Purpose of Report
1. To provide
the Climate and Emergency Advisory Committee (CEAC) with an update
on the direction of performance towards a 75 per cent reduction in
carbon emissions by 2025 in the council’s leisure property
portfolio.
Strategic Objectives
2. The report
provides direction on the councils Climate Emergency programme,
focussed on what the council has control over, working towards our
own targets for our own buildings, vehicles, leisure and arts
centres.
Background
3. The
council declared a Climate Emergency following a motion that was
passed at Council in 2019. This
was followed by a pledge to become a carbon neutral council by 2030
and a 75 per cent reduction in carbon emissions in the district by
2030 as a first step and become a carbon neutral district by
2045.
4. The
Climate Action Plan (CAP) was set to outline how the Vale of White
Horse District Council (VoWHDC) will be aiming for a 75 per cent
reduction in carbon emissions in its own operations by 2025
5. The CAP
focuses on the council’s own emissions to ensure our
operations and service provision are carbon neutral by our target
date.
6. To measure
our progress in achieving our carbon neutral target, we divided the
actions in CAP into strategic, direct and enabling actions. This
briefing will be focusing on ‘direct’ impact of
delivery for our leisure property assets since the
announcement.
Historical Context –
Leisure Properties
7. At the
time of the CAP it was clear from the plan that our leisure
property portfolio contributed to 51 per cent of our carbon
emissions from the baseline year 2019/20. See appendix 1
8. The CAP
was then set with principles and a way of working to action the
carbon emissions evident at the time within our leisure
centres.
9. Leisure
centres in 2019/20 were consuming 1.30m kWh of electricity and
6.12m kWh of gas over a year. Please note that leisure centres
consume energy 24/7 through plant operations to maintain the
facility and comfort of its users. Especially where swimming pools
are evident in our properties as these need constant heating to
maintain temperatures for bathers. See appendix 2 for annual
leisure consumption data.
10. On 21 March 2020, the Prime Minister
announced that leisure centres were required to temporarily close
as part of the wider Covid-19 lock down measures. The leisure
management contractor Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) was required
to close all leisure centres in the Vale of White Horse as well as
those in South Oxfordshire.
11. Leisure centres remained closed
until the government announced their reopening from 26 July 2020.
Due to further national lockdown and Tier 4 restrictions, GLL was
required to close all centres from 5 November 2020 to 2 December
2020, and 26 December 2020 to 22 March 2021.
12. During the reporting year 2020/21
and 2021/22 where leisure centres were faced with immediate closure
and a period of time of controlled opening through social
distancing there was a significant reduction in the utility
consumption within the leisure property estate. Naturally this was
a reduction for this period of time due to plant machinery being
switched off and less users during the controlled reopening of all
the sites.
13. Consumption during the Covid-19
pandemic year 2020/21 was 697,873 kWh for electricity and 2.67m kWh
for gas which for reporting will show a significant reduction with
comparing year on year due to the unexpected events we were faced
with.
14. Consumption during the year 2021/22
was subject to returning to normality after restrictions were
starting to ease in the start of the financial year and customer
visits returning. During the year consumption was 1.30m kWh for
electricity and 5.24m kWh for gas.
15. Appendix 3 shows historic data since
2019/20 where utility consumption levels have improved. 2020/21 and
2021/22 have various reason explained already why in some cases
these reporting years are lower than others.
16. Appendix 4 shows a direct assessment
of 2019/20 to 2022/23 in comparison to a full reporting year. With
user numbers returning back to pre-Covid-19 levels the table shows
that emissions have significantly reduced. Various projects and
operational control measures administered since the pandemic have
seen 2.22m kWh in both electricity and gas being reduced across all
leisure centres.
17. Throughout Covid-19 the council
entered into a support package and change to the leisure contract
by means of a deed of variation. This saw some facilities close
earlier specifically over the weekend due to lack of use or limited
number of users. The change of operations will have reduced energy
use; however, this will have been a relatively low reduction mainly
impacting lighting being on or off. The heating and ventilation
would have remained in use to ensure the swimming pools remained
heated and the building conditions protected for operation.
