Venue: This will be a virtual, online meeting.
Contact: Democratic Services Officer Email: candida.basilio@southandvale.gov.uk
No. | Item |
---|---|
Chair's announcements To receive any announcements from the chair and general housekeeping matters. Minutes: The chair opened the meeting and gave thanks to those who took part in work to submit the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS)
|
|
Apologies for absence To record apologies for absence and the attendance of substitute members. Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillors Stefan Gawrysiak, James Barlow, Freddie van Mierlo and Katharine Keats-Rohan. |
|
Minutes of the last meeting To review and note the minutes of the previous meeting held on 22 July 2024. Minutes: Resolved: The minutes of the meeting on 22 July 2024 were agreed as a correct record. |
|
Declaration of interests To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests, other registrable interests and non-registrable interests or any conflicts of interest in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting.
Minutes: None |
|
Urgent business To receive notification of any matters which the chair determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent. Minutes: None |
|
Public participation To receive any questions or statements from members of the public that have registered to speak. Minutes: None |
|
Update from the Cabinet member for Climate Action To receive an update from Councillor David Rouane. Minutes: Councillor Rouane updated committee. · Via the Future Oxfordshire Partnership (FOP), the Local Area Energy Planning (LAEP) was going ahead at County level and will follow onto district level. Councillor Rouane attended the UK100 energy conference, and UK100 were impressed with our work on LAEP. · Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme – for Henley and Abbey Sports Centre (Berinsfield), a bid had been submitted. We should hear the outcome early in the new year. · The Climate Impact Assessment Tool had been successfully used in reporting and will be used across the organisation · The Local Nature Recovery Strategy consultation ended on Sunday (1 December 2024), we have made a council response. · DEFRA announced the first year’s testing results from Wallingford. The bathing water status has been categorised as ‘poor’. · Offsetting – the Local Nature Partnership has been working on this. Offsetting locally was desirable and the partnership was exploring options for local providers. Councillor Rouane reminded that offsetting was considered a last-resort solution.
Committee members asked questions as summarised below: · On FOP advisory groups, it was decided to close advisory groups, but if there was a topic such as LAEP, Councillor Rouane considered that the best method would be a working group of officers who would report to FOP public meetings. · Local Nature Recovery Strategy – it was a standard piece of work set by everyone by DEFRA. The team leader explained that there was guidance to comply with, and all national strategies will follow this format. In terms of progress, Oxfordshire is ahead of the curve. Bath, West of England had already published their Local Nature Recovery Strategy. There will likely be benchmarking and standardisation in future so the strategies can link up. · The Cabinet member explained that there were capacity issues regarding the electricity grid and more would be discovered through the work on LAEP. We had to look at where investment was needed, for example, to sub-stations, working with the energy suppliers who maintain the grid. A member asked if we were working with Regional Energy Strategic Planners (RESPS) – it was responded that Distribution Network Operators were working with us, they were involved in developing the plan.
The Cabinet member was thanked for his update.
|
|
Draft Nature and Climate Action Plan The committee will consider the draft action plan, presented by Senior Climate Action Officer, Chloe Bunting. Minutes: Senior Climate Action Officer Chloe Bunting introduced the draft Nature and Climate Action Plan (NCAP), and asked committee for their views on the draft before it goes through the rest of the democratic process. She noted some reordering of priorities would occur after this meeting. Where there was duplication, officers had streamlined the NCAP (for example, avoiding duplication with Joint Local Plan policies). Some actions, such as on funding, had been formed as SMART targets, but they could not give end dates for these. Nature recovery and adaptation areas were expected to expand and be adaptive to developing strategies. There would be more fluid data sources.
