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Agenda item

INFORMATION NOTE: COUNCIL ACTIVITY UPDATE AND ACTION TRACKER

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE POLICY & STRATEGY TEAM LEADER

 

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

 

Decision:

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

Minutes:

Audio recording – 1 hour 22 minutes 11 seconds

 

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

 

·             There were no new actions on the Action Tracker, but this would be reviewed ahead of the next meeting in the new Civic Year.

·             The third round of Solar Together had closed and installations for this would be ending soon. Of the 650 interests registered, 73 solar installations and 69 battery installations had been made.

·             Hertfordshire County Council Flood Pilot Scheme to support communities become more resilient and prepared for future flooding remained open to applications.

·             The Council were working with the Hertfordshire Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership to support the delivery of a Retrofit Strategy.

·             15,000 trees had been claimed across the district this year from the ‘Your Tree Our Future’ initiative.

·             The Local Nature Recovery Strategy for Hertfordshire was available to view on the Hertfordshire County Council website and residents could help by planting bee-friendly wildflowers, avoiding astroturf and building fence holes for hedgehogs.

·             Two areas in Hitchin were no longer Air Quality Management Areas as air quality had remained below national limits for 5 years. However, air quality would continue to be monitored in these areas.

·             Decarbonisation works at Royston Leisure Centre had been complete with works at other leisure centres in the district due to be finished by the summer.

·             Design work for the decarbonisation of Hitchin Town Hall, North Herts Museum and North Herts Leisure Centre learner pool was progressing.

·             A report on greenhouse gas emissions for the Council and the wider district had been published on the Council website.

·             John O’Connor would be holding a community bee event in Baldock on 4 April 2026 to expand the Bee Corridor in North Herts and more information about this could be found on the Council website and Climate Hive.

·             The Council were partnering with Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation to host a community energy event at Broadway Cinema in Letchworth in June and tickets were available for this on the Broadway Cinema website.

·             Work on delivering the actions within the Sustainability Strategy had continued.

·             Use of hydrogenated vegetable oil in refuse vehicles had saved 368KG of carbon from May to November 2025 and new electric refuse vehicles would enable further reductions.

·             81% of staff had completed the Sustainability e-learning module and 11 staff were now certified as Carbon Literate.

·             12 installations had been made through the Warm Homes Local Grant scheme in the first year, and a further 10 properties had been surveyed for the second year.

·             The Council app now had over 17,000 downloads.

·             A process had been put in place to record and monitor the impact of extreme weather events on Council services.

·             More wild areas had been established across the district, including a wild meadow at Wilbury Hills Cemetery.

·             A salary sacrifice scheme had been launched for staff to help them invest in lower emission vehicles and support a reduction in commuting emissions.

 

The Chair thanked Members, officers and speakers for their participation at the Cabinet Panel during the Civic Year.

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