Innovation in local government is about improving the lives of the people in our
communities. Browse through our case studies to see the many innovative programmes councils are involved
in.
Enfield Council have worked in collaboration with Kensa Contracting and Engie to deliver England’s largest shared ground loop array heat pump programme replacing electric heating, all in under one year and whilst the flats remained inhabited. The project serves 400 flats in eight tower blocks in Enfield was named District Heating Project of The Year at the 25th annual H&V News Awards in 2019.
The challenge to meet net zero ambitions relies on a shift towards electrically heated properties. A key issue is how to bring fuel poor households along on this journey to net zero without making heating their homes even less affordable for them.
South Somerset District Council are embarking on a programme of retrofitting council properties and supporting the community to retrofit their homes to save money, carbon and increase comfort and wellbeing.
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.
There has been a growing interest in ‘civic crowdfunding’ for local authorities. This project sought to work through the options available to councils to raise additional funds for climate work whilst engaging with and involving the community, and potentially increasing community wealth. Through a series of workshops, issues and barriers were investigated in order to produce a tool to aid decision making and prepare the council for delivering alternative finance mechanisms.
Net Zero Now is a one-year project from Cambridge Carbon Footprint which was awarded £15,000 by South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Zero Carbon Communities (ZCC) grant scheme. The Net Zero Now project designed and delivered free training for community action on climate change. It trained 12 individuals to become local ambassadors for climate change. These individuals are now working on initiatives ranging from village hall sustainability, toy and book swaps, bike repair schemes and eco-festivals. The resources developed through the project have been transformed into a free online training course and will help to deliver future in-person and online courses.
Kent County Council is working on a project in Margate to reduce the risk of flooding and the impact of increasing summer temperatures. Over 30 new trees have been planted across two urban residential streets, 11 of which are planted within specialist sustainable drainage (SuDS) tree pit systems. The project contributes towards reducing heat stress and surface water flood risk while also providing attractive spaces for residents, visitors and wildlife.
Barnsley Council declared a climate emergency in September 2019 with targets to achieve net zero carbon emissions in its own operations by 2040 and across the wider borough by 2045. The council’s Sustainable Energy Action Plan affirms the council’s commitment to embed a carbon reduction culture across the organisation. The council has a housing new-build programme, but energy efficiency measures included in properties have varied with no standard energy specification. The council wanted to work with a “critical friend” to review the specification and Leeds Sustainability Institute (LSI) have carried out this role.