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City of York Council |
Committee Minutes |
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Meeting |
Decision Session - Executive Member for Environment and Climate Change |
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Date |
6 January 2021 |
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Present |
Councillors Widdowson |
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15. Declarations of Interest
At this point in the meeting, the Executive Member was asked
to declare any personal interests not included on the Register of
Interests, or any prejudicial or discloseable pecuniary interests
she may have in respect of business on the agenda. None were
declared.
16. Minutes
Resolved: That the minutes of the Decision Session held on 16 December 2020 be approved and signed by the Executive Member as a correct record.
17. Public Participation
It was reported that there had been one registrations to speak at the session under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.
David Merrett spoke of behalf of Clean Air York in relation to air quality in the city. He noted the Councils 2015 to 2020 Air Quality Action Plan had seen NO2 emissions fall year on year however, the majority of this decrease happened at the start of the plan. He noted that while COVID-19 lockdown had lowered emissions, by October 2020 emissions in cities across the UK were back to similar levels in 2019. He therefore requested that as the last Air Quality Action Plan ran until 2020, that the Council develop a new plan.
18. York 5 Year Flood Plan Update
Officers were joined by Ben Hughes of the Environment Agency to introduce the quarterly report on the York 5 Year Flood Plan. Discussion noted that the new York flood defences design capacity had successfully dealt with flooding from Storm Bella. It was also noted that work to complete the new defences should not be delayed by lockdown, however, this would be dependent on supply chains and that the Council and the Environment Agency were working with suppliers to avoid unexpected delays.
The installation of the new Fossgate barrier was discussed. It was confirmed that the stop blocks had been installed and the new gate was scheduled to be installed the week commencing 18 January 2021, however, in the event of a storm delaying this the pumping station would still be in operation.
Resolved:
i. Noted the updated report and the evidence presented by the Environment Agency in the session.
Reason: To ensure that the Executive Member remains updated on the York 5 Year Flood Plan.
19. Urgent Business
Officers raised the DEFRA Flood Resilience Innovation Programme and sought the support of the Executive Member for the City of York Council’s emerging bid. It was noted the bid required one lead authority but that City of York Council would work with North Yorkshire County Council and other partners in the area as part of the bid, The Executive Member requested that the Northern Forest be involved by officers in the bid. The objective of the bid if successful would be to reduce flood risk downstream. Details of the City of York Council’s plans would be brought to a future decision session for Environment and Climate Change if successful.
Resolved:
i. Noted that City of York Council Supported the emerging bid for DEFRA Flood Resilience Innovation Programme.
Reason: To ensure the York and the region continue to access funding to improve flood defences and mitigation.
Cllr Widdowson, Executive Member
[The meeting started at 3.00 pm and finished at 3.19 pm].