Lichfield District and the environment

Green Developmentsand Initiatives

www.chasewatergreenpark.org

Lichfield District Council is passionate about its role as acommunity leader, in tackling the causes and impacts ofclimate change, both locally and further afield.

The council took its first step towards tackling climatechange when it signed the Nottingham Declaration onClimate Change in November 2001. Later in June 2008the council also signed up to the Staffordshire Declarationon Climate Change.

The council's commitment was first demonstrated throughtwo very significant initiatives; the early championing ofkerbside recycling, and the sustainable design of the newtheatre, the Lichfield Garrick.

Then, in March 2008 the council launched the WarmerHomes Greener District initiative which has helpedhundreds of homeowners to cut their energy bills bymaking their homes more energy efficient. Today, theinitiative continues to deliver a coordinated programme ofheating and insulation advice, as well as grants andmeasures to improve residents’ home energy efficiency.

The council firmly believes local businesses and publicpartners, as well as residents, need to come together totackle climate change. To this end, in 2008 the council

joined forces with a host of local organisations, includingthe University of Birmingham and Staffordshire CountyCouncil, through an initiative called Chasewater GreenPark Projects. Projects included in the initiative rangefrom researching greener ways to energy manage historicbuildings, such as Lichfield Cathedral, looking at waysto create carbon neutral business parks, through todemonstrating how to harness unused energy from coalfired power stations.

In November 2009, the initiative was awarded aprestigious Green Apple Award at the House ofCommons. Cllr Smith explained: "The Green Apple awardfirmly cements the initiative's role at the forefront ofhelping to cut carbon emissions and reduce consumptionof non-renewable energy sources across the district andfurther afield. The work of the initiative will also help toboost our local economy by providing opportunities fornew green businesses and products."

Through this range of measures, as well as a series ofemerging projects and initiatives, the council and itspartners will firmly establish, and continue to play, apivotal role in mitigating the effects of climate change.

Climate change will have far reaching effectson the UK’s people, places, economy, societyand environments.

"I firmly believe that by joiningforces with businesses, throughpartnerships like ChasewaterGreen Park Projects, localcouncils can translate high levelthinking on climate change, intolocal solutions that deliver."

Councillor Dr. David S. SmithLeader of Lichfield District Council

Craig Jordan (Development Executive,Lichfield District Council and CouncillorDr. David S. Smith (Leader of Lichfield DistrictCouncil) receive the prestigiousGreen Apple Award.

A partnership approach

Our mission statement

Local government is often accused of notactively tackling national challenges. AtLichfield District Council we aim to combat thisby working in partnership with prestigiousorganisations to address the very nationalissues of climate change and green energy.

What I want to see is how as partners we cancreate functioning businesses out of researchthat centre on intelligent uses and productionof alternative and renewable sources of energy.

The project also includes schools and localclimate change action groups across thedistrict, who are working with us on the aim ofreducing our carbon emissions as a community.

Chasewater Green Park Projects presents aunique opportunity to galvanise existingorganisations and structures to explore theseconcepts and deliver tangible outcomes.

I would like to highlight the researchinvolvement from our partner, the Universityof Birmingham, and the support andcooperation of Advantage West Midlands andStaffordshire County Council.

University of Birmingham

CouncillorDr. David S. SmithLeader of LichfieldDistrict Council

Councillor Neil RobertsCabinet Member forDevelopment Services

Richard KingStrategic Director of Democratic,Development & Legal

Emrys JonesLichfield District Venture

Councillor Alan WhiteChairman of Environment & Development,Overview & Scrutiny Committee

Craig JordanDevelopment Executive

Professor Richard J GreenProfessor of Energy Economics

Professor Nigel WeatherillHead of College of Engineeringand Physical Sciences

Councillor Mike MaryonCabinet Member forHighways and Environment

Dr David BrownDeputy Chair of AWMChief Executive of the Institutionof Chemical Engineers

