Solar scheme shines brighter
Plans for installing clean energy-generating solar panels on council land are a step closer.
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council’s Cabinet is being asked to approve the solar scheme and ask officers to develop a planning application.
The proposed 8.9 hectare site neighbours Keele Cemetery, on the north side of the A525.
Simon Tagg, Leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, said:
This council is committed to being carbon neutral by 2030 and supporting the wider community to be carbon neutral by 2050.
By investing now to generate a secure supply of clean energy we can sell it at a market rate to local businesses and help them meet their environmental obligations.”
The area earmarked for solar panels is one day expected to be incorporated into the cemetery and used for burials – but not during the 25-year lifespan of the project, while another part of the field in shade will be used for the planting of memorial trees.
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council intends saving taxpayers’ money at the same time as reducing carbon use by focusing on some of its largest users of energy, such as Jubilee2, Brampton Museum, the crematorium and the works depot.
Initiatives in its Sustainable Environment Strategy include upgrading walls, windows and roofs, installing solar panels and LED lighting, modernising heating systems and the long term move towards powering Bradwell crematorium with green energy.
David Hutchison, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council’s Cabinet member for Sustainable Environment, said:
The borough council only contributes a small amount to the overall volume of carbon emissions across the area, but we can set an example and show what can be achieved.
No-one can solve this problem in isolation and by pursuing clean energy at Keele, which can be accessed by local businesses, we can help our community take a notable step in the right direction.”