Agenda item

Purpose:

·         To update the Executive on the consultation and engagement in relation to the draft Environment Strategy and how responses have been considered.

·         To provide the Executive with a summary of the consultation feedback through the identification of key themes and to present a proposed response to these themes.

·         To provide the Executive with the proposed amended version of the strategy for consideration.

Resolved that the amended version of the Environment Strategy be approved.

This decision is eligible to be ‘called-in’.  However, if the decision has not been ‘called-in’ by 5.00pm on 24 July 2020, then it will be implemented.

The Executive considered a report (Agenda Item 6) which provided feedback to the Executive following the recent consultation on the Environment Strategy and set out a revised Strategy for the Executive to discuss and if appropriate agree.

Councillor Steve Ardagh-Walter introduced the report which set out the consultation and engagement process which had been undertaken in relation to the draft Environment Strategy and the changes which had been made to the Strategy as a result of the feedback received. The consultation exercise had been more extensive and far reaching than had previously been undertaken for Council strategies and this reflected the high level of public interest in the subject matter. A key element of the consultation had been an on-line survey together with direct written responses, a series of public engagement events with schools and members of the green communities and drop-in sessions for members of the public. A summary of the feedback received from those specific elements could be found in Appendices C to F. 

The Environment Strategy was a broad document which set out the high level framework. The key objective it addressed was that which was set a little over a year ago in the Declaration of the Climate Emergency – the prime objective of which was the achievement of carbon neutrality within West Berkshire by 2030. This was an extremely challenging but doable target and would only be met by a combination of effective leadership, actions and communications by this Council together with engagement and active choices by residents of the district. It would be necessary to build on this in order to achieve the targets set out in the Strategy.

Page 31 of the agenda set out the high level themes to be taken forward within the Strategy/Delivery Plan or through other areas of the Council’s work. Some of the themes had been strengthened or improved as a result of the consultation such as agriculture and farming; increasing the use of electric vehicles; lobbying of government in terms of new building standards and again communications will be key. There were two themes that it was not proposed to take forward – bringing forward the 2030 target and the formation of a citizen assembly.

Councillor Ardagh-Walter confirmed that over the next few years there would be projects which would be delivered to fulfil the achievement of the Strategy but it was recognised that this would be challenging.

Councillor Lynne Doherty asked if the expansive consultation had been useful and why and whether there had been any advantages or disadvantages to this method of consultation. Councillor Ardagh-Walter responded that the disadvantages included the fact that it had been a more demanding and time consuming exercise for Officers than would normally have been the case and therefore there had been a higher investment in terms of time, gathering information and consulting with people and a larger range of data and information had fed into that. However, it was felt that the investment in time had been paid back by the resulting improvement in quality. It had helped the Council to edge towards a more open style of leadership going forward and although this approach would not be appropriate in all cases the same spirit could be used more widely in the future.

Councillor Richard Somner echoed the comments made by Councillor Ardagh-Walter. It was worth recognising the huge amount of work undertaken by Officers, the engagement of residents and Members of all parties to develop this Strategy and this continued to add to the forward motion that the Council had been asked to provide. It was recognised that there was still a way to go but the Council now had a strong platform to push forward and Councillor Somner was therefore happy to second the report.

Councillor Adrian Abbs advised that he was a Member of the Environment Advisory Group and his party had been supporting the development of the Strategy so that there was a cross-party objective. However, he felt that there were still a few things that the Council could do better and be more ambitious on. He referred to page 40 of the report and in particular reference point 18 and noted that one of the things it was proposed not to take forward was the citizen assembly which would have involved members of the public. It was surprising to see it marked down as being a drain on the Council’s resources. Page 67 talked about the ease of reading the document with 51% finding it more difficult to read than easier. He felt that the Council needed to try harder to make sure the contents of these sort of documents could be absorbed by the public and that the onus was on the Council to make documents as easy as possible to read. Councillor Abbs noted that on page 118 of the agenda it stated that the Council would work with partners and encourage residents and businesses to produce 20MW of renewable energy in the district. He was extremely pleased that the Strategy was actually committing to producing this quantity of generation. He was also of the opinion that the ambition should be zero emission vehicles but the Strategy stated that existing internal combustion engine vehicles on the Council’s fleet should be replaced with Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEVs). It was necessary to press on these areas and apply some forward thinking.

