Issue - meetings

At its meeting on 8 July 2020 the Executive Committee considered the climate change and carbon reduction audit and action plan and RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that:

1.       the audit report be AGREED as having established the Council’s current position and carbon baseline; and

2.       the action plan be NOTED, and agreement given for detailed work and feasibility studies to commence in relation to the carbon reduction options set out in the action plan.

16.1          At its meeting on 8 July 2020, the Executive Committee had considered the climate change and carbon reduction audit and action plan and recommended to Council that it be agreed as having established the Council’s current position and carbon baseline; and that agreement be given for detailed work and feasibility studies to commence in relation to the carbon reduction options set out in the action plan. 

16.2          The report which was considered by the Executive Committee had been circulated with the Agenda for the current meeting at Pages No. 8-93.

16.3          The Chair of the Executive Committee proposed the recommendation and felt it was important to note that the action plan had come forward as a result of proposals agreed by the Council in October. The Climate Change and Flood Risk Management Group had been asked to take the work forward and, thanks to that Group, the action plan was an excellent document which had been approved by the Executive Committee for recommendation to Council. The recommendation was seconded by the Vice-Chair who felt it was a concise and forward-thinking action plan. 

16.4          A Member thanked all who had worked on the report and was pleased with the suggested substantial savings – both in terms of carbon and financing - and felt this showed that ‘green’ investments could be beneficial in terms of the environment and business. Notwithstanding this, the original motion had first been introduced 12-months ago and he was concerned with the 10-year timescale given how long it had taken to get to this point, particularly when the motion only focussed on the Council’s own buildings. He noted that climate change was an extremely important issue with consequences that would affect the whole world, so everyone had to play their part. Given the flooding issues faced across Tewkesbury Borough, he felt that all Members had a vested interest in improving the effects of climate change and he indicated that, whilst the action plan was a good document, he was concerned about the short and medium-term phasing and the fact that savings needed to be achieved in as short a timeframe as possible. For that reason, he proposed an amendment that the length of the medium-term be shortened to five years instead of seven years with the intention of completing those actions by 2025. In seconding the amendment, a Member reiterated the concerns and felt strongly that the climate change emergency needed to be urgently addressed. Members were advised that safe carbon levels were below 350 parts per million but sustainable practices had to be introduced to get down to that level – as at 26 July 2020 the carbon level was 413 parts per million so there was a long way to go. The Motion only covered Tewkesbury Borough Council owned buildings and, if left with the timetable of 2030, the Council would only have 20 years to ensure the rest of the borough met the government target in 2050. As the action plan had already taken  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16

To recommend to Council that the audit report be agreed as having established the Council’s current position and carbon baseline and that the action plan be noted with agreement given for the detailed work and feasibility studies to commence.  

That it be RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that:

1.           the audit report be AGREED as having established the Council’s current position and carbon baseline; and

2.           the action plan be NOTED, and agreement given for detailed work and feasibility studies to commence in relation to the carbon reduction options set out in the action plan.

16.1          The report of the Deputy Chief Executive, circulated at Pages No. 8-93, provided Members with detail on the climate change and carbon reduction audit and action plan as required by the Motion which was approved by the Council in 2019. The Committee was asked to recommend the audit report to Council as having established the current position and carbon baseline; and to note the action plan and agree that detailed work and feasibility studies commence in relation to the carbon reduction options set out within it.

16.2          The Deputy Chief Executive explained that the Council had declared a climate emergency in October 2019 which included a commitment to doing all in its power to make Tewkesbury Borough Council Offices carbon neutral by 2030 as well as undertaking an audit of the Council’s current position, together with the creation of an action plan that would set out how that aim could be achieved. The audit report set out the relevant government guidance and the detailed analysis that was undertaken in order to establish the current carbon footprint and the action plan set out the short, medium and long-term opportunities that could be explored further as part of detailed feasibility testing as ways the Council could seek to meet the ambition of carbon neutrality by 2030 in relation to its buildings. Members were advised that the Council’s Climate Change and Flood Risk Management Group had been created to consider all aspects of climate change and was initially tasked with working with Officers to oversee the delivery of the audit and action plan. The discussion and key observations from the group were included at Paragraph 2.2 of the report, along with the key questions from Members and the responses received from the consultant.

16.3          In terms of next steps, the Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that the report and action plan provided an excellent base on which to build - this met the first part of the climate emergency motion and was also reflected in the sustainable environment priority within the Council Plan. It was intended to use the Council’s existing governance arrangements to monitor and manage the carbon reduction work which would be helpful given the competing priorities and additional impacts currently being felt as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The recommendations from the current meeting would go to Council on 28 July but be preceded by an all Member Seminar to be held on 23 July at 6pm.

16.4          The consultant was invited to make his detailed presentation on the report which set the context and covered the salient points as follows:

·        The remit - production of a baseline from 2019/20 and the creation of an action plan based on a set of principles including demand reduction and renewable energy information. The report covered the Council’s own buildings and transport except those buildings owned for commercial investment purposes. The approach had followed nationally recognised greenhouse protocol standards – scope 1, 2 and 3 – and used government advanced conversion factor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16