Decision details

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Strategic Director – Communities, on the development of a Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Network for the Liverpool City Region and seeking consent for Sefton Council to be the accountable body for the sub-regional bid.

The report indicated that funding had been offered through the Department of Communities and Local Government to support the Climate Change Local Area Support Programme (CLASP), inviting sub-regional bids by 30 September 2010.  The programme would conclude in June 2011, so all necessary outputs and outcomes would need to be delivered within that period.  Agreement had been reached across the Liverpool City Region (LCR) that there should be a single co-ordinated bid.

The project would build community, Member and officer ability in/support for renewables installations/climate adaptation through co-learning and shared services that allowed LCR to do more with less through joint action to reduce costs whilst improving performance.  The concept behind this work was to build the LCR ability to make progress on the substantial opportunities the low carbon economy offered but to do it in a way that developed an efficient approach and use of the capacity available.

It was proposed that Sefton Council act as the accountable body, given that the LCR Board for Environment and Waste would like the Merseyside Environmental Advisory Service (MEAS) (who are hosted by Sefton) to be the project manager.  The project would simply be added to the existing partnership arrangements between MEAS/Sefton and the other 5 Districts by identifying this specific project as a priority within the work programmes.

The Cabinet Member stressed the importance of receiving regular detailed updates, particularly on the delivery element of the programmes to ensure value for money.

RESOLVED: