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Technical Note
Project: East Bergholt Parish Council – Sustainability Questionnaire
Subject: Sustainability Questionnaire Results

Client: East Bergholt Parish Council Version: A
Project No: 06040 Author: Julia Coonan
Date: 11/08/22 Approved: Jack Gray
1 Summary
1.1 Overview
1.1.1 PJA has been commissioned by East Bergholt Parish Council to issue and analyse a questionnaire
focusing on sustainability.
1.1.2 The questionnaire forms the third in a series of questionnaires. The overall aim of the series is
to inform the evidence base for the updated East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan.
1.1.3 The first summary questionnaire took place in late 2021 and considered a number of local issues,
including sustainability. Thus, this questionnaire explores sustainability in more detail,
particularly with reference to residents’ appetite for net zero targets and gathering a baseline
for how people in East Bergholt drive, heat their homes and harness electricity.
1.1.4 Details relating to the duration of the questionnaire and how it was distributed are set out
below:
• The questionnaire was issued on the online platform Microsoft Forms;
• Paper copies of the same questionnaire were created by PJA, and printed and distributed by
the Parish Council to all households within the village; and
• The questionnaire period was open from w/c 7
th
June 2022 to w/c 1st August 2022.
1.1.5 In total, 86 members of the public responded to the questionnaire. The majority of the
responses, 67, were received online. The other 19 responses were via paper questionnaires.
1.1.6 This technical note sets out a summary of the results of each question from the questionnaire.

2

2 Personal Information
2.1.1 Questions 1, 2 and 4 and 5 asked for respondents’ personal information; in this case their name,
address, phone number and email address.
2.1.2 This data has been kept securely and has been passed on to the Parish Council for their records
only.
2.1.3 All responses to the questionnaire have been anonymised.

3

3 Q3. Location of Respondents
3.1.1 Respondents to the questionnaire provided postcode data (E.g. CO7 6XX) which has enabled PJA
to demonstrate the spread of responses across the Parish.
3.1.2 All respondents had postcodes within the Parish Boundary. The spread of respondents across
the Parish is illustrated in the heatmap in Figure 1. Areas of red/yellow demonstrate that there
were more responses from within those areas of the Parish.
Figure 1: Q3: Location of Respondents in East Bergholt Parish

3.1.3 The data shows that there is a good distribution of respondents from across the Parish, with the
highest concentration of responses in the western end of Parish.

4

4 Q6. & 7 Net Zero Target
4.1.1 Question 6 and 7 related to East Bergholt Parish Council setting a net zero target for the Parish.
4.1.2 Question 6 asked “Do you support East Bergholt setting itself a net zero target, covering how
we heat and power our homes, and how we travel?” The results are shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Q6: “Do you support East Bergholt setting itself a net zero target, covering how we heat and power our
homes, and how we travel?”

4.1.3 The majority (82%) of respondents answered that they are in support of East Bergholt Parish
Council setting a net zero target for the Parish.
4.1.4 In contrast, 18% of respondents stated that they are not in support of East Bergholt setting a net
zero target for the Parish.
4.1.5 Question 7 asked which year “should East Bergholt seek to achieve its net zero target by…?”
The results are shown in Figure 3.

82%
18%
IN SUPPORT OF NET ZERO TARGET
Yes
No

5

Figure 3: Q7: “should East Bergholt seek to achieve its net zero target by…?”

4.1.6 The majority (39%) of respondents answered that if East Bergholt set a target to achieve net
zero, it should be by 2035.
4.1.7 The second most common response (28%) was that if East Bergholt set a target to achieve net
zero, it should be by 2050.
4.1.8 The least common response (9%) was that if East Bergholt set a target to achieve net zero, it
should be by 2045.
4.1.9 Figure 4 illustrates the response to Question 7, if the respondent answered ‘yes’ to Question 6
and thus are in support of East Bergholt setting a net zero target.
Figure 4: Net Zero and Target Year Questions – Yes

39%
24%
9%
28%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
2035 2040 2045 2050
NET ZERO TARGET YEAR
45%
28%
9%
17%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
2035 2040 2045 2050
YES / NET ZERO TARGET YEAR

6

4.1.10 The majority (45%) of respondents who answered ‘yes’ in support of East Bergholt setting a
target to achieve net zero stated that the target should be achieved by 2035.
4.1.11 The second most common response (28%) was for East Bergholt to set a target of achieving net
zero by 2040.
4.1.12 The answer with the fastest number of response (9%) was for East Bergholt to set a target of
achieving net zero by 2045.
4.1.13 Figure 5 illustrates the response to Question 7, if the respondent answered ‘no’ to Question 6
and thus is not in support of East Bergholt setting a target of achieving net zero.
Figure 5: Net Zero and Target Year Questions – No

4.1.14 The majority (73%) of respondents who answered ‘no’ to East Bergholt setting a target to
achieve net zero stated that if a target year is set, it should be 2050.
4.1.15 The second most common response (13%) was that if a target for net zero is set, it should be by
2035.
4.1.16 The joint least common response (7%) was that if a target for attaining net zero is set, it should
be achieved by 2040 / 2045.
5 Q8-14. Vehicles and Vehicle Charging
5.1.1 Questions 8-14 relate to the number of and type of vehicles that respondents’ households run,
and the type of vehicle charging infrastructure available to their household.
13%
7% 7%
73%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
2035 2040 2045 2050
NO / NET ZERO TARGET YEAR

7

5.1.2 Questions 8-11 asked how many vehicles the respondents’ households run, and what engines
their vehicles have. The four types of engines included in the question included:
• Petrol;
• Diesel;
• Plug-in hybrid; and
• Fully electric.
Number of Vehicles
5.1.3 Figure 6 below demonstrates how many vehicles each respondent’s households run.
Figure 6: Q8-11: Number of Vehicles Run by Each Respondent’s Household

5.1.4 The majority (44%) of respondents indicated that their household runs one vehicle.
5.1.5 The second most common answer (41%) was respondents who indicated that their household
runs two vehicles.
5.1.6 Approximately 12% of respondents indicated their household runs three or more vehicles. Only
2% of respondents’ households do not run a vehicle.
Type of Vehicle
5.1.7 Figure 7 summarises the type of vehicle engine and number of vehicles run by the respondents
to the survey.
2%
44%
41%
9%
3%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
0 1 2 3 4
NUMBER OF VEHICLES
BREAKDOWN OF TOTAL VEHICLES

8

Figure 7: Q8-Q11: Number and Type of Vehicles Run

5.1.8 The results demonstrate that 45% of respondents’ households run one petrol car and 23% of
respondents’ households run more than two petrol cars. 3% of respondents indicated that their
household runs three petrol cars.
5.1.9 With regard to diesel cars, the results demonstrate that 31% of respondents’ households run
one diesel car and 13% of respondents’ households run more than two diesel cars.
5.1.10 With regard to plug-in hybrid vehicles, only 6% of respondents indicated that their household
runs one plug-in hybrid car and 2% run two plug-in hybrid cars.
5.1.11 With regard to fully electric vehicles, only 5% of respondents indicated that their household run
one electric car, the rest (95%) of respondents’ households do not run any electric vehicle.
Charging Infrastructure
5.1.12 Question 12 asked “Do you have a plug-in charger for electric vehicles (EV) at home?”
5.1.13 Figure 8 below demonstrates the percentage of respondents who have a plug-in charger for
electric vehicles at home.

31%
45%
20%
3%
56%
31%
13%
0%
92%
6%
2%
0%
95%
5%
0% 0%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
0 1 2 3
Number of vehicles
VEHICLE TYPE
PetrolDieselPlug-in HybridFully Electric

9

Figure 8: Q12: “Do you have a plug-in charger for electric vehicles at home?”

5.1.14 The majority (91%) of respondents answered that they do not currently have an electric vehicle
charger at home. In contrast, only 9% of respondents do have an electric vehicle charger at
home.
Potential for Electric Vehicles
5.1.15 Question 13 asked “Would you like to replace any of your petrol/diesel vehicles with fully
electric vehicles over the next five years?”
5.1.16 The following figure shows the results of the survey. Note, that the option ‘n/a’ was provided
for those who already have an electric or hybrid vehicle.

9%
91%
ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGER
Yes
No

10

Figure 9: Q13: “Would you like to replace any of your petrol/diesel vehicles with fully electric vehicles over the next
five years?”

5.1.17 The majority (61%) of respondents answered that they would like to replace their petrol/diesel
vehicles with fully electric vehicles over the next five years.
5.1.18 Figure 10 demonstrates the split of respondents who run a petrol or diesel vehicle, and their
response to Question 13.
Figure 10: Q13: “Would you like to replace any of your petrol/diesel vehicles with fully electric vehicles over the
next five years?”

