Agenda item

The Committee considered the report of the Corporate Director of Resources that provided members with an updated work programme for 2021/22 and set out a proposal to address the recommendation included in the report to Cabinet on 13 October 2021 concerning consideration of whether an Ecological Emergency needs to be declared (for copy see file of minutes).

The Overview and Scrutiny Officer highlighted that the Chair and Vice-chair were keen, should the committee agree to undertake this piece of work to give all members of the committee the opportunity to participate should they wish to do so and therefore it is proposed to hold two special meetings to examine the data available and to make resulting recommendations to Cabinet. She referred members to the updated work programme and the proposed actions to address the request from Cabinet.

Councillor Adam was concerned with the request from Cabinet to add additional work to the scrutiny work programme without recognising the Committees original work programme and the additional pressures for officers. He continued by questioning the timescale imposed by Cabinet and commented that whilst scrutiny has undertaken work suggested by Cabinet previously a timescale has never been imposed and that it is for the committee to determine any timescale in relation to focused pieces of work.  He acknowledged that the topic is a serious issue that needs to be tackled and agreed with the recommendations to include in the work programme.  However, in addition to the above concerns he commented that the committee’s work programme already included an item providing an update on the work of the Ecological Emergency Workstream of the County Durham Environment and Climate Change Partnership and asked for clarification that there would be no duplication of information and suggested that a representative from the Partnership be invited to the special meetings for them to contribute and avoid any duplication of work.

The Chair advised that all parties were keen to undertake the piece of work but would inform the Cabinet Portfolio Holder of the need for flexibility in relation to timescales  and that it may not be completed within the six month timescale.  This would ensure that officers have manageable timescales to be able to provide local and national data and give members the opportunity to consider and examine the information available to consider as to whether a declaration should be made.   The Chair continued that she had spoken to the Head of Environment about potential duplication and was assured there was none but would extend an invite to the partnership if that was what the committee wished.

Resolved:

(i)     That two special meetings be added to the work programme to consider information in relation to the decline in natural habitats in County Durham;

(ii)    That following receipt of information, a report be prepared for Cabinet setting out findings and recommendations.