Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received on behalf of Councillor Catherine Tite.

To note any urgent items of business which the Chairman has consented to being considered under the provisions of Section 100(B) 4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of business to be considered.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a)  any business on the agenda;

b)  any urgent additional items to be considered;

c)  any matters arising out of those items;

and if appropriate, withdraw from the meeting at the relevant time.

No declarations of interest were made.

To consider the minutes of the Climate Change and Communities Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 23^rd June 2025.

Moved by Councillor Cathy Jeffery and seconded by Councillor Anne Clarke

RESOLVED that the minutes of a Climate Change and Communities Scrutiny Committee held on 23^rd June 2025 be approved as a true and correct record.

Members should contact the officer whose name appears on the List of Key Decisions for any further information). NB: If Members wish to discuss an exempt report under this item, the meeting will need to move into exempt business and exclude the public in accordance with the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 and Local Government Act 1972, Part 1, Schedule 12a for that part of the meeting only.

Members were informed that there were no Key Decisions or items to be considered in private to consider.

The Climate Change Officer advised Members that currently the Council had no Carbon Reduction Plan and that monitoring and activity on the former plan had stopped in 2022.  However, a viable Carbon Reduction plan would be looked at following recommendations further to an internal audit.

Internal Audit had also identified the necessity to develop an internal working group to develop the Carbon Reduction Plan for the Council, and following a meeting held on 13^th October 2025, the Climate Resilience Working Group was formed. This group would enable greater ownership by multiple different departments.

The groups’ primary objective would be to develop an effective and implementable Carbon Reduction Plan. Further meetings would be held prior to the next scrutiny meeting where an of the plan would be provided on the progress of the plan.

The Council along with Nottinghamshire County Council were collectively working with the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) which was funded by the MCS Foundation (an energy advocacy charity aimed at accelerating the use of carbon free energy) on creating a new strategy that would be launched on 20^th October. The aim of the new strategy was focused on upskilling local green skills to enable retrofitting BDC homes to achieve lower emissions.

This was part of a larger strategy from East Midlands Retrofit Strategy (EMRS) a regional collaboration on the retrofit strategy to reduce fuel poverty and increase the sustainability of homes across the East Midlands.

It was incredibly positive for the residents of Bolsover and the Council.

The Green Skills Development Hub (located in Shirebrook) had a £250,000 grant approved through the UK Government Regeneration Fund and East Midlands Investment Zone. Multiple development proposals had been received from colleges and universities as well as private companies for the Hub and Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) had been appointed as the consultant on this project.

An internal working group to facilitate and manage this project has been created and consists of the following: Interim Director of Planning, Devolution and Corporate Policy, Leaders Executive and Partnership Strategy Manager and the Climate Change Officer. All local stakeholders including colleges, universities and members of the Boslover Partnership have presented their input throughout and would continue going forward to ensure this project benefits the community as much as possible when completed in the academic year of 2027.

The Climate Change Officer then presented a Carbon Plan Update Regarding the Energy Plan developments. It was confirmed that work was ongoing with the Carbon Plan and Energy Plan Updates with Energy Performce Certificates (EPC’s) being collected to identify areas which required more attention.

In response to a question relating to older properties which may not have EPCs it was explained that when older properties were renovated with extensions or refurbished an EPC could be produced.

Only a very small percentage of older properties had never been improved and average EPC ratings for similar type properties could be used. Low EPC performing properties tended to be located in the same more than likely would require  ...  view the full minutes text for item CLI15-25/26

The Review of Energy in Local Housing – Post Scrutiny Monitoring (PSM) (Second Interim Report) was presented to the committee by the Governance and Civic Manager, Miss Angelika Kaufhold.

The Governance and Civic Manager presented the Review of Energy in Local Housing – Post Scrutiny Monitoring (second interim) report and highlighted that of the five recommendations:

• CCCSC 23-24 2.2 – had been achieved.
• CCCSC 23-24 2.3 – had been achieved behind target; and
• three had been extended namely CCCSC 23-24 2.1, 2.4 and 2.5.

Moved by Councillor Deborah Watson and seconded by Councillor Cathy Jeffery

RESOLVED that 1) the progress against the review recommendations be noted;

2)     An update report on the implementation of the recommendations be submitted in 12 months’ time.

The Committee considered the report relating to the responses received from the Executive in relation to the recommendations made following the Review of the Council’s Approach to Environment Despoilment Education and Enforcement.  It was confirmed that the Executive had approved all eleven recommendations as detailed in Appendix 1 and that updates on progress would be submitted in 6- and 12-months’ time.

Moved by Councillor Sandra Peake and seconded by Councillor Cathy Jeffery

RESOLVED that 1) the response by the Executive to the recommendations in the review be noted;

2)    Officers monitor progress on the recommendations and provide update reports in 6- and 12-months’ time.

The Senior Devolution Lead for Planning Policy and Strategic Growth presented the report and confirmed that he was the Lead for the project.

25,000 trees had been planted which involved over 1,000 volunteers throughout Bolsover District.  The vison of this strategy included: Taking care of our existing Trees and Woodlands.

1. Expanding our Tree and Woodland Coverage; and
2. Fostering Community Pride in Our Trees and Woodlands – feeling the benefits.

It was confirmed that local Parish Councils could independently apply for funding from various sources and that the draft strategy covered a 10-year period between 2025-2035.

In response to a question relating to the ongoing maintenance and care for trees it was confirmed that a £10,000 had been allocated budget to maintain, repair or remove damaged trees.  If members wanted to report damaged or dead trees, they should contact the Woodlands Enterprise Team and the Street Scene Team.

A canopy cover study was carried out by a third-party contractor on behalf of the council.  Treeeconomics was selected to conduct this cover study.  The findings were that Bolsover has almost 2,8000 hectares of tree canopy cover totalling 17.5% of the district.  The highest coverage in terms of wards is Langwith ward at 30.6% and the lowest is Bolsover East Ward at 6.0%.  A district average of 17.5%, which is above 16.5% national average.  The Council’s aim was for the district was for 20% canopy cover.  The previous target of one million tress had been unrealistic in terms of scale, time and cost and target of 20% canopy cover was more achievable.

In response to whether S106 or Community Infrastructure Funding could be used it was confirmed a new planning regulation made it easier for the Council to insist developers plant trees as part of obtaining planning permission.

Section 106 of the Town and Country Act 1990 it empowered Council’s, as part of planning permission process, to ensure developers offered remedies to mitigate the environment impact on the local community of any proposed development.  These planning obligations were legally binding and approved when planning applications were agreed.

It was explained that the mandatory 10% rule would be used for Biodiversity and would assist with the planting of trees.  In England, Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) was mandatory under Schedule 7A of the Town and County Planning Act 1990, as inserted by Schedule 14 of the Environmental Act 2021.  Under this Act developers had to deliver a BNG of 10%.  This meant that developers had to ensure that local habitats for wildlife were left measurably better off than before the development.

The Bolsover Tree and Woodland Strategy Proposed Consultation Draft would be submitted to the Executive on 3^rd November 2025.  

Moved by Councillor Sandra Peake and seconded by Councillor Cathy Jeffery.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Committee considered a report presented by the Governance and Civic Manager relating to the Climate Change and Communities Scrutiny Committee Work Programme for 2025/26.

Moved by Councillor Sandra Peake and seconded by Councillor Cathy Jeffery RESOLVED that the Work Programme at Appendix 1 be approved.