61%
31%
8%
ELECTRIC VEHICLE EXCHANGE
Yes
No
N/A
60%
76%
40%
24%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Petrol Diesel
ELECTRIC VEHICLE EXCHANGE
YesNo

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5.1.19 The results demonstrate that only 60% of respondents who run a petrol car are in favour of
switching to a fully electric vehicle, compared to 76% of respondents who run a diesel car.
Parking
5.1.20 Question 14 asked “Do you only have on-street parking?”. The results are shown in Figure 11.
Figure 11: Q14: “Do you only have on-street parking?”

5.1.21 The results demonstrate that only 9% of respondents are reliant on on-street parking as their
only parking location, compared to 91% of respondents who are not reliant on solely off-street
parking.
Further Comments – Zero Carbon Vehicles
5.1.22 Question 15 asked respondents for “any further ideas, suggestions or comments you would
like to add regarding zero carbon vehicles?”.
5.1.23 Not everyone who answered the previous questions on vehicles gave a response to Question
15, but from those who did, there are a series of distinct themes to the answers.
5.1.24 The responses were manually examined, and each response placed into one of nine categories.
For example, if a respondent mentioned cost, their response was added to the ‘affordability’
category. The nine categories are shown in Figure 12 with the percentages representing how
common each answer was.
9%
91%
ON-STREET PARKING ONLY
Yes
No

12

Figure 12: Q15: Further Comments and Suggestions Related to Zero Carbon Vehicles

5.1.25 The most cited comment relating to zero carbon vehicles was ‘affordability’. This included
concerns over the up-front cost of purchasing a fully electric vehicle, as well as the cost of
implementing at-home infrastructure for charging electric vehicles.
5.1.26 The next most cited reason was ‘inadequate public charging infrastructure’. Comments within
this category related to a lack of available infrastructure, or a lack of joined-up infrastructure, to
make using a fully electric car convenient and reliable.
5.1.27 The third most cited reason was ‘electric cars are not the solution’. Comments within this
category referenced the need to reduce vehicle mileage generally and highlighted the
embedded carbon emissions within the construction of electric vehicles, as well as the
detrimental impact of tyres and battery production.

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
Affordability
Government Subsidy
Negative consequences of batteries
Electric cars not solution
Inadequate public charging infrastructure
Inadequate at-home infrastructure
Just purchased EV
Just purchased hybrid
Car sharing
FURTHER COMMENTS ON ZERO CARBON VEHICLES

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6 Q16-21. Heating and Insulation at Home
6.1.1 Questions 16-21 relate to heating and insulation in people’s homes
Heating Sources
6.1.2 Question 16 and 17 ask respondents for information about their primary and secondary (if
applicable) heating sources at home.
6.1.3 Both the results for Question 16 and Question 17 are shown in Figure 13.
Figure 13: Q16 & Q17: Primary and Secondary Heat Sources

6.1.4 The results demonstrate that the majority (88%) of respondents use gas as their primary heat
source, followed by oil (7%) and air source heat pumps (4%).
6.1.5 In terms of secondary heat sources, the majority (42%) of respondents indicated that they do
not have a secondary heat source. For those that do have a secondary heat source, the majority
(39%) of respondents use wood, followed by ‘other’ (9%), electric storage radiators (4%) and
electric underfloor heating (2%) and coal (2%).
88%
1%
7%
4%
1%
38%
1% 2% 4% 2%
9%
42%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Gas Wood Oil Air Source
Heat Pump
Coal Electric
Storage
Radiator
Electric
Storage
Underfloor
Other N/A
(Secondary)
HEAT SOURCES
PrimarySecondary

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Construction and Insulation
6.1.6 Question 18 asked “How are the main exterior walls of your house constructed?”. The results
are shown in Figure 14 below.
Figure 14: Q18: How are the main exterior walls of your house constructed?

6.1.7 The results demonstrate that the majority (58%) of respondents have insulated cavity walls. The
second most common response (12%) was ‘don’t know’.
6.1.8 There was a reasonably even split of responses (7-8%) across the other answers, including
uninsulated cavity wall, solid brick with insulation and uninsulated solid brick.
6.1.9 Question 19 asked “How are the majority of floors in your house constructed?”. The results are
shown in Figure 15.
12%
58%
7% 8% 8% 7%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Don’t know Insulated cavity
wall
Uninsulated cavity
wall
Solid brick with
internal insulation
(dry lining)
Uninsulated solid
brick
Other
EXTERIOR WALL INSULATION

15

Figure 15: Q19: How are the majority of floors in your house constructed?”

