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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 |
11 May 2022 |
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Present |
Councillors Widdowson |
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Apologies |
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19. Declarations of Interest
The Executive Member was asked to declare, at this point in the meeting, any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests or any prejudicial or discloseabale pecuniary interests she might have in respect of the business on the agenda. None were declared.
20. Minutes
Resolved: That the minutes of the Decision Session held on 13 April 2022 be approved and signed by the Executive Member as a correct record.
21. Public Participation
It was reported that there had been 4 registrations to speak at the session under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.
Cllr Pete Kilbane spoke on the Climate Change Action Plan. He thanked officers for their work but stated that there was no political will in the administration to tackle climate change, commenting that £100,000 had been taken out of the climate change budget at the 2022 Budget Council. Cllr Kilbane criticised the language of the report and said that it proposed no concrete actions. Finally he commented that around 75% of the reductions in emissions detailed in the report were attributable to a green energy park which was not certain to be constructed.
Kate Ravilious spoke on the Climate Change Action Plan. She stated that the report showed that current plans would not enable York to achieve net zero by 2030 and spoke on the need for the Climate Change Strategy to come first and not be undermined by others such as the Transport Strategy. Ms Ravilious criticised the notion that all scope 3 emissions were outside of the control of City of York Council, highlighting the emissions created from construction projects. She asked the Executive Member to draw up a climate action plan which would meet the 2030 net zero ambition; to ensure that the Climate Change Strategy informs all other council strategies; to include scope 3 emissions that the council can influence within the action plan and to publish the carbon impact of major council projects.
Geoff Beacon spoke on the Climate Change Action Plan. He stated that the SCATTER model used to determine emissions statistics caused by York resident’s everyday activities did not account for large sources of emission such as food consumption, aviation travel and others. Mr Beacon referred to the carbon.place website, which he stated showed that the Copmanthorpe and Woodthorpe wards were the areas where the highest emitting individuals lived. He called for a series of campaigns to inform residents of these areas of their impact and to encourage and enable them to change their activities.
Christopher Copland spoke on the Climate Change Action Plan. He introduced himself as the York Labour Party’s Environment Co-ordinator. Mr Copland stated there was broad dissatisfaction with the Climate Change Action Plan, quoting comments from the Chair of the York Green Party and Cllr Vassie, Liberal Democrat City of York Councillor. While Mr Copland was pleased the plan embraced the whole city and not just council related emissions, he stated the plan failed to comply with the 2015 Paris Agreement. He stated that there was a single overall percentage target for reducing emissions, but no detail on how it would be achieved, while commenting that the original roadmap produced by the University of Leeds was much more broad in scope and detailed. Mr Copland argued for a single, long term strategy and for agreement across political boundaries.
22. Climate Change Action Plan
This report updated the Executive Member on the progress of the Climate Change Action Plan. The Assistant Director, Policy and Strategy was in attendance to present the report and respond to questions. The Assistant Director, Policy and Strategy was in attendance to present the report and respond to questions.
Key points raised in the presentation of the report included:
· That £340 million had been invested in climate action in York across a range of initiatives.
· That the action plan represented a baseline of measures which would develop into medium and long term actions to combat climate change.
· That while the climate change budget had been reduced in 2022, this was because nearly £1 million of outside funding had been obtained through various capital funding bids, and therefore the money spent on climate change was still increasing.
· That the Climate Change Strategy was integral to all council decision making and was fixed for 10 years.
Comments from the Executive Member included:
· She thanked officers for their work on the report and reiterated the £345 million invested in climate change action, which had been obtained from central government and other areas.
· She commented on some of the achievements the administration had made, including moving to 100% renewable electricity; replacing all <3.5t vehicles to electric within the next 3 years; a large increase in electric vehicle charging facilities in York; creating the largest community woodland in England; increasing urban tree cover; flood protection activity to protect 2,000 properties and an upstream project based on nature-based resilience to flooding.
· She thanked all partners for their work and support.
Resolved:
i. That the significant progress being made so far to take action on climate change and the Climate Action Update (Annex A), next steps, and contents of the report be noted.
Reason: To inform the Executive Member on the progress made on climate change action.
Cllr P Widdowson, Executive Member
[The meeting started at 3.05 pm and finished at 3.25 pm].