Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Mrs Jennifer Thompson  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

16.

Addresses and questions to the partnership

Members of the public wishing to speak to the partnership for up to five minutes must register with the committee clerk named above by noon on Thursday (the day before the meeting).

 

Minutes:

There were no addresses or questions from members of the public to the partnership.

17.

Minutes of the previous meeting pdf icon PDF 50 KB

Purpose: To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Oxfordshire Environment Partnership meeting held on 26 October 2012 (attached) and to receive information arising from them.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting of the Oxfordshire Environment Partnership held on 26 October 2012 were approved and signed as such by the Chairman.

18.

TOE2 Woodfuel programme funding pdf icon PDF 77 KB

Report attached                                                                                            10:05am

 

Purpose:At the last meeting a paper from TOE2 was tabled which requested funding for its Wood Fuel Programme. A recommendation was made to refer the proposal to the Waste Partnership’s New Initiatives (NIF) fund. However, subsequent evaluation of the proposal confirmed that the TOE2 Programme would not be eligible for NIF funding as it would not use waste wood, and does not meet the specific waste criteria which the NIF fund requires. TOE2 was therefore invited to submit a funding proposal to the Environment Partnership, to give members an opportunity to consider the proposal.

 

Oxfordshire Environment Partnership is recommended to:

(a)   consider the TOE2 funding request;

(b)   request officers to organise a joint meeting between TVEnergy, TOE2, and local authority officers, and to recommend next steps to the next meeting;

(c)   consider whether to invite officers to develop a funding strategy for the Environment Partnership for review at a future meeting.

Minutes:

The partnership considered a report from Oxfordshire County Council’s Environment and Energy Strategy Team and a funding application from TOE2 for support for a project to develop the management of the county’s woodlands by providing woodfuel for biomass burners.

 

The partnership broadly supported the project on environmental grounds and noted that:

·        the Waste Partnership’s new initiatives fund could not support this project because it did not reduce waste which would otherwise be collected by the local authorities;

·        the environment partnership had no funding of its own;

·        individual partner authorities could contribute to the project;

·        a number of woodfuel projects existed in the county and some overview and co-ordination would benefit all projects;

·        support would only be practical if after the initial start-up period the project was self-funding and self-sustaining.

 

Oxfordshire Environment Partnership agreed:

(a)    that the woodfuel project proposed by TOE2 had their support but funding could not be provided by the partnership;

(b)    to request officers to organise a joint meeting between TVEnergy, TOE2, and local authority officers to discuss how to progress this project, establish links between existing groups, and to recommend next steps to the next meeting;

(c )    to invite officers to develop a funding strategy for the Environment Partnership for review at a future meeting.

19.

Sharing good practice - Oxfordshire County Council

                                                                                                                        10:15am

Gordon Hunt of Oxfordshire County Council will give a presentation about the Flood and Water Management Act and current work to implement sustainable drainage systems.

Minutes:

Mr G Hunt, County Drainage Engineer, gave a presentation on Oxfordshire County Council’s work under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. He explained flood prevention measures, the work carried out by each local authority in partnership, and the use of man-made drainage features to control water flow and reduce the risk of flooding to the highway and property.

 

The partnership thanked Mr Hunt for his presentation and congratulated his team and the other agencies involved on their work to prevent further flooding in the county. 

 

 

20.

Climate Local commitment and work programme pdf icon PDF 94 KB

Report attached.                                                                                           10:30am

 

Purpose: This report provides additional information about current local authority activities, and confirms that signing Climate Local does not require any additional resources.

 

It recommends that, in recognising that there are no additional resource requirements, the Environment and Waste Partnership agree:

a) to sign Climate Local, as “Climate Local Oxfordshire”;

b) as stage two of the process, to agree within six months the commitments to be included and reported on.

Minutes:

Mr D Harvey reminded the partnership that he was appointed by West Oxfordshire District Council as a director of the United Sustainable Energy Agency.

 

The partnership considered the report of the Environment and Energy Strategy Team setting out the requirements of the Local Government Association’s Climate Local commitment and the resource requirements and current work programmes of each authority.

 

The six local authority executive members of the partnership agreed to sign the climate local commitment as ‘Climate Local Oxfordshire’ on behalf of both the Environment and Waste partnerships.

 

The partnership agreed to consider within six months a report on the commitments to be included and reported under this initiative.

21.

Collective switching project pdf icon PDF 40 KB

Report attached                                                                                            10:40am

 

Purpose: To update on a collective energy switching project led by Cherwell District Council that seeks to save residents money on their energy bills.

It is recommended that:

     I.      Partner Councils participate in the collective switching scheme and provide officer support of approximately 5 days each.

    II.      That a core project team of Cherwell and OWP officers leads on project delivery operating within a budget of £12,500.

  III.      That Cherwell District Council recovers project revenue expenditure for goods and services up to £12,500 from the rebate received from the successful energy provider.

IV.      That participating Partner Councils (including Cherwell District Council) agree to underwrite any short fall of income through an equal contributory payment by each, if required.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The partnership considered a report by the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership Coordinator setting out details of a collective energy switching project led by Cherwell District Council.

 

The partnership discussed the merits and risks of the project, but although broadly supportive of the principles of the project individual members did not wish to commit their local authorities to the project. The partnership co-ordinator reminded members that the project would start on 1 April 2013.

 

The partnership members agreed to discuss the project within their local authority and to decide on an individual basis whether to participate in and provide resources for the collective energy switching project led by Cherwell District Council.

22.

Oxfordshire Total Retrofit

Nick King of Oxfordshire County Council will give a presentation.          10:50am

Minutes:

Mr N King, Oxfordshire County Council Environment and Energy Strategy Team, gave a presentation on the Oxfordshire Total Retrofit project. He explained the funding sources, the work with the Low Carbon Hub, and community and large-scale projects.

23.

Chairman's announcements

Minutes:

There were no announcements.

 

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