Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were made.

RESOLVED

that the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 28 January 2021, be received and approved as a correct record.

The Scrutiny Research Officer presented the report to the Panel and advised that the document was split into two halves, the first part outlined some outcomes from the 2019 Council commissioned Carbon Management Plan for Ashfield (as compiled by Nottinghamshire City Council) and the current work programme emerging from the Council’s internal Climate Change Working Group (attended by senior officers from Assets & Investments, Place & Wellbeing, Waste & Environment, Planning, Procurement and Finance), including development of its draft Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan.

The second part of the report outlined some case studies (compiled by the Local Government Association [LGA]) which highlighted some of the work and initiatives being carried out by local authorities across the country regarding climate change mitigation.

Draft Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan

The Director of Housing and Assets had provided a briefing note to the Scrutiny Team and advised that the following strategic actions were currently being considered by the Working Group to form part of the upcoming Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan:

·         applying for future funding for all Scope emissions - £2m funding already secured

·         improvement to the efficiency of current fleet use and consideration of share of electric vehicles

·         increasing the availability of electric pool cars

·         promoting more sustainable methods of employee commuting, such as cycle to work schemes, car sharing and electric vehicle charging points

·         investment in walking and cycling infrastructure and pedestrianising the high street where possible

·         reducing the total volume of waste generated where possible through greater reuse, and behavioural change campaigns

·         investigating the potential to increase water reuse, for example through grey water recovery systems to reduce wastewater

·         flood management and biodiversity

·         tree planting

·         supporting local businesses and promoting good sustainable behaviours with a Green Business Scheme

·         working with and influencing community volunteers and local businesses to help with climate change

·         mitigation to encourage an increase in ownership of community open spaces

·         asset rationalisation and enhancement

·         internal reviews such as procurement, waste/recycling etc.

·         requesting allocation of monies from the recently awarded Towns Fund to develop green projects within the town centres (i.e., bee meadows at bus stops).

Members took the opportunity to discuss some of the potential actions and debated the following:

·         the negative impact of some pedestrianisation schemes on town centre footfall and acknowledgement that many people still wished to drive to access shops and town centre facilities

·         success of the Hucknall pedestrianisation scheme in particular and how the town centre is now thriving due to ease of access and connectivity

·         acknowledgement that the Housing Strategy 2021-2023, considered and approved at Cabinet earlier in the week, contained various decarbonisation initiatives for the Council’s housing stock with a future eye to the development of greener more sustainable properties

·         the importance of the draft Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan being submitted to the Scrutiny Panel at an early stage to enable Members to consider its content prior to adoption by Cabinet

·         realisation that the weather was changing due to shifts in global temperatures and the importance of local  ...  view the full minutes text for item SB.3