Staff members on secondment to the Japan Local Government Centre took part in learning last year by visiting councils in Exeter and Teignbridge to learn about advanced local government initiatives in the UK (October’s newsletter includes an article about staff training in Hartlepool, please see the link below).
In Exeter, staff learned about local action for Net Zero, and in Teignbridge, they heard about digital transformation initiatives. For Japanese local government, promoting environmental measures and digital transformation are becoming pressing issues. Furthermore, certifying environmental building construction and the promotion of digital administration caused by lockdown is not widespread in Japan, so staff were able to learn immensely from the hosting organisations.
Visit Summary:
1: Exeter City Council’s Passivhaus Project
Although the UK’s goal is to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, Exeter City Council is aiming to realise this by 2030. The council has introduced the ‘Passivhaus’ project, an energy-efficient housing project which originated in Germany. The project follows a framework called the ‘triple bottom line’ which emphasises the ‘people’ (social), ‘planet’ (environmental) and ‘profit’ (financial) responsibilities of the project. As part of Exeter’s Passivhaus Initiative, three small apartment buildings were built within the city in 2009. In 2011, the first UK-certified Passivhaus housing complex was constructed. This year, the building of St Sidwell’s Point Leisure Centre, the first Passivhaus leisure centre in the UK, was completed. Next, the city plans to build more than 1,000 homes.
2: Digital Transformation at Teignbridge District Council
When the pandemic lockdown restrictions were introduced in Teignbridge, within only three weeks the number of staff working from home went from 12 per cent to 82 per cent. As public service desks were also forced to close, an online platform to handle inquiries and applications from city residents was created. They also created a system which allowed call centre staff to answer phone enquiries from their homes. As well as a substantial move towards paperless systems due to fewer staff coming to the office, a review is being held to explore an environmentally-friendly office space, which is part of the continuing efforts to achieve net zero by 2030.
Huge thanks to colleagues in Exeter and Teignbridge for their warm welcome and time hosting our colleagues.
In our next newsletter, there will be articles about our other staff visits to Hertfordshire CC, New Anglia LEP and LB Hammersmith and Fulham/Imperial College.
・Training with local authorities – Hartlepool
https://www.jlgc.org.uk/en/news_letter/training-with-local-authorities-hartlepool/
