Agenda item

The Chair to lead a discussion regarding contributions made at the meeting.

The Chair led a discussion regarding contributions to the meeting and potential Panel themes for the civic year including:

(1)       Plastics

(2)       Targets under the Climate Change Strategy

(3)       Sustainability in housing and strategic planning

(4)       Energy generation

(5)       Sustainable transport plans

Audio Recording – 8 minutes 30 seconds.

The following members of the public asked questions and took part in the discussion:

·                Anni Sander

·                Roger Lovegrove

·                John Webb

The following Members asked questions and took part in the discussion:

·                Councillor Sarah Dingley

·                Councillor Gerald Morris

·                Councillor Steve Jarvis

·                Councillor Adem Ruggiero-Cakir

·                Councillor Val Bryant

·                Councillor Amy Allen

In response to questions the Policy and Community Engagement Manager advised:

·                The Council produces a bulletin on recycling and facilitates a number of Facebook groups on waste awareness and recycling;

·                The Council’s own website has pages on waste and recycling, home composting and food waste, and recycling of furniture and bulky items;

·                The work programme item on composting and food waste disposal was to encourage home composting and wormeries;

·                The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted work on changing waste collection schedules;

·                While legislation was in place to facilitate anti-idling policies the local authority still had to apply for powers to enforce these policies.

Points raised included:

·                Residents had to be encouraged to be mindful of their waste and consumption;

·                Plastic Free initiatives were developing well in Hitchin and Letchworth and were discussing how to spread initiatives in to more rural areas and village settings;

·                The problems of waste and refuse were more visible in towns but no less relevant to rural areas;

·                Producer responsibility was important and waste minimisation was an essential priority;

·                Many parish Councils had their own waste initiatives;

·                Waste minimisation was linked to carbon in that less frequent refuse collections would lead to less carbon emissions; encouraging recycling was important but producing less waste entirely should be the goal;

The Chair led a discussion regarding contributions to the meeting and potential Panel themes for the civic year.

Points raised included:

·                Items on the climate change strategy would make suitable themes for panel meetings;

·                The Panel had a role to play in ensuring sustainable housing and building standards were adhered to in the Council;

·                There should be a review of the sustainability of the housing proposals submitted under the local plan;

·                Supplementary Planning Documents on sustainability in housing standards were part of the adopted Climate Change Strategy;

·                The Climate Change strategy had two components and discussed areas where the Council had its own powers and where it had a leadership role in the community;

·                The Council as a landowner could enforce certain standards on its properties but was constrained by planning regulations; as a leader in the community it could encourage developers and residents to expect the highest ecological standards;

·                The Council could offer leadership and guidance on the issue of retrofitting houses to maximise sustainability;

·                Passiv Haus standards and similar should become the norm for new houses built and provided improvements in cost, sustainability, and lived environment;

·                The Cabinet Panel on Housing, Strategic Planning and Transport was better placed to consider specific issues relating to housing standards and planning;

·                An energy generation scheme for the District was being investigated and good practice from other districts was being observed with HCC support;

·                Renewal energy generation could feature as a panel discussion in future covering what the Council does with its own buildings and how to engage with the community on local energy generation;

·                The Council was working on a Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan;

·                There was a need for more public visibility of plans and discussions taking place around sustainable travel towns and efforts to change travel arrangements;

·                It was sometimes unclear how the discussions of the Cabinet Panel on the Environment influenced policy changes and interacted with discussions elsewhere in the Council;

·                The Cabinet Panel on the Environment had been integral to shaping the Climate Change Strategy and influenced policy on a number of issues;

·                There was a lack of good news messaging and sharing the successes of climate change actions and policy development; progress was being made and if news of ongoing work was better shared fewer people would feel discouraged;

·                The Council had a role to play influencing residents, the County Council, national government, and businesses; Councillors should feel empowered to engage with Climate Change issues outside of the specific legal powers of the Council;

·                The Policy Team had taken note of discussion and would circulate a list of proposed topics for the coming year.