Bunny Energy Solutions Committee was formed in October 2021 during a conversation following a Parish Council meeting at which the then clerk, Mike Elliott, had noted that the Parish Council probably had a duty to respond to government Net Zero policy. Our founder members are John Berridge and Chris Rogers.
We were formerly known as Bunny Energy Solutions Working Group [BESWG]
Current Membership
David Beckford
John Berridge (chair)
Viv Garnett
Chris Rogers
Nigel Sutton
Stuart Taylor
Chris Webb
The Relationship Between Bunny Parish Council and Bunny Energy Solutions Committee as a Sub-committee
Bunny Parish Council established and is supporting the Working Group to give consideration to a range of potential opportunities to contribute to a Net-Zero energy solution for as many households in the village as are willing to participate.
The precise details of the proposal will depend on advice about what is feasible, affordable and technically possible. BESC intends to develop a model which will be approved by Nottingham Energy Partnership and Rushcliffe Borough Council.
The overall aims are:
- To reduce and potentially end fuel poverty.
- To reduce global warming and subsequent climate change.
- To reduce dependence on carbon based sources of energy thus achieving Net-Zero carbon dioxide emission.
- To inform Bunny residents about grants available and to enable them to access all the support necessary in order to
- Provide cheaper, renewable and therefore sustainable (CO2 free) heating and energy to as many homes as possible.
The 6 objectives are:
- To maximise home insulation.
- To devise schemes to provide sustainable home heating and hot water
- To use solar and wind power to provide sustainable electricity.
- To achieve government subsidies to reward households for their contribution to Net-Zero.
- To set up a not-for-profit Bunny Energy Company overseen by the Parish Council to facilitate the management, servicing, funding and development of the scheme.
- To work with Local Authority and Government partnerships to provide information, support and advice.
Whilst it is accepted that the decision making of the BESWG is subject to the approval of the Parish Council the decision to set up the sub-committee results from a Parish Council debate two years ago in which the Parish Council approved the fundamental principles that emissions of greenhouse gases including CO2 and
methane are causing atmospheric and therefore oceanic warming which in turn are having a potentially disastrous impact on climate systems around the earth.
The outcome of these decisions clearly implies that CO2 emissions must fall in order to stabilise the rise in atmospheric temperature. These Parish Council decisions are therefore in line with the Paris accord and the Net Zero policies of the British
Government and obligations of Local Government. In practical terms, in the short term, this means supporting sustainable methods of producing electrical energy and heating.
The overwhelming evidence in practice as well as theory is that the free abundance of solar and wind power (and potentially tidal and water power and hydrogen technologies) are the most affordable and technically possible methods. It is clear to the members of the Bunny Energy Solutions Working Group that where possible and practical these methods of energy generation should be supported. The Government has acknowledged that the current electrical grid system needs
expanding in order to facilitate the use of these sustainable methods of electrical generation and it is therefore entirely understandable that solar farm installers will identify sites where the electrical grid infrastructure already exists and has the
capacity to take additional input.
Bunny Energy Solutions Committee
Terms of Reference for Committees
All committees, sub committees, working parties or groups and Councillors with individual responsibilities work for and on behalf of Bunny Parish Council.
A Sub-Committee’s role is to research or investigate, consider and report to theCouncil.
A sub-committee can save the PC time, they tend to focus on a specific topic which relates to the performance of the Council’s statutory functions and powers and they can make recommendations.
Membership is determined by the PC’s Annual General Meeting.
All committee meetings must be open to the public and advertised on the village notice boards.
There must be no less than three members and the legal quorum for a meeting to proceed is three. Committees operate to the standing orders of the PC.
The committee must have a councillor as part of its membership. The committee must submit proposals regarding revenue and capital expenditure for the following financial year for discussion at the December meeting of the Council.