'Huge' carbon footprint of East Lancashire’s public buildings

9:30am Monday 22nd March 2010

By Tom Moseley

COUNCIL bosses have been accused of hypocrisy over climate change after the ‘huge’ carbon footprint of East Lancashire’s publicly-owned buildings was revealed.

The Lancashire Telegraph has discovered that almost half of the area’s town halls, council offices, police stations and health centres have been given poor energy efficiency ratings.

And 20 were given the worst possible score for the amount of carbon dioxide they let out – leading environmentalists to call for the public sector to ‘practise what it preaches’.

Bosses said they were doing all they could to be more efficient and many have signed up to a pledge to cut their carbon output by 10 per cent this year.

Some of the older buildings, like 19th-century town halls, are hard to insulate, but the £113million Royal Blackburn Hospital, opened in 2006, was given the second worst possible rating while 1960s council office blocks also fared badly.

Brian Jackson, of the East Lancashire branch of Friends of the Earth, said: “This is certainly embarrassing.

"If you really want people to be environmentally conscious, and energy efficient, you have got to set an example.

“We are pouring energy into these buildings just to keep warm. It’s not only hypocritical: we are paying for it.”

A raft of headline-grabbing environmental measures, including turning streetlights off at night, carbon offsetting in Uganda and encouraging towns to go ‘plastic bag free’ have come from East Lancashire’s councils in recent years.

But a total of 54 out of the 113 public buildings scored below average for energy efficiency.

Matthew Sinclair, research director at the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “With councils preaching to local people left right and centre they really ought to get their own houses in order.”

Buildings are given a score and a rating between A and G in the government ranking system introduced in 2008.

Among those given the worst possible ‘G’ rating, for scores over 150, were Darwen and Accrington market halls, Bangor Street community centre in Blackburn, Temple Street Resource Centre in Burnley, Clitheroe Castle Museum and county council-run care homes including in Accrington and Rossendale.

The headquarters of Blackburn with Darwen council’s environment department, Davyfield Road, was rated G.

The 1969 ‘tower block’ extension to Blackburn town hall in King William Street is also given the bottom score, faring even worse than its neighbour, opened in 1856, which was given an F rating.

But by far the biggest carbon footprint went to the County Record Office in Preston, which scored 429 - more than four times the average.

Lancashire County Council said the building needed to use special ‘climate control’ technology to preserve the ancient documents, which wasn’t taken into account by the rating system.

Rawtenstall, Blackburn and Accrington police stations were also rated below average, as was Montague Health centre.

Burnley hospital was given a ‘D’ rating, faring better than Royal Blackburn.

Hazel Harding, who chairs East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said she would investigate the high emissions from the flagship Blackburn hospital.

She said: “I am surprised because with PFI buildings you would expect them to be as efficient as possible.

“I would like to see us using as little energy as possible. It’s a prized commodity.”

None of the buildings were given the best possible ‘A’ grade, but there was a handful of ‘B’-rated buildings.

The total gas bill for Lancashire County Council’s 19th century headquarters in Preston in 2008/09 was £198,000.

In Blackburn, the town hall cost £17,972 to heat and the annual bill for the tower block was £19,808.

Blackburn wid Darwen executive member for the environment Coun Alan Cottam said: “The council is committed to tackling climate change and reducing our carbon footprint, both in terms of saving the planet and also saving taxpayers money.”

Matthew Tidmarsh, County Hall’s chief engineer, said: “We take our responsibility to save energy very seriously and are already investing in measures to make our buildings more energy-efficient.”

>>FIVE OF THE WORST

Lancashire Record Office
Blackburn Town Hall
Whitworth Civic Hall
Accrington Market Hall
Burnley Contact Centre.

>>FIVE OF THE BEST

Nelson Town Hall
King George’s Hall, Blackburn
Burnley Mechanics
Oswaldtwistle Civic Theatre
Police HQ, Hutton.