Agenda item

To receive a report from the Corporate Director - Place.

The Chairman called upon Cllr Dominic Muns, Cabinet Member for Waste and Environment, to introduce the annual update on the council’s response to the climate emergency. He moved the recommendations included within the report, which were seconded by Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of the Council.

Cllr Muns reported that significant progress was being made against all the climate strategy delivery themes. The council was on track to meet its objective of being carbon neutral, in its direct emissions, by 2030. He explained that the council’s Climate Delivery Strategy Plan and Carbon Neutral Council Plan would be fully updated by the end of the year to set out the priorities for 2025 and beyond. He noted that Wiltshire Council directly controlled around 0.2 percent of Wiltshire’s emissions, and was increasing support to residents and businesses to help them reach net zero. He gave thanks to officers for their hard work in driving forward the plans and highlighted that a full list of the achievements would be included in the delivery plan presented at the end of the year.

Group Leaders were then given the opportunity to comment.  Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of the Council, reiterated the progress that was being made towards reducing the council’s direct emissions and stated that he would welcome a faster reduction in emissions across the county as a whole. He emphasised that he was continuing to lobby hard through UK 100, the Countryside Climate Network, and the County Council Network to ensure that the views of rural communities were represented to national policymakers. He welcomed that there were not currently any air quality exceedances in the county and that there had been an increase in the rate of tree planting.

Cllr Gordon King, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, stated that he agreed with the importance of reducing emissions. He recognised that setting wide ranging objectives within a set timeframe was a large undertaking and that some slippages would be inevitable. He was pleased that the work to reduce the council’s direct emissions was largely on track and commended the work that had taken place.

Cllr Ricky Rogers, Leader of the Labour Group, stated that he was broadly in support of the direction of travel and gave thanks to officers for the tremendous work that they were doing.

Cllr Graham Wright, the Chairman of Climate Emergency Task Group, also took the opportunity to praise officers. He explained that the task group had met the previous week and would meet again the following week, continuing its ongoing work to explore and assess work taking place.

The Chairman then opened the item for general debate.

There was praise for the efforts made by Wiltshire Council in reducing its direct emissions, including within its Highways department. However, some members expressed frustration that there had not been greater progress in reducing indirect emissions, including from outsourced contracts and burning waste. It was claimed that a recent report had estimated that 30 percent of emission reductions nationwide required intervention from local authorities, and that local authorities could influence up to 82 percent of emissions.

Other areas discussed included the importance of healthy rivers and the efforts being made to reduce transport emissions. It was noted that the Wiltshire Connect on demand bus service in Pewsey Vale had improved uptake in public transport. There were plans to extend the scheme towards Malmesbury and Mere, which would also help to drive down overall emissions.

At the conclusion of the discussion, Cllr Muns welcomed the comments made about the reduction in the council’s direct emissions. In response to some of the concerns raised about indirect emissions, he noted that Wiltshire Council was extracting information about the environmental impact of its suppliers, so it could consider this data as part of contract negotiations. Evidence of this was that Milestone and Wiltshire Council had been shortlisted for the Edie Net Zero Awards in the category of supply chain decarbonisation. He also felt that generating energy from some waste was a pragmatic step that was more beneficial than landfill. He emphasised the importance of public opinion in reducing emissions and boosting recycling.

It was then,

Resolved:

That Full Council notes the actions taken in response to the climate emergency following the last update in October 2023, including the council’s annual Greenhouse Gas Report, the KPI scorecard, and the direction of travel for 2025.