BIRKBECK Pier in Weston-super-Mare could one day be used to generate green electricity.

North Somerset Council is working on major plans to restore the iconic but dilapidated attraction, with a planning application submitted earlier this year.

But the council is also aiming to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and council officers have said that generating renewable energy at the pier could be a part of this.

Giving an update to a council scrutiny committee on July 25 about how the council could cut its emissions and generate more renewable energy, energy manager Ian Gillard said the council would look at Birnbeck Pier “to see if it might be possible to have some kind of marine generation”.

Another option at the pier could be a “non-conventional” wind turbine.

Read more: Restoration of Birnbeck Pier takes next step as council seeks contractors 

A key aspect of how the council seeks to cut emissions, both those that it as an organisation is responsible for and those emitted across North Somerset generally, is through retrofitting buildings to become more energy efficient.

But another idea proposed by Mr Gillard was a “building driving licence” so that there is always a designated person trained in how the systems such as heating and electricity work at each building to ensure they are run efficiently.

Joe Tristram (Banwell and Winscombe, Green) who sits on the committee said: “The building driving licence is a really excellent idea.”

He added: “Buildings are complex machines.”

The Castlewood office building in Clevedon is the single most polluting asset the council owns, emitting 713 tonnes of carbon in 2023/24.

Steve Bridger (Yatton, Independent) added that the building’s electronics had always been tricky to control as instead of being able to turn off lights by floor, the building was wired “like a Battenberg cake”.

He said: “We used to get complaints: ‘You are trying to save energy but why are all the lights on at Castlewood?’”

Mr Tristram said: “I am very pleased with that one and the schemes you are talking about to do with Birnbeck Pier, along with other schemes.”

North Somerset is not on course to hit its target of being net zero by 2030. In 2022 the area emitted the equivalent of 1,136.5 kilotonnes of CO2.

This is 557 kilotonnes less than in 2005 but only a “slight decrease” of 54.6 kilotonnes from 2021.

Planes taking off from Bristol Airport are not counted as part of the area’s emissions, as these are considered as national emissions. 

Ash Cartman (Long Ashton, Liberal Democrat) told the meeting they needed to be “relentlessly focussed” on reducing emissions.

He said: “It’s easy to get distracted with things that might sound good and be popular with councillors, but actually it’s all about the emissions.”