The following motion has been referred from Council (6 January 2021) to the Policy Development Group for consideration and report.
This Council:
· Welcomes and appreciates the work that has gone in to developing our climate action plan? so far, especially in the context of the Covid pandemic, which stretched capacity and resources.
· Welcomes the recruitment of a Climate and Sustainability Officer, to develop our work.
· Requests that once in place, the new Climate and Sustainability Specialist focuses on further development to our climate action plan, so that it shows the priority actions for the short, mid and longer term, covering the entire period to 2030 and beyond. Plans should outline the strategic actions we need to take to be on track to meet this target. ?
· Requests that officers explore opportunities to develop the Net Zero Advisory Group, so that it has more authority and responsibility for our climate strategy, and so that the public can access it (e.g. via agendas published online, and being able to attend meetings).
· Requests that budget be created and ring-fenced for developing our climate work - through a mixture of funding bids; income generation; prioritisation; partnerships; and 'spend to save' schemes.
Members to consider a briefing paper from the Monitoring Officer with regard to the above motion.
Minutes:
The Group had before it and discussed Motion 567 - (Councillors: J Wright and Miss E Wainwright, R Dolley and Mrs C P Daw - 18 December 2020) which had been referred to the Policy Development Group by Council:
This Council:
· Requests that budget be created and ring-fenced for developing our climate work - through a mixture of funding bids; income generation; prioritisation; partnerships; and 'spend to save' schemes.
The Group had before it a *briefing paper from the Monitoring Officer which outlined the options for the Net Zero Advisory Group (NZAG).
Cllr J Wright introduced the motion and stated that it represented work which had already been done and what was still required. He stated that the Council needed some form of funding to be able to host Climate Change events.
The Monitoring Officer explained that the NZAG was operating within the current governance arrangements. There were opportunities to have regular reports on its work brought to the PDG and it was a decision of the PDG how it wished to interact with the NZAG.
The Group discussed the Motion and considered:
· That MDDC had already put a significant amount of funding into carbon reduction and that needed to be highlighted to the electorate
· The details of funding to date could be included on the MDDC Climate Change webpage which was due to be launched
· The NZAG to widen its remit and include invited members of the public to it’s meetings
· The NZAG to provide regular updates to the PDG on the work it had done and any identified policy development
· That the wording of the Motion be amended to include a future budget be created as the current budget had already been agreed
The Group therefore RECOMMENDED to Council that the Motion should be supported with the following amendment:
· Requests that future budgets be created and ring-fenced for developing our climate work - through a mixture of funding bids; income generation; prioritisation; partnerships; and 'spend to save' schemes.
(Proposed by the Chairman)
Reason for the Decision – To support the Council’s Climate Change Declaration
Note: *Briefing paper previously circulated and attached to the minutes
Supporting documents: