Issue - meetings

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability presented the recommendation, which was referred to in the Executive report of 12 July 2022, regarding the Climate Change Strategy.

Councillor McAndrew said that the strategy clearly and succinctly laid out the council’s vision and approach and it made clear what changes needed to be implemented between now and 2030 to reach carbon neutrality. He said that the strategy went out to consultation and received 35 responses. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee had considered the strategy and made suggested changes. He thanked Officers and contributors who were involved in preparing the strategy.

Councillor McAndrew proposed that the recommendation in the report be supported. Councillor Pope seconded the proposal.

Councillor Wilson said that the strategy was great and was glad it had been put together but said there was still a lot of work to do and did not feel the council was doing everything it could do. He said that the council aimed to be sustainable in all that it did yet when it came to difficult decisions like charging for green waste or building a bridge that destroys wildlife the council needed to start making sustainable choices. He said when the next District Plan was developed; there should be emphasis on more sustainable building standards.

Councillor Frecknall said he was pleased to see that comments made by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had been incorporated into the report. He said there was an opportunity for the District Plan review to be included as this would have a huge impact on sustainability targets.

The motion to support the recommendations having been proposed and seconded was put to the meeting and upon a vote being taken, was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED - That the East Herts Climate Change Strategy 2022-2026 be approved.

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability explained that the Council already had a detailed living sustainability action plan in place, which was reviewed and published on a monthly basis. He said that this new strategy would add to the action plan by clearly and succinctly laying out the Council’s overall vision and approach.

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability said that importantly and unlike many local authorities’ strategies, the East Herts Climate Change Strategy makes clear what the Council was already doing and what changes would be assessed between now and 2030, in order to meet the goal in the climate change declaration of being carbon neutral by 2030.

Members were advised that the strategy had been subject to public consultation with 35 responses being received from individuals and community groups. The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability said that analysis of the responses was included in the covering report. He said that he was concerned that the majority of respondents had disagreed that the Council had got the overarching priorities right. He welcomed comments from Members and said that the strategy had been rewritten to make clearer the links between the ambitions of the respondents and those of the Council.

Councillor Wilson asked if the Council had looked at other similar district councils’ climate strategies when developing its own and if so, how East Herts’ strategy compared to theirs. The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability said that other Hertfordshire district strategies and other districts outside Hertfordshire had been considered which had been highly rated in the climate coalition’s recent review. He explained that the East Herts Strategy set out a road map for the actions that the Council would need to consider year by year to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Councillor Wilson asked if advice and schemes for councillors could be incorporated into the strategy, to help reduce the Council’s contributions to emissions etc by encouraging car shares, and by hosting civic events in places that were more accessible via public transport.

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability said that providing training for Members was already included in the environmental sustainability action plan as well as a timescale for this to be provided.

Councillor Frecknall asked if there was any plan to replace the electric vehicle (EV) car club and could this be included in the strategy. The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability referred Councillor Frecknall to a detailed answer he had given on a related question from Councillor Crystall. He explained that the DEFRA funding had ended and the Council would soon be replacing five diesel vans with electric vehicles, which would be available for Officers as an e-car club and then available to the public once the e-car club was up and running.

Councillor Frecknall asked if there could be a direct referral to the re-writing and refresh of the District Plan in 2023, and in particular the inclusion of the Sustainable Planning SPD into the District Plan. The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability explained that this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61