Agenda item

To consider the report of the Cabinet Member for Environment which details the actions the City Council can take to achieve the objectives of the Climate Change Emergency resolution as adopted in July 2019.

11.1    The Cabinet Member for the Environment, Councillor Cook introduced the report and highlighted key elements. He explained that it was not a detailed strategy at this stage, as it would require a two-stage process.

11.2   Councillor Stephens commended the Environment and Ecology forum, and stated that cross-party consensus on the issue at hand was important. He suggested that as a major business, Gloucestershire Airport Limited (GAL) should be included within Gloucester City Council ‘s ‘estate’ for carbon accounting purposes, should carbon accounting be adopted in the strategy. In relation to paragraph 3.15, Councillor Stephens’ standpoint was that to date there had been little communication of the proposals to members of the general public from the Council. Furthermore, he suggested that the proposals on renewable energy could be enhanced by engaging with Gloucester City Homes (GCH) on what they are doing, if anything on this issue.  Additionally, he recommended that any electric car charging should also include Private Hire Vehicles. Lastly, he outlined that he welcomed the social value policy and the report.

11.3   Councillor Cook responded to Councillor Morgan as follows. Firstly, he agreed that carbon accounting for GAL was a key consideration, and stated that he would be meeting with Cheltenham Borough Council who were a joint shareholder of the company with Gloucester City Council to discuss the issue. Secondly, on the issue of community action, he stated that part of the reason for having the Environment and Ecology forum was to promote community action and to engage with residents on the issue of climate change. Moreover, there were other initiatives on a County level to promote community action, for example, the Youth Climate Panel.  He also added that a key part of tackling climate change was about individuals taking steps themselves. Thirdly, Councillor Cook stated that Councillor Stephens had made a good point in relation to extending any renewable energy policies to GCH. He added that the Supplementary Planning Documents Scrutiny would help towards this.

11.4   Councillor Haigh stated that the City Plan was clear on a policy compliant scheme in relation to energy efficiency for new homes. However, she was concerned that developers would not see it as a viable scheme. She queried whether anything would be put in place to prevent a situation where Council Officers could negotiate away the energy efficiency requirement for developers. Councillor Cook explained that this a difficult area which would require direction from Central Government. Whilst energy efficiency was included in the City Plan, it would be for Central Government to decide on viability.  The issue was that if too much of a demand was placed on developers to incorporate energy efficiency, this would raise the costs for them, and potentially, developers would be deterred from building new homes.

11.5    Councillor Haigh asked where the balance was in terms of what could be potentially sacrificed in order to incorporate energy efficiency in new homes. Councillor Cook suggested, as an example, that a policy requiring that all homes must be totally carbon neutral could deter developers.

11.6    Councillor Ryall questioned whether there were any Central Government initiatives or grants to enable carbon neutrality. The Climate Change and Environment Manager advised that he was not aware of any Central Government initiatives or grants to this effect. However, he added that this was a rapidly changing sphere, and it could be that these would become available in the future.  Councillor Ryall further asked whether the use of electric bikes would always be feasible when taking into account factors such as weather and the extra time which could be required for travel. The Climate Change and Environment Manager informed her that electric bikes could at times be faster than travelling by car, for example, where there is a lot of traffic. Moreover, it was possible that wet weather gear would be provided by the Council. Further, Councillor Ryall asked whether there were any beehives in the City. The Climate Change and Environment Manager outlined that there were some beehives on City Council land, however, they did not belong to the City Council. Councillor Cook stated that there were proposals to plant more flowers to enable insects to propagate.

11.7   Councillor Patel highlighted the link between improving air quality and tackling climate change. Thus, air quality was an important consideration in the debate.  Councillor Cook agreed with this. He added that on a county level there was a Scrutiny Task Group focused on tackling this issue.

11.8    Councillor Taylor queried whether Stagecoach Group which was the main provider for bus services in the City would be switching to renewable electricity.  Councillor Cook noting that transport was the remit of the Gloucestershire County Council, informed him that Stagecoach Group was part of a bus group which was committed to not having diesel vehicles after 2025. He added that it was not necessarily feasible to have a fully electric bus. Finally, he stated that buses, even where they were run on diesel could be seen to be better from an environmental perspective as they carry more people than a car.

11.9   Councillor Dee highlighted the success of the flood defence systems in the City. He noted that there had previously been issues with flooding, particularly in areas such as Stroud Road and Grange. However, there had been a lot of money spent on the drainage systems and this had a positive impact, as there was less flooding than there would otherwise have been.

11.10 Councillor Cook thanked Councillor Dee for pointing out the successes in the flood defence systems. He added that investing in flood defence systems had made a lot of difference. Moreover, investments were still being made in this area. Finally, he reminded Committee Members that everyone needed to continue to work hard in order to tackle climate change.

11.11 RESOLVED: - that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee NOTE the report.