess air quality within the borough to take into account any revisions in technology and air pollution sources.
We involve the Community in air quality issues and air quality monitoring projects. We pay for the monitoring equipment and collate the data.
We are planning to give talks and ‘hands on learning’ to school children of all ages on improving air quality and the environment. These will commence in the coming weeks.
We regularly give talks to schools and resident groups on food hygiene.
We have an Air Quality Action Area in Nantwich and are working with CCC and residents to produce an Action Plan. We are consulting on a second area in Nantwich Road
We attend Primary College at South Cheshire College every year – EH organise talks on pollution, recycling (involving Pyms Lane) and energy efficiency (involving Housing)
We give talks to S. Cheshire students on our role in air quality.
We have produced a planning leaflet to accompany all forms for applications to develop that might impinge on areas of poor air quality eg Nantwich Hospital St AQMA.
We will lobby for s. 106 agreements to promote walking/cycling routes for Nantwich developments
We attend Nantwich Now to provide information on air quality.
We work closely with Highways on traffic issues, LTP etc where air quality is a concern.
We issue permits to processes under the PPC regime designed to control emissions into the atmosphere and inspect the operations to ensure compliance
We investigate smoke nuisances and dark smoke complaints
We have Smoke Control Areas
Licensing team undertake taxi emissions checks with VOSA and non-compliant vehicles are taken off the road immediately
In the office we recycle and we attach documents to files on the M3 system rather than printing them off.

Planning

Partnership working between the Local Development Framework team and Development Management section of the Borough Council have helped to address policy objectives as set out within the Borough of Crewe and Nantwich Adopted Replacement Local Plan 2011.

Objectives set out within the Adopted Replacement Local Plan 2011 include the objective to protect, conserve and enhance the Natural Environment by:

Adopted Replacement Local Plan 2011-Natural Environment objectives:

Protecting open spaces
Protecting trees and woodlands
Promoting tree and woodland planting
Requiring landscaping schemes in new development
Ensure that development complies with the principles of sustainability to protect our environment
Protecting and improving the quality of air, water and land resources
Protecting areas of special value for nature conservation
Securing new areas of nature conservation and enhancing existing areas in considering proposals for development

There are no specific policies relating to climate change within the Borough of Crewe and Nantwich Adopted Replacement Local Plan 2011, although there are policies relating to the issues surrounding climate change, including Flood Prevention NE.20 and Renewable Energy NE.19.

Within the Borough of Crewe and Nantwich, during the AMR period (01st April 2006 and 31st March 2007), the Environment Agency have objected to 4 planning applications, of these two were refused, and two were approved. The comments relating to the two applications initially objected too by the Environment Agency that were then approved by the Borough Council, related too a lack of initial appropriate flood risk assessment details. These two applications were subsequently approved, once the appropriate information was provided to both the Borough Council and the Environment Agency, with appropriate conditions in place.

In terms of renewable energy, during the AMR period there have been two renewable energy installations. The installation of a wind turbine on the Tesco Extra Store, Vernon Way, Crewe (ref P06/0632 approved with conditions on 28th July 2006). A domestic wind turbine has been installed at a house on West Street, Crewe (ref P06/1439 was approved with conditions on the 13th of February 2007).

There has been no loss of areas of international, national, regional or local intrinsic biodiversity significance in the Borough, within the last AMR period.

The housing completion figures for 2006/07 show that 542 dwellings (64%) were completed on Previously Developed Land (PDL) or ‘Brownfield sites’. This figure is above both the target of 35% in the Adopted Replacement Borough of Crewe and Nantwich Local Plan 2011 and the target of 60%, within the Submitted Regional Spatial Strategy. This is compared to the high proportion of Greenfield development in 2005/06 which was due to a variety of reasons, including a number of historic permissions on Greenfield sites which were completed within that AMR period.

The following graph represents the housing trajectory within the Borough compared to figures anticipated within the emerging Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) for the North West.

Climate Change
Chart 1: Housing Trajectory-Submitted RSS - Source: Annual Monitoring Report 2007

There are a number of schemes being brought forward within the Borough of Crewe and Nantwich that will deliver sustainability benefits. Voting has recently ended on the National Lottery “People’s 50 Million Lottery Giveaway” BIG funding scheme for valued nationwide projects. Representatives from the Borough Council, Cheshire Highways and Sustrans put together a scheme for an off road cycle/pedestrian route for the Sustrans sponsored Connect2 scheme.