6.1.10 The results demonstrate that the majority (80%) of respondents have floors constructed of solid
materials – usually a screed over a concrete subbase. In contrast, 20% of respondents have
suspended floors, usually made of timber.
6.1.11 Question 20 asked “Are the floors in your house insulated?”. The results are shown in Figure
16.
Figure 16: Q20: Are the floors in your house insulated?

80%
20%
FLOOR CONSTRUCTION
Solid (usually a screed over a
concrete sub-base)
Suspended (usually timber)
24%
48%
28%
FLOOR INSULATION
Yes
No
Don’t Know

16

6.1.12 The results demonstrate that the majority (48%) of respondents do not have floors which are
insulated. The second most common answer (28%) was ‘don’t know’. The number of
respondents who indicated that they have floor insulation was only 24%.
Potential Heating Source
6.1.13 Question 21 asked “If applicable, would you be interested in replacing your fossil fuel (e.g.
gas/oil/coal) heating with a heat pump by 2030?”. The results are shown in Figure 17.
Figure 17: Q21: If applicable, would you be interested in replacing your fossil fuel (e.g. gas/oil/coal) heating with a
heat pump by 2030?

6.1.14 The results demonstrate that the majority (42%) of respondents answered ‘maybe’ to whether
they would be interested in replacing their fossil fuel (e.g. gas/oil/coal) heating systems with a
heat pump by 2030.
6.1.15 The second most common answer (35%) was ‘yes’, respondents would be interested in replacing
their fossil fuel (e.g. gas/oil/coal) heating systems with a heat pump by 2030.
6.1.16 In total, 23% of respondents indicated that they would not be interested in replacing their fossil
fuel heating system with a heat pump by 2030.
Further Comments – Heating and Insulation
6.1.17 Question 22 asked respondents for “any further ideas, suggestions or comments you would
like to add regarding heating and insulation?”
35%
23%
42%
REPLACE HEATING SOURCE
Yes
No
Maybe

17

6.1.18 Not everyone who answered the previous questions on heating and insulation gave a response
to Question 22, but of those who did, there are a series of distinct themes to the answers.
6.1.19 The responses were manually examined and each response was grouped into one of 12
categories. For example, if a respondent mentioned the age of their house as a constraint, their
response was added to the ‘listed/older building limitation’ category. The 12 categories are
shown in Figure 12 with the percentages representing how common each answer was.
Figure 18: Q15: Further Comments and Suggestions Related to Net Zero Vehicles

6.1.20 The most cited comment relating to heating and insulation was ‘affordability’; this included
concerns over the up-front cost of retrofitting insulation, as well as the cost of hiring an expert
to provide impartial advice.
6.1.21 The next most cited reason was ‘need expert/impartial advice’. Comments within this category
referred to a lack of impartial advice available with regard to retrofitting air source heat pumps
and insulation. Here, it was felt that most advisers had an agenda; namely, selling a product.
6.1.22 The third most cited reason was ‘community strategy/shared heat source’. Comments within
this category referenced the need to explore community solutions to heating, for example a
heat network or shared biomass heater. Other references to community indicated that local
councils should provide an independent advisory service for heating and insulation.

29%
16%
13%
5%
5%
5%
3%
13%
3%
3%
3%
3%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Affordability
Need expert / impartial advice
Listed / older building limitation
Retrofitting difficult
Suppliers overcharging
Limitations to heat pumps
New heating sources
Community strategy / shared heat source
Passivhaus for new buildings
Modern houses not well insulated
Modern houses well insulated
Loft insulation
FURTHER COMMENTS ON HEATING AND INSULATION

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7 Q23-29. Energy, Electricity and Batteries
7.1.1 Questions 23-29 relate to energy, electricity and batteries within people’s homes.
Energy and Electricity
7.1.2 Question 23 asks “Are you on a green (electricity) tariff?”. The results are shown in Figure 19.
Figure 19: Q23: Are you on a green tariff?

7.1.3 The results demonstrate that a slight majority (53%) of respondents are on a green tariff, whilst
47% of respondents indicated that they are not on a green tariff.
7.1.4 Question 24 asks “Do you have battery storage?”. The results are shown in Figure 20.
53%
47%
ARE ON A GREEN TARIFF?
Yes
No

19

Figure 20: Q24: Do you have battery storage?

7.1.5 The results demonstrate that the majority (94%) of respondents do not have battery storage at
home, whilst only 6% of respondents indicated that they do have battery storage.
7.1.6 Related to the above question, question 25 asked “Would you be interested in installing battery
storage?”. The results are shown in Figure 21.
Figure 21: Q25: Would you be interested in installing a battery storage facility?

