Charlotte Fernández
UKIMEA Press Office,Leeds
A new Sustainable Energy Action Plan will create jobs and investment in the Liverpool City Region.
Liverpool City Region (LCR) Local Enterprise Partnership, working in partnership with six local authorities, has launched a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP). The SEAP introduces a single co-ordinated programme to place LCR at the forefront of the transition to a resilient low carbon economy.
The Local Enterprise Partnership estimates that 128,000 new jobs could be created across the manufacture, installation, operation and maintenance of energy interventions, requiring a broad range of skills and training.
Merseyside Environmental Advisory Service acted as project manager while Arup provided critical technical input to the SEAP. Arup’s focus on energy interventions also supports Liverpool City Council joining the Covenant of Mayors movement in late 2011. The Council aims to meet and exceed the European Union 20% CO2 reduction objective by 2020 and provide local access to European funding for future development.
“The City Region SEAP is the foundation for a coordinated City Region response to the carbon reduction challenge. It should be used to help guide and inform the individual responses of each local authority whilst providing a strategic connection across all activity, so that the many great initiatives and projects in the City Region can be driven forward under a common banner and, when appropriate, present an aggregated investment opportunity. This is about growing the City Region economy whilst delivering an exemplar response to carbon reduction.
+ Garry Banks Director Arup Liverpool
“I am delighted that the launch of SEAP has generated so much interest across the Liverpool City Region and beyond. The work to deliver the economic potential now starts in earnest. I am particularly looking forward to seeing how the private sector will respond with project opportunities that deliver new jobs and carbon savings from the energy sector.
+ Dr Alan Jemmett Director Merseyside Environmental Advisory Service
The local authorities of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral used funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government, through the Climate Change Skills Fund to deliver the SEAP.