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Progress to net zero to be discussed

Multi-million-pound construction projects to replace end-of-life gas boilers with solar panels and air source heat pumps at leisure centres in Wantage and Abingdon are helping Vale of White Horse District Council to reduce its overall carbon emissions.

The district, as a whole, has seen a decrease in its carbon emissions for two years in a row.  In 2023, greenhouse gas emissions in Vale of White Horse fell by 3.6 per cent compared to the previous year, which itself had seen a 3 per cent drop compared with the year before that.

The council’s cabinet will meet to discuss reports on the progress of both the council and the district to net zero. Councillors will hear that there are factors beyond the council’s remit which mean it is unlikely to achieve its target to reach net zero in its own operations by 2030.  

To date the council has reduced its carbon emissions by 12 per cent since 2019/20 and by 45 per cent since 2009/10 (when Greenhouse Gas reporting began). This summer work began to install solar panels and air source heat pumps as well as other energy saving measures at White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre and Wantage Leisure Centre. Similar work has also been carried out at Faringdon Leisure Centre.

The council’s carbon emissions primarily come from collecting household waste (50 per cent) and running its leisure centres (39 per cent). While the council has moved forward with its plans to reduce its carbon emissions at most of its leisure sites, decarbonising the collection of waste is proving more of a challenge.

Some smaller electric vehicles, including a food waste truck and vans for other teams, have proved successful in the Vale and so the council has invested in them.  It is estimated that one of the smaller vans (EVs) used by the parks team, which replaced a petrol vehicle, saved 475.25kg of carbon dioxide equivalent in the first two months of use.

Cllr Bethia Thomas standing in front of an EV van in a car park
Leader of the council, Cllr Bethia Thomas with one of the new EV vans.

However, despite several trials of electric vehicles, there are no viable low carbon large waste trucks available which can cope with the long routes in the council’s rural district.

The Government’s proposed Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), which aims to replace the existing two-tier council system in areas like Oxfordshire with unitary authorities, will hamper the council from making longer term financial commitments. Decisions to invest in decarbonisation works on the council’s estate are likely to be postponed until the LGR is complete.

The net zero report concludes that it is “intended to give an accurate picture of the council’s current path to net zero. We continue to progress in certain areas where we have already secured funding to decarbonise some of our buildings. However, the forthcoming LGR and the issues surrounding the electrification of the waste fleet mean there are limited opportunities to increase the pace of the decarbonisation works required to meet our 2030 targets.”

Councillor Hayleigh Gascoigne, Vale of White Horse District Council’s Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, Climate Action and Nature Recovery, said: “We commissioned this report so we know what more needs to be done to take us to net zero. We want to share the results with the public so that they are clear about all we have achieved. For anyone that has been to Wantage and Abingdon to our leisure centres, it’s clear to see the amount of work going on to upgrade them to reduce our impact on the environment.

“But we are in no doubt that there is a lot more to be done. Our commitment to being a net zero council is still strong despite new challenges. We are even more determined as we know we can and have achieved so much already. “ 

The council will continue to proactively look for opportunities to accelerate the rate of decarbonisation in the district, by working with partnership organisations, as set out in the Nature and Climate Action Plan.

Notes to editors