Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Corporate Services introduced the item and stated that progress had been made on the Council’s carbon footprint and that it was implementing its action plan better than other Local Authorities in the country. It was emphasised that more work was needed on decarbonising the Council’s footprint, which included decarbonising Maidstone House. The Biodiversity and Climate Change Manager further stated the report included updates on net zero housing, net zero transport, solar panel projects, tree planting and the Rural England Prosperity Fund.

The Committee welcomed the report and the updated Biodiversity and Climate Change action plan. Concerns were expressed by the Committee that some of the targets in the Action Plan would not be met by 2030 and that national change was required to make a wider impact to biodiversity and climate change. During the discussion, the importance of the priorities in point 2.4 of the report was emphasised, with a request made that to the Cabinet that a further action plan on the items be presented to the Committee by September 2024.

During the discussion reference was made to the following:

·  The increase in road traffic and the slow progress of the Transportation Net Zero Commitment and Electric Vehicle (EV) Strategy;

·  A proposed Energy Officer role would be a beneficial addition to the Biodiversity and Climate Change team, and clarified that the role had been budgeted for;

·  Bid submissions for the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, including to retrofit Maidstone House; and

In response to questions The Head of Insight, Communities and Governance stated that:

·  The Council had not received any timescale for responses to bids for the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme;

·  There were schemes in the Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan that would likely not be completed by 2030, but that the Council was prioritising those that could be achieved by that deadline. It was stressed that Government targets for some actions were to be completed by 2050; and

·  There was a typographical mistake regarding Action 7.2 on the Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan and that the Council’s Carbon Footprint Dashboard had been set up and was online.

In response to further questions, The Biodiversity and Climate Change Manager stated that:

·  The proposed Energy Officer role would collaborate with other councils on renewable energy projects, apply for funding grants and lead energy awareness campaigns; and

·  The Council was working in collaboration with housing associations on installing insulation to improve their energy efficiency, and had recently acquired a new software which located hotspots in properties and identified insultation upgrades.

RESOLVED to RECOMMEND to CABINET: That

1.  The strategic considerations for tackling net zero borough wide and action plan updates shown at Appendix 1 of the report, be noted; and

2.  An action plan for the items listed in paragraph 2.4 of the report be submitted to the relevant policy advisory committees by September 2024.