Agenda item

To consider the report of the Leader of the Council seeking membership of the UK100 network – bringing forward the City Council’s net zero carbon commitment by five years to 2045 – and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.

25.1    The Leader of the Council introduced the report and explained that its purpose was to consider whether Gloucester City Council should join the membership of the UK100 network, which would involve bringing forward the City Council’s net zero carbon commitment by five years to 2045, and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. The Leader of the Council stated that the Council had declared a climate emergency back in 2019, and noted that it would be sensible for the City Council to bring forward Gloucester’s target of net zero by 2045 alongside the County Council.

25.2    The Leader of the Council explained that UK100 is a network for locally elected leaders who had committed to join the effort to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. He confirmed that the administration had an ambition to be at the leading edge of climate change action and noted that joining the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy would help the Council maintain a long-term vision to combat climate change.

25.3    The Chair noted his endorsement of the report and commented that in his view, it made sense to align with the County Council as the responsible authority for highways. The Chair expressed the view that the Council faced a conflict between welcoming income from parking as this contributed to footfall in the city, and tackling climate change. He asked the Leader of the Council whether the administration had plans for encouraging the use of public transport.

25.4    The Leader of the Council referred to the predicted increased use of electric cars over the coming years and noted that one option might be to install more charging points in off-street car parks in the city.

25.5    Councillor Wilson welcomed the proposals and asked for further information about how the organisations would engage with the Council and how much of a role the Council would be expected to play. In relation to the mandatory monitoring reports referred to at 3.8(2) and 3.12, Councillor Wilson asked whether these reports could be combined to make the best use of resources.

25.6    The Leader of the Council noted that the City Council had only recently appointed a Climate Change Manager and he had not yet seen details about the level of engagement expected from local authorities. The Managing Director confirmed that he was not aware of any conflict between the two reporting systems but explained that if the Council were to become a signatory to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, the organisation would provide a framework for the Council to follow. The Managing Director noted that this would provide a structure to assist the Council develop a Sustainable Energy Action Plan. He also noted that the Climate Change Strategy which the Council had chosen to adopt had been used by other cities.

25.7    In response to a question from Councillor Pullen about the Council’s climate change targets, the Leader of the Council confirmed that the targets were already set out in the report. He noted that although authorities may have the same targets, such as reaching net zero carbon by 2045, Councils may have different proposals on the steps and processes to meet those targets.

25.8    Councillor Hilton referred to paragraphs 3.9 and 3.14 in the report confirming that there were no membership fees for joining UK100 and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. He expressed the view that a lack of joining fee was unusual and invited comments from the Leader of the Council.

25.9    The Leader of the Council responded that it was possible that the organisations had received funding from central Government to support their funding models. The Managing Director further explained that with a network of business support, it was possible that they received private sector and central government subsidies.

25.10  In response to a further question from Councillor Hilton about how useful the annual reports would be for UK100, the Leader of the Council commented that regardless of whether or not the reports were useful for UK100, the reports would certainly be useful for the Council as they would help the Council measure its own performance against the climate change targets and also its performance against neighbouring Councils.

RESOLVED that –

The Overview & Scrutiny Committee RECOMMENDS that

(1)  When this item is considered at the Council meeting on 23September 2021, further details be provided as to the funding models of the UK100 network and Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.