Councillors on the Policy & Resources Committee met on Thursday 6 October to decide how nearly £8 million from the Carbon Neutral Fund will be spent throughout the city. This funding will help reduce emissions across the city and bring benefits to residents, businesses and visitors of a cleaner, safer environment.
The Carbon Neutral Fund is part of the Carbon Neutral 2030 programme which launched in 2021. Priorities for the fund are projects which will reduce carbon emissions, conserve or improve biodiversity, or help the city adapt to the effects of climate change.
And for the first time, this funding has been made available over 2 years, offering council services greater certainty and flexibility to plan and deliver projects.
The Carbon Neutral Fund, along with the one-off Climate Action Fund for transport and travel projects, has funded £8.9m of projects since 2019.
In 2021, £3.9 million of Carbon Neutral Funding was allocated to transport and travel projects. This included infrastructure such as electric vehicle charging points and improvements to pedestrian crossings, cycle facilities, and bus networks to encourage people to travel more sustainably.
The Climate Action Fund has also funded £1.4 million of transport and travel projects in to help take forward the recommendations of the city’s Climate Assembly held in September-November 2020.
Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty, leader of Brighton & Hove City Council and Chair of the Policy & Resources Committee, said: “Almost every day we hear about the devastating effects of climate change, from the destruction of communities due to unprecedented severe weather, to the drastic loss of species.
“That’s why we set up a Carbon Neutral Fund, to invest in practical projects aimed at reducing emissions and the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss.
“Reversing the effects of the climate and biodiversity emergency is an enormous task, but we will continue to do what we can within the budgetary restrictions of the council.
“The Carbon Neutral Fund allows us to invest in the future of Brighton & Hove by focusing spending on climate and biodiversity action in the city. This is crucial in our fight to address the climate crisis.
“These projects will support 3 key strands of our Carbon Neutral 2030 programme: carbon reduction, climate adaptation, and conserving and enhancing biodiversity.
“And for the first time, this funding has been made available for 2 years, which gives us scope for supporting a broader selection of projects that may not have been possible to complete in just one year.”
Below is a selection of projects that were agreed at the Policy & Resources Committee on 6 October:
Funding will be used to install boreholes for ground source heat pumps which will help heat 212 new council homes through a communal heating system. The pumps will provide a renewable source of heat for years to come while saving residents money.
Funding will be used to restore the historic Grade II listed cast iron street lighting columns along Brighton seafront. By refurbishing existing iron columns – as opposed to recasting – the council will make significant carbon savings. Funding will also be used to replace existing lanterns with more energy-efficient LED bulbs which will help to reduce carbon emissions and the council’s energy bill for street lighting.
Funding will be used to trial the use of new techniques to rejuvenate and rehabilitate 14 failing concrete roads across the city. These low-carbon techniques can extend the lifecycle of these assets by up to 10 years.
