Agenda item

To receive any announcements from the chair and general housekeeping matters.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the committee and provided the latest information she had on the climate emergency by providing a statement which she read out. The full text is provided below as part of these minutes;

“ I have an enduring mental picture of a sad old man, looking back over the changes that have taken place in his long lifetime; his eyes downcast as the camera lingers over his face. David Attenborough was giving us his testament in A Life On This Planet. As ever, he finishes upbeat. Whilst we are creating a huge devastation and a Sixth Extinction on our planet that will likely destroy our civilisations, we have the power to change it. If you took out just one month’s subscription to Netflix, you could see this extraordinary life’s summary. And after that, please watch ‘Kissing the Ground’. I learnt a lot on retaining and restoring our vanishing soils.

Our greatest effect as a Local Authority is on the planning system. Our emerging Local Plan is back out to consultation, on the subject of the main modifications that the Inspector has agreed with council officers. You have until the 2nd November to comment. I have submitted a response on behalf of South Oxfordshire Sustainability, where there is concern that creeping urbanisation will lock in land use changes that will further lose soils, harm wildlife, and emit greenhouse gases. 

Our new Corporate Plan will come into force in a couple of days’ time; with the restoration of nature and addressing climate change at the top, in accordance with the wishes of our residents. This neatly coincides with our recruiting not just one but two new climate lead officers: Andy Egan will be joining us in a couple of week’s time, for one year, and Elizabeth Kingdom will start in December, for 6 months. Elizabeth’s focus will be on public outreach.

We have been discussing how to get the best out of CEAC. Currently, we are following a work programme, and officers bring relevant items and items of the moment to us. For initiatives to bubble up from the committee, we have item 4 ‘urgent business’, and today I can take suggested items for future business in that slot. To clarify the breadth and depth of work underway, we shall in future have a work programme update slot. The full work programme will be visible. We can then receive updates on the status of each element. Anyone wishing to put forward an item for a future meeting can do so then and the committee can decide how to prioritise it.

Councillor Lynn Lloyd has shown us the excellent pamphlet created by Chinnor Parish Council on their 6-point plan. It is really well laid-out and it would be good if it were appended to the minutes of the current meeting for others to see. Particularly innovative is their intention to ‘minimise consumption of all resources’. I hope we can find a way to publicise good examples like this for others to emulate.

The £2 billion Government Green Homes Grant has been launched, offering up to £5,000 towards part-funding of energy efficiency improvements in people’s homes; and £10,000 for full funding of measures for lower-income households. Whilst this is very welcome, we are now right up against it, because the supply chain has collapsed after years of sporadic or non-existent funding. The scheme runs for only 6 months yet has the ambition to cause the creation of 60,000 jobs.

To improve energy efficiency in their homes, householders need advice, installers and finance. Michelle Wells (from Policy and Insight) and I met with a manager from the Low Carbon Hub’s Cosy Homes scheme. Cosy Homes provides a full Home Energy Assessment and Whole House Plan, showing what work needs doing, in what order, at what cost, and the likely savings on fuel. They offer a retrofit co-ordinator service too which sounds quite invaluable. However, they are finding it as difficult as everyone else to get professionals to work on this, including installers of insulation and low-carbon heating systems. The waiting time for an assessment is 12 weeks.

As the Council, I should like to see us taking the initiative on home retrofits in the future, and taking in-house the kind of activities that Cosy Homes perform, as well as providing finance solutions. Oxford City has bidded for over a million pounds from the Government scheme, which it can deploy in its own housing stock, stock that we do not have. However, there is a third billion pounds that Government is providing, called Local Authority Delivery Phase 1B specifically for Local Authorities to improve their own estate, and we shall be applying for that.

I have been meeting since my election last year when I took on the Climate Lead role, with the cross-council climate group for Oxfordshire. There is a similar officer-level group. I think we all find it helpful to learn from one another. We are putting together a statement of intent which will go to the Growth Board, to formalise the position of this committee.”

Electric Charging Points for Vehicles

The committee discussed progress on this issue and expressed interest in learning of any developments regarding grants for the installation of electric vehicle charging points. The committee considered that the county-wide electric vehicle steering group, upon which it had a representative, could look further into this matter and assist in providing it with a higher profile. It was noted that a survey (the commissioner of the survey was not identified) had lately been undertaken into the need for such charging points, thus the issue was receiving attention at the present time.

The committee noted that an electric vehicle charging point project in Henley had recently been temporarily halted, much to the frustration of the town’s councillors.

The Insight and Policy Manager (IPM) would bring a report to the committee’s meeting on 28 November 2020. The report would note the progress of the Oxfordshire Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy development, and would include a consideration of the contribution to the Council’s Climate Emergency.

The committee considered that sharing of information with community groups and parish councils in South Oxfordshire was of critical importance. It was of the view that debate could be stimulated through workshops on priorities and funding in respect of electric vehicles.

Green Homes Grants

The committee requested information on the feasibility of the council establishing a unit to help residents retrofit their homes with energy saving measures. The IPM would look into this and report back to the committee.