Agenda item

To consider a request from Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, pertaining to the ‘Climate Change’ Notices of Motion passed by Full Council on 26 February 2019.

The Committee considered the report of the Lead Scrutiny Officer which (i) Presented two Notices of Motion passed by Full Council on 28 February 2019

that reference involvement from Overview and Scrutiny (OS); (ii) Invited the Environment Select Committee to establish a task group to undertake the work outlined in the report, as requested by OS Management Committee on 26 March 2019; and (iii) Presented information to support councillors’ consideration of how the actions set out in the motions could be addressed, set out in Appendix 1 of the report.

The Committee heard from (i) Cllr Wright, Chair of the OS Management Committee, who reported that the OS Management Committee were overwhelmingly in support of the issue being considered by a Task Group of the Environment Select Committee; (ii) Cllr Whitehead, Cabinet Member for Finance, Procurement, ICT and Operational Assets, who spoke to his motion that was agreed by Full Council in February 2019; and (iii) Cllr Toby Sturgis, Cabinet Member for Spatial Planning, Development Management and Property, who reported that climate change policies were already included in the Wiltshire Core Strategy 2006-2026.  He reminded the Committee that any new proposals arising from the work of the Task Group relating to Spatial Planning and Development Management would need to be evidence based and financially viable, as the proposals would be examined by the Planning Inspector.  Cllr Sturgis confirmed that he would be pleased to offer any advice and respond to questions and comments from the Task Group.

The Committee noted that the current Director for Waste and Environment would provide the lead and support the Task Group in its development of recommendations and plan to achieve the pledge referred to in the motions to Full Council along with the undertaking of a carbon/renewables audit.

The Committee commented on a number of issues that the Task Group would need to consider, including the following:

·         Advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer on the scope and framework that the Task Group can work within.

·         Realistic expectations required by the public in relation to (i) what the Council can do versus what the public can do; (ii) The Council working in partnership to become carbon neutral; (iii) the organisations to be involved to enable Wiltshire to become carbon neutral.

·         The production of a set of definitions by the Task Group to be included in the Terms of Reference, for example carbon neutral, county of Wiltshire.

·         Setting out what the Task Group want to achieve for Wiltshire.

·         The definition of County of Wiltshire i.e. council owned buildings, and the areas that the Council can influence, e.g. planning, farming (gaining carbon neutrality).

·         The need for the Task Group to work in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

Resolved:

1.    As requested by Full Council and Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, to establish a task group to:

a)    develop recommendations and a plan to achieve making the county of Wiltshire carbon neutral by 2030 along with undertaking a carbon / renewables audit;

b)   agree parameters with the relevant Cabinet Member or Portfolio Holder that represent the council impact on