BASINGSTOKE and Deane Borough Council looks set to spend £1million to install solar panels on a selection of council-owned buildings across the borough.

The borough council’s decision-making Cabinet will be asked to approve a plan to spend £1m to install solar panels on six council-owned buildings at a meeting next Tuesday.

The local authority has already invested in schemes at Whiteditch Depot and the Beresford Centre.

An initial feasibility study has been carried out by Peterborough City Council’s sub-contractor Mears to determine the technical and financial viability of installing solar panels on 15 council-owned buildings including Deanes and Parklands at the Civic Offices and buildings let out such as the Anvil and Haymarket theatres and the Basingstoke Aquadrome.

The council’s Cabinet member for property, finance and commissioning, Councillor John Izett, approved a decision to work with Peterborough City Council last year as the city council has a “well-established renewable energy investment strategy”.

Following the technical study, six sites have been selected for a first phase of solar panel installations.

These are the Deanes and Parklands buildings at the Civic Offices, Brighton Hill Pavilion, John Arlott Pavilion at Basingstoke War Memorial Park, the Wade Road Depot and the Eastrop Depot and Boat House.

Cllr John Izett told The Gazette that the scheme will allow the council to generate a return of between five and eight per cent which will be reinvested to provide council services.

He added: “I think it is an important step for the council and it is a commitment to invest a considerable sum of money. I think it is the right sum because it is based upon a great deal of work that has gone into this.

“The council as a public body has a responsibility to reduce its impact on the land. We have committed, as a council, to reduce our carbon footprint.

“We have identified six sites but this is the first stage. One of the things as portfolio holder that I am clear about is it needs to be done sooner rather than later because the Government tariff is available for 20 years but if you wait and delay then you will find what the Government is offering in six months or a year is less than what they are currently offering.”

The solar panels are expected to be installed in the coming months.