Agenda item

Executive considered a detailed report presented by Councillor Nick Clarke, Chair of Climate Change and Communities Scrutiny Committee, in relation to the Committee’s review of the Council’s current approach to Carbon Reduction.

Following a briefing by the current lead officer on progress against the Council’s three strands of activity, the objectives agreed were to review officer capacity and resource, the software platform used to monitor progress against the Carbon Reduction Plan, assessment of local knowledge of best practice in home energy efficiency, clarity over the corporate approach/objectives, and a progress update on current activity across the three themes.

The key issues identified for investigation were set out in the report.

The Committee had put together nine recommendations, which were outlined at paragraph 2.12 of the report, and set out below.  These would hopefully enable the Council to clarify immediate priorities for action, as well as a longer term plan, to ensure the Council and District was net zero by 2050.

1.    That the officer function addressing the Council’s strategic approach to carbon reduction should be kept in-house, with partnership work as required with Dragonfly Development Limited, for delivery associated with the service functions transferred.

2.    That a dedicated operational post be recruited to, in addition to the designation of a lead senior officer, to ensure that the delivery in relation to carbon reduction maintained momentum to reach the 2050 target.

3.    That data quality related to carbon reduction be improved, with a clear baseline agreed from which to track progress up to 2050, with regular data reports as part of the corporate performance reporting.

4.    That the lead senior officer take account of the Member analysis of the Council’s current Ambitions and how activity was supporting carbon reduction as part of new programme development.

5.    That a revised approach to communication of objectives and achievements be implemented, both external and internal, with a full review of the website to ensure the Council’s activity, and progress towards the target, is clearly documented.

6.    That the Council ensures that a lead Portfolio Member is agreed for Carbon Reduction from within the Executive, post-election May 2023.

7.    That the membership of the Low Carbon Thematic Group is reviewed, post-election May 2023, to ensure it incorporates the Portfolio lead and a link to Climate Change & Communities Scrutiny to further improve communication.  It is also recommended that the cross-party representation remains going forward as this is seen as a positive way of working.

8.    That the Council website is reviewed and updated to provide clear guidance on current Council activity.

9.    That Scrutiny analysis of progress against the Council Motion previously passed to the Low Carbon Thematic Group, be shared so future work planning can take account of outstanding areas capable of delivery.

Members welcomed the review and discussed its findings as detailed in the report.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance drew Members attention to recommendation 2 regarding a dedicated operational post, and the Section 151 Officer’s comments in the report regarding cost implications of this outside of current budgets.  The Scrutiny & Elections Officer noted that the Scrutiny Committee had acknowledged that a lot of work had happened, and was happening currently, however, the suggestion of a dedicated post was not necessarily a post until 2050 but would be beneficial in the short to medium term to drive carbon reduction forward as it required coordination across multiple service areas and would enable the Council to clarify immediate priorities for action.

Further to a suggestion from a Member regarding service area champions for joined up working, the Leader noted that communication was key.  Members would recall that climate change had been removed from the portfolio function and put across each department so it was everyone’s responsibility to be involved, however, he was now informed that not everyone was aware of what others were doing and this needed to be addressed.

The Chief Executive noted that she had not been involved in the review, but added that the recent proposed restructure of the Council’s Senior Leadership Team, had included a theme lead for climate change.  Also, that a funding bid had been recently put forward to secure a post to lead on some of this work, particularly around community engagement and dealing with the barriers with climate change in the communities, and bringing that back to the Council.

Moved by Councillor Duncan McGregor and seconded by Councillor Sandra Peake

RESOLVED that (1) the recommendations of the review as outlined at paragraph 2.12 of the report be endorsed,

(2) monitoring by the Climate Change and Communities Scrutiny Committee takes place over a twelve month period via the PERFORM system with an update report to Committee at the end of the monitoring period.

(Scrutiny & Elections Officer)

Reason for Recommendations

The Committee had put together nine recommendations, as outlined at paragraph 2.12 of the report, which would hopefully enable the Council to clarify immediate priorities for action, as well as longer term plan to ensure the Council and District was net zero by 2050.

Alternative Options and Reasons for Rejection

Executive could choose not to endorse the recommendations of the review, where they felt the course of action recommended was beyond the delivery capacity of the Authority.