Agenda item

To consider a report by the Interim Climate Change Programme Manager (copy attached) for adoption by Council.

 

The Lead Member for Environment and Transport, Councillor Barry Mellor, introduced the Denbighshire County Council’s Climate and Nature Strategy (2021/22 – 2029/30) – Year 3 review and refresh report (previously circulated).

 

Councillor Mellor thanked Cabinet for unanimous support all the way through the hard work of the review of the Strategy which needed to be carried out every three years.  A cross party group had been formed and Councillor Mellor thanked all members of the group for their contribution.  He particularly thanked the two members of the Green Party for their input.

 

Councillor Mellor also took the opportunity to welcome Jane Hodgson, the Climate Change Manager back to Denbighshire County Council.

 

The Council had declared a Climate Change and Ecological Emergency in July 2019 which committed the Council to become Net Carbon Zero by 2030 at the latest and to improve biodiversity across the County. 

 

The Climate and Ecological Change Strategy (2021/22 – 2029/30) had been adopted in February 2021.  As well as becoming Net Carbon Zero by 2030, the Council were to reduce the carbon emissions from the goods and services purchased (the Council’s supply chain) by 35% by 2030.   The Council also changed the Constitution in October 2020 so all decisions made by the Council must have regard to tackling Climate and Ecological Change.

 

The Strategy was to be reviewed and refreshed every three years and the first official review and refresh of the Strategy was 2023/24 and a thorough process had been completed as part of that review and refresh.

 

The Corporate Director – Governance and Business and Climate and Ecological Change Programme Senior Responsible Owner – Gary Williams, also thanked the Interim Climate Change Programme Manager, Liz Wilcox-Jones, all officers, and the Cross Party Group for the work carried out on the review and refresh.

 

The activity undertaken as part of the Review and Refresh was contained within Appendix 3 of the report.

 

Revised and updated areas of the Strategy of particular note included –

·       Change of name to Denbighshire County Council’s Climate and Nature Strategy (2021/22 – 2029/30) from Denbighshire County Council’s Climate and Ecological Change Strategy (2021/22 – 2029/30).

·       Addition of three new sections –

Ø  Reducing emissions and increasing absorption across Denbighshire

Ø  Increasing our resilience across the county, and

Ø  Nature Recovery across Denbighshire.

·       There was also the introduction of a technical appendix which included further information on areas where achieving the required target was experiencing challenge.

 

An online public consultation had taken place from 25 March until 20 May.  336 responses had been received with 88% of the residents who had responded, agreeing that the Council should adopt the revised Strategy document.

 

To allow easier understanding of the substantial document, an Executive summary of the Strategy had been produced together with a Youth version.

 

Councillor Martyn Hogg stated that the process and level of engagement had been good.  Achieving net zero would be difficult and everyone would need to do more.

 

Members stated that to be carbon net zero by 2030 would be a challenge and unaffordable.  The question was raised as to why the date was not 2050 which could be achievable and was the date the Welsh Government were working towards.  The Head of Corporate Support Service: Performance, Digital & Assets confirmed the WG ambition had not changed and it had always been net zero Wales by 2050 but there had been targets for the public sector of 2040.  It was confirmed that the ambition of 2030 would remain to ensure as much as possible could be attained, restraints permitting. 

 

The Audit Wales report had stated that the public sector needed to be bold and to make robust decisions and the Strategy report had been an honest and bold report of the way forward.

 

During discussions the financial aspect of achieving net zero had been raised.  £48 million would be the cost of achieving net zero over the next six years.  As DCC and other Local Authorities were facing a financial crisis, it was queried how this was to be funded.

 

The Head of Corporate Support Service: Performance, Digital and Assets responded that the financial appraisal had been based on the carbon saved in the first three years, how much that had cost and then extrapolated for what was needed going forward.  It did not include the statutory requirements around decarbonising DCC’s housing stock.  The work to be carried out on housing stock would be financed from the Housing Revenue Account.

 

It was important to note that the funding for the schemes which needed to be delivered were not expected to come from DCC’s budget alone.  The projects completed so far, under the strategy, had been funded 36% from external grant funding – a percentage level which the Council sought to increase in future years.  Within the medium term financial plan there was a provision of £250k to fund prudential borrowing.

 

It was confirmed there were a number of funding streams not labelled as climate grants but which could be included and applied for within this agenda.

 

Farmland owned by DCC but rented out to tenant farmers would not be included within the statistics.

 

It had been stated in the report that there would be an increase in the forestry and woodland the council operated.  Cost figures were requested and officers confirmed they would circulate the figures following the meeting.

 

The issue of cutting but not clearing the grass cuttings had been raised.  It was confirmed that contractors were currently cutting but they would clear the cuttings as soon as possible.  Work was taking place with Comms to communicate that message and the contractors would be doing more cuts at the end of the season.

 

RESOLVED that –

(i)             Council adopted the Denbighshire County Council’s Climate and Nature Strategy 2021/22 – 2029/30) (Appendix 1);

(ii)            Council confirmed it had read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessment as part of its consideration (Appendix 2)