Agenda item

Report of the Director of Environment & Resident Experience. To be presented by the Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Environment and Transport.

The report seeks to propose a strategy to allocate carbon offset contributions.

The Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Environment and Transport introduced the report. The Cabinet Member explained the proposed strategy for allocating £2.23 million from our Carbon Offset Fund over the next four years to deliver carbon reduction projects across Haringey. It was explained that it was not always possible for developments to achieve net zero carbon. In these instances, the London Plan allowed developers to offset residual emissions through cash-in-lieu contributions. These would feed into Haringey's Carbon Offset Fund, providing a source of funding to deliver strategic carbon reduction projects in the borough.

It was explained that the proposed projects would form a core part of delivering on the Climate Change Action Plan and achieving the target for Haringey to be net zero carbon by 2041. The projects proposed were based on ideas from and with support across the Council and the community. The seven projects span initiatives to decarbonise our corporate estate, support community action, tackle fuel poverty, increase urban tree planting, and drive behaviour change. 

It was explained that the allocation included provision for the next four years of the Haringey Community Carbon Fund. This fund empowers residents and community groups to deliver grassroots carbon reduction projects, and is a shining example of the Haringey Deal principles of co-production and community collaboration in action.

It was stressed that the Community Carbon Fund was a key tool in our arsenal as we rise to the challenge of the Climate Emergency and build a greener, cleaner and more sustainable Haringey.

In response to comments and questions from Cllr Ovat and Cawley-Harrison, the following information was shared:

·         It was explained that the last round of Community Carbon Fund applications had been completed and there had been a number of submissions. It was noted that there were a broad range of applications to the fund and that this was a positive for the borough.

·         That there was a need to ensure the Council uses its leverage to get best results and that they were working to finalise work on a number of carbon efficient projects across the borough, including eco-schools.

·         That the criteria for the Community Carbon Fund was developed collaboratively and that they were: the effectiveness of reducing carbon, Value for Money, community engagement, and whether there any other permissions/consents that were required. It was explained that the service would work with other portfolio leads to measure and ensure effectiveness of these criteria across completed projects.

·         That schemes were selected by aligning with projects that were currently within the current Capital Programme and ensure that they projects aligned with carbon offset requirements.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

1. Approved the use of £2.23 million of carbon offset monies collected from Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for the seven carbon reduction programmes and their administration, with the aspiration to use this funding to leverage in match funding to support the delivery of these projects and to maximise impact:
   1. £0.64 million to the extension of the Haringey Community Carbon Fund for another four years (Years 5-8);
   2. £0.15 million to a climate resilience project on a council-owned and community used building;
   3. £0.15 million to fuel poverty action and supporting green skills;
   4. £0.68 million to solar and energy efficiency projects within the council and school estate, working in partnership with Community Energy Companies;
   5. £0.32 million to energy efficiency audits on the corporate estate to bring forward a pipeline of projects;
   6. £0.09 million to urban tree planting; and,
   7. £0.2 million to behaviour change initiatives.
      
      
2. Agreed that the detailed spending and sign off process for the Haringey Community Carbon Fund extension to Years 5 to 8 is deferred to a later meeting.
   
   
3. Agreed that the decision to approve the detailed spending plans for carbon reduction projects 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 were delegated to the Director of Environment and Resident Experience or Assistant Director for Planning, Building Standards & Sustainability, where appropriate, subject to decisions being taken by Cabinet where a key decision, and following relevant procurement regulations and any contractual requirements for spending the carbon offset contributions in the S106 planning obligations, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Environment & Transport and the relevant Cabinet Member for each project area.

Reasons for decision

Addressing the Climate Emergency was a key corporate priority for Haringey Council. The Carbon Offset Fund Allocation Strategy would make a key, ongoing contribution to the borough’s approach to decarbonising the Council, local economy and wider community. Specifically, allocating the carbon offsetting funds to these carbon reduction projects would help achieve several objectives within the Haringey Climate Change Action Plan (HCCAP, 2021): C1, H1, H3, H4, H5, W4, Com2 and Com3.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) encouraged councils to set out and make public declarations on how the local carbon offset funds will be spent. The GLA monitored these to demonstrate the value of the policy within the London Plan.

Agreeing the principle of allocation to the Haringey Community Carbon Fund (HCCF) allowed officers to work up this in more detail for a later decision and engagement to take place with the relevant internal services, external partners and the community to help reshape the HCCF programme.

Agreeing the delegation of the detail of programmes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 to a Director or Assistant Director allowed these to be developed further with relevant project, finance and procurement teams.

Alternative options considered

Do nothing, accumulate a larger pot of funds to spend at a later date – rejected. 

Delaying the allocation of S106 carbon offset monies until a further higher amount was available for spend had been rejected as the currently available amount of £2.59 million is already a substantial pot of money. The Greater London Authority indicated in their latest Carbon Offset Funds report they want boroughs to increase their carbon offset spending. Not utilising this funding now would result in higher capital borrowing costs for the Council for the carbon reduction programmes.

S106 clawback clauses enabled developers to request financial contributions to be paid back to them if the Council had not spent the money by a specified future date (usually 5 years from the date the contribution is paid to the council). Allocation of S106 carbon offset monies would ensure that the risk of repayment is avoided.

This option would not reflect the urgency of the Climate Emergency, the scale of action required to implement the objectives in the HCCAP and help the borough to get to the net zero carbon target by 2041.

Alternative allocation of funds – rejected

Allocating more to Council projects and not fund community projects – The Council had limited direct control or influence over borough emissions, and supporting community action and behaviour change initiatives was a core part of being able to deliver the borough-wide net zero carbon target by 2041.

Allocating more to the community and not fund Council projects – Within the current budget constraints that all public bodies were facing, the ability to borrow and fund projects is reduced. Therefore, it is desirable to fund some of these measures within the council’s and schools’ existing buildings. This would reduce operational costs (on energy) that will benefit the users and the wider community.

Other projects - In forming the list of projects to be delivered by this fund, the Council engaged with various community groups, Councillors, previously funded community groups, and council services. The objective was to conform with the requirements for the carbon offset contributions in the S106 planning obligations, but also to deliver an impact across the community and deliver carbon and financial savings.