Agenda item

Purpose: To review progress in implementing the Council’s Environment Strategy, including the agreed Delivery Plan.

(Councillor Lee Dillion declared a person interest in Agenda item 7 by virtue of the fact that he was an Employee of Sovereign Housing. As his interest was personal and not prejudicial he was permitted to take part in the debate and would be able to vote on the matter.)

(Councillor Adrian Abbs declared a person interest in Agenda item 7 by virtue of the fact that he was a member of the West Berkshire Council’s Environmental Advisory Group (EAG). As his interest was personal and not prejudicial he was permitted to take part in the debate and would be able to vote on the matter.)

The Commission considered a report (Agenda Item 7) concerning the Environmental Strategy, presented by Jenny Graham. The report provided information to the Commission relating to the progress of implementing the Environment Strategy as approved by Executive in 2020. The delivery plan presented in the Agenda Pack was the latest version that was approved at Executive last month and would be subsequently updated on a monthly basis with progress against any of the schemes reported. A further annual progress report would go to Executive in November 2021.

Jenny Graham noted that in the report Members would find that there was an importance and focus on putting carbon savings against key actions and projects within the Delivery Plan. This was considered important because it would enable the team to indicate the direction of travel and document the progress towards the Council’s 2030 target of carbon neutrality, as well as helping with prioritisation of projects and resources. Jenny Graham also highlighted one aspect of the work that wasn’t covered in the paper, namely the formation of the West Berkshire Parish Climate Forum, which came about because Parishes had requested it. So far the forum’s meetings have been met with enthusiasm and engagement and it was hoped that the forum would be a useful tool for both West Berkshire Council and the Parishes by way of making important links and partnerships so targets could be met.

The Commission thanked Jenny for her presentation. Comments were given around improvements of cross-team working and listening to public reactions, and it was noted that a lot of work had already been completed. However, concern was raised that it had been two years since the emergency declaration and more projects needed to be started in order to make the 2030 deadline.

It was suggested that actions needed to have anticipated carbon savings against them. Councillor James Cole highlighted an online tool for calculating emissions – he did not know how accurate it was, but it showed variations between parishes that made sense to him. He indicated that there was no sense of what the Council could do to identify or address the largest carbon emitters.

Councillor James Cole observed that the Council had not taken action in relation to existing buildings and that planning policy needed to prioritise eco-friendly buildings. He believed the Council needed to lobby Central Government where appropriate. He suggested that the report needed to focus more on emphasising the fact that the Council had declared a climate emergency rather than maintaining a green District. He also felt that reviewing the paper annually was not frequent enough.

Councillor Steve Masters concurred with Councillor Cole regarding the need for greater ambition rand more robust targets and he added that the Council could make their own housing stock less carbon intensive by making the required adaptations. He applauded the Council’s decision to declare the climate emergency, but stressed that the Council needed to do more. He also asked how many Parishes were proactively involved in the forum and how the Council would increase further participation in future.

The Chairman indicated that the Council did not have many of its own houses. Councillor Masters confirmed that it had 75 properties and retro-fitting these properties would demonstrate the Council’s intent. The Chairman observed that the standard for social housing appeared to be better than for market housing. Councillor Masters stressed the need to work with social housing providers, such as Sovereign Housing. Councillor Lee Dillon declared an interest at this point by virtue of the fact that he was an employee of Sovereign Housing.

Councillor Adrian Abbs stated that his main concern was also regarding reaching the 2030 goal and that from the report he found it impossible to judge if the Council was on target to reach that goal. He suggested using thermometers and charts within the report that would indicate this visually and assist OSMC Members when they were assessing progress. He suggested that the Council was currently miles off achieving its goal and numbers were needed to provide context for the reassurances that had been provided. The Chairman noted that there were key performance indicators with colours associated. Councillor Abbs acknowledged this, but indicated that they were hard to understand.

Councillor Tony Vickers said that he was concerned that the top risk in the risk register was the lack of ‘buy-in’ from West Berkshire staff, schools community groups and businesses and stated that there was a lot of work to be done outside the Council. He agreed that putting ‘one’s own house in order’ was the place to start, but stressed that more work needed to be done in joining up departments and cited the recent disconnection between Planning and Education where solar panels were not installed in a new build school because of cost. Councillor Vickers also asked if the Council was reaching out to community groups, businesses and particularly the farming industry, where there were significant opportunities. He stated that securing buy-in was the only risk that was fully within the Council’s control. He suggested that Members needed to be better educated and more proactive in reaching out to residents and partners. 

Councillor Clare Rowles also wanted to know about what the Council was doing to reach out to these groups and in particular the farming community, as she noticed those actions was lacking in the report. She acknowledged that the Council had come a long way, but highlighted  the short-term goals and actions in the report that had not been started yet (e.g. audits of the Council’s buildings portfolio to identify energy consumption profiles). She also stressed the importance of communications, particularly in encouraging more local, green businesses.

Jenny Graham thanked the Members for their questions and feedback. She stated that it had been two years since the climate emergency was declared and that the first year had been about getting the strategy in place, which had been done using existing resources and the current team had only been in place a year. Momentum was still being built in the team and more recruitment activity was occurring. She agreed that more speed was required and the team was aware of this.

In terms of actions, Jenny Graham said that she felt her team had been a little too cautious in saying where something had started, but this would be addressed in the next update of the delivery plan.

In terms of business and community engagement, there had been a number of meetings within various community groups and businesses, and this activity would increase, since a Business Engagement Officer had now started with the team.

The team was also working on engagement with the farming and agricultural industry and they recognised that as a very important part of the delivery plan and they were currently working on developing a Natural Solutions Delivery Partnership that would engage key players within the farming and agricultural industry, including the AONB, BBOWT and the NFU.

Jenny Graham also said she embraced the idea of a thermometer as a means of communicating progress in an informative, but simple way.  She recognised that they did not have all the facts and figures , but they were working on obtaining those.

She also stated that the annual progress report to Executive in November would show the Council’s carbon footprint and the progress made.

She explained that the team was working with Planning Policy to get appropriate policies in the Local Plan and ensure that this would help deliver the aims of the Environmental Strategy and the climate emergency.

In terms of the Parish Climate Forum, she stated that there were on average 18 different Parishes represented at those sessions, which were being held every 5 or 6 weeks and there was more engagement each time. She encouraged Members to promote these events to their local parish councils.

It was suggested that farmers should be engaged and not just farming groups and organisations, and that the report really needed to be reviewed every 6 months.