Lichfield District Council

AdvantageWest Midlands

StaffordshireCounty Council

Dr Mark GaterellDirector of Research forSustainable Engineering

Identify local authoritydemand and influence

New business opportunities

Research to a purpose Project funding

Education& communityengagement

A greener cleaner community

Our approach

Chasewater

What is Chasewater:

Chasewater Country Park is a delightful parksteeped in industrial heritage. Bordered byBurntwood, Norton Canes and Brownhills, itis home to a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Once an industrial wasteland, thanks to thework of Lichfield District Council and itspartners, it is now a popular country parkthat welcomes over 150,000 visitors everyyear. From extreme watersports, torelaxation, thousands of people now visitChasewater every week.

Over recent years, land has been cleaned upand reclaimed, trees have been planted,roads, footpaths, cycletracks, visitor andsporting facilities have been built.

The country park is home to an innovationcentre, cafe and play area. It also boastsChasewater Railway, a heritage attractionthat is equal to many highly regardedtourist railways. Chasewater is also home toone of the largest reservoirs in the WestMidlands that is used for a variety ofwatersports.

British Waterways regularly draws water fromthe reservoir whenever it needs to maintainthe water levels in the Birmingham CanalNetwork. The reservoir covers an area of 108hectares and holds approximately 3.7 millioncubic metres of water. Overall the siteencompasses 750 acres.

Chasewater Innovation Centre

Through our partnership with StaffordshireCounty Council we will be incorporating theChasewater Innovation Centre into the overallChasewater Green Park Projects' delivery plan.

The centre, built of Green Oak, houses anexhibition space which will become adedicated visitor destination, researchfacility, educational resource, and greenenterprise and innovation centre.

From a visitor perspective, people will beable to find out about the progress ofinitiative through revolving displays andmodern interpretation, focussing on thegeneration, reuse and saving of energy.

From a research perspective, studentsand partners, such as the University ofBirmingham, will use the centre to carry outresearch activities.

From an educational perspective, the centrewill host workshops and exhibitions targetedat local and regional students of all ages. Itwill also promote further educationopportunities available within the fields ofscience, engineering and green technologies.

From an enterprise generation perspective,the centre's nearby sister buildings housebusiness starter units that will provide theideal springboard for new companydevelopment and green enterprise.

A greener cathedral : Research project

Location: Lichfield Cathedral

Partners:

Lichfield Cathedral, Lichfield District Council,University of Birmingham

Project Vision:

To identify new technologies capable oflowering the costs associated with heating,lighting and water management at LichfieldCathedral and buildings in The Close.

Delivery Summary:

Like many historic buildings, LichfieldCathedral and those in The Close are sufferingfrom major increases in energy costs. TheCathedral is currently undertaking a majorrefurbishment and restoration programme, sothis presents an ideal opportunity to developnew techniques and approaches.

The project has two graduates from theUniversity of Birmingham working, inpartnership with the Dean and Chapter, toidentify new technologies and processescapable of providing more efficient and costeffective energy management of both theCathedral and buildings in The Close.

Commercial Benefit:

Managing historic buildings is a nationwideproblem. Any solution will need to besympathetic to the significant commercialand historic constraints posed by suchbuildings. Should the project produceworkable solutions, the market potential forcommercial development is vast.

A sustainable crop : Research project

Location: Chasewater

Partners:

University of Birmingham, Lichfield DistrictCouncil, Staffordshire County Council

Project Vision:

To work with a leading food retailer todevelop an experimental salad productionunit, within a large greenhouse complex. Theunit will use a combination of solar energyand a lake based heat pump to supply warmwater to a hydroponic network.

Delivery Summary:

The greenhouses will enable exotic saladcrops to be produced, with a continuous52-week production cycle. This is equivalentto four crops every year and tomatoescropping at double their yield.

Most large food retailers offer funds fordeveloping projects of this nature. Duringthe project, links with potential local andnational partners will be explored.

