In a week that delegations from 192 countries have descended on Copenhagen for two weeks of talks for a global treaty on Climate Change, Fife has made headway on a series of priorities in this area. This was revealed in a report presented at the recent Environment, Enterprise & Transportation Committee detailing progress and key priorities for Fife Council.
Fife Council renewed its commitment to Scotland’s Climate Change Declaration (SCCD) on 3 April 2008, committing the council to take action to adapt to climate change and alleviate its effects. The Council is committed to the ambitious Scottish Government targets to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
Across the council, services have played their part in producing less waste, using more sustainable transportation and lowering carbon emissions from energy use. Some examples include:
Fife Council’s Housing Services’ installed measures that should help council house tenants save energy and reduce carbon emissions. This included cavity and loft insulation, and renewable energy technologies such as heat pumps. Housing Services worked with the Energy Saving Scotland advice centre for South East Scotland, invited 53,215 Fife households to reduce their carbon emissions through direct mailings and events in Fife. As a result, the Energy Saving Scotland advice centre referred householders to trusted grant schemes and then helped them access a range of grant funding for improvements such as cavity wall and loft insulation.
In 2008/09 around 350 people were employed by the tenant companies in Energy Park Fife in Methil, progressing the use of renewable energy worldwide. One of the main tenant companies won contracts to manufacture almost 40 sub sea structures for offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea and off the coast of Germany. Crown Estates also announced four development sites off the fife coast that could house around 500 offshore wind turbines. These developments are currently undergoing Strategic Environmental Assessment.
Transport Scotland agreed with Fife Council’s recommendation that the New Forth Crossing must include a credible public transport strategy. This should include consideration of additional park and ride sites at Halbeath and Rosyth, and dedicated space for public and active transport along with intelligent transport management systems, to maximise network capacity for more sustainable vehicles.
Fife Council’s Transportation Services manage more than 60,000 street lights in Fife. Street lighting is about 10 per cent of the council’s Carbon Footprint. Constant development across Fife has meant that street lighting has grown about 2% per annum over the last few decades. Transportation Services began a £40 million investment, 10 year programme to renew street lighting which is better quality, uses less energy and produces fewer carbon emissions.
Education Services have worked with specialists to minimise the impact on climate change of refurbishing and building for Parkhill and Dunnikier Primary Schools. The principles of sustainable development informed the construction processes of these new schools. The actual designs of these schools included many methods to minimise the impact of the building and its use on climate change, including south facing learning areas and use of sunpipes to maximise daylight.
Environmental Services have undertaken extensive kerbside bin trials to encourage residents to recycle more of their household waste. In 2009 Fife Council had one of the highest recycling rates in Scotland with 43 per cent of waste being recycled.
Nearly 4,000 Fife Council staff received energy awareness training, including managers, lead officers and elected members. The pre and post training questionnaires provide consistent and compelling evidence that the training has changed behaviour and attitudes both in the office and at home.
Councillor Ross Vettraino, vice chair of Enterprise, Environment & Transportation committee applauded the progress made to date and added: “As a mark of Fife Council’s progress in carbon management, in October 2008, Fife Council became the first local authority in the UK to gain the Carbon Trust Standard. This proves that although much work still has to be done to meet our annual target of a 3 per cent reduction, Fife is recognising the challenge ahead and the determination to meet government targets, while supporting Fife Council’s aim of the being Scotland’s Leading Green Council.”
For more information contact
Fraser Thomson, Head of Environmental Services
Tel: 08451 55 55 55 + Ext 44 04 70
Contact Fraser Thomson online
By Post:
Fife Council,
Kingdom House,
Kingdom Avenue,
Glenrothes,
KY7 5LT
Cllr. Ross J Vettraino OBE, Vice-Chair, Environment, Enterprise & Transportation Committee
Tel: 08451 55 55 55 + Ext 44 21 48
Contact Ross J Vettraino OBE online
By Post:
Fife Council,
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