Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Corporate Director of Neighbourhoods and Climate Change which provided background information in advance of a presentation from Jim Cokill, Director of Durham Wildlife Trust and Chair of the County Durham Environment and Climate Change Partnership (ECCP) and Rich Hurst, Sustainability Education Development Advisor and member of the Food Durham Partnership (for copy of report and presentation see file of minutes).

The Chair of the ECCP introduced the presentation, outlining activity of the partnership over the past year and the plans for the future.  Members heard how the partnership had promoted the climate emergency through engagement events relating to the three workstreams of Climate Emergency, Ecological Emergency and Place, Health and Community. 

Referring to the Climate Emergency workstream, the Committee noted that the partnership had hosted the Durham COP 21 event with business sector representatives at which a new climate change agreement was signed.

The Chair of the ECCP informed the Committee that the Environment and Climate Change Partnership had developed an Environment and Climate Change Plan for 2022-25 which included a new priority to increase collaboration with the Health and Wellbeing Board.  

The Committee noted that a second iteration of the Climate Change Strategy and Climate Emergency Response Plan has been produced which is scheduled to be considered by the Committee in the near future.  Members heard that a number of projects are being supported through the workstream, including a loan scheme for businesses to trial an EV van before committing to purchase. 

Referring to the Ecological Emergency workstream, the Chair of the ECCP spoke of the development of the Local Nature Recovery Strategy for County Durham to drive a co-ordinated approach and ensure that measures introduced to address climate change do not inadvertently adversely impact ecology.

Referring to the workstream for Place, Health and Communities, Rich Hurst, Sustainability Education Development Advisor updated the Committee on the ‘Tree per Child’ project which will work with approximately 70 schools across Area Action Partnerships on a three-year tree planting programme. The officer outlined the progress of the county’s community food partnership ‘Food Durham’ which recently achieved bronze Food Places status.  Information was also provided on the partnership’s involvement in the development of a Dynamic Procurement Hub within the region, aimed at promoting opportunities for smaller, local suppliers to bid for higher value contracts. 

Councillor Townsend referred to the good work being carried out in Shildon and Dene Valley and asked officers if there were more opportunities to encourage the community and local organisations to participate in allotments. The Sustainability Education Development Advisor replied that allotments are promoted widely through Food Durham’s Growing Sub-Group and it is hoped that the new co-ordinator, who will be appointed in the near future, will drive this work forward.

Councillor Quinn expressed concern at the number of EV charging points placed in car parks located out of town centres which are not easily accessible and he asked if more could be done to work with parish and town councils in order to increase the number of locations. The Sustainability Education Development Advisor responded that he understood that publicly owned car parks must be used for the purposes of the programmes funded to deliver charging points and further information could be obtained from the Low Carbon Team. Councillor Stubbs referred to the increasing demand for EV vehicles and he expressed the view that he would like to see rapid charging points installed as part of the plan to install 100 new charging points throughout the county. The Chair informed the Committee that further information in relation to this issue would be available from officers in attendance at the joint meeting being held on Monday 16 May.

Councillor Elmer commented that he was reassured by the good work being undertaken and he added that emergencies such as the climate and ecological emergencies are often taken for granted until they have a direct impact and that may be too late.  He expressed the opinion that partnerships have an important role to promote engagement within communities.

He highlighted that elected members and parish and town councillors are perfectly placed to identify influential people and organisations within their wards and by harnessing that, a powerful network could be created.  The Chair of the ECCP agreed that engagement with communities is vital and engagement should showcase success stories in order to encourage participation.

In response to a question from Councillor Adam as to when the Climate Emergency Response Plan will be available, the Committee was informed the report is scheduled to be considered at the June meeting of Cabinet.  Councillor Adam then referred to future projects and workstreams and commented on the recent focus on the cost of living emergency.  He observed that work to reduce the amount of energy used in homes includes loans towards the cost of energy efficiency schemes and questioned how practical this will be at a time when a great number of people are struggling financially.  Highlighting the future project aimed at the local area energy plan for the transition to a net carbon energy system, Councillor Adam questioned how measures such as the retrofit of wall cavity insulation, solar panels and air source heat pumps will be planned alongside the cost of living crisis.  The Chair of the ECCP replied that measures are accounting for the cost of living crisis and work is being carried out to improve efficiency with regard to local energy plans and providers.  He acknowledged that some measures are bound by national planning guidelines and therefore the council has a role to play to influence those policies.  He commented that good partnership working will be key to assist the County Council to support individuals to access loan schemes. 

The Sustainability Education Development Advisorreferred to work with schools to install solar panels and he informed the Committee that an air source heat pump had been installed at Woodland Primary School. He added that these measures help to raise awareness within communities.

Mr Bolton asked if the partnership carried out work with parish and town councils which have an allotment function.  Mr Bolton also referred to the partnership’s involvement with the South of Seaham Garden Village and the Horden Minewater Treatment Scheme and asked if it was possible for the Committee to receive further information on these projects. The Sustainability Education Development Advisor informed the Committee that Durham University has a minewater research unit and part of the Durham 25 bid includes the investigation of minewater opportunities from an energy and agricultural aspect. 

Councillor Adam referred to previous work carried out by the Committee to review the allotment policy and asked if an update was available on the implementation of the recommendations.  The Chair informed the Committee that the Allotment Policy is included in the work programme for 2022-23 and an update will be requested regarding the South of Seaham Garden Village.

Councillor Charlton expressed concern at a number of beauty spots and small watercourses which require attention and she queried whether there were sufficient resources in place to maintain standards. The Chair of the ECCP informed the Committee that further government resources are being made available to increase resources in this area and the Local Nature Recovery Strategy outlines areas for improvement.  In addition, biodiversity net gain in respect of planning requires developers to provide investment to increase biodiversity when developments take place. The Chair commented that Councillor Charlton’s concerns would be passed to the Head of Environment.

Councillor Nicholls raised issues regarding unreliable public transport and the ageing bus fleet.  He pointed out that his ward, like many in the county, comprises of terraced houses which are impractical for EV charging. He questioned whether data was available on the number of elected members and staff who regularly use public transport and whether more could be done to improve public transport standards.  He acknowledged the situation was difficult as investment will be required to improve services, however, this will only be achieved if more people use public transport which they are unlikely to do if the service remains unreliable.  The Chair of the ECCP confirmed that the climate emergency workstream includes representatives from transport companies and recognises that there is work to be done to change behaviour and improve investment in public transport.  Councillor Nicholls responded that it would be helpful to know which bus companies are part of the partnership as some companies perform better than others.  It was agreed that this information would be provided to Councillor Nicholls.  The Chair informed the Committee that this issue would be explored further at the joint scrutiny meeting on 16 May.

Resolved:

That a further update from the Environment and Climate Change Partnership be included in the work programme for 2023/24.