A first stage evaluation of this project hasbeen completed by a graduate from theUniversity of Birmingham.

Commercial Benefit:

This project offers an opportunity to changethe commercial landscape of food productionby combining eco-friendly processes and newtechnology. Together these have thepotential to lower the cost of manufactureand positively impact the transport linked tofood distribution.

Hot water from steam : Research project

Location: Rugeley Power Station

Partners: International Power at Rugeley Power Station, Universityof Birmingham, Lichfield District Council

Project Vision:

To research the concept of creating local energy networks at coalfired power stations to serve both residential and commercialproperties. Rugeley Power Station will be used as a test bed forthe research.

Delivery Summary:

Over 70 years ago steam produced by Battersea Power Stationwas re-used to provide hot water to the famous Dolphin Courtapartments. Local energy networks are highly economical as theyheat new homes by reusing existing and otherwise lost energysources. They could also free up land being used by coolingtowers for alternative uses.

From a developer's point of view, this type of energy supply intonew houses means they will be able to market low-energy homesand meet the green agenda, without the need for eco-towns.

This project, led by University of Birmingham, is working toupdate and extend this concept and associated technologies forpotential future use.

The concept will be modelled as part of an undergraduatedegree course at the University of Birmingham.

Commercial Benefit:

Local energy networks, whether from surplus electricity, groundsource heat pumps, wind turbines, or other sources, must be seenas one of the ways forward for domestic power supply.

If successful, this project could influence future plans for localenergy networks nationwide.

Energy efficient business parks : Vision

Partners:

University of Birmingham, Lichfield District Council,Lingfield Assets LLP

Project Vision:

To investigate ways of adopting decision-support toolswhich enable the feasibility of different technologies orapproaches to create more energy efficient business parks.

Delivery Summary:

Lichfield District Council will identify and work with localpartners during the development phase of business parks.The aim will be to provide a toolkit for brownfielddevelopment that enables the efficacy of adoptingsustainable energy and water supply options. These newmethods and approaches will be capable of substantiallyreducing energy costs, and could include dispersingconcentrations of contaminants to provide clean drinkingwater, creating hydro-electricity from an aquifer,developing an aquifer thermal energy storage system, orbreaking down rawmaterials, such as methane reserves,to provide on-site renewable waste management systems.

Commercial Benefit:

These cost effective solutions will limit the impact ofnew business park development on the environment tocarbon neutral. This panacea for environmentaltechnologies will mitigate risks for wider application inthe UK on brownfield land and have significantcommercial benefits for developers and occupiers alike.Such projects will also take account of the precedentsset by the Climate Change Act 2008 and encompass thepolicies and visions of the ‘Communities and LocalGovernment Department’ together with embracinglocal planning policies and regional spatial strategiesfor delivering long term sustainable development.

Village distributed heat networks : Vision

Location:

To be confirmed.

Partners:

To be confirmed.

Project Vision:

To explore the possibility of village heatnetworks, that utilise existing undergroundinfrastructure, possibly through foul waterdrainage networks, and thereby minimisenew infrastructure cost and time to develop.

Delivery Summary:

Work is underway within many companies todevelop mini community based powerstations within new developments, using awide variety of fuels - from bio-mass to windand ground source heat pumps

This project will explore how this type ofpower station can be successfully establishedwithin existing housing developments. It willinvestigate how the power generated (steam)can be distributed to nearby homes, usingexisting infrastructure, with the minimum ofnew infrastructure development.

Commercial Benefit:

Will enable mini community power stationsto be installed at a more cost effective leveland within existing housing developments.Overall it will make local power generationa more widespread option.

Recycling household and commercial waste

Partners:

Lichfield District Council

Project Vision:

Lichfield District Council recognised, as early as 2001, thatthere was an urgent need to reduce the amount of residentialwaste it disposed of in landfill. A program to increase levels ofrecycling was launched, which continues to this day.

