I think in this chamber we all know that green growth is the way forward for.  It is cheaper, cleaner, a great opportunity to clean up our air, provide new exciting jobs and energy security for the UK.

Up until now Mole Valley and other councils have only received funding piecemeal.  Application forms are long and convoluted and despite being way ahead of many other Local Authorities we have been turned down.

Prominent Members of The County Council Network and District Council Network such as South Cambridgeshire DC, Oxford City Council and Epsom and Ewell wrote to Claire Coutinho the previous Energy and Net Zero Secretary, last year to no avail.

I am excited to have this opportunity to put this motion to our Council to ask the new Secretary of State Ed Miliband for funds. It is early days for this new Government but Councils are unsure as to how the Government intends to fund them, let alone include them in the task to reach Net Zero.  At the moment it’s a guessing game.  However, optimistically the new Labour Government's net zero policy aims to reach zero carbon in the electricity system, ban the sale of new internal combustion vehicles, and ensure rental properties meet minimum energy standards, by 2030. All of which will help Mole Valley with our pledge to reach net zero but 2030.

Local Councils have an impact on over 80 per cent of an area’s emissions, and direct impact over a third of emissions given their central role in housing, transport and energy.  As we know here not all these fall under MVDC control, but we can make an impact by lowering our output and helping our residents.

This Council is ambitious in its targets.

But we need funding to help us with insulation of our own Council buildings, which we are already working on such as Dorking Halls and Pippbrook House.  As I mentioned at the last Full Council meeting, we have altered our Climate Strategy to do this.

• Solar carports could be created across the district in our car parks, but at the moment we can only fund those at Leatherhead Leisure Centre
• We might consider buying land for developers to offset reaching biodiversity net gain on new developments.
• Or having grants or funding residents’ home improvements to lower their energy cost, such as insulation, solar panels and heat pumps.

We also need to push for the expansion of the National Grid.

Tomorrow’s King’s Speech is likely to initiate sweeping plans on housebuilding and green energy. We already know provisional deals have been struck with Surrey.

The new Secretary of state Ed Miliband, has promised to triple the amount of solar power in the UK by 2030, and has announced 3 very large solar farms in the East of England.

I delved into the Labour Document ‘Make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower.  The Aspirations are good but not clear how Local Authorities get the money and support. This is why this motion is important.  We need clarity as the ambition to reach net zero is not very far ahead.

1/ The document states local authorities will be required to proactively identify areas suitable for renewable generation, rather than just assess reactive applications when they are received.

2/ Labour will give devolved governments and local authorities the power and the resources to upgrade cold, draughty homes in their area. This will create jobs across the country for construction workers, plumbers and installers.  But we don’t have any details.

3/It is exciting to read that the new Government’s Local Power Plan, GB Energy will partner with energy companies, local authorities and communities to build cheaper, cleaner power in villages, towns and cities across the country, boosting national energy security. This will involve expanding small-scale and medium-scale clean and cheap energy projects such as onshore wind, community and household solar.

Will councils be part of the publicly owned energy company GB Energy? We are told GB Energy will make £600m available in funding for local authorities and up to £400m low-interest loans each year for communities. But will we have to bid for them, as we have done before?  This required councils to work extremely fast to get their applications in, costing money, time and other resources.  None of this has been made clear.

Local energy is essential for delivering cheaper, cleaner power by 2030. In developing up to 20,000 renewable power projects, Labour’s plan addresses two of the biggest obstacles to the renewables rollout. It will accelerate deployment, reducing pressures on the transmission grid and strengthening local support. And a proportion of profits from these projects will be distributed back to local communities so they see the benefit of clean power in direct cost of living support – for example, through discounts on energy bills. The good news is that in the medium-term, local authorities could use the revenue generated by these assets in their local economies.

However the paper doesn’t say how they will work with local authorities to lower their carbon footprint or promote good public transport across the nation to cut emissions, or how councils will be part of the Rooftop Solar Revolution.

This motion is intended to prompt the new Government to communicate directly with councils; to set out clear targets and milestones to become that Energy Superpower we aspire to become as soon as possible; and to clarify if and how we can expect to receive funding.