Committee members were welcomed to provide comments · A member questioned whether climate committees would be joint, seeing as we were working on a Joint Local Plan – to avoid any repetition. Officers did see some benefit of a joint committee, but members would need to consider this formally. · A member asked about the communications strategy behind the plan’s release. The officer presenting explained there was a dedicated communications officer for climate and confirmed that she was developing a plan for communications. The team leader added that council plans are going to Council in February 2025, and NCAP will follow. · A member asked how can we encourage active travel in communications? It was responded that there was an item to work on sustainable travel with other local authorities in the plan. · Climate risk assessment – a member asked how we make sure we work more closely with agencies to provide relief, for example flooding (citing Spanish floods). The team leader explained that the Climate Adaptation Route Map was being developed at Oxfordshire County Council (OCC). This will bring stakeholders together. Once the plan becomes available, officers can work out how we can incorporate actions into the next iteration of the NCAP. Councillor Rouane added that there was a summit of water stakeholders, set up by OCC. OCC Councillor Pete Sudbury was leading, and he was keen on building resilience. Yearly, OCC will ask local parish councils if they have an emergency resilience plan. · A member suggested clarifying roles in flood events · A member queried reference to the food strategy on page 14 - what are we doing to engage farmers? Should we be planting more trees to compensate for house building – we likely do not have enough land to take this forward. Can farmers help identify areas for planting (note: Farm Cluster Groups were already promoting and educating fellow farmers on incorporating nature recovery with regenerative farming practices. DEFRA was opening their funding pots for farmers to apply for grants which were for nature and biodiversity projects on their farms). · A member discussed the council owning land. The team leader explained it would likely be a discussion within specific project needs.
The officer team were thanked for the report and a member added that it was positive that all teams had some responsibility for actions within the plan.
|
|
Biodiversity audit update The committee will receive a verbal update and presentation on the biodiversity audit carried out on council land by Nature Recovery Officer, Roselle Chapman. Minutes: The Nature Recovery Officer updated the committee, providing a review on council owned sites under meadow management. The officer explained that the climate team needed to work with the grounds maintenance team who would carry out the work. Equipment would need to evolve with ambitions, such as cut and collect machinery for arisings (waste from maintenance).
Members were pleased to see this update and thanked the officer. The PowerPoint presentation would be published with this set of minutes.
Members considered the procurement of equipment. A member suggested EV powered machinery. There was discussion around arisings, and a member suggested that clippings can potentially go to local allotments.
|
|
Carbon offsetting workshop Members will be asked for suggestions on ways to meet carbon targets. This item will be led by Kim Hall and Jessie Fieth, Senior Climate Action Officers. Minutes: Officers Jessie Fieth and Kimberly Hall asked committee “Should offsetting be part of our plan?”
Questions for discussion:
Members gave ideas: · Hemp production as an alternative · Soil sequestration and finding best soil for it. A member suggested approaching LandIS. An officer will check with the Local Nature Partnership if this had been considered already. · Was there the possibility of compulsory purchase of land such as golf courses for offsetting. The team leader explained not currently and that private land was not our decision. If we used private land there would need to be profit for landowners. · A member summarised – in favour of starting local and being ethical. · Obtain UK100 advice
In summary, members were in favour of a local, ethical approach, realising that for offshore options, the ethics may be difficult to ascertain and would need careful consideration.
Any other ideas can be emailed to the Climate Team.
|
|
Task and finish group update To receive any updates from task and finish groups. Minutes: Thanks were given to those who were involved task and finish work that supported the development of the LNRS.
|
|
Future items For committee members to suggest topics for the future consideration of the committee. Minutes: Members made suggestions for future agenda items, for officers to consider:
1. A deep dive on LAEP. An officer informed committee that next week the contract for the production of the LAEP is due to be let.. Up to May 2025, it will be county level project, then it will come towards district level, where officers will be happy to seek councillor involvement 2. Food strategy – can we run roadshows with farmer involvement 3. A collective think on council plan 4. Nature based flood resilience resolutions – explore / identify where this works with the Environment Agency. Can the Natural Flood Management team bring something to CEEAC? 5. Soils – a member asked “What is the risk, in a climate context, of not adequately considering soils and soil types in our decision-making processes? There is no one size fits all.” 6. Impact of development on wildlife – animals losing their bearings etc. 7. Adaptation
|