Delivery Summary:

The introduction of a five stream kerbside recycling serviceresulted in a 44% recycling rate and the authority becomingthe best performing recycler in the UK in 2003/2004, andBeacon Council status for the waste management servicebeing awarded in 2004/2005.

The latest changes to the scheme are the replacement of aweekly dual stream commingled kerbside box collection,with an alternate weekly single stream commingledkerbside wheeled-bin collection.

Early indications are that this is very popular with residents,and expectations are the changes will increase our recyclingrate close to 61%, which would again be the best in the UK.

The changes also improve the efficiency of the service, reducingour transport emissions by around 20% and generatingsavings, which are being reinvested in service delivery.

Residents in Lichfield can recycle glass, all types of plastics(excluding polystyrene), steel and aluminium cans, greenwaste, food waste, paper, cardboard, and textiles.

The recycling service is complemented by an alternateweekly wheeled bin residual waste collection service.

Feedback from residents is extremely complementary on theentire service. Latest comments being that there is nowoften very little left to go into the residual waste bin.Indeed, many residents are now voluntarily swapping theirresidual waste bins for a smaller version.

Partners:

Whittington and Fisherwick Environment Group (WFEG),Lichfield District Council, Low Carbon Lichfield (LoCaL),University of Birmingham.

Project Vision:

To combat climate change by fostering and creating low carboncommunity action groups in parishes across Lichfield District.

Delivery Summary:

Lichfield District is already home to one of the region’s leading lowcarbon initiatives - Whittington and Fisherwick Environment Group(WFEG), an award winning group of active local volunteers. In 2009the group received the C+ Carbon award for the most successfulcommunity in reducing its carbon emissions, and the RegenWMprize, for the best People and Environment project in the region.

WFEG has undertaken a series of campaigns and initiatives toraise awareness and encourage residents to take a series of stepsto reduce energy use, while saving money - low energy light bulbpromotion, cavity wall & loft insulation and ‘eco-refurbishment’.

An annual Big Green Fair has quickly become an establishedfeature of village life, and a lots of other events have beenorganised including an ‘Open Homes’ day where villagers couldvisit homes with low energy usage.

LoCaL (Low Carbon Lichfield) has also now been established withhelp from WFEG and is planning an exciting project to trainvolunteers to carry out energy auditing, initially in a small area ofNorth Lichfield, but eventually to be rolled out across the area,and beyond. They are also lending out energy monitors to helppeople check and understand their electricity usage better.

WFEG, LoCaL and Lichfield District Council are committed tospread the message, help other local groups get started, andencourage organisations and businesses across the district toreduce carbon. With this in mind they have recently joinedtogether with Lichfield District Council to launch LiDACC -Lichfield District Action on Climate Change.

Community action for climate changein Lichfield District

Education

Go Green Conference

As part of our community engagement, we are encouragingclimate change action groups to form across Lichfield District.This came together in our Go Green conference in 2010.A sell-out event, it featured guest speakers including: BBC2’srecycling champion Penney Poyzer, Malcolm Harbour MEP,Michael Fabricant MP, Professor Corinne Le Quéré, BirminghamChamber of Commerce’s Kishor Pala and many local leaders.

Chase Terrace Technology College

One of the jewels in the crown of the district, Chase Terrace TechnologyCollege is leading the charge on school sustainability projects.

Sustainability has been worked into every area of school life -from education, to student voice, through to the buildings.

Education: Lessons on green themes include recycling,sustainability and global citizenship.

Student voice: A sustainability committee, made up of students,meets every six weeks to work on how they can make theircollege more energy efficient and use their resources better.

Building: Using energy saving light bulbs, making sure recyclingbins are available in every room, only heating rooms in use,and putting computers on auto power down, is helping to saveenergy across the college.

Lichfield Garrick

One of the greenest theatres in the world, the Lichfield Garrickwas built by Lichfield District Council using state of the art airflow technology to cope with the challenges of heating and airconditioning the venue. This system controls the temperatureacross the whole theatre, keeping it at a comfortable level.