6%
94%
DO YOU HAVE A BATTERY STORAGE FACILITY?
Yes
No
31%
28%
41%
WOU L D Y OU B E I N TE RESTED I N I N ST ALLING A B A TTE RY
ST OR AGE FA C ILITY?
Yes
No
Maybe

20

7.1.7 The results show that 30% of respondents stated that they would be interested in installing a
battery storage facility. In addition, 42% of respondents might be interested in installing a
battery storage facility.
7.1.8 28% of residents indicated that they would not be interested in installing battery storage facility.
7.1.9 Respondents who indicated ‘yes’ to Question 24 did not have their responses included in
Question 25.
Solar Panels
7.1.10 Questions 26-29 relate to solar / photovoltaic (PV) panels. Question 26 asked “How many solar
panels do you have?”
7.1.11 Only 15% of respondents indicated that they have solar panels. This equates to 13 respondents
of the survey.
7.1.12 Table 1 illustrates the number of solar panels that respondents owned.
Table 1: Number of Solar Panels / Number of Respondents
Number of Respondents Number of Solar Panels
1 1
2 2
1 4
2 10
1 14
4 16
1 21
1 26
7.1.13 The results indicate that most common number of solar panels installed at household, based on
the respondents answers, was 16 solar panels.
7.1.14 Question 27 asked “If you have solar panels – are they attached to an immersion heater?”
7.1.15 In total, 29 respondents answered this question, indicating that they own solar panels. There is
a slight discrepancy here between the number of respondents who indicated that they have
solar panels in Question 26 (13) and that their solar panels are attached to an immersion heater
(29). This discrepancy could be explained by respondents not knowing how many solar panels
they have and therefore were not able to answer Question 26.

21

Figure 22: Q27: If you have solar panels – are they attached to an immersion heater?

7.1.16 The results demonstrate that the majority (72%) of respondents have not connected their solar
panels to an immersion heater.
7.1.17 In contrast, 28% of respondents have connected their solar panels to an immersion heater.
7.1.18 Question 28 asked respondents “Would you be interested in installing solar PV panels on your
roof or in your garden?”. The results of this question are shown in Figure 23.
Figure 23: Q28: Would you be interested in installing solar PV panels on your roof or in your garden?”

28%
72%
SOLAR PANELS CONNECTED TO IMMERSION HEATER
Yes
No
36%
22%
42%
POTENTIALLY INTERESTED IN SOLAR PANELS
Yes
No
Maybe

22

7.1.19 The results demonstrate that the majority of respondents might be interested (42%) or would
definitely be interested (36%) in installing solar panels on their roof or in their garden.
7.1.20 In contrast, only 22% of respondents would not be interested in installing solar panels on their
roof or in their garden.
7.1.21 Question 30 asked respondents for “any further ideas, suggestions or comments you would
like to add regarding electricity supply?”.
7.1.22 Not everyone who answered the previous questions on energy and electricity gave a response
to Question 30, but of those who did, there are a series of distinct themes to the answers.
7.1.23 The responses were manually examined and each response was placed into one of nine
categories. For example, if a respondent mentioned cost, their response was added to the
‘affordability’ category. The nine categories are shown in Figure 24 with the percentages
representing how common each answer was.
Figure 24: Q30: Further Comments and Suggestions Related to Energy and Electricity

7.1.24 The most cited comments relating to energy and electricity were ‘listed/older building
limitation’ and ‘community electricity’. The listed/older building limitation category included
responses stating that it is hard to retrofit solar panels and/or battery storage solutions due to
the age of their property and planning permission constraints.
7.1.25 ‘Community electricity’ included responses relating to the need to install a community-wide
electricity generation system.
10%
10%
19%
5%
19%
5%
5%
5%
10%
14%
0% 2% 4% 6% 8%10%12%14%16%18%20%
Affordability
House direction
Listed / older building limitation
Understanding renewable energy
Community electricity
New build obligation
Monitoring
Should not build solar on agricultural land
Neutral advice
Energy storage
FURTHER COMMENTS ON ENERGY AND ELECTRICITY

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8 Summary
8.1.1 This technical note has outlined the results of a questionnaire relating to sustainability and net
zero within East Bergholt.
8.1.2 In total, the questionnaire included 30 questions on a range of sustainability topics, including
net-zero targets, vehicle ownership, energy and insulation.
8.1.3 The most common themes that emerged from questions relating to vehicles, heating and
insulation and energy included, the affordability of making changes and the need for impartial
or community led advice on overcoming problems associated with older/listed buildings.
8.1.4 The results of the survey will be used to inform the updated East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan.