Agenda item

This note highlights proposed items scheduled in the work programme for the Cabinet Panel on the Environment for 2023/24, agreed at the initial meeting. The Work Programme at Appendix A highlights the agreed topics.

The Policy and Strategy Team Leader provided a verbal update on the Work Programme for the 2023/24 civic year.

Audio recording – 4 minutes 04 seconds

The Policy and Strategy Team Leader presented the Information Note entitled ‘Work Programme for 2023/24’ and the appendices, and advised that:

·       This meeting would focus on waste, as part of the programme agreed at the first meeting of the Civic Year.

·       The Herts Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership (HCCSP) had its annual event on 7 November, with North Herts leading on the biodiversity programme.

·       Feedback was provided at this event, and this was being reviewed and incorporated into current work.

·       The event had been featured on Channel 4 News.

·       The second round of the Solar Together scheme had now closed, with 872 people registered. At Monday 4 December, 856 people had applied and 175 had accepted an offer, with the majority of these adding battery storage.

·       41 people had applied for battery storage alone, with 8 people accepting the offer.

·       The most common reasons for declining the offer were cost and personal situation of the applicants.

·       The average cost of this round was 34% cheaper than market price, which was an improvement on the previous scheme.

·       Through the HCCSP, the team were drafting a climate related risk log to identify climate risks to services and the district as a whole. This would be brought together along with equivalent logs from all Councils in Hertfordshire, to identify mitigative actions that could be taken across the county.

·       A second round of Home Upgrade Grants had been made available to retrofit properties for those living in fuel poverty.

·       There had been three heat decarbonisation plans drafted and submitted as part of the Public Sector Decarbonisation scheme, which were for leisure sites, and a decision was due on these by mid-March 2024.

·       The team had continued to monitor the Climate Hive engagement page and had attended events across the district, including the Baldock Ecofest.

·       The Community Investment Fund was available to support community groups to build capacity, and climate projects could be included in this.

·       On the Action Tracker, completed actions had been removed, a couple of actions alongside other teams were on hold until the Waste Awareness Officer had been appointed and were looking into work around car idling with the HCCSP.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Gerald Morris

·       Councillor Louise Peace

In response to questions, the Policy and Strategy Team Leader advised that:

·       There had been little change to actions on the Action Tracker since the last meeting, other than the removal of completed actions. Those remaining may take longer to address.

·       A clearer idea of when an action had been completed was needed.

·       Action on enforcement to prevent idling was being delayed due to resourcing issues.

·       There was no further update on the Council action to reduce single use plastic or other items.

In response to questions, Councillor Steve Jarvis advised that:

·       The next meeting of the Cabinet Panel was to review achievements from the Civic Year and the review of the Action Tracker could form part of this.

·       NHDC could work with the County Council to promote action on idling around schools.

Diane Ketcher advised that she had been in discussions with the Letchworth BID regarding the introduction of a reusable cup scheme across cafes in Letchworth, which would reduce single use waste and offer a discount on products when using the reusable cup.