Agenda item

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE POLICY & STRATEGY TEAM LEADER

This note highlights the topic for this Cabinet Panel meeting as well as a Council Activity Update, and Action Tracker Review (at Appendix A) for the Cabinet Panel on the Environment.

Officers from the Policy and Strategy Team provided a verbal update on the Information Note entitled ‘Council Activity Update and Action Tracker’.

Audio recording – 7 minutes 25 seconds

Officers from the Policy and Strategy Team presented the Information Note entitled ‘Council Activity Update and Action Tracker’ and advised that:

·             A summary of Council activities relating to sustainability, including key progress made on Sustainability Strategy Actions had been provided within the Information Note.

·             Progress had been made on the first phase of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme relating to leisure facilities, and preparations for the second phase relating to other Council assets had begun.

·             The Sustainable Communities Grant had awarded over £62,000 to six local organisations across the district to support sustainability projects since its launch last year.

·             Over 650 residents had registered interest for the third round of Solar Together and 113 offers for Solar PV had been accepted so far, which included one business for battery storage.

·             An estimated 63,295KG of CO₂ would be saved per year from the 72 completed solar installations so far.

·             The Climate Hive, which now had over 920 subscribers, continued to keep subscribers up to date on events, general Council activities and more relating to biodiversity and sustainability.

·             The Local Recovery Nature Strategy would be launched at the Hertfordshire Nature Summit on 27 January.

·             Actions for the Sustainability Strategy 2025-2030 were being monitored quarterly by the Climate and Sustainability Officer Group, in addition to the Political Liaison Board.

·             Hydrogenated vegetable oil had been implemented for use in all refuse vehicles and hire vehicles until the arrival of electric refuse vehicles.

·             New EV charge points had gone live in car parks across the district, and further connections to the grid would be made either this month or next.

·             The Warm Homes Local Grant continued its progression, and the scheme had been publicised in the Winter Outlook magazine to reach more eligible residents.

·             Further areas were in consideration for reduced mowing regimes to improve biodiversity.

·             A mandatory sustainability e-learning module for Council staff had been launched in December to address one of the Sustainability Strategy Actions. The training had been tailored to Officers at the Council to educate them on how climate change would affect the district and its biodiversity, and the adaptations that would be needed.

·             Good feedback had already been received on the e-learning module.

·             A free Council app had been launched in November which provided guidance on multiple subjects, with a focus on waste and recycling as part of a wider effort to improve recycling rates. The app also provided bin day notification reminders to residents and had 14,500 downloads so far.

·             A project to monitor the impacts of extreme weather events on Council services had been launched with key teams across the Council to ensure resilience to climate change and improve the ability to mitigate future impacts to services.

·             In response to a request from Decarbonise Letchworth, Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation were scheduled to give a presentation on retrofitting at the last Panel meeting in September, however this meeting was cancelled, and they had given this presentation to Letchworth Community Forum instead which Members of Decarbonise Letchworth were present for.

·             A new District Design Code created by the Planning Team would be launched in phases, with the first phase due to be discussed at Cabinet in February before going out to consultation.

·             The theme of the next Cabinet Panel meeting on 11 February would be ‘Sustainability in Schools’ with speakers from local schools scheduled to present on eco-initiatives, student involvement and green construction.

The Chair highlighted that there had been a huge increase in downloads of the Council app since Christmas, as downloads were below 9,000 before then.  

The following Members and members of the public asked questions:

·             Julia Sonander

·             Christine Watson

·             Councillor Amy Allen

In response to questions, Officers from the Policy & Strategy Team advised that:

·             The upcoming District Design Code document was expected to provide guidance on design issues, including solar. The first phase would look at new developments, and further phases would focus on householder applications.

·             Much of the information within the sustainability e-learning module was publicly available, such as within the Sustainability Strategy, which was available on the Council website. Sections on local biodiversity and adaption within the e-module could also be found on the Climate Hive.