Connect2 is a project that hopes to revitalise walking and cycling along 79 communities across the UK by creating and revitalising new routes nationwide. The successful Connect2 bid is a scheme that proposes to create a corridor from Nantwich to Crewe along the A530. The scheme sets out to create a rural promenade between the two towns. It will be set back from the main road and will be an attractive and pleasurable experience for walking and cycling journeys in the Borough. The proposal will connect the riverside walks in Nantwich to Queens Park in Crewe.

Over recent years, The Nantwich Riverside Project area has been developed to realise the potential of Nantwich Riverside as a valuable environmental, social and cultural resource for residents and visitors to Nantwich alike. The project is being developed by Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council in partnership with Cheshire County Council, Rural Enterprise (funded by NWDA) and the Mersey Basin Campaign. The project area sits as an integral part of the County Council’s vision for eco-tourism for the “Weaver Valley Regional Park”. Nantwich Riverside is an important gateway to the Upper Weaver (www.weavervalley.org.uk).

Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council has also embarked upon a programme of restoration and repair of Queens Park, Crewe. The restoration of Queens Park (listed Grade II on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens in England) is a landmark project within the Borough and a high priority for delivery by the Council in order to secure the parks continued use for future generations. The project is jointly funded by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund Urban Parks Programme and the Council with some additional funding from Waste Recycling Environmental. Work on the project began in autumn 2006 and is set to be completed by Spring 2010.

There are 3 open spaces within the Borough which are managed to Green Flag Award Standard, these are;

Queens Park, Crewe – 14.68 Hectares
Nantwich Riverside – 28.75 Hectares
Crewe Business Park – 4.88 Hectares

These are the same 3 sites as contained within the 2005 AMR and represent 37.5% (48.31 Hectares) of the open space within the Borough.

The Borough of Crewe and Nantwich Open Space Review Interim Final Draft, October 2005 states that within the Borough there is a total of 128.83 Hectares of accessible natural green space.

In respect to the issue of travel, the Adopted Replacement Local Plan 2011 paragraph 8.2 states that:

“The Local Plan seeks to provide the framework for a balanced and co-ordinated approach which fully addresses environmental issues by encouraging alternative means of travel and seeks to reduce the need for travel particularly by car, in accordance with Planning Policy Guidance: Transport (PPG13) and the Cheshire Local Transport Plan.”

Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council work in tandem with a number of the different partners, for example, partnership working with Cheshire County Council helps to establish and monitor travel plans on new proposals, in line with the requirements of the Cheshire Local Transport Plan and policies within the Adopted Replacement Local Plan 2011.

The following table highlights that for the respective Annual Monitoring Report time periods (April-March respectively) that a high proportion of new development is located within 30 minutes of the following services:

Service	% of Development within 30 Minutes of Service
Service	2005/2006 AMR	2006/2007 AMR
GP	94% (735 Units)	91% (791 Units)
Hospital	81% (594 Units)	73% (636 Units)
Primary School	95% (742 Units)	92% (797 Units)
Secondary School	92% (722 Units)	91%(787 Units)
Area of Employment	91% (717 Units)	91% (787 Units)
Retail Centre	92% (723 Units)	81% (707 Units)

Table 1: Accession details - Source: Cheshire County Council, 2007

The Borough Council commissioned a Strategic Flood Risk Assessment for the Borough of Crewe and Nantwich to include as part of the evidence base for the Core Strategy and Local Development Framework. This report sets out a strategic assessment of the Borough in relation to the issue of flooding and is almost complete

Leisure

All facilities have targets of a 2.5% reduction in all utility consumption p.a.
Facilities have a target of 100% energy efficient bulbs.
All taps and showers being replaced with push-buttons as and when replacement is required.
Improvements to the plant at Crewe and Nantwich swimming pools resulting in reduced chemical usage and higher energy efficiency.
Save-a-flush devices fitted to all toilets.
County Council Eco-Audits and reviews in all facilities.
Recycling available for staff and customers including around vending areas.
Quest accreditation at all main facilities which includes Environmental Management as part of the criteria.
Environmental standards set and monitored for temperature and lighting against national guidelines from Sport England and the ISRM.
Staff training and briefing sessions used to remind staff to be more vigilant in terms of energy management.

