Going Green: Serge Lourie reports on the first 18 months

4.09.00pm GMT Mon 12th Nov 2007

When, in 2006, we won back the Council, we pledged to put the environment at the heart of decision making. So . . how are we doing 18 months down the line?

We signed the Nottingham Declaration and started work on producing a carbon reduction plan. We appointed a sustainability team to reduce radically our carbon footprint. At the first Council Meeting, I made a commitment not to use my car for Council activities. The manifesto became the basis of the Community and Corporate Plans and began to permeate the thinking of the council. Councillors made environmental priorities clear to officers, who were delighted that we were going in this direction, especially as the Tories had banned the concept of sustainability.

We got enormous publicity for our proposal to relate parking charges to CO2 emissions. We established our green credentials and won a number of awards, most notably as the LGA "Green Group of the Year". The scheme was the result of a lot of hard work by many members, both in the Executive and in Scrutiny, and of officers in many departments including Transport, Legal, Communications and Finance. We were determined to make the scheme revenue neutral, fair and easy to understand. Amazingly it went from concept to introduction in only six months. This was extraordinary for such a revolutionary project as it had to be legally watertight. Many councils have followed suit. Another early win was to persuade the mayor that he should have a hybrid as the mayoral car rather than a large Daimler.

We recognise that buildings produce more CO2 than vehicles. To assist in planning, we have produced a "Sustainable Construction Checklist" and "Sustainable by design - domestic house extensions and loft conversions". We have also introduced a home insulation scheme - £100 off council tax for installing loft or cavity wall insulation jointly with British Gas. Home energy surveys have been completed by almost 8,000 households (10%) - building up the profile of housing stock and what measures residents have already taken in their homes. To control the process we set target of reducing our carbon footprint by 30% by 2013 and have identified over 150 projects through a Carbon Management Programme

We have also introduced a lot of measures within the Council including:

• Procurement of Green Electricity (saving 5000 tons of CO2 annually);

• Green stationery procurement;

• Fighting Heathrow expansion;

• New waste collection service to encourage recycling of plastics and cardboard in addition to glass, paper, food waste, green waste;

• Car free development and car clubs consultation;

• £1m Climate Change Fund for Council projects in an invest to save fund;

• Sustainable Energy review of Twickenham with possible development of Combined Heat and Power);

• Funding photovoltaics on roof of Civic Centre;

• Waste Watchers - staff led environmental champions group;

• GreenBites - lunch time environmental seminar series;

• Light bulb amnesties - internally and for public with donated low energy light bulbs;

• An environmental support service for businesses offering free audits and training (funding from Economic Development Fund of £0.25m) - initial target to support 500 businesses over three years;

• Environmental Statement section in Cabinet Report to ensure full account is taken of environmental impact;

• Successful biofuel trial on council fleet using locally generated waste;

• Green Guardian Awards to encourage innovation had over 50 entries;

• A pilot study for local carbon offsetting scheme;

• Measuring carbon footprint of borough (we want a model that responds to locally collected information);

• Developments of Council offices to encourage home working and reduced travel;

• Work on travel plan for council;

• Schools Environment Forum to promote sustainable schools agenda in Richmond.

We cannot do everything ourselves and are working with partners in the Local Strategic Partnership systematically to reduce CO2 emissions. A number of these partners are looking seriously at large projects to reduce CO2 emissions. We are also rebuilding one of our secondary schools and intend to have the highest standards of insulation and low energy use. We are also planning a River Centre with the voluntary sector to interpret the Thames.

As part of our efforts to protect the natural environment, we have led the Thames Landscape Strategy and are looking at ways to reduce flood risk. We have also decided not to have floodlights on a new sports development as this would impact adversely in the excellent Barnes Wetland Centre. We are making good progress but realise that we cannot do everything at once so we concentrate on projects that have the greatest impact on CO2. We also give priority to publicising what we are doing and how local people and organisations can reduce their carbon footprint.

More details at: http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/environment/sustainability.htm