Agenda and minutes

No apologies were received. It was noted that Councillor Dr Shrobona Bhattacharya was attending the meeting remotely.

Councillor Dr Lisa Redrup declared a registerable interest as a member of Haslingfield and Harlton Eco Group.

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2022.

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2022 were agreed as a correct record subject to the amendment of “tonnes” to “thousands of tonnes” in the minute “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounts for the Council’s Estate and Operations 2021-22” under the heading “Transport”.

The Chair stated that since the last meeting of the Committee representatives of the Council had attended the Municipal Journal award ceremony after being nominated for the Leadership in Responding to the Climate Emergency award. She congratulated those involved in giving the presentation at the ceremony.

Matters arising from the minutes

The Development Officer – Climate and Environment reported that the ICT section had been asked to provide data on the amount of electricity used by the 3c Shared Services. This will be reported in the Greenhouse Gas Emissions accounts going forward. New hardware was being fitted by 3C, which was expected to reduce electricity usage.

The Development Officer – Climate and Environment reported that reducing green waste and setting up repair workshops were both included in the Waste Policy Team’s Resource Strategy.

In response to an action to find out about current work from Ofgem around grid upgrades in relation to Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure the Development Officer – Climate and Environment explained that Ofgem were reviewing the future of local energy institutions and governance and that the shared planning service had provided a response to the call for input on this. It was agreed that this response should be circulated to the Committee members.

The Development Officer, Climate and Environment explained that the Council’s Zero Carbon and Doubling Nature Action Plan had been revised to ensure that it included all the work being done by the Council. It had been independently reviewed by two external organisations resulting in the revised Plan detailed in Appendix A of the report.

Target dates for completing actions

The Head of Climate, Environment and Waste explained that the Action Plan did not provide precise details of how all the actions would be carried out and when, as some actions were still under development or ongoing. However, he agreed that the updated version of the Action Plan would provide more detail and signposts to further documentation on each action where applicable.

The Development Officer, Climate and Environment agreed to provide a progress report on the actions in Objective 1 that the Council had direct control over. She explained that the Council was on target to achieve 45% carbon reduction by 2025. It was noted that the impact of the Council’s strategy to influence issues outside its control was harder to assess.

Doubling nature

It was noted that as a target, doubling nature was difficult to quantify. Countywide data was being sought and the Chair explained that Natural Cambridgeshire had identified fourteen initiatives, relevant to this.

Councillor Brian Milnes stated that the County Council had a shadow carbon cost system and he suggested that this authority could use this to provide some comparative data.

Retrofitting of heritage properties

Retrofitting of historic and listed homes was discussed. The Chair stated that case studies could assist with this and could be helpful nationally. The Development Officer, Climate and Environment agreed to contact the Council’s conservation team and report back on the progress of case studies.

Local Plan and planning policies

The Committee requested that members be briefed on the Local Plan. It was hoped that the Plan could identify areas where sustainable energy projects could be constructed. Councillor Brian Milnes explained that clearer Government guidance was required on sustainability issues affecting the Local Plan.

Councillor Tumi Hawkins explained that the work of the Committee was closely linked with the draft Local Plan and the officers working on it. She suggested that the Committee nominate representatives to attend meetings of the Joint Planning Advisory Group, which was discussing the Local Plan.

Home extensions and new homes

The Committee hoped that planning officers could advise residents on how to make their proposed extensions more energy efficient. It was also hoped that similar guidance could be provided to new home builders. Councillor Geoff Harvey advocated Passivhaus standards for new homes.

The practicalities of policing newly revised building standards was raised and it was suggested that a representative from Building Control could explain the changes and how Building Control were enforcing these.

Equality Impact Assessment

It was noted that the Equality Impact Assessment would consider the impact of climate change on vulnerable people.

Investment Strategy

The Head of Climate, Environment and Waste explained that the Investment Strategy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Committee noted its Forward Plan.

Tuesday 6 December 2022 at 2 pm.

Tuesday 6 December at 2 pm.