18. Natural gas consumption within
leisure centres can fluctuate dependant on the weather outside and
the impact this has on the leisure buildings themselves. This will
have had an effect on our energy use when good weather was
experienced in 2022/23.
Project Milestones
Achieved
19. Officers have completed a number of
smaller projects throughout 2021-2023 which mainly considered the
upgrading of lighting in all leisure centres to LED. This was to
ensure all our leisure facility stock removed all strip and halogen
lighting across the estate. The current data we have with the LED
installations and upgrading works has currently saved 113,152 kWh
per year and can be found in Appendix 5.
20. The leisure team have used a
combination of capital expenditure where projects are a smaller
cost to utilising s106 and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
funding for larger project work. This has enabled the leisure team
to ensure that additional capital has not been used from our
reserves and maximised the use of developer’s funds to
improve the carbon levels at all leisure sites.
21. Negotiations and forecasted projects
have also been agreed by ensuring Oxfordshire County Council (OCC)
have contributed to the upgrading of lighting throughout the
leisure centres and further decarbonisation work under the Joint
Use Agreements (JUA) continue. In many cases the leisure property
estate is under JUA leases with OCC for both educational and
leisure provision. There are specific commitments and proportionate
percentage shares that OCC have as part of their operational
responsibility to the emissions of the leisure centres.
22. It is worth noting that the leisure
centre project where OCC have contributed to the overall costs, OCC
will have a share of the carbon emissions savings through the JUA.
The council will not claim the full carbon savings for these
projects in our greenhouse gas emissions reporting. A proportionate
share will go to OCC in line with the percentages under the
JUA.
23. Whilst Appendix 5 shows a number of
LED projects completed Officers have also conducted a number of
operational assessments using experts in the field of leisure
centre operation. A key project was to conduct a flow testing
survey on the swimming pool treatment systems at all swimming pool
properties to establish the flow rates achieved at varying motor
frequencies.
Key aims of the
survey was to:
·
Provide information on whether the existing flow rate is suitable
to achieve the guidance set out in Pool Water Treatment Advisory
(PWTAG) Swimming Pool Water: treatment and quality standards for
pools and spas.
·
Establish whether there is scope to lower the existing circulation
pump speed to achieve a reduction in energy consumption whilst
remaining compliant with PWATG’s Swimming Pool Water:
treatment and quality standards for pools and spas.
From the
engineers’ report findings, it was found that the circulation
pumps turning over the swimming pool water could be significantly
reduced at two leisure facilities (Faringdon Leisure Centre and
White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre) both during use and outside
of operational hours. The annual reduction in consumption was
165,813 kWh per year through managing a close control on the plant
operations.
24. Officers are continually researching
options to drive down the carbon emissions across the leisure
estate outside of larger project delivery. A recent project
completed at the White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre is the
installation of destratification fans. A cases study is currently
being formulated on the recent success of the units being installed
at the leisure centre
The recent case study data with the newly
installed system at the White Horse Leisure & Tennis Centre has
shown over the last three months the system has been able to reduce
consumption by 108,762 kWh. Showing a pay back on the investment
over four to five months from installation. See appendix 6.
Future Project
Delivery
25. Recently Officers have worked
closely with the Climate Action Team and the External Funding Lead
in the submission of an application to draw down Government grant
funding in the decarbonisation of two leisure properties (White
Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre and Wantage Leisure Centre) through
the Salix Finance Phase 3b Scheme.
Both schemes have
been successfully awarded the Phase 3b grant. The value of the
grant is £6,005,764 with the remaining contribution being
funded via CIL contributions.
Salix Finance is
managing applications to the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme
Phase 3b (PSDS3b) on behalf of the Government. PSDS3b aims to
tackle emissions from heating public sector buildings, aid a green
recovery and support the UK’s 2050 net zero target and clean
growth goals.
PSDS3b allows
public sector bodies to apply for a grant to finance up to 88% of
the costs of capital or at a maximum cost of £325/tCO2e
(£325 per tonne of direct carbon saved), for energy-saving
projects that meet the scheme criteria. The essential capital
projects to decarbonise the above leisure facilities met these
criteria.
