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.

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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.

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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.