Case studies

Leeds City Council and its network partners Vital Energi have delivered a £49 million network of insulated underground pipes, supplying 15,400 megawatt-hours of heating last year, helping to reduce the city’s carbon footprint by more than 2,000 tonnes. The heat and hot water used in the system is produced from non-recyclable waste at the Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility (RERF), creating a reliable and affordable lower carbon alternative to traditional fossil fuel powered heating systems for connected buildings.

Leeds’ Fleet Replacement programme is designed to identify the lowest emission vehicle available when needing to be replaced. Where possible, this means electric vehicles (EVs) as the default option, however this requires appropriate charging point facilities to support this change. When vehicles are identified as suitable for EV replacement, details of their depot locations are mapped and collated and they’re then replaced, however this was not always straightforward as this case study by Leeds City Council and the Energy Saving Trust explains.

Waltham Forest Council retrofitted sheltered housing schemes by developing a solar-powered system that could generate and store enough electricity to power the lifts and LED lighting in communal areas, both day and night.

The London Borough of Sutton has adopted an ambitious Environment Strategy and Climate Emergency Response Plan. Supported by the council’s Transformation Programme, they are taking action to increase domestic retrofit, develop a zero carbon technical standards guide for all council led developments, and prevent the physical impacts of climate change through increasing access to green spaces.

The climate implications toolkit is a qualitative self-assessment tool to help all council officers assess and improve the alignment of their projects, procurements, commissioning, and services with Hammersmith and Fulham's climate and ecology strategy. It also supports report authors to draft the climate implications section on decision and procurement strategy reports.

In 2020 South Somerset District Council (SSDC) signed up to the call out by the Department for Transport (DfT) asking for councils to take part in their e-scooter trial for 12 months.

Langport Town Council, in partnership with neighbouring Huish Episcopi Parish Council, set up an online climate forum in the autumn of 2020, to engage and swap climate adaptation ideas with more than 20 other parish councils that share the fragile ecology of the Somerset Levels.

Lancaster West Neighbourhood Team was established following the Grenfell tragedy to provide a suite of management functions including tenancy management, community development and repairs and to deliver a multi-million-pound refurbishment of the 800 homes on the estate.

Lancaster City Council is looking to retrofit housing stock, engage with residents to explain the benefits and encourage more local contractors to bid for tenders.

Lancaster City Council declared a Climate Emergency in January 2019, at which point the Local Plan had been submitted and it was not possible to be significantly amended. The Local Plan was adopted in July 2020, and the Council immediately entered a Climate Emergency partial review to ensure that climate change mitigation and adaptation become fundamental to placemaking in the District.