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Agenda item

Climate Strategy and update on council's response to the climate emergency

      Report of the Chief Executive

 

Minutes:

Cllr Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member for Development Management, Strategic Planning and Climate Change introduced the report which provided detail in relation to consultation responses, an update on the Council’s response to the Climate Emergency and to recommend the Climate Strategy for approval.

 

The Cabinet received questions from Andrew Nicolson, James Gladding and Bill Jarvis in relation to this report, copies of which are available to read in agenda supplement 1 on the Council’s website here. Supplementary questions were received from Andrew Nicolson and Bill Jarvis on behalf of James Gladding and himself. The Leader, Cllr Botterill and Cllr Dr McClelland  responded verbally at the meeting details of which can be found in the meetings recording at this link..

 

Cllr Botterill reminded Cabinet that a commitment was made to provide six monthly progress updates on actions the council is taking to tackle the climate emergency in Wiltshire. This is the fifth progress report to Cabinet following updates in October 2019, July 2020, February 2021 and July 2021. Cllr Botterill was pleased to report that the final Wiltshire Climate Strategy 2022-2027 was appended for consideration, and incorporated changes made in response to the recent consultation (September and October 2021). He further explained that comments on the significant progress against each of the seven Climate Strategy themes were detailed in the report.

 

Cllr Botterill welcomed the Councils recent excellent rating of 81% in Climate Emergency UK's Council Climate Plan Scorecards, ranking it as the fifth best unitary authority in the UK for its response to climate change.

 

The Leader thanked everyone involved in the development of the Strategy and explained that officers had been set some very challenging targets, which they were delivering on and highlighted that the Strategy provided a foundation to deliver on agreed targets.

 

Cllr Graham Wright, Chair of the Climate Emergency Task Group reported that the Task Group had received briefings on 15 December 2021 and had provided a detailed response.

 

Cllr Ian Thorn commented on the need for further discussion and engagement with partners, for the Delivery Plan to be more robust, and a document detailing achievement of milestones.

 

Comments from members included the importance of cross-party agreement to acknowledge the Climate Emergency in 2019, congratulations to all involved in the development of the Climate Strategy, the need for further developments in the areas of EV charging, agriculture and use of wind power, the impact of divesting assets and resources through SDAT, and the evolutionary process of setting and reaching targets.

 

Resolved:

 

That Cabinet:

 

  1. Notes the consultation feedback on the draft climate strategy;

 

  1. Approves the final Wiltshire Climate Strategy (2022-2027) and recommends it to Council for adoption as part of the council’s policy framework;

 

  1. Delegates permission to the Corporate Director for Place, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Development Management, Strategic Planning and Climate Change, to approve delivery plans for the climate strategy once developed;

 

  1. Notes the actions taken in response to the climate emergency following the last update in July 2021.

 

Reasons for Decision:

 

1.    To ensure Wiltshire has in place a strategy for its 2030 climate ambitions

2.    To provide Cabinet with an update on actions taken in response to the climate emergency

 

Supporting documents: