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Agenda item

INFORMATION NOTE - COUNCIL ACTIVITY UPDATE AND ACTION TRACKER

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE DIRECTOR – ENVIRONMENT

 

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 & Strategy Team presented the Information Note entitled ‘Council Activity Update and Action Tracker’ including a verbal update on the work of the Council to progress their biodiversity aims.

Minutes:

Audio recording – 06 minutes 42 seconds

 

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

 

·             There was a new action tracker for the Civic Year and all actions from the previous year had been completed.

·             Any new actions identified by the Cabinet Panel would be put into the action tracker after agreement from the Chair.

·             The Council had been working with the Hertfordshire Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership (HCCSP) to bring sustainability forward through Local Government Reorganisation.

·             Participation in the ‘Your Tree Our Future’ scheme had resulted in nearly 15K trees being planted across the district last year, and the link to claim trees this year had been included in the Information Note.

·             The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme was progressing with Royston Leisure Centre already complete and Hitchin Swimming & Fitness Centre and North Herts Leisure Centre scheduled for completion in October.

·             Design work for phase two of the project at Hitchin Town Hall and North Herts Museum was also progressing, and the planning application for decarbonisation of the North Herts Leisure Centre learner pool had been submitted.

·             A report detailing Council greenhouse gas emissions had been published on the Council website and linked in the information note.

·             The Climate Hive had over 1200 subscribers and continued to update residents with the latest surveys, consultations, events and activities.

·             A volunteer meadow monitoring programme to assess the health of wildflower meadows in the district had been launched.

·             The Council had partnered with Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation to host a community energy event at Broadway Cinema, and a recording of the film shown at this would be made available on the Council YouTube channel in due course.

·             Monthly sustainability briefings would remain on the Council website.

·             Sustainability Strategy actions continued to be monitored by the Political Liaison Board and the Council Climate and Sustainability Officer Group.

·             Electric waste collection vehicles were in full operation, and these would further contribute to the 400 tonnes of carbon emissions already saved by using Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil as fuel.

·             93% of staff had completed the sustainability e-learning module, and frequent internal communications continued to raise staff awareness on environmental issues.

·             The Warm Homes Local Grants Scheme had delivered installations to 12 homes in its first year, and installations for up to 30 homes were planned for year 2.

·             The launch of the staff salary sacrifice scheme for electric vehicles would help to support the action in the Sustainability Strategy to reduce staff commuting emissions.

·             A Green Procurement Checklist had been introduced for high value procurement to help officers consider how to embed sustainability into this.

·             An increased use of electric equipment had been reported by the Greenspace Team.

 

Officers from the Policy & Strategy Team then provided a verbal update on the supplementary document to the Information Note and highlighted the following:

 

·             The Council was part of the Upper Bedford Ouse Catchment Partnership, which brought together key stakeholders to manage its ecosystem.

·             The Council was also a partner in the ResilienTogether project which aimed to improve water quality and reduce flood risk from the Pix Brook.

·             Natural flood measures had recently been installed along the Pix Brook in Norton Common and Pix Meadow.

·             The Senior Ecologist was working with the Planning Team to ensure the Local Plan considered the Chilterns Chalk Stream Planning Guidance.

·             Details of further projects and initiatives were contained within the supplementary document.

 

The following Members and members of the public asked questions:

 

·             Councillor Paul Ward

·             Councillor Bryony May

·             Sarah Perry

·             Councillor Claire Strong

 

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

 

·             The Greenspace Team were responsible for bee corridors and they would be contacted about the possibility of extending those to more areas.

·             Outreach for the volunteer meadow monitoring programme was done through the Climate Hive and internal communications at both the Council and Hertfordshire County Council.

·             18 volunteers had signed up to the meadow monitoring programme so far.

·             The Council would contact the Upper Lee Catchment Partnership about providing a representative in due course.

 

The following Members and member of the public participated in the discussion:

 

·        Councillor Joe Graziano

·        Councillor Claire Strong

·        Councillor Val Bryant

·        Sarah Perry

 

The following points were made as part of the discussion:

 

·             Various parish councils in North Herts had adopted the Mimram Valley Local Landscape Designation to enhance riverbanks and protect them from development. An update on its possible implementation into the Local Plan would be provided in October.

·             Volunteers monitored the water quality of both the River Oughton and River Hiz in Ickleford, and monitoring should be carried out more widely on all chalk streams in the district.

·             A list of all the chalk streams should be drawn up by the Council, and they should be help volunteer organisations having a positive impact on these as much as possible.

·             Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust had worked with the Council to compose restoration designs for the Rivers Purwell, Oughton, and Hiz, and some of those would be implemented in the autumn along the River Hiz in Ickleford.

Supporting documents: