Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Corporate Director of Neighbourhoods and Climate Change which provided an update on the activity of the Environment and Climate Change Partnership (ECCP) over the year (for copy of report and presentation see file of minutes).

Jim Cokill, Director of Durham Wildlife Trust and Chair of the County Durham ECCP was welcomed to the meeting to deliver the presentation. The Chair of the ECCP noted the ECCP’s vision for a ‘better County Durham: sustainable communities, resilient to climate change, richer in nature’. The Executive Board of the ECCP had developed three workstreams to support the vision, namely, Climate Emergency, Ecological Emergency and Place, Health and Community.  During the year, the work of the Climate Emergency workstream had focused on the delivery of the countywide Climate Emergency Response Plan (CERP3) through projects including supporting the Food for the Planet project; the Horden Minewater project; developing action on scope 3 emissions and increasing the number of EV charge points in Durham.  Over the forthcoming year, the Climate Emergency workstream will act as a governance group for CERP3 and it will continue to develop the countywide elements of CERP3. 

The Committee heard how work in respect of the Local Nature Recovery Strategy included the production of Durham’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS), with the aim being, to meet the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) deadline of March 2025. In the year ahead, work will focus on establishing sub-groups; providing workshops for landowners and farmers; the introduction of the Statement of Priorities and consideration of the responses from the recent consultation.

The Chair of the ECCP commented that the Place, Health and Community workstream played a supporting role, aiming to add value to the other workstreams by influencing people’s behaviour in respect of environmental priorities. Over the year, there had been engagement with public health on community based projects, for example, on the healthy weight initiative and the Local Heritage Listings Update. 

Members heard that the ECCP Executive Board held an emergency summit in March 2024 which brought together environmental and community leaders across County Durham to collaborate on the agenda for the coming year. Three key areas were identified; to improve communication with an emphasis on counteracting misinformation; to increase funding to invest in solutions and to ensure that environmental issues will be a significant part of the North East Mayoral Combined Authority’s agenda.

The Chair, Councillor Coult, spoke of how honoured and inspired she had been to be part of the judging panel for the recent Environment Awards, organised by the Environment and Climate Change Partnership. 

The Chair explained that the awards recognise the work towards caring for the natural environment through innovation, design and volunteering across the county's communities and businesses.  Steve Bhowmick, Environment and Design Manager, presented some highlights from the awards ceremony and commented on how the awards aim to be inclusive, in order to harness greater community action and promote positive behaviours towards the environment. He encouraged members to promote the awards through their networks and he added that communications will be sent to all members regarding next year’s event, in due course.

The Chair thanked the officers for the presentation and invited comments and questions from the Committee.

Councillor Crute welcomed the initiatives of the ECCP, however he stated his concerns regarding the availability of future funding for delivery of ECCP actions and he asked how the work of the ECCP will link with the North East Mayoral Combined Authority’s environment agenda. The Chair of the ECCP highlighted that Durham County Council was part of the North East Mayoral Combined Authority’s Environment, Coastal and Rural workstream which has a coordination role, in addition to providing a voice in respect of central government funding. Principal Ecologist, Stuart Priestley, commented that local authorities who are engaged in projects which have a high value in terms of biodiversity net gain, will be best placed to succeed in future funding opportunities. The Principal Ecologist referred to a recent meeting with Defra (the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs) which focused on funding for delivery of the LNRS and he clarified that Durham County Council was working towards the government’s March 2025 deadline for the production of the LNRS. He continued that there is a need to look at funding post development and commented on opportunities such as biodiversity net gain.

Councillor Stubbs asked if Durham were to achieve the March 2025 deadline for the development of the LNRS, whether that would place Durham in a better position than those authorities who failed to meet the deadline. The Principal Ecologist responded it was unlikely to provide Durham with an advantage, as, if the decision were taken to make funding for the delivery of the LNRS available, the funding would be available throughout the country.

Councillor Sutton-Lloyd referred to the key areas identified at the ECCP’s emergency summit, one of which was to improve communication and counteract misinformation and he asked what misinformation was being communicated. The Chair of the ECCP responded that there had been recent organised social media campaigns denying climate change, therefore action was being taken to prevent the public from being misled.

Councillor Elmer referred to a recent report of the British Ecological Society which examined the success of biodiversity offsetting and found that it required a regulatory environment and he drew parallels with carbon offsetting, which, in his view, had not resulted in a substantial net loss in carbon emissions.  Councillor Elmer stated his concern was that without a robust regulatory environment in place, the same situation would happen in respect of biodiversity net gain. The Principal Ecologist highlighted that safeguards were in place through the Environment Act 2003 which required that significant increases from on-site pre-development biodiversity value were required to be secured for at least 30 years.  In addition, step-in rights were built into contracts.

Councillor Adam referred to the Environment Awards and he asked whether initiatives judged as outstanding were rolled-out to the wider community. The Environment and Design manager confirmed that the aim was to encourage ideas to be replicated throughout the county. Councillor Adam then asked how success was measured. The Environment and Design Manager commented that, at present limited resources meant that it was not possible to review all entries, however, previous winners had been followed-up and had been encouraged to re-enter when their activities had expanded, for example Recyke y’bike.

Councillor Lines welcomed the new categories in the Environment Awards which include the active outdoors and he spoke of the value of encouraging people to modify their existing hobbies to incorporate activities to benefit the natural environment, such as the ‘Sedgefield Ploggers’. Councillor Lines explained the Sedgefield Ploggers running group participants pick up litter whilst jogging. The running was carried out a sociable pace, to encourage people of all abilities and ages to join in. The Environment and Design Manager agreed that initiatives which combined exercise, a sense of community and care for the natural environment can greatly improve mental health and wellbeing.

Councillor Kay commented that he had hoped to gain funding to start a similar organisation to Recyke Y Bike in the south of the county but this had not come to fruition and he added that he would welcome support to develop this in the future, should the opportunity become available.

Resolved:

Members of the Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

a)    Noted and commented upon the information provided within the report and presentation.

b)    Included a further update from the Environment and Climate Change Partnership in its work programme for 2024/25.