Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

There were no apologies received for this meeting

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications.

There were no substitute members for this meeting

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest made on this occasion.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2024.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2024 were approved as a correct record subject to the second Bullet point of clause 16 being amended to say that the appendices to the report referenced studies around displacement. It was reported to the Committee that displacement was considered to be minimal but it was suggested that the links in these studies did not lead to this conclusion and that further, wider monitoring of the issue should be considered.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeID=151&Info=1&bcr=1

The deadline for the submission of public questions is mid-day 3 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

There were no public issued received

Appendix 2 of this report will be accompanied with a verbal update at the meeting to provide further information on the Sustainability Team.

The Portfolio Holder for Climate Response, Environment and Energy presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book. The report presented the fourth annual update to Cabinet on progress towards commitments made in the BCP Council Climate and Ecological Emergency Declaration, made on the 16th of July 2019. Given the urgency of the climate crisis the Council remains committed to achieving its strategic objectives by the deadlines, ahead of national targets. The Council recognises that whilst this report is focused on reporting progress made during 2022-23 under the previous administration, changes need to be made if we are to stay on track to meet our ambitious targets. In addition, the Council also acknowledges the significant lack of national progress in areas such as grid policy and technology adoption; alongside external factors such as the disruption of international supply chains and global inflation, the Council recognises the scale of the challenge and the significant resource required to achieve its ambition. Evidence of global and local effects of accelerating climate changes are becoming manifest, and this needs a focus also on mitigation to prepare our area for more extreme weather events.2022-23 progress, a period under the previous administration, in summary:

· Make BCP Council and its operations carbon neutral by 2030 -progress continues to be made, with scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reduced by 9.9% from the 2019 baseline

· Work with the wider community to make the region carbon neutral before the UK target of 2050 – according to most recent data total area-wide emissions for 2022-23 have reduced by 8.3% from the2019 baseline. In recognition of the urgency to decarbonise, and that progress has not been as rapid as hoped or needed, it is proposed that our priorities during this next reporting period, include clear actions to accelerate progress, interim milestones and funding proposals.

The report contained 8 recommendations to Cabinet to highlight things that could be changed and there had been modest progress in the reversal of the cost of energy.

The committee were informed that there is a target to become a member on UK100 by 2045.

The papers had 2 appendices and at this point the Chair advised that appendix 2 would be a separate item.

It was stated that there was a 9.9% increase in energy reduction and in another 5 years by 2030 there will be 12% which is a long way off the target, what was the plane to accelerate that? The local area energy plan sets out what needed to be done locally.

The Council was on average where it should be and now looking at acceleration beyond area wide.  Data was given about energy usage in the council buildings, the largest of which was the Civic Centre and thesecond was 2 Rivers Meet leisure Centre.  The Crematorium was the largest in gasses.

The Committee was pleased to hear that Carbon Literacy training  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

The Chairman presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Environment and Place Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Committee is asked to consider and identify work priorities for publication in a Forward Plan.

It was reported that a member of the public, Mr S Harper had submitted a Scrutiny request on chemicals and phosphates which will be discussed at an upcoming working group to discuss the forward plan.

The Committee was asked to assign to the work plan from the work planning sessions held recently with CfGS.  Some key messages were that scrutiny should be member led, Cabinet pre-decision should be kept and space freed up for pro-active scrutiny. There should be a focus on Climate change and sustainability and the relationship between scrutiny and the executive.

It was also suggested the committee could review information outside of meetings on a regular basis and bring to committee any real issues that the Committee can add value too.

The Committee was asked to consider next steps and have a good list of topics which need further scoping. The Committee was happy to sign up to the framework and was informed that there were briefings on Poole Food Waste Strategy and wheeled play planned for the future.

RESOLVED that the O&S Committee:

a) Consider, update and confirm its Forward Plan.

b) Consider and confirm the agreements made in O&S workshops to develop a lens and a framework for scrutiny, as set out in Appendix E to this report.

c) Note the next steps in developing the Committee’s work programme, as set out in Appendix E to this report.

Voting: Nem. Con. Unanimous

Wednesday 15 May 2024

Wednesday 10 July 2024

Wednesday 11 September 2024

Wednesday 20 November 2024

Wednesday 26 February 2025

Wednesday 14 May 2025

Wednesday 9 July 2025

Wednesday 10 September 2025

Wednesday 19 November 2025

Wednesday 25 Feb 2026

The next meeting is Wednesday 15 May 2024