WEST Devon Borough Council is doing its bit to help tackle climate change, an audience in Tavistock has been told. Nick Payne, corporate director, told a meeting on climate change that the council will install photovoltaics to generate renewable energy at a proposed new extension to its Kilworthy Park offices in Tavistock. He said the council would also use rainwater harvesting at the site and spend up to £300,000 on new energy efficiency measures so that the extension would provide a working example to developers and the public of low-energy construction. The meeting was organised by local charity Westden as part of its work on raising awareness among people in West Devon about the causes and likely impacts of climate change. Mr Payne said: 'The government has published a new vision for local government. Climate change presents a common cause which we could and should rally around. Together we will make a difference.' He said the council was currently working out its own carbon footprint which would help identify the energy and resources it uses to deliver services and to see where they can become more sustainable. Examples include the new business units at Pitts Cleave which have been built to be energy-efficient and use a wood chip boiler. At Opportunity Okehampton, a planned range of business and industrial units, the council hopes to be able to generate energy from renewable sources and sell any surplus back to the grid. It is planned to have a wind turbine, an extensive photovoltaic installation on the roof, a wood chip boiler, rainwater harvesting, and a natural ventilation system. Mr Payne said the Warm Up West Devon scheme has helped to improve energy efficiency in 800 homes but that a real challenge was with the existing housing stock where the options for energy efficiency is limited. The council is in the process of consulting on a sustainable design statement which will be out for public consultation later this year and in October this year it agreed a Green Travel Plan framework with the aim of cutting business travel at the council by ten per cent over the next three years. Mr Payne said West Devon is one of the best performing districts in the country for recycling, and is likely to exceed its target of 35% of household waste being recycled by March 2007. He said: 'There is much to be proud of in West Devon — good progress is being achieved but there is much more to be done. Climate change is everyone's issue.' At the meeting, Ian Bateman, Devon County Council's climate change officer, outlined the science of climate change and its predicted effects in Tavistock which includes hotter drier summers, wetter, milder winters and more extreme weather events such as storms, flash flooding in urban areas and river flooding. Westden are organising a series of talks on climate change and how it is likely to affect our lives in West Devon. For more information or to get involved, call Westden on 0845 345 5077.
