Agenda item

To receive an update from the Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change and the Climate and Sustainability Officer

The Group had before it, and NOTED, a report from the Climate and Sustainability Specialist.

The Cabinet Member for Climate Change stated that the Council was at a key stage of implementing Biodiversity Net Gain. The Planning Policy Advisory Group (PPAG) had Local Plan Review and Members would have a chance to engage on this and many other areas e.g. Climate Change planning policies over the coming months. The support through participative policy making is hugely important. The State of the District Debate was approaching and that would be a good opportunity for partnership working in this area to see if together we could go beyond what was statutory policy. For example the Blackdown Hills National Landscape would go beyond the District’s own planning policy.

Biodiversity duty

The Policy Development Group (PDG) consultation was in progress – did Members have any ideas they would like to be considered for the draft Action Plan? 

The Council would use the Biodiversity Duty to support good actions e.g. push developers to deliver Dark Skies to benefit people and nature.

Tree Planting

Over 50 standards had been planted. The majority at People’s Park and Amory Park at Tiverton, 6 large standard orchard trees at Uplowman and 5 standards and shrubs at Willand wildlife area. Standards are equivalent to 10 whips (50 standards = 500 whips) so effectively the Council had met their annual tree target.

The Climate and Sustainability Officer commented upon the excellent work done by:

-      Housing teams working on improvements to social housing stock e.g. studying data to help tackle mould and damp issues as well as energy efficiency, to achieve healthy homes with lower bills

-      The Tenant Engagement Teams

-      Public Health Teams and Private Sector Home Improvements (in the report).

-      There was a Community element to the ongoing work, working in partnership with the private sector in relation to the installation of air source heat pumps, loft insulation, cavity wall insulation and solar PV.

The Council had now achieved most of what they could when it came to trees on Council land. The best opportunity for the Council to develop tree planting, and other biodiversity enhancement measures, was through strategic landscape-scale partnership work, with landowners, agencies and community engagement. For example, large scale nature recovery networks and connectivity; woodland cover; local food; outdoor activity and citizen science with all the health and wellbeing benefits that go along with it; climate adaptation and natural flood management partnership schemes.  

Discussion took place with regard to:

• Whether there were targets for tree planting for years to come, and how aftercare is achieved? Aftercare was carried out by the Council’s own work force out of the general budget. Where there was sufficient grant aid, aftercare was by contractors.
• Volunteering - had there been any discussion with Town and Parish Councils – it was hoped to use the forthcoming “State of the District Debate” to gather expressions of interest from the Towns and Parishes where they were interested in partnership working.
• Control over hedge cutting was it possible to influence how land owners were managing hedges?
• The Planning Policy Advisory Group were looking at policies in development and Members were able to contribute – could Environment PDG do the same?
• Higher EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) was being achieved for private sector rented homes through MEES (Minimum Energy Efficiency Scheme) – ways to encourage and enforce – grant schemes were available.
• Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) regulations stated that there must be a minimum 10% biodiversity net gain on site for eligible developments. Where, in some situations, that may not be achievable, biodiversity banking sites might offer an alternative way to secure the uplift. That site did not always have to be within the same district, but within Mid Devon was best.
• Agreed to look into feasibility of raising the local BNG requirement to be above the 10% minimum required by regulation. (Cllr Bradshaw.)
• The Climate and Sustainability Specialist was thanked for his work on Carbon Literacy Education.

Recommendations:

• The Environment PDG noted and accepted the update on the Council’s Climate and Sustainability programme and progress on its response to the Climate Emergency including the Climate Action Plan.

• The Environment PDG noted that the Council’s Planning Policy Advisory Group would be engaged with ongoing work for the new Local Plan for Mid Devon throughout the plan making programme. (Elected Members were encouraged to join in with PPAG and the Local Plan making process, and might wish to influence policy with regard to the sustainability matters such as the draft policies around climate change, the Biodiversity Duty, Biodiversity Net Gain, etc.)

• The Environment PDG noted the Cabinet report and the requirements on the Council to act in relation to the Biodiversity Duty.