LED lighting and electric charging points for cars – How Wrexham Council is trying to reduce its carbon footprint

Over £400,000 will be spent across the county borough on energy efficient measures over the next few years as Wrexham Council looks to reduce its carbon footprint.

Amongst the plans to help make Wrexham ‘more green’ is the installation of electric charging points in car parks across the area.

Plans for the charging points, which will be amongst the first to be installed in Wrexham, received the backing of executive board members in March 2018.

Described as “long overdue”, the first phase of charging points will be based in five car parks owned by Wrexham Council – including Waterworld, Tŷ Pawb, Tŷ Mawr Country Park, Alyn Waters Country Park and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

It is estimated that around 3500-4000 people have electric or hybrid vehicles in Wrexham County Borough, with the expectation that this will continue to grow over the next few years.

Elsewhere across Wrexham there has been the installation of LED street lights. In 2016 Wrexham.com reported that over 60 locations across the county borough were to undergo major street lighting improvements.

More recently Wrexham Council announced that £70,000 would be spent upgrading lighting in the town centre as part of a series of improvement works.

A number of local schools have also seen energy improvements by upgrading to better Building Management Systems – these will not only see a reduction in energy use but will mean that financial savings as a result will pay for the improvements in a few years time.

Improved and new connections to boilers in other schools in the county borough and improving lighting systems are also underway.

Wrexham Council say that various schemes have been paid for by the income generated from its solar farm in Legacy, which opened in 2015. In total it saves 1,300 tonnes of CO2 per year and generates 2,355 MWh of electricity annually – enough to power 700 homes!

Cllr David A Bithell, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “As a local council we have a duty to take the lead when looking at energy efficiency.

“Finding the funds is a challenge to us and most other local authorities but the opening of the solar farm in Legacy has proved invaluable to us to continue the improvement works across the county borough.”