Agenda item

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

The Cabinet Member for Climate Change addressed the PDG.  She thought that the Council were making good progress. Mid Devon were working with the Devon Energy Planning Group, were bidding for Green Grants and making available more Electric Vehicle Charging points. There was ongoing engagement and support with local groups.

The Climate and Environmental Sustainability Statements Guidance* was brought to the meeting and was ready to be recommended to the Cabinet for adoption.

With regard to the costs of reaching Net Zero, the value for money provided by our officer capacity was very high and the aspirations of the Council’s Climate Action Plan were also very high and could only be met by the Council working in partnership to attract external partnership for finance.

Consideration was given to:

• Scope 3   Emission Factors take inflation into account but the figures were an estimate / difficult to be accurate. The Council should identify areas of spend where they can achieve savings, engage with major suppliers and ask them what they were doing to reduce their carbon footprint and set them goals.
• Scope 1 – static fuel use in buildings and transport would start to fall as the Council had decarbonised two Leisure Centres.
• The Climate and Sustainability Officer was happy to support all teams in all Policy Development Groups, he already tried to bring the Environmental good news to the Environment PDG but would be very happy to support e.g. the Homes Strategy and the Community PDG through Leisure.
• Devon County Council was about to issue its consultation with Town and Parish Councils with regard to £7m of Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) funding about where they want Electric Vehicle Chargers. There were three areas of focus: (i) Street Level, (ii) Amenity or Community Car Parks, and (iii) Strategic Hubs (high volume turnover sites). Councillors should try to assist their Towns and Parishes to get as much of the LEVI funding as was possible spent within Mid Devon.
• Consideration could be given to village halls that have solar panels to offer EV charging, so that the energy used for the EV charging was renewable and generated locally.
• The Z-Pod installations in Cullompton were all net-zero with solar panels, electric heating, cooling and no gas.
• Councillor B Fish was asked to cross check the Net Zero Advisory Group membership against the membership of all PDG’s, in order to get Climate Change awareness across the Council.
• The State of the District debate in March would include a discussion on Net Zero and the Council were about to consult with Towns and Parishes on the subjects that they wanted included in the debate.
• Consideration was given to what the Council could do about climate change without putting the burden on the tax payer. Climate change was coming through in all reports in that every report had to consider climate change and be signed off. Councillors asked whether the climate change impact should move to the front of reports for Members of the public to see how the Council were tracking against objectives.
• What could the Council do to get climate and sustainability into planning and development?  The Environment PDG did not have the remit for such matters but all the Members could attend the Planning Policy Advisory Group. It was on the Cabinet Member for Climate Change’s radar to make Climate and Sustainability a part of planning and development.
• Members of the PDG commented that it would be helpful to know with Anaerobic Digesters what their carbon emissions were and what carbon emissions they save. The Climate and Sustainability Officer said that he was unable to obtain such information (each enterprise is different).
• The Council could reach out to Town and Parish Councils to get their local perspective about climate change.
• EV charging points and solar panels could be a revenue driver for the Council.
• Silverton Parish Council had been investigating EV Charging Points and were looking at the community hosting its own charging points. Once the pricing was available the information would be fed back in to the Environment PDG.

The report was NOTED.

RECOMMENDED to Cabinet that the “Guidance: climate and environmental sustainability statements” for officers and Members regarding climate and sustainability statements be adopted.  The guidance related to business cases and committee reports and should be used and maintained to help shape decisions and delivery in line with policy and statutory obligations.

(Proposed by the Chairman.)

Note: *report previously circulated and attached to the minutes.