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Sandwell Council has set out its initial plans to contribute towards global efforts to tackle climate change within the borough in a report to its Cabinet (3 November). These include solar photo-voltaic panels installed at the Council House, and existing oil boilers converted to gas boilers at a number of council buildings.
This follows the UK hosting the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November, a major international event which brings together heads of state, climate experts and campaigners to agree co-ordinated action to tackle climate change.
Sandwell Council has set two targets that are in line with the COP21 2015 Paris Agreement:
• For the council to be carbon neutral by 2030, and
• For the borough of Sandwell to be carbon neutral by 2041.
These targets are in line with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°c and are more ambitious than those of UK central government.
Local authorities will play a vital role in supporting the UK to become carbon neutral, and Sandwell Council is committed to working with its partners, businesses and other organisations to help local consumers and organisations make the transition to clean energy and green technology, to decarbonise buildings, and to meet the council’s goal for carbon neutrality.
Tackling climate change in Sandwell is crucial to ensure the worst impacts of climate change are reduced, so that the borough is resilient, and that it can adapt to the effects that are already being seen today. Climate change action will enable the lives and health of Sandwell residents to be improved with warmer, healthier homes, and for them to derive physical and mental health benefits from activities, such as walking and spending time in green spaces.
Sandwell will become safer with reduced traffic congestion and flood prevention, and will also see an improved economy with new job creation in the green sector.
The council seeks to tackle climate change in the following six sectors:
• Council Estate and Operations: actions include the installation of roof-mounted solar photo-voltaic (PV) panels at the Council House; an oil boiler will be converted to a gas boiler and solar PV panels will be installed at Primrose Centre and Springfield Primary; and an oil boiler will be converted to a gas boiler at SCS West Bromwich.
Future projects include: investing in the fabric of Sandwell schools to make them carbon neutral, and to reduce emissions from the council’s supply chain.
• The Built Environment: energy efficiency measures, combined with the installation of low-carbon forms of heating, will be encouraged to address emissions from the borough’s homes. The council is also looking to include more renewable energy technologies into the design of new-build council homes and high-rise refurbishment schemes. Options are already available for eligible private sector residents to improve energy efficiency in their own homes, through the LEAP and ECO3 Schemes and the Sandwell Energy Switching Service is available to all.
Potential future grant-funded projects include: the insulation of around 500 council-owned homes, the development of two heat networks within the borough, and to work in strategic partnership with partners, businesses and other organisations to meet our goal for carbon neutrality in the borough by 2041.
• Transport: a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan has been produced to encourage more active forms of travel across the borough. A new cycle hire scheme was launched across the West Midlands in 2021 and will be rolled out to Sandwell in June 2022. A trial zone for E-Scooters is providing links from West Bromwich retail core and Dartmouth Park to West Midlands Metro stations and West Bromwich Bus Station. 37 public charge points (74 sockets) will be delivered for electric vehicles in residential areas.
Future projects include: to reduce energy consumption, carbon, associated energy and maintenance costs for street lighting by conversion to LED, and to support a West Midlands Combined Authority bid for funding to deliver around 215 more electric vehicle charge points in the borough. Sandwell Council will invest in its fleet, so they are low carbon and compatible and will make refuse collection and street cleansing greener with the rollout of electric street cleansing vehicles and participation in pilot projects to test other green vehicles.
• Adaptation and Resilience: officers from Public Health are working with faith centres across the borough to advise and educate faith leaders on environmental issues such as air pollution and climate change, and to promote behavioural change within their communities. The Air Quality team is working with the University of Birmingham and The Innovation Factory, to develop low-cost acoustic sensors to monitor, analyse and predict both traffic and vehicular emissions using artificial intelligence.
Future projects include: the development of an Adaptation Study on what is required for Sandwell to adapt to a changing climate, and to understand the risks to residents, communities, businesses and infrastructure.
• Natural Capital: planting trees can help reduce the impacts of climate change, and Sandwell has a replacement ratio of 2:1 for any trees that are lost during commercial or residential development. The proposed Urban Greening Project for West Bromwich Town Centre will also aim to implement new and enhance existing greenspace.
Community engagement and working with partners will be important for the council to communicate and engage with residents, workers and staff in Sandwell around climate change. Initiatives, such as Sandwell’s Great Big Green Week in September and the COP26 Youth Takeover, raised awareness and understanding of climate change, and encouraged culture and behaviour change in the wider community.
Sandwell Council has made a successful application to the Local Government Association’s Net Zero Innovation Programme and as a result will be working closely with the University of Birmingham to develop a ‘tool kit’ to help the council work with and include groups who do not regularly engage with the council, around the authority’s climate change work. This will ensure that the voices of all communities in Sandwell are heard.
Sandwell Council now has a cohort of 51 Climate Change Champions which include officers from several departments that have committed to championing efforts to tackle climate change and working to influence their colleagues.
Councillor Ahmad Bostan, cabinet member for the environment, said: “Climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity and has a massive impact on inequality. It is crucial that we work with our partners, businesses and other organisations to improve air quality, create warmer and healthier homes, make active travel choices more accessible, reduce extreme weather events and ensure our young people have a certain future.”
Councillor Rajbir Singh, Leader of Sandwell Council, said: “Our actions will prepare the borough for the effects of climate change, create green jobs in the low carbon sector, and build a fairer, Sandwell. By investing locally, developing services to meet local people’s needs, and looking to the future in everything we do, including taking our environmental responsibilities seriously, we will make Sandwell’s communities stronger and more resilient.”
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