Cabinet approve refreshed Bridgend Local Area Energy Plan

Bridgend County Borough Council’s Cabinet have today approved a refresh to the Bridgend Local Area Plan (LAEP) which ensures it is kept up to date with current decarbonisation targets.

The LAEP was created in 2019 as part of the local authority’s participation in UK Government’s Smart System and Heat Programme which was designed to create innovative tools that would enable heat to be decarbonised across the UK by 2050.

Bridgend County Borough Council’s LAEP is an area-based tool that considers local characteristics such as building type and fabric energy efficiency to create a pathway towards achieving decarbonisation.

But following Cabinet’s decision in February 2019 to adopt the LAEP, dynamic changes in UK energy policy – namely the creation of a 2050 net zero target - the LAEP required refreshing to reflect this new policy goal.

The refreshed plan aligns with the net zero carbon reduction target and also considers the role that hydrogen could have in delivering a net zero Bridgend.

The transition to reach a net zero Bridgend as laid out in the refreshed LAEP will involve whole-scale infrastructure change across the county borough over the next two decades.

Bridgend county borough is really leading the way in terms of the Decarbonisation 2030 agenda. We are one of only two local authorities in Wales developing a District Heat Network and we are one of only two places in the UK in the running for a hydrogen and electrification fuelling model for our fleet.

It is very, very exciting that we are at the cutting edge of the response to the climate emergency. There is a lot of action taking place now, and planned for the future, with members support.

Council Leader Huw David