Portfolio: Local Government
cils have difficulty recording the amount will be a “naming and shaming exercise” nice things to do,” she says.
of energy they use.” in which councils, many of them with Miller expects Aberdeen to fare well
At the moment, “nine out of ten” schools estates dating back to the sixties in the league table. However, because it
bills are estimated. The future, he says, and seventies, could be hung out to dry. has already achieved substantial reduc-
will be in smart meters, which record “We’ve got some reasonable performing tions – emissions fell by 30 per cent in
energy usage in real time. Councils have buildings and some that are dogs,” says 2006 – the low-hanging fruit is already
been given grants by the Scottish Gov- Campbell. “We need money to fix the gone. “It will be more difficult for us to
ernment to carry out feasibility studies buildings, we don’t have the money, so maintain in a different baseline year the
into this technology. we’re never going to be winners.” achievements of previous years,” she
However, the question remains The scheme has had a warmer wel- says.
whether carbon trading is something come in Aberdeen, where the city coun- Across local government as a whole,
councils should be doing at all. Camp- cil has had a strong track record on car- the pace of progress, though mixed, is
bell points out that there are plenty of bon reduction over recent years. It has picking up. The stampede to start mea-
alternatives, including the BRE envi- welcomed the commitment as a means suring and recording energy use has cre-
ronmental assessment method which is of maintaining momentum. “It will help ated a boom for energy assessors. “It is
already widely used for buildings. It has us refine our targets and keep [carbon like the gold rush,” says Minto. “You can
the advantage of taking a more holis- reduction] at the forefront of our work,” tell by looking at the tenders that [coun-
tic approach to sustainability. “You can says Belinda Miller, head of service for cils] have energy assessors coming in and
score points for new build or refurbish- economic and environmental sustain- are doing their carbon footprints.”
ment of existing buildings, and it’s not ability. The fact that it is mandatory Whether councils will share in the
all about carbon, but sustainability in keeps it at the front of senior officers’ spoils of improved energy management
total,” he says. minds. “It allows us to talk about getting remains to be seen. Either way, it looks
Campbell warns the league table things done, instead of seeing them as like this rush is here to stay. HM
Organised approach
Kerry Lorimer interviews Graham Houston, leader of Stirling Council
W
hen Graham Houston became eleven member Labour/Lib Dem coali-
leader of Stirling Council in tion, with seven SNP members and four
March, he brought an unusual piece of Tories in opposition. That all changed
baggage to the job: a lifetime’s profes- in March, when the SNP group wrested
sional experience of how organisations control after a vote of no confidence in
work. the ruling administration.
Houston has been in the business of Houston sees the situation in Stirling
leadership development and manage- now as a “very small reflection” of what’s
ment coaching for 20 years: he spent the
Graham Houston,
happening at Holyrood. “We are a minor-
last six running his own business and,
leader of Stirling
ity administration; we have to work, to
prior to that, served as Scottish director Council make it work at all, collaboratively with
of the influential Work Foundation. If there is anything the public sector the Lib Dems and the Conservatives,”
One of the things he has learned is could learn from its private counterpart, he says. Those relationships have so far
that the public and private sectors have it is to take decisions more quickly and to been “okay”, he says. “We haven’t been
more in common than you might think. be less risk averse. “I understand why – if able to work with the Labour group as
“I had the opportunity of being down they make a mistake they get pilloried by much as I would have hoped, but I put
mines or in power stations or with con- political leaders, the political opposition that down to the fact that they are still
sultants in hospitals, and one thing that’s or the public,” he says. “You can’t have adjusting to the change,” he says.
taught me is that the organisation and creativity in your thinking if a politician The challenge for his party is to
the business may be different, but the is going to blame you every time you be as open and transparent as possible
challenges and the people are the same,” do something wrong. Part of our role and take other groups with it. Houston
he says. in political leadership is to encourage believes the result should be better deci-
He believes the public sector has appropriate risk-taking and be less quick sion making. “We have to win the argu-
been given a bad rap. “There is a mis- to condemn if things go wrong.” ment,” he says. “What we can’t do is just
conception that the management of the As one of Scotland’s newest council rely on force of numbers. We need to
public sector is not as good as the private leaders, Houston has the opportunity to listen to what other parties are saying,
and I think that’s wrong,” he says. “The put the theory into practice – and given take on board their opinions, form our
professionalism in the public sector about Stirling’s notoriously tight politics, that policies on that basis and look for that
how they carry out procedures and pro- may be no easy task. support.”
cesses is excellent, [and] the quality of After last year’s election, the coun- The downside is that decision mak-
management is enormously high.” cil was painstakingly governed by an ing takes longer. Houston admits >>
42
| 17 November 2008 | Holyrood magazine | www.holyrood.com |
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