About
Located in central southern Hampshire, the Borough is a combination of coast, countryside, quiet villages and busy towns. It stretches from Netley on the banks of Southampton Water, the historic river villages of Hamble-le-Rice, Bursledon and Botley, the developing areas of Hedge End, West End and Fair Oak and the green residential belt of Chandler's Ford.
The town of Eastleigh is the administrative and commercial centre of the Borough and has shopping, parking, and Help Point facilities and plenty of opportunities for leisure and entertainment. It is also ideally placed for visiting the natural outstanding beauty of the New Forest, the Isle of Wight and the Dorset coastline and the historic towns of Winchester, Salisbury and Romsey.
With a population of over 117,000 the Borough has seen a rapid and controlled expansion in residential, industrial and commercial development over recent years. There are eight ancient monuments, 180 listed buildings, eight conservation areas, and around 20 000 protected trees protected. The borough's latin motto, "Salus populi suprema lex" means "The The Eastleigh Borough Council welfare of the People is the most important Law".
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Strategy
Borough initiatives
1) Implement the work of the Council’s Home Energy Conservation Strategy to improve energy efficiency in the Eastleigh Borough Council Dwellings in the Borough
• Achieve 30 per cent improvement in energy efficiency over 15 years (1996 to 2011).
2) District Energy and CHP Development
• EBC continue working with Utilicom and other potential District Energy providers to develop District Energy and CHP development across the Borough.
• Maintain involvement with PUSH work on district energy across South Hampshire.
3) Work with housing associations to encourage sustainable construction practices beyond Housing Corporation Standards
• Target to be agreed.
4) Aerial thermal imaging of the whole of Eastleigh Borough to target HEC and CarbonFREE resources
• Carry out aerial thermal imaging survey in 2008/09 to identify homes and business in the Borough where heat is being lost to the atmosphere and use GIS to inform marketing activity.
5) Community wide household insulation retrofit project in Eastleigh
• Investigate and establish joint project with SEEDA and EAGA.
6) Hold Energy Awareness events for staff and Members in the Civic Offices, Hedge End Depot and The Point
• Hedge End Depot by September 2009, The Point by October 2009 and Civic Offices by November 2009.
• Existing school travel plans will be reviewed the Eastleigh Borough Council d. Seven reviews will be completed by end of 2010.
7) School travel plans
• Private schools and schools for children with special educational needs will continue to be approached during 2009/10.
8) Extension to the cycle network in the Borough during 2009/10
• Numerous areas.
Council to go Carbon Neutral by July 2012
The Council has a long history of trying to reduce the amount of energy it uses from fossil fuels, such as petrol, mineral diesel, gas, oil and coal. For example, it has had an electricity contract for its Civic Offices from renewable energy sources since October 2001, one of the first Councils in the Country to do so.
The Council has also had a Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan since 2003. That strategy recognises that the Eastleigh Borough Council must all not only reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are significantly contributing to Climate Change but also that the Eastleigh Borough Council must prepare to adapt to the impacts of unavoidable climate change.
The Eastleigh Borough Council wants to go further than other Councils and encourage others to do the same setting a target of being Carbon Neutral by the time the 2012 Olympic Games begins in London. They believe it will be a tough target to meet but they will do this by:
• Carefully measuring and monitoring the carbon dioxide that the Eastleigh Borough Council emit from their key business activities. This is sometimes known as a Carbon Footprint.
• Reducing those emissions as much as the Eastleigh Borough Council can by 2012
For those carbon dioxide emissions that they really can’t avoid, the Eastleigh Borough Council will invest in local energy saving projects that will benefit the wider local community. These projects will save at least the same amount of carbon dioxide that they cannot avoid emitting. In this way they will compensate for the carbon dioxide the Eastleigh Borough Council emit (known as carbon compensation or carbon offsetting), thereby becoming carbon neutral. They are avoiding the term zero carbon because they feel that it is misleading.
Their unique carbon dioxide offsetting/compensation fund is called CarbonFREE and will be operated in an open, honest and transparent way, in keeping with their corporate values because the Eastleigh Borough Council want to ensure the public has confidence that the Eastleigh Borough Council are doing what the Eastleigh Borough Council say.
This local carbon compensation fund means that local people, community organisations and businesses can follow their lead, confident that they will know exactly where and how their investment into such a fund will reduce carbon dioxide emissions locally. Their CarbonFREE page gives you more information.
This sounds very simple in principle but in fact the process is the subject of ongoing discussions, monitoring and planning at a high level. The Cabinet agreed that a Climate Change Programme Board, chaired by the Leader of the Council, would plan the Going Carbon Neutral by 2012 campaign and oversee the way the Council tackles and plans to meet ongoing issues related to Climate Change.
A Carbon Compensation Policy Paper was agreed at the December 2007 Cabinet Meeting. At the same meeting, the updated Council’s Climate Change Strategy 2007 to 2012 was agreed.
Council Climate Change Action Plan 2009/10
Eastleigh Borough Council will lead by example through its approach to mitigating and adapting to climate change within the Borough. They will work with, and encourage, others to take action to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions and to prepare for the inevitable impacts of climate change.
Some actions include:
• Report on carbon dioxide savings in July 2010.
• Formally review CO2 reductions from existing local Greening Campaigns and make recommendations to LACs in Autumn 2009.
• Renovation of Shears Mill Turbines (if possible) and new turbine house built by end 2009. Electrical generation will depend upon the state of the turbines after renovation.
• Continue to work with partners to inform sustainable construction of Botley Centre for Information
• Update Renewable Energy in Eastleigh Project, teachers manual and schools work.
• Following a workshop in March 2009 a set of draft procedures to be developed through an extensive pilot project and presented to the Procurement Executive in December 2009.
Carbon Neutral Eastleigh (CNE)
Eastleigh Borough Council will be carbon neutral in its key business activities by July 2012, and the Council aims to complete some of the following actions to combat climate change:
1) Reduce Eastleigh Borough Council and its community’s greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency measures, the use and promotion of renewable and sustainable energy technologies and sustainable construction and design techniques for new buildings and refurbishment.
2) Reduce greenhouse gas emissions resulting from travel (particularly road travel) from community and Council activities within the Borough
3) Reduce community and council greenhouse gas emissions within the Borough through improved waste management.
4) Work with key partners, such as the Environment Agency and Water Companies, to secure effective local water resources management (including through Council activities) and avoid or reduce climate change induced flood risk.
5) Increase the resilience and reduce the vulnerability of ecosystems (flora, fauna and their associated habitats) in the Borough so that they can accommodate and respond to climate change.
6) Avoid or reduce direct and indirect climate change-induced risks to staff, Councillors and Council-owned property, as the Eastleigh Borough Council ll as helping to reduce such risks to their local community by working with key partners.
7) Raise awareness and understanding about the causes and effects of climate change with all staff, councillors and those who live and work within Eastleigh Borough and give guidance as to how everyone can play their part in tackling climate change.
Some actions include:
• Market CarbonFREE to air travellers via the Airport by end June 2009.
• Review success of Bus Partnership investment in CarbonFREE and extend its remit and investment opportunities if possible by March 2010.
• Insulation capable of saving 5 000 tonnes of CO2 over at least 25 years to be installed in local homes and community buildings by December 2009.
• Report on 2008/09 CO2 emissions of Council main business activities
• Reduce number of business miles travelled by car by 15 per cent by 2012 compared to 2007/08 levels for staff based at the Civic Offices and all Councillors
• Publicise Councils progress against its objective to be Carbon Neutral by 2012 as per the Climate Change Communications Plan report to be produced by August 2009.
• Refurbish Council owned buildings to be carbon neutral from April 2008.
• Investigate the use of automatic meter readers across the Council estate to improve quality of energy and water data received and to allow for more accurate energy management.
• Driver Efficiency training for fleet vehicle drivers and staff
• Expand kitchen waste trial to cover Eastleigh Borough with Kitchen Waste collections to be available to 93 per cent of the Borough by December 2009
• Investigate water usage in the Civic Offices and Hedge End Depot.
• Report on National Biodiversity Indicator
• Identify significant Climate Change vulnerabilities and opportunities for both Council and the community and undertake impact assessments.
• Spatial planning and sea level rise pilot.
• Attend community events throughout the Borough to raise awareness of climate change.
• Engage with local community groups who own & operate community buildings to raise awareness about energy efficiency and renewable energy.
• Establish and support a community groups with a low carbon focus.
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