Councillor Ardagh-Walter responded to the points raised by Councillor Abbs. On the subject of the citizen assembly he advised that there would be ongoing continued listening to and engagement by residents. Whilst he was not in favour of a formalised decision making body of citizens as such he was very much in favour of wider engagement and he was certain that new structures could be set up for ways of continuing that ongoing dialogue. He was very keen on continuing that thorough open debate and dialogue with residents. In relation to the simplification of the document he agreed that this could be an issue but the subject was very big and broad and touched on many aspects of life. He would like to see going forward a smaller and simplified version which would potentially be aimed at schools etc. which would be in a format which was easier to read. In relation to zero emissions that would be good but as with many technological issues things could change quite quickly in the future.

Councillor Steve Masters referred to the governance around the Strategy and the annual reporting in relation to the plan of action. There was a need to focus on that. Councillor Masters did contend that it was necessary to engage on a more regular basis with the public as they had got behind the Strategy and therefore it was essential to continue to work with that energy. The governance section was broad and it was important to include more detail around that as soon as possible. It would be useful to have a timetable as to when the plan would be formulated as it was essential that it moved forward at pace.

Councillor Steve Ardagh-Walter agreed the Strategy touched on governance at a very high level and in future regular reporting would take place through the Delivery Plan which it was anticipated would be published by September. That would enable the Council to see and track progress and tune targets against various projects within the Strategy. He agreed that it would be necessary to focus more around engagement and the Delivery Plan would be important in taking this forward. In terms of the timetable he agreed that time was of the essence but he added that progress had been made with the pilot phase of solar roll out, work around Active Travel on the back of Covid recovery and the carbon audit of the Council’s own operations was also under way.

Councillor Carolyne Culver congratulated Members and Officers in respect of the drafting of the report and also the launch of the Community Investment Bond earlier that day. She asked if the Executive would be lobbying Government on changes to the planning regulations to ensure that they would not bring in any regulations which would undermine the Environment Strategy. She also asked how farmers would be involved in helping to deliver the Strategy as West Berkshire was such a rural and cultural district. Councillor Culver also made reference to the nature recovery network and leaving grass verges unmown more often and she felt that more could be done in this area as the Wildlife Trust had been doing some work on nature recovery networks and it would be useful if the Council could talk to them in more detail as it worked with them a lot already. She suggested that discussions should be had with the Wildlife Trust to strengthen that section. In respect of governance she felt that it would be a good idea to set up a Working Group as there were so many people across the district who would like to get involved with this and would undertake a lot of the work on behalf of the Council. She queried when the KPI’s on the delivery of the Environment Strategy would be available for the public.

Councillor Steve Ardagh-Walter confirmed that in relation to lobbying and planning everyone wanted supportive regulations and pressure on green issues such as more home insulation and hopefully the Council would be successful in lobbying the Government for investment in a green direction. He noted that West Berkshire was fortunate as it had two local MP’s – Laura Farris and Aloc Sharma – who had strong and powerful voices and would be able to get this message across to the Government on the Council’s behalf. In respect of farmers Councillor Ardagh-Walter confirmed that he had reached out and had already been approached by a few farmers who were keen to get involved. He was keen to learn more about the nature recovery network and any further advice and input would be welcomed. He stressed that the Strategy could only touch on some of these areas and it would be necessary to build on them. He was glad to see that other organisations would be willing to assist the Council with the administrative work and it would be useful to delegate out the assembly of ideas which could be built upon. He confirmed that the public KPI’s would be included in the Delivery Plan and hopefully this would be in the public domain by September.

RESOLVED that the amended Environment Strategy, as set out in Appendix G be agreed.

Reason for the decision: To adopt an Environment Strategy.

Other options considered: It was acknowledged that there were a number of ways in which the consultation responses could have been interpreted and used to influence a final version of the strategy. This report outlined the approach and process that was chosen to develop a series of recommendations for amendments to the strategy and elements to be taken forward in the Delivery Plan based on the content of the consultation.