Issue - meetings

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE POLICY & STRATEGY TEAM LEADER

This note highlights the topic for this Panel meeting as well as a Work Programme and Action Tracker (at Appendix A) for the Cabinet Panel on the Environment for 2024/25. It also includes updates on sustainability work taking place within the council.

The Policy & Strategy Team Leader and Policy & Strategy Officer presented the Information Note entitled ‘Work Programme 2024/25’ including verbal updates on the achievements from the current year.

Audio recording – 5 minutes 5 seconds

The Policy & Strategy Team Leader and Policy & Strategy Officer presented the Information Note entitled ‘Work Programme 2024/25’ and advised that:

·                The third round of Solar Together had commenced and would be open until 4 April for expressions of interest. There was no obligation to continue with the purchase of solar PV or battery storage once registered. As of 31 March, 579 North Herts residents had signed up for this.

·                The Hertfordshire Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership (HCCSP) had been working with the MCS Foundation to develop a Retrofit Strategy as part of the Local Authority Retrofit Accelerator.

·                Development of the Local Nature Recovery Strategy was ongoing and the strategy had undergone a number of engagement events in 2024 with the most recent one held in February to discuss the draft. Public consultation on the draft would reopen later in the year.

·                Climate Hive, the Council engagement hub for climate and sustainability had 407 subscribers to date, and continued to update readers on relevant events, national environment days and the activities of the Cabinet Panel. As of April, Climate Hive would be provided on a different platform and subscribers had been informed of this change.

·                The ECO Flex Scheme had been launched in January 2025 with the National Energy Foundation (NEF) to support low income and vulnerable households in making their homes more energy efficient. Four applications had been received through this scheme and they had all been approved.

·                £1.5m had been awarded to the Council after a successful bid to the Warm Homes: Local Grants scheme. The funding would enable the Council to deliver energy efficient measures and low-carbon heating to those living in lower income households, particularly those with hard to heat, poorly insulated homes. Compared to previous schemes (ECO Flex or HUG2), a greater number of households would be eligible to apply for funding from this.

·                The Council had applied for phase four of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) to fund the decarbonisation of North Herts Museum, Hitchin Town Hall and the District Council Offices. They would expect to hear back on this by May and they would keep the Cabinet Panel updated on this.

·                One action was ongoing on the Action Tracker for 2024/25 which was was to review the asks of Decarbonise Letchworth regarding retrofitting and Supplementary Planning Guidance. In response to this, planners were working on a Design Code for the district about what good design would look like. The Sustainability Supplementary Planning Document (SSPD) also addressed this action by encouraging developers to implement energy efficient measures on new developments. This had also been raised with the Chief Executive who had regular meetings with the Heritage Foundation Chief Executive.

The Policy & Strategy Team Leader and Policy & Strategy Officer then presented Appendix C to the Information Note entitled ‘Sustainability Achievements 2024/25’ and highlighted the following achievements in the last Civic year:

·                New waste and recycling contracts with environmental commitments including all vehicles that were 3.5 tonnes and under  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12