Agenda item

To receive an update on the work of the Hertfordshire Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership.

The Policy Officer gave a presentation on Climate Leadership and Behaviour Change policies in the NHDC Climate Change Strategy and the Hertfordshire Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership.

The Chair thanked the Policy Officer for their presentation.

Audio Recording – 13 minutes.

The Policy Officer gave a presentation on Climate Leadership and Behaviour Change policies in the NHDC Climate Change Strategy and the Hertfordshire Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership.

Points raised included:

·                There were two mains ways the Council influenced action on climate change; the Climate Change Strategy (CCS) and membership of the Hertfordshire Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership (HCCSP);

·                The CCS recognised that the Council’s own estate was small and that leadership was key to achieving the Net 0 target in the District;

·                The  CCS had three strategic priorities: reducing carbon emissions from NHDC’s own estate, enabling carbon savings, and inspiring community action.

·                Measures around enabling carbon savings included implementation of better cycle networks and masterplans on active travel and walkable neighbourhoods, and improving provision for electric vehicle charging;

·                Measures on inspiring the community to take action included providing tools to enable residents to assess their carbon emissions, encouraging positive changes by highlighting monthly eco actions, and the food waste awareness programme with the Waste Awareness Officer and the Reducing Waste Together group.

·                The HCCSP was made up of officers and representatives from 10 Districts in Hertfordshire, Herts County Council and Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership;

·                The HCCSP enabled stakeholders to take action on issues where it was difficult for individual authorities to make an impact;

·                The HCCSP identified 4 key priorities of water, biodiversity, carbon reduction and transport and formed subgroups on these topics with each being led by a member authority;

·                NHDC led the Biodiversity working group;

·                Each working group produced a strategic priority action plan on their topic which covered actions within the remit of local authorities to deliver, with action plans going through a process of consultation and stakeholder engagement before presentation and adoption;

·                The governance and policy generation structure of the HCCSP was explained;

·                Strategic Action Plans (SAP) focussed on actions that local authorities could deliver themselves or via influence with community groups, business and the voluntary sector;

·                The Biodiversity SAP included: developing communications on No Mow Campaigns, encouraging wildlife friendly gardens, encouraging District allotments to grow peat- and pesticide-free, and identifying whether actions were best delivered in-house or by engaging external organisations, creating a biodiversity scoring system and baseline units for the District, and auditing local authority green spaces to identify areas where biodiversity could be enhanced;

·                The Transport SAP included: working with employers to deliver low carbon travel plans, highlighting the health and environmental benefits of active travel and developing information for the public on the risks of poor air quality;

·                The Carbon Reduction SAP included: launching a county wide campaign to encourage reduction of carbon emissions in everyday life with a carbon reduction pledge;

·                The Water SAP included: delivering education on saving water and the importance of chalk streams and fixing leaks.

·                The draft Biodiversity SAP was presented to the HCCSP in March and approved, and stakeholder engagement was run through April and May; the policy team was now making any relevant changes to the action plan and identifying appropriate monitors for each point before presenting it to the HCCSP for final adoption.

The Chair advised that different Councils in the HCCSP were at different stages on their environmental plans and while the HCCSP allowed group collaboration there were areas where it was valuable for the District Council to proceed by itself.

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

·                Councillor Michael Muir

·                Councillor Gerald Morris

·                Councillor Keith Hoskins

·                John Webb

·                Sue Lines

In response to questions the Policy Officer advised that the NHDC policy team were the main officer participants from the Council on the HCCSP.

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

·                The HCCSP was established when Hertfordshire County Council declared a climate emergency and the 4 subgroups were chosen by HCC based on their strategic climate priorities;

·                Work on the parking strategy including electric vehicle charging was undertaken before the pandemic by the Transport Policy Officer.

In response to questions the Chair advised:

·                Due to the crosscutting nature of ecological issues there were a range of parts of the NHDC organisation that needed to be engaged in actions;

·                Work had been undertaken on assessing electric vehicle charging availability in public spaces but not in private areas;

·                Work needed to be undertaken to assess how EV charging could be made available to a larger section of the population;

·                In simplistic terms mowing in towns was undertaken by NHDC sometimes on its own behalf and sometimes for other owners; HCC mowed outside of urban areas;

·                Conservation cutting by HCC was only undertaken in select areas;

·                This year due to environmental conditions and other factors the overall length of grass had disrupted mowing schedules.

The Chair thanked the Policy Officer for their presentation.