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Agenda item

Climate Change Response and Net-Zero Carbon by 2030

Invitees

 

Councillor Huw David – Leader

Councillor Stuart Baldwin - Cabinet Member Communities

Councillor Richard Young – Chair - Bridgend 2030 Decarbonisation Programme Board

Janine Nightingale - Corporate Director, Communities

Zak Shell - Head of Operations - Community Services

Ieuan Sherwood - Group Manager - Economy, Natural Resources & Sustainability

Gareth Clubb - Climate Change Response Manager

 

Sam Wright-Green - Associate - Carbon Trust

David Powlesland - Senior Manager - Carbon Trust

Minutes:

The Corporate Director – Communities began by providing Members with some narrative in respect of the 2030 Agenda before introducing colleagues from the Carbon Trust to deliver a presentation. Following the presentation the Corporate Director explained that she was aware that the Committee had sent some questions regarding the report but that it had been too late for colleagues from the Carbon Trust to incorporate into their presentation but these would be picked up. The Group Manager - Planning and Development Services updated Members on the Authority’s Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle work at the depots.

 

Following the presentation of the report, Members of the Committee asked the following:

 

A Member was concerned that discussions had centred on the Local Authority and focussed on how the public could play their part again, but what part would industry play as huge producers of carbon.  He asked for the views of the Carbon Trust on the long term view of big industry and the military emitting carbon.

 

The Senior Manager - Carbon Trust explained that the Welsh Government (WG) had set the target of 2030 on the public sector because they would like the sector to lead by example. Public Sector emissions in Wales were only around between 1% and 3%, so what the Member had said about the public and industry and influencing those and putting targets on them, rang true because 90% of emissions were attributed to that.  However, the Council was publicly funded and there was a responsibility to try and lead by example including the influence on the Council’s supply chain which would drive industry, as procurement was around 75% of the Council’s emissions and they would be the ones that would have to invest, taking up the challenge to demonstrate to the Council this was being addressed.

Heavy industry had previously fallen under the EU energy efficiency directive and had to spend quite a lot of money undertaking energy saving audits.  Larger public sector bodies had been in the previous CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, but the UK Government had decided not to include public sector bodies in the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting Scheme that followed. However, heavy industry and large SMEs did have to report their emissions under that scheme. So recently there was a lot of regulation trying to drive activity in industry, but obviously there was a need for a requirement for the public sector with targets very much seen as Local Authorities’ responsibility through the leadership role in influencing them.

 

A Member commented that the report had not mentioned the impact of manufacturing in and around the county borough, but had identified that 75% of savings should come from procurement. He asked whether the Authority should be buying from local providers that were emitters of carbon gases and how such procurement would operate.

 

The Corporate Director – Communities explained that a review of the procurement strategy was currently being undertaken, working with WRAP Cymru and the Procurement Section.  They were trying to advise how best to direct spend in the local economy, to spend it more sustainably to grow and support local businesses, which would also cut down on mileage costs and carbon emissions.  She acknowledged the Corporate Procurement Rules as a key part of this and how the Local Authority would know if it was being sustainable e.g. products from sustainable sources, although these may be slightly more expensive and that was something to be factored in as part of the procurement work, as well as the efficacy of the companies.  The strategy had been drafted to allow the Local Authority the freedom to make those choices, but she explained that this could come with consequences in terms of slightly higher costs as a result of that sustainable procurement.

 

The Senior Manager - Carbon Trust confirmed that the boundary for the piece of work was the Council's own boundary not any regional area or area-wide footprint or strategy. He advised that there was city region work and regional energy planning which would be looking at influencing industry directly. One of the challenges the Local Authority would have is what could be done whilst adhering to public procurement regulations.  WG were looking at that post BREXIT to try to understand what reform needed to happen in terms of public procurement, to help support local ownerships, support keeping the value in Wales and purchasing from local suppliers.  There were a few tools that could be put into the strategy, and ways of working to influence and mandate low-carbon procurement both in activities and to support suppliers to reduce their emissions.

 

The Chair of the Bridgend 2030 Decarbonisation Programme Board noted that this was a good question as there was a synergy between public and private operations. While local authorities had the ability to assist private industry in moving towards decarbonisation, private industry had its own drivers as 75% of the costs of the two heavy industries in the County Borough, were probably energy costs.  This was a driving force in itself and they would be in the forefront of looking at ways of getting cheaper energy i.e. decarbonising using various government grants, making their production more efficient.  He also believed that public opinion was moving towards the decarbonisation agenda. In addition planning legislation was moving in a direction where companies would have to take into consideration any changes that industry makes in their production or if they want to open new plants there would be planning restrictions placed upon them to make sure that they became carbon reduced.

