Agenda item

Becky Cooke, Director of Tourism, Culture and Organisational Development and Peter Martin, Events and Seafront Manager, provided a presentation on the environmental impact of Eastbourne Airshow. The presentation highlighted the following points:

·       Carbon data in relation to the event had not been collected prior to 2021/2022. Positive work by the Council had since been undertaken to collect data, measure the carbon output and mitigate, where possible, the environmental impact of the event. The work towards measuring the carbon output from the event and audience travel and making the data publicly available seen as an industry standard.

·       Changes had been implemented to operational procedures and procuring services to improve the reduction of the event’s carbon footprint at all stages, with the offsetting of unavoidable emissions as a last resort. The scheme was supported by the United Nations Eastbourne and the Council’s Cabinet member for climate change.

·       The headline figures for the 2022 event were that 4% emissions related to the event and the air displays, with the remainder (approximately 96%) related to audience travel.

·       There was a financial cost to reducing carbon output from the Event, however, this was had been managed within the overall budget, which was a neutral cost.

·       The aviation industry was making significant, technological steps towards the production of sustainable fuel and although not currently mass produced, it was hoped safe production would become industry standard. In terms of the display teams, data was provided for fuel usage and four teams had signed up to their own carbon offsetting schemes.

·       The aim for the Event was to use 100% renewable energy, through the use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) and although this was only partly achieved in 2022, it is anticipated that data from the 2023 Event will show that 100% use of HVO was achieved.

·       A ‘refill, not landfill’ campaign was held ahead of the 2023 event to encourage attendees to bring water bottles and to reduce the amount of single-use water bottles. An additional water-station was provided at the Western Lawns. Staff were provided with drinking water bottles. Additionally, bar outlets that previously provided single-use plastic cups, were being asked to transition to cardboard cup alternatives.

·       As already highlighted, travel is quite a high element of the carbon emissions from the Event and the Council’s work included campaigns to promote low carbon transport options, such as public transport and cycling. The Council used all electric vehicles where possible to support the event. The Council was offsetting areas where it was unable to reduce emissions by supporting tree-planting initiatives.

·       Job opportunities at the Event included 100 residents receiving paid employment. There was a net benefit to the local hospitality economy also.

During discussion, the following points were highlighted:

·       The Council worked closely with Southern Rail leading up to the event and in previous years poster campaigns were held across the rail network to encourage visitors to the event to travel by train. The Council continued, as part of its marketing campaign, to encourage visitors to the event to consider alternative modes of transport, other than motor vehicles.

·       The Council’s event team had reduced in size and although a high-level estimate for the emissions from the 2023 event could be provided, the final figures would not be publicly available until all data was collected – a proportion of the data was dependent on third-party providers. An in-person sustainability survey was used to calculator the emissions from travel. The same survey was available on-line.

·        The option of a park-and-ride scheme had been explored previously and its feasibility would remain as an area of focus. The current difficulty was that the infrastructure into the Town would not support the number of vehicles needed for a single event of this type. If attempted currently, a likely outcome would be single or double decker buses idling in congestion.

·       Members commended the efforts that were being made year-on-year to reduce the carbon emissions from the event but noted that transport to and from the event was, by a significant margin, the largest contributor to the emission levels.

Resolved to note the update.