Decision details

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for Communities, copies of which had been circulated to all Members and a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as Item 7.

The report set out the significant progress being made to deliver a flagship heat decarbonisation scheme in the heart of Worthing. Using technology well proven in Europe, the Worthing Heat Network would be one of the very first of its kind in the UK, cost effectively delivering against the Councils’ 2030 carbon neutral target, in a large scale scheme already well supported by BEIS, and strongly aligned to national government ambitions in the lead up to COP 26.

The scheme proposed to deliver a heat network that would enable heat decarbonisation at scale not just for 8 council-owned existing buildings (accommodating staff from both councils), but also for other public sector buildings (WSCC, MoJ, NHS, Police) along with major development sites including the Worthing Integrated Care Centre, Union Place and Teville Gate.

Adur & Worthing Councils, in leading the development of such scalable infrastructure, would provide a platform for cost effective decarbonisation of heat for multiple organisations, providing the leadership needed to help accelerate reductions in area-wide carbon emissions. Phase 1 of the network was expected to save 3,000 tonnes CO2 each year, supporting the shared challenge to become carbon neutral for the council and the area.

The report sought approval from Joint Strategic Committee to progress applications to the Heat Network Delivery Unit and the Heat Network Investment Programme in April 2021 for circa £4m, with further reports to JSC in September 2021 (approval to procure) and April 2022 (concessionaire contract award).

The feasibility of delivering a Worthing Heat Network was well progressed. The project had attracted £300,000 funding from the Government through the Department of Business Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), its Heat Network Delivery Unit (HNDU) and the Greater South East Energy Hub. Expert technical, commercial and economic support had been provided by BEIS who had recommended the project proceed to submit a funding bid to the Government’s Heat Network Investment Programme (HNIP) for Commercialisation and Construction.

The proposed primary heat source was extraction of waste heat via a heat pump from the Worthing mains sewer. This zero carbon solution offered value for money when compared to individual building-level heat pump solutions, and would constitute one of the first innovations of its kind in England, though a successful project operated in Scotland and the technology was well used in Europe.

The report updated Members on work undertaken since December 2019. The proposed next steps for the Worthing Heat Network were set out at Section 6 . Members approval was sought to continue working with BEIS, consultants and stakeholders to finalise the draft Outline Business Case (OBC); submit a funding bid to the HNIP for Commercialisation and Construction; and if successful to undertake a procurement process for a private sector provider to deliver the Worthing Heat Network under a finance, design, build, operate and manage Concession Contract.

Members considered the project chart outlined in section 6.5 of the report and noted that reports would be brought back to update the Committee at key stages of the project. Consideration was also given to how the project would connect with the Worthing Integrated Care Centre (WICC) project and the capacity of the scheme to be extended. 

The recommendations were proposed by Councillor Daniel Humphreys, seconded by Councillor Ed Crouch and unanimously supported.

Decision

The Joint Strategic Committee

1)     Noted the good progress made to date with the feasibility work on the Worthing Heat Network and to approve the recommendations set out below to enable project development proceed to the next stage:-

2)     Agreed to develop and submit a funding bid to the Heat Network Investment Programme (HNIP, BEIS) for finance to support the Commercialisation & Construction of the heat network, to be submitted on April 2nd 2021; and

3)     Agreed to submit a further funding application to the Heat Network Delivery Unit (BEIS), late April 2021, for finance to develop the Full Business Case and prepare a technical specification to support the proposed procurement process should the HNIP bid be successful; and

4)     Approved the allocation of £50,000 match funding by the Councils to support the HNDU bid from the Councils reserves as follows:

·       Adur District Council £4,760

·       Worthing Borough Council £45,230

5)     Delegated authority to the Director of Digital, Sustainability and Resources to accept any grant funding to be received into the Council’s budget for allocation to development of the heat network project; and to enter into any necessary consultancy contracts arising from the expenditure of the approved budget;

6)     In anticipation of securing the HNIP Funding, authorised the Director of Digital, Sustainability and Resources to commence a two staged procurement exercise to establish the final delivery route, model and costs; and

7)     Requested a further report back to Members on the conclusion of the procurement process, to approve the Final Business Case and final costs; seeking approval for the proposed approach to fund the connection fees and heat supply tariffs for council owned buildings.

Call In:

The call-in deadline for this decision will be 5.00pm on 12 March 2021.