Rushcliffe Council rejects solar power buildings plan

A Nottinghamshire council has been criticised after it rejected plans to have £350,000 worth of solar panels installed on some of its buildings.

Rushcliffe Borough Council turned down plans for panels in West Bridgford, Gamston and Rushcliffe.

The Conservative-controlled local authority said it was concerned about how long it would take for the project to pay for itself.

Green Party councillor Richard Mallander said it was "shortsighted".

'Make the investment'

Mr Mallander said you would never do anything if you looked at things over the long term.

"Every local authority would sit on its hands and never make a decision," he said.

"Even if you got no money back from the feed-in tariffs (a scheme to reward solar panel users for the energy they produce) you would be saving because you would not have to buy so much from the grid.

"I think this is the time we should make the investment and get on there."

Conservative councillor John Cranswick said: "The return on this scheme in savings on carbon dioxide emissions is something like 46 tons per year."

He added that for an investment of £140,000, the council could reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 95 tons by making changes to its computer systems.