COUNCIL bosses have been honoured for cutting carbon emissions, despite admitting it was partly achieved by selling off buildings.

Oxford City Council accepted a BSI Kitemark for Energy Reduction Verificiation at a ceremony at the Town Hall, the first in the UK to get the honour.

A council press release hailed a “great co-operative effort” by staff and measures like low energy lighting systems and swimming pool covers.

Yet it did not mention the impact selling properties had made to a cut in emissions, which fell by 25 per cent since 2005.

This year the council sold its Blue Boar Street offices for £3.25m and put £10m of properties on the market. In February it got £425,000 for Wolvercote Cemetery Lodge.

A leading member of the Labour-run council said selling buildings only played a small role in getting emissions down.

But council Green Party leader David Williams said: “This is not real. It’s just a con to suggest that Oxford is making real progress.”

He added: “This reduction reflects the decline of local government services more than it does real progress in implementing energy saving initiatives.”

John Tanner, executive board member for a cleaner, greener Oxford, said: “It is true to say part of that (reduction) was because we have reduced our requirements for offices.

“That is part of the process of reducing our carbon footprint.”

He said selling properties was only a “small part” of the 25 per cent reduction. He added: “The Green Party should be congratulating Labour. This is a very sensible policy.”

A “dramatic change” came from monitoring what was using the most electricity and seeing if this could then be reduced, Mr Tanner said.

He added: “Unless you start measuring where you are using electricity, you don’t know whether the TV or refrigerator is the one using the electricity.”

A £100,000 fund was being used to fund energy saving measures and was being topped up with cash saved, he said.

The certificate covered 20 of the council’s larger buildings like offices, depots and leisure centres.