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Stoke-on-Trent City Council is to embark on an ambitious plan to make the city energy self sufficient
The city council is one of 17 local authorities who have been selected by NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) and the Local Government Group to take part in the ‘Creative Councils’ programme, which aims to support pioneering councils to develop, implement and spread transformational new approaches to meeting some of the biggest medium and long-term challenges facing communities and local services.
NESTA, along with the Local Government Group, will provide expert advice to the city council to help develop its idea for how the city can fuel itself in years to come.
The city council’s idea involves using surplus fuel generation capacity within Stoke-on-Trent, from businesses and industry, to power the city itself, reducing a reliance on externally provided energy, attracting investment by cutting fuel bills, giving new businesses an incentive to base themselves in the city, and safeguarding existing businesses.
Other plans include tapping into geothermal energy underneath the city, and using wood chippings from green maintenance to provide power via a new biomass plant that could be built in the city in the future years
Janine Bridges, cabinet member for city services, said: “The long term plan would mean businesses, and residential properties, would be able to benefit from power generated from within the city itself, lessening the need to bring in energy from dwindling, and increasingly expensive fossil fuel supplies.
“A lot of work has gone into this, and we are grateful for the help NESTA can provide in helping work out the best way to allow the city to power itself.
“There are many avenues to explore and we want this to help fulfil our aim of making Stoke-on-Trent a great working city, one of our objectives within our Mandate for Change. In the future, when we’re successful, it would mean businesses could be attracted by lower energy bills, and that this incentive could pave the way for investment and jobs to come here.”
Phillip Colligan from NESTA’s Public Services Lab, says: “This is an ambitious programme that has been met with a fantastic response from councils across the country.
“We know that the scale of the challenges facing local communities and service providers demand radical new approaches and councils are showing that they have the appetite and vision for meeting them in transformational ways.
“The success of this programme relies on giving these ideas life beyond their immediate areas. We are determined that Creative Councils will not only benefit those areas that we work with directly but will be a source of inspiration and cold hard knowledge that will benefit local government right across the country.
“It’s in this spirit that we are taking the unique step of publishing information about all of the applications
online, providing a platform for people to challenge and develop the ideas and creating the opportunity for new collaborations
to emerge.”
Over the next few months, the seventeen shortlisted councils will receive practical support
to challenge and develop their idea, with the opportunity to access financial and non-financial support over the next six
months.
Ultimately, it is expected that five of the most promising ideas will be selected to receive significant financial and non-financial support to put their ideas into practice, including supporting their spread to other areas.
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Notes: An outline of the city council’s plan, along with those of other local authorities, can be found here: http://simpl.co/nesta-creative-councils
Creative Councils is a programme from NESTA, working with the Local Government Group, to support local authorities to develop and implement radical innovations that meet the challenges of tomorrow. Its ambition over the next two years is to work with a small group of pioneering local authorities across England and Wales and their partners to develop, implement and spread transformational new approaches to meeting some of the biggest medium and long-term challenges facing communities and local services. Seventeen of the most promising ideas have been selected to receive financial and non-financial support to develop their thinking and establish the potential for spread to other areas. In autumn 2011, the five ideas with the highest potential will be selected to receive further tailored support to implement their innovation. For more information on the Creative Councils programme, visit:
http://www.nesta.org.uk/areas_of_work/public_services_lab/creative_councils
For all media enquiries contact Phil Bowers in the Communications Department at Stoke-on-Trent City Council on 01782
232017.