County Councillor William Powell |
|
Subject: |
Greening the School Estate |
Question To: |
County Councillor Pete Roberts Cabinet Member for a Learning Powys |
Question:
Following the renewed corporate commitment of Powys County Council under the Progressive Partnership to meaningful action to address the climate emergency, there is understandably an expectation amongst the public of early progress. With this in mind, and given :
· the alarming pressure on School Governing Bodies’ budgets from escalating energy costs;
· the recent report by the City of London Corporation, seeking to limit unnecessary lighting on their estate, beyond the needs of security;
· the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority’s Decade of Darkness initiative, as part of their Dark Skies designation breconbeacons.org/stargazing
What steps are being undertaken to enable individual Headteachers, School Governing Bodies working with local eco committees of learners to bear down upon unnecessary and wasteful lighting within the PCC education estate out of hours, as well as targeting light pollution?
What support is in place to enable the carrying out of energy audits by individual schools or clusters of schools, as well as harnessing of local energy generation opportunities, via retro-fitting of solar PV on roof elevations, where permitted, or partnering with existing energy generating infra-structure?
Minutes:
Response by the Cabinet Member:
The Strategic Property Team (Schools Estates, Energy Manager, Compliance Teams) are working in unison to deliver a range of energy saving projects across the school’s estate of properties. This will improve energy efficiency and heat loss to the schools and demand for heat source input and the use of fossil fuels. These projects are being funded from a range of sources including Welsh Government Salix (Invest to Save), Schools Major Improvement Capital programme and the Asset Collaboration Grant.
We are developing further programmes of work and projects on energy efficiency and energy reduction in individual schools funded from Welsh Government Salix (Invest to Save), Schools Major Improvement Capital programme and the Council’s Invest to Save funding subject to robust business case approvals.
We regularly communicate with school Head Teachers to remind them to conserve energy by switching off lights and having only essential heating on during school holiday periods to avoid burst pipes.
Within the Strategic Property Team, we have a limited resource to undertake Energy Audits and where necessary we do commission and consult with partners to undertake this work. We have put in an application for additional resource for Energy Management within the Strategic Team to support the Schools estate to lower their carbon footprint.
Find below a list of energy savings and management projects.
Alongside enhancing school building LED lighting, we are assessing schools for them to be adapted for potential solar P.V. retrofitted units to roofs. There are constraints to consider when evaluating if P.V. panels can be fitted, including the roof orientation, presence of asbestos in roof tiles or flat roofs, roof pitch and the condition of the roof and structural load bearing capability. We will explore the viability of partnering with existing energy generating infra-structure and two school sites are being consider where this might progress subject to business case being viable in the long term.
To assist schools with maintaining room temperatures in accordance with Schools Premises Regulations, it should be noted.