Solar for South Hams leisure centres

£500,000 to fund panels

Solar panels are to be fitted to all four leisure centres in the South Hams after councillors agreed a loan of up to £500,000 to Fusion Leisure, the organisation that runs them. 

It is hoped the installation of the panels will cut the centres’ emissions  by 131 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCOe) – the same as the annual energy emissions of 38 homes.

At the meeting of South Hams District Council’s executive on Thursday, Cllr Julian Brazil (Lib Dem, Stokenham) praised the scheme.

“I hope that this is just the start of a lot more,” he said.

“I think that if you look at the returns that we’re going to get on it and have the whole thing paid off over a relatively short time compared to other loans that we make. 

“I mean, I think this is a win win situation. 

“We’re reducing our carbon output, and actually the council’s going to get a return on that investment. So I’m hoping that this is just the start of many ventures like this.”

Chairing the meeting, council leader Cllr Judy Pearce (Cons, Salcombe and Thurlestone) insisted that the main beneficiaries would be the leisure centres, and the council was not trying to profit from the arrangement. 

Cllr Pearce added that in rural areas such as South Hams, better use could be made of agricultural buildings in order to cut carbon output. 

“I do think that, as part of our job as a council, we could encourage farmers in particular to put solar panels on their barn roofs,” she said.

“Because if you travel around the continent, you will see that barn roofs are used a lot for solar panels and generate quite a lot of electricity.”

A report presented to councillors illustrated the reduced CO2 output by staff during the pandemic, as many stayed at home rather than travelling in to work. 

The saving from the reduction in travel was calculated to be approximately 234 tCOe; the equivalent of powering 66 homes for a year.

That doesn’t take account of powering the homes so staff could work there.

In addition to reducing carbon emissions, the council has changed its ground maintenance procedures to increase biodiversity and wildlife. 

Rewilding plans include planting 2.5 hectares of new wildflower areas and 2.2 hectares of trees across the district. 

£10,000 has already been earmarked from the council’s climate change and biodiversity reserve fund to go towards wildflower seed to create these new wildflower areas.