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A report about progress in the borough on environmental sustainability received wholehearted support from members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at their meeting on November 5. Councillors welcomed green initiatives in the region and voted to recommend the council’s cabinet recognise the importance of the work. Dudley cabinet member for transformation, Cllr Ed Lawrence, who attended the meeting, said: “I’m no Greta Thunberg but I know this is really important and I also know it could potentially save us a lot of money in the future if we start to do things now. “One of my priorities as cabinet member covering this is trying to get some extra resource to carry on that work and get bigger projects off the ground.” The report outlined a number of schemes in Dudley including a network where surplus heat generated by industry and other sources is piped into homes. The report said: “The council is looking to map a potential heat network zone – stretching from Brockmoor to Pensnett to central Dudley.” The council has applied for £100,000 from the government to fund a feasibility study into the project. Councillors also heard 1,089 residents had registered for the Solar Together scheme which has £8,700 from the Midlands Net Zero Hub to verify installers of solar panels, ensure they are legitimate business and customers are paying competitive prices. The council is working with West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) on the WM-Adapt project where residents of council wards are invited to give their views on extreme weather to help shape what the report calls ‘neighbourhood-level adaptation plans’. The report said: “In Dudley, the two wards selected by the WMCA are St Thomas’ and Brierley Hill and Wordsley South. “The Dudley wards of St Thomas’ and Brierley Hill and Wordsley South have been identified as relatively high-risk areas compared to other wards across the borough.” Councillors were also told the replacement of street lighting with low energy LED units is well underway and the project is expected to be completed early, in December 2025. Committee member, Cllr Pete Lowe, said: “It’s an exceptional report, it demonstrates how, with very little funding an awful lot can be achieved.”
