Call for more Welsh Government funding to help councils reach net zero targets
Elgan Hearn – Local democracy reporter
Calls have been made for more funding from the Welsh Government if councils are to achieve decarbonisation targets by 2030.
At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Economic Development and Environment Management commiittee on Tuesday, September 9 councillors received a report on the council’s Net Zero performance during 2024/2025.
The Welsh Government expects all Welsh local authorities to achieve Net Zero by 2030.
Director of Corporate Services Rhian Hayden explained that last year (2024/2025) the council had seen a five per cent decrease in emissions on 2023/2024.
Gas
This reduction is part is a total decrease of 23 per cent from 2018/2019.
Miss Hayden said: “The main contributing factor to the reduction in the last year is a 10 per cent fall in the amount of gas consumed.
“However the statistics for electricity is more mixed reducing overall by one per cent – but there have been a number of changes to the sources of consumption.”
The report explains Anvil Court and Eugene Cross Park are no longer included in the council’s carbon footprint count and the HiVE (High Value Engineering Campus) has been passed on to Coleg Gwent.
But Silent Valley Waste Services and “a group” of industrial units have been added to the council’s tally.
Challenging
Miss Hayden added: “Whilst this fall in emissions is real progress, achieving Net Zero will be challenging and it will require additional finance and resources beyond our current capacities.
“I don’t think that Blaenau Gwent is alone in that, it’s the general feeling across the whole Welsh public sector.”
Cllr Jonathan Millard (non-aligned Independent – Ebbw Vale South) said that this was one of the “scariest” parts of the report to hear.
Cllr Millard said: “How much is this going to cost us, are there further opportunities for funding from Welsh and UK Governments?
“Is this likely to be passed on to Council Tax payers?
“I wouldn’t be happy with putting that forward as the costs of everything else has gone up and that’s a really worrying poin.”
Another problem he identified with the reporting targets is that buildings or assets can be moved in or out of the council’s emissions count.
Cllr Millard said: “We could get to Net Zero and the next month have something brought into our portfolio that puts us 10 to 20 per cent away from Net Zero.”
Battle
He believed the council will be “continually battling” this issue
Director for Economy Christina Harrhy assured the committee that the council is “maximising” external funding that is available and would “continue” to do that.
Ms Harrhy said: “The green energy agenda is something we will weave into our regeneration and economic ambitions we have for the area.”
Cllr Sonia Behr (Labour – Nantyglo) is the council’s Climate Champion.
Cllr Behr said: “It’s a breath of fresh air to hear that we need to weave the green agenda into everything because we haven’t been doing that well enough.”
Despite this she believed that the council is making “insufficient progress” to reach the 2030 target.
The committee noted the report and that a further report following the mid-point review would return before them.
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
This is an interesting report but I am surprised that the Concillors were not asking questions about the benefits enjoyed as a result of decarbonisation that the Council was enjoying. Using our domestic example, the addition of solar PV to our house cut our electricity bill by 30% in the first year and that reduction has continued ever since. Payback is under 10 years and will be less if electricity prices go on rising. Of course, it is possible to invest in decarbonisation and get things wrong. Again using a domestic example our heat pump was expected to reduce the… Read more »
In order to get the advertised efficient of heat pumps you need to increase the insulation of the property. Hermetically seal the air inside. This causes damp. A solution is the concept of Stossluften (shock air) by opening the windows for 30mins each day to ventilate. However, this does not work in Wales because our average external winter humidity is over 80%. Lets damp air into the home rather than expunge it. We need a different solution.
Get the grants sorted for peoples houses as well. Very important.
Only for properties in council tax bands A to C. Tax from poor people should not have to subsidise the homes of more wealthy people, as such grants currently do.
The joint Director of Economy is interesting is this the same Christina Harry that was a Director at Torfaen then got the Chief exec job at Caerphilly, then let go with a payoff now working for Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent, if so she would know about grants available to councils from her time at Torfaen and working with the Energy Team who were in her Directorate.
What is net zero? What’s the calculation? If there is no answer to that question it is not possible to set a target let alone achieve it. Just a soundbite for opinionated posh people to lord over poor people who struggle with energy bills and just an excuse for local authorities to increase council tax. It’s also not a complex equation. My council here in Carmarthenshire is investing in electric bin lorries and has its own wind turbine at the Nantycaws recycling centre. The Kwh of both sides of the equation is known. To any politician who uses the phrase… Read more »
According to Tomos Radford Welsh Labour Government Climate change/Net Zero Tsar. Under the Freedom of information act.The Welsh Labour Government have not got a plan for Net Zero 2030 and don’t know how much it will cost every household or householder across Wales….We are all being mugged of with this nonsense.