CITY of York Council plans to prioritise its top ten most energy-greedy buildings as part of plans to become a greener, cleaner city.

The list will be drawn up based on factors, such as a property's energy consumption, size, and the age of its current heating system.

It is part of the authority's bid to make council buildings more sustainable and lead by example.

The executive member for environment and climate change will be asked to consider a proposal for funding at a meeting on Wednesday.

This would be used to develop up to 10 decarbonisation plans for some of the council's largest energy-consuming properties.

This work would support a future application to the Government’s public sector decarbonisation scheme to access funding for the works.

Decarbonisation plans are used to outline how an organisation can reduce energy consumption and increase renewable energy usage within its buildings.

Other factors being considered to select the 10 buildings for decarbonisation include the cost of energy, CO2 equivalent per year, potential for renewable energy production, and planning restriction.

This work follows the publication of the council’s first annual emissions report last October, which kick-started this next phase of reducing its carbon emissions to net zero.

Cllr Paula Widdowson, executive member for environment and climate change, said: "In pursuing our goal to be carbon net-zero by 2030, the council must demonstrate leadership through doing all it can to reduce its own carbon footprint and environmental impact on the city.

“I look forward to considering the report at my next decision session and discussing how we can best move forward in reducing emissions across council buildings.”

The decision session on Wednesday will also consider a proposal to develop a York local area energy plan along with a request for £110,000 to be allocated to commission the work.

A local area energy plan would consider factors such as current carbon emissions from buildings and transport, as well as future energy changes from large developments alongside switches to renewable energy.

The plan would measure and consider the social impact of energy changes.

These could include the cost of switching to renewable sources and any potential disruption from infrastructure changes along with actions such as retrofitting homes.

Cllr Widdowson said: “York has an ambitious target to be carbon net-zero by 2030.

“However, delivering a reduction in carbon emissions must take into account the impact this will have on residents and businesses."

She said she wanted to ensure any council action delivered value for money and positively impacted on the lives and livelihoods of York residents.

“I look forward to considering the proposal at my next decision session to consider how we can continue to build a greener, cleaner city here in York.”