Agenda item

(To receive a report from Andrew Brooks, Regeneration Manager, which provides an update on the progress and next steps for the Strategy)

Consideration was given to a report on the next steps with the Lincolnshire Utility Strategy.  It was reported that the County Council and the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership had been working on a utility plan to tackle the lack of utility infrastructure compared to demand for some months.

The plan was now at final draft stage and members' views on its content and on linkages which might be made to the service in the Environment and Economy area were sought.

The Committee was provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         Energy was one of the major challenges for Lincolnshire.  However, it should be remembered that the cost of renewables was falling and the subsidies would be coming to an end.  £23.15bn in subsidies was currently paid out and in future it was likely that there would be a cap of £7.6bn per year.  It was noted that green energy was not cheap.

·         It was noted that there were two massive projects taking place in the local area, and it was queried whether they were future proofed. 

·         The costs of replacing and renewing wind turbines had not been properly thought through, as they were taller and community support was now needed for on shore wind farms.  There was a need to embrace a longer term view.

·         There was a need to look at how energy was used and to reduce energy wastage. The way that houses were built was antiquated and there was a need to move towards more modern methods of building.   There had been a suggestion to stop having buildings with gas fired boilers as gas storage was reducing.

·         A viewpoint was still to be formulated in relation to the future use of electricity and a longer term view on energy was required.  This was more difficult in Lincolnshire as there were two different electricity operators with different constraints.  There was also a need to be able to think about whether the requirements for electricity could be managed as the county was currently not using the full capacity of the network. There was a need to consider whether the county wanted national infrastructure to provide all of Lincolnshire's energy or was there potential for the county to produce some of its own energy and therefore become more resilient.

·         A business model for the use of direct current was being developed.

·         An update on progress should be brought back to the meeting, particularly around the outcomes of the SMARTLincs project and it was expected that this would be September time.

·         Who was responsible for ensuring energy provision, and whether the county council should develop an energy company?

·         There was a need for the Committee to identify a member to join the proposed Energy Expert Panel and it was suggested that this should be the Chairman or Vice-Chairman.

·         What was the role of nuclear energy at the moment? Members were advised that this could not be discounted as it was clean energy. Nothing could be ruled out, there would be a need to see what was available and what would be best for the area and then take a view on it.

RESOLVED

1.    That the emerging content of the utility strategy and the next steps summarised in the report be noted.

2.    That the Chairman or Vice Chairman of the Committee join the proposed Energy Expert Panel and undertake a liaison role between the Scrutiny Committee and the Panel.