 

The Leader referred to WG’s programme to abolish the use of single-use plastics introducing an extended producer responsibility scheme to incentivise waste reduction by businesses.  There was also a commitment to legislate to modernise the vehicle sector although many of those powers and responsibilities were reserved to the UK Government.  There was a compelling case for the Authority to be using locally produced steel and paper. The Authority wanted to reduce its overall carbon footprint but certainly for the time being it was far better for the environment that steel was produced locally, with British industry having some of the highest environmental standards in the world. In addition WG had made a commitment to developing the welsh timber industry which not only helped in terms of jobs and sustainability, but also carbon capture and biodiversity, as well as flood prevention. There would also be careful consideration of what could be done on the Local Authority’s land, working with partners around scaling up tree planting and forestry initiatives.

 

A Member referred to page 19, paragraph 4.4 regarding direct engagement with a Citizens Assembly once established and a Steering Group of interested delivery partners, and asked for the timeline for this. He also acknowledged that a lot of work had been done in the past with regards to tree planting, but a lot  more needed to be done in the future for carbon offsetting.  He felt there needed to be a commitment to tree planting, over and above what the Local Authority had committed to, especially with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Green Canopy next year.  He noted that Bridgend College had given a commitment to planting 60,000 trees by 2025 and felt that to make it work, it needed a lot more resource, needed to be starting soon and happening faster.

 

The Corporate Director – Communities advised that the Local Authority would plant 15k trees this year, starting in the autumn. Those schemes were planned in six different areas across the Borough on Council land, which was important as sequestration could only be counted if the trees were planted on land that the Council managed. The Council had committed to a Green Day, working with Bridgend College, Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), the Health Board and Public Service Board (PSB) Members to promote a day in the autumn where communities, school children etc., are invited to come and assist with the tree planting scheme.  She explained that the other part of the Green Day initiative was that the Health Board were keen that people saw the benefits of being outdoors, gardening, biodiversity and arboriculture, so the agenda was much wider than just planting trees.  The other piece of work was the Queen's Green Canopy, a nationwide drive to plant trees in honour of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, which was something the Council were very keen to be part of, which was for the next financial year. In addition, the Council was having conversations with the Woodland Trust who provided grants, about offering a community planting scheme next year, where people could apply to have funding for a species of tree or hedge.  It was acknowledged that the Council had difficult budget situations but the 2030 Agenda was extraordinarily important so there was a need to find other sources of funding to help the Council with the journey.

 

With regard to the Stakeholder forum  this would include the Health Board, Police, Fire and Rescue, Ambulance, Bridgend College, other Education settings and RSLs etc., who were seen as partners in the 2030 Agenda. The intention was to set up regular meetings with them where best practice could be shared and make sure that all were doing similar things with an aligned vision e.g., tree planting, the ULEV charging strategy with the Health Board, electric fleet with the Police, and Valleys to Coast on their maintenance vehicles. The stakeholder group was very much partnership working, looking for shared opportunities.  In terms of the Bridgend District Heat Network the Local Authority was keen to get as many people connected onto phases two and three.

 

In terms of the citizens’ forum, it was really important to the Local Authority to offer a wide range of people in the community the opportunity to come forward and sit on this forum and help shape this agenda. This work was being led by the Climate Change Response Manager, who had just been appointed. As part of this he had been benchmarking and speaking to other authorities across the UK to find out the best way to set this up, who the best people were to invite and interested parties.  Feedback was that a wide demographic across the borough was needed, and as many people that were pro 2030, as against it, as this challenged thinking.  The group could not be too big so around 20 to 30 people would be the right size.  People could feed in ideas via a web link / website, with the group chaired by an external person to ensure the agenda was being driven by citizens.

 

The Leader reassured the Member that action was happening now. The latest work on active travel was starting in Pencoed that day and he referred to the Capital Programme going to Cabinet and Council, including a proposal for £2.85m more to be invested in active travel, a proposal for £178k investment in Bryncethin Depot for developing the solar power capacity there, and the investment in the Bridgend Heat Network of £2.89M. In addition scaling up of the tree planting was being examined, although this was one stream and there were many streams of work being undertaken at the moment and there was also a need to deliver in partnership as well because one of the biggest landowners was Natural Resources Wales.

 

A Member asked what the Authority could do to educate people to stop cutting down perfectly good trees.

 

The Corporate Director - Communities explained under the statutory provision the highest protection trees were given was a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) but they had to be recognised as having a particular characteristic why they should be protected.  If a tree was felled that did have a TPO there was up to a £2k fine and the tree had to be replaced and this would be enforced.  However, there was a need to go further, because as part of the 2030 agenda, education and a communication plan was key. However, it was very difficult to stop people felling trees so it was about educating and appealing to hearts and minds now about how beneficial  they were for the environment.

 

A Member asked if there were plans to encourage blended working or selling or upgrading energy inefficient council buildings and perhaps just using one in Bridgend and selling off the others or perhaps refurbishing  them so they are made energy efficient, or using them as flats, rather than building more houses on what could be green spaces.

 

The Leader advised that working from home, wherever possible, continued to be encouraged and feedback from most staff was that they preferred it, so there were some cost savings and it was better for the environment in terms of less travelling to work.  Sickness levels had also fallen, so the Local Authority had seen the benefit of that. As part of a wider review which was being undertaken, the office accommodation needs were being considered and going forward into the future the Authority would look to make further savings, although costs had already been significantly reduced and the overall footprint of the of the estate, due to the decommissioning of Sunnyside House.  The Chief Executive was preparing a report on Office Accommodation and additional resources had been dedicated.  Expressions of interest were being explored in some of the estate, so there were a number of options to consider.