What do we do as a Council?

Energy

We encourage electrical items such as PCs to be switched off when not in use.

ICT

We recycle all printer cartridges.
We have changed the majority of printers to print double sided by default.
We have purchased software which shuts down a number of pcs overnight in particular for Friday evenings! The software also puts monitors into standby mode after 5 minutes of inactivity and also to put pcs into hibernate mode which means the user switches back on and the pc returns to the point at which it was shut down.

We have created "virtual servers" where possible which can run several virtual servers on one physical server. This saves on the amount of power used with no effect on speed of the applications etc.

Travel

We have introduced secure cycle stands and showers to encourage cycling and walking to work.
We have introduced Remote Working within Building Control and Direct Services to reduce the need to travel to the Administrative centres and to reduce the need to travel for business purposes.

Procurement

Where possible we e-mail orders to companies thus reducing the paper usage.
When procuring paper we specify 100% recycled paper or a Forestry Stewardship Council paper. The cleaning and janitorial items that we procure are where possible Environmentally Friendly products.

Raising Staff Awareness

We have a Climate Change page on the Council’s Intranet. Recently we have formed an Officers Group who will act as ‘Champions’ within their section and monitor office practices to help reduce our carbon footprint.

Corporately

CORPORATE STRATEGY – Making our Borough Cleaner & Greener

AIMS Contributing Now to a Better Climate

Increase to 74% satisfaction with the cleanliness standards.
Introduce a programme of improvement of the Borough’s Gateways and Corridors.
Launch a ‘Green Council’ initiative at Pyms Lane Depot to include the whole Council later.
Reduce waste sent to landfill through kerbside recycling and further home composting.
Increase the recycling & composting rates to 40% by 2010.
Contribute to reducing the biodegradable waste sent to landfill from 2010 onwards.
Establish a Materials Reclamation Facility by 2008 to reduce collection & waste mgmt. Costs.
A step change improvement in the appeal and accessibility of Crewe Town Centre.
Complete the ‘Nantwich Now’ programme and other Nantwich schemes.
Complete the Queen’s Park restoration.
Agree Compacts with all Parish Councils to drive up standards of cleanliness.
Implement the outcomes of the Open Space Review.
Implement decriminalised parking enforcement to improve traffic flow & street cleaning.

Crime & Disorder Strategy 2005 to 04-08-2008

Five objectives measured against 2003/2004 levels:-

To reduce overall crime levels by 15%
To reduce the fear of crime by 10%
To reduce reported levels of youth nuisance and anti-social behaviour by 10%
To reduce the levels of violence, particularly alcohol related, by 15%
To reduce vehicle crime by 26% and domestic burglary by 43%

The Council has as part of its Sustainable Community Strategy 2006-2016 committed to the following actions;

Develop a programme of physical regeneration for Crewe in the next 20 years.
Ensure developments in the area are well designed and of a very high quality.
LSP partners to develop a corporate responsibility role such as adopting green transport plans.
Improve information and communication on recycling sites within the Borough.
Develop a waste management strategy with LSP Partners to ensure commercial waste is recycled.
Encourage developers to use sustainable materials and technologies in future housing and commercial developments.

How do we measure our impact

Home Energy Conservation Act 1996- We have a duty under the Act to produce an annual report to DEFRA containing estimates of carbon reduction achieved per year within all housing sectors and energy efficiency promotional activities carried out across the borough. Since 1996, the overall reduction of carbon emissions is estimated to be 13.35%.

The Act also requires us a local authority to promote energy efficiency using a variety of methods and to all households.

The Local Plans and Economic Policy Section produce an Annual Monitoring Report (Local Development Framework) that monitors the implementation of the Development Plan.

NI 188- Climate Change and emissions from Council activities

Where are we going with this area in the future?

We will be preparing our carbon reduction Action Plan and work with local communities to address the causes and effects of Climate Change.

The Local Plans and Economic Policy Section are currently employing consultants to produce a Strategic Flood Risk Assessment for the Borough. This will inform the location of new development and allow future development to avoid the excesses of climate change in terms of flooding.

We aim to incorporate climate change as a policy issue into Local Development Framework Documents and Sustainability Appraisals.

For more information please download our Climate Change Action brochure (pdf)

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Direct Services - Climate Change - Telephone 01270 537310