Himley Hall plan submitted to drastically reduce council's carbon footprint

Dudley Council wants to replace existing heating systems at a number of public buildings and schools to make them greener and more energy efficient.

Phase one of the plan will target Ward House at Himley Hall, a 100-year-old Grade II* listed building which used to be the site's stables, and is currently used as offices and a training facility.

Under the plans, the old oil boilers will be removed and replaced with air source heat pumps stationed in a separate building.

The council says this will drastically cut down on emissions, slash maintenance costs and save nearly £5,000-a-year on energy bills, while also freeing up funding for other projects.

The scheme is being funded by the Government's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), a £1 billion initiative aimed at reducing the public sector carbon footprint.

A planning application is currently under consideration by South Staffordshire Council.

If granted, a timber fenced compound will be built at the back of Ward House. The main building would have existing lighting replaced with LED lamps

A statement accompanying the plans says: "Moving away from oil or gas is a costly exercise, one that local authorities don’t have the means to fund.

"This much welcomed initiative gives opportunities for local authorities like Dudley to replace ageing heating plant and move towards implementing green technologies such as air source heat pumps (ASHP) and solar photovoltaic (Solar PV) panels.

"The scheme allows facilities to not only reduce their carbon footprint, but also free up capital previously allocated for life cycle replacement or utility bills.

"This permits funding to become available for additional projects where otherwise there wouldn’t be."

It adds: "This is a fantastic and unique opportunity to rid, or move towards removing, public sector facilities of fossil fuelled heating."