 

A Member asked as a baseline hadn’t been established how it was known that enough human and financial resource had been allocated to the effort to reduce carbon emissions and extra external funding may not be certain over the next eight years.  He asked how the conclusion had been reached that £215k would be allocated from the Council and would there be key performance indicators to monitor progress on targets on an annual basis to ensure that the Local Authority is on track.  He also asked would there be any penalties is the Authority did not meet the net carbon neutral target by 2030.

 

The Corporate Director – Communities explained that the £215k in the budget was just for staffing costs for the Climate Change Response Manager, Programme Manager and bringing in the Carbon Trust.  Currently there was no capital or revenue allocated for that action plan, although it was hoped by the autumn to have the action plan finished with a timeline.  There would be costs associated with the action plan and she noted that Denbighshire County Council had said that they would need £10m of funding to undertake additional schemes for them to get to 2030.  80% of funding had come from grants with the Capital Region, WG and WLGA offering grants and monies for different parts of the decarbonisation agenda. It was uncertain what would be available in the future, but clearly the Local Authority would not be able to achieve it alone and would have to seek external sources of funding for this program.  Going forward the intention was to complete the baseline, compile the action plan, do the gap analysis, cost as good as could be done and then consult on the strategy and the action plan in the autumn.  From there a report would be taken to Cabinet and Council for a decision to approve that action plan and strategy going forward.

 

The Senior Manager - Carbon Trust explained that in terms of capital budgets, the low carbon agenda needed to be threaded in every decision e.g. not spending maintenance money on replacing boilers but looking at low carbon heat solutions. WG had not yet defined what could happen if targets were not met, as they were still shaping the monitoring reporting of Local Authorities and Health Boards, however, there were legal firms out  who would chase corporate bodies and probably public bodies for not meeting their commitments and hold them to account.

 

The Head of Operations – Community Services explained that in respect of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) the Carbon Trust were doing the baselining exercise for the Authority and would leave the software tool which would be used, to continue to monitor the carbon output in line with WG Guidance to track performance on an annual basis.  While there wasn’t a defined penalty enforcement regime linked to the agenda yet, waste recycling had started in a similar vein with targets and the direction of travel, and it hadn’t been long before WG got to the point where missing those targets resulted in penalties and it was likely to be similar for this too.

 

A Member referred to page 22 of the report which referred to the six ULEV taxis and the mention of a rapid charging point in the Hillsborough Place Car Park in Porthcawl and asked why that particular Car Park.  She also asked about the potential for streetlights to be used as charging points, as had happened in some London Boroughs.

The Corporate Director - Communities explained that as part of the Metro Scheme for the Cardiff Capital Region, there would be a metro link for the buses and the Cardiff Capital Region had proposed the rapid charging points for the taxis there and was paying for the provision.  This was a pilot scheme for the six taxis and should they become successful then the Authority would roll that out along with the rapid charging points for them, more widely across the Borough.

 

The Group Manager - Planning and Development Services explained that every Authority within the City Deal had an allocation of taxis based upon their number of taxi licences.  The package of taxis included the rapid chargers and was driven by the City Deal and tied into the potential for a transportation bus facility at Porthcawl.  The rapid charging facility should be up and running by the time the taxis are operational, so in active use all the time. There would also be other charging facilities being rolled out in other car parks.

 

The Head of Operations – Community Services referred to the question regarding the possibility of using street lights as charging points for electric vehicles and advised that while some of the streetlights within new housing estates may have the electrical capacity to also be used as charging points, the vast majority of older streetlights would not be up to the demands placed on them without some major investment. While they could be part of the strategy, it was not the solution to fit out all street lights with charging points.

The Member asked, what was meant by ‘rapid’ e.g. how long for a taxi to be charged, e.g.  20 or 30 minutes.

 

The Group Manager - Planning and Development Services explained that it was to do with voltage and wattage. With the rapid charger it allowed a greater flow of power into the battery which means they can be charged within say 30 minutes, as opposed to a more conventional charger, which would take longer.  It also depended on the technology of the batteries as well, as power could not be increased too far without causing damage to the battery pack.

 

Officers and partners from the Carbon Trust were thanked for the report and presentation to Members.

 

The Committee made the following recommendations:

 

1.    That the next review of the Corporate Template for Reports considers the inclusion of a Section on: Implications of the 2030 Decarbonisation Agenda, to assist all services to demonstrate how they are working towards the 2030 Agenda to achieve net zero carbon.

2.    That a Briefing with information on Tree Preservation Order requirements be provided to Members of the Committee.

3.    That the Local Authority employ a dedicated Tree Officer to work via a joined up one Council approach together with partners towards shared tree planting commitments and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Green Canopy initiative.

That the development of the Action Plan include Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s), to be reported for monitoring performance.

Supporting documents:

 

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