Overall annual
consumption will be reduced from 3.19m kWh to 584,641 kWh at White
Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre and from 1.47m kWh to 654,648 kWh
at Wantage Leisure Centre an annual saving of 3.42m kWh.
The PSDS3b grant is
underway with consultants employed to assist with the delivery of
the projects and the design work required to source a main
contractor to complete both projects by the end of March 2025.
26. Recently the government's Swimming
Pool Support Fund (SPSF) was launched and provides a total of
£60 million to local authorities in England as a support
package for public leisure facilities with swimming pools and is
split into two phases.
·
Phase I - Revenue: £20m is available to support facilities
with swimming pools with increased cost pressures, leaving them
most vulnerable to closure or significant service reduction.
·
Phase II - Capital: £40m is available from the government for
capital investment to improve the energy efficiency of public
facilities with pools in the medium to long term.
Officers have
worked closely with the Climate Action Team and the External
Funding Lead in the submission of an application to draw down
Government grant.
Phase I saw the
successful application SPSF of £156,077 in Vale to support GLL
in the increased cost pressures.
Phase II
application was live on Tuesday 10 October to support with energy
reduction measures however as the grant was not made available for
the outdoor pools, and all other leisure facilities are currently
being substantially upgraded with Salix Phase 1 and Salix PSDS3b
grants Vale was not applicable under the process for support.
However, the Salix Government grant funding is far greater than
that provided through the Phase II SPSF grant, and Officers have
been able to complete a whole building approach to these projects
rather than just swimming pool specific areas.
Financial Implications
27. This report is for information only
and therefore there are no financial implications as part of the
update.
Legal Implications
28. There are no legal implications
arising from the recommendation in the report which is for
information only.
Climate and ecological impact implications
29. The Climate Action Team have been
fully engaged with during each stage of the report and supportive
of the projects completed. This report is for information only by
way of any update of the work currently completed in our trajectory
towards net zero.
Equalities implications
30. This report is for information only
and there are no equalities implications.
Risks
31. This report is for information only,
and therefore no highlighted risk has been made as part of the
information supplied.
Conclusion
32. Evidently it can be seen the leisure
facilities property teams focus on CAP and the council’s own
emissions to ensure our operations and service provision are
driving down emissions to achieve 75 percent by 2025, and support
achieving carbon neutral by 2030.
33. Officers have focused on both the
small and large projects of decarbonisation. It has been important
to expose the importance of the impact smaller projects can have
whilst we strive to find the relevant funding or capital to deliver
on the larger projects. This has enabled each and every project to
have a larger effect in their delivery.
34. The Salix PSDS3b projects alone will
have an overall impact of potentially reduce consumption by a
further 3.42m kWh annually.
35. Overall annual consumption will have
reduced to 2.03m kWh per year from 7.41m kWh seen in 2019/20.
36. Over 72 per cent reduction of kWh
consumption will have been achieved by 31 March 2025 through the
delivery of larger projects once the PSDS3b and Phase 1 Salix grant
project have been completed.
37.The forecast
of future reductions in CO2 emissions in this report are based on
the best estimates provided by specialist consultants. These are by
necessity subject to environmental impacts beyond the
Council’s control. For example, on the demand side ambient
temperature fluctuations will affect the amount of heating required
in our leisure centres and on the supply side solar PV electricity
generation is largely a function of the number of sunshine hours
throughout the year. Officers will continue to monitor actual
outcomes against forecasts. Where deemed appropriate officers will
consider what other additional technologies could be employed to
create reductions in our carbon emissions.
38. There will be a focus on the new
leisure contract for September 2026 and work with the Climate
Action Team to ensure that the new tenders and incumbent leisure
contractor has a direct focus on reducing consumption levels and
managed through performance to seek to hit caron neutrality by
2045. This will be through ensuring Key Performance Target
expectations are made at the point of tender, and contractors
providing method statements during the tender stages to show how
this would be achieved through their quality submission.
39. Continue to support and work with
the External Funding Lead to ensure that the process of preparation
with any future grant funding opportunities is robust to stand the
best chance of success.
Background Papers
40. There are no background papers as
part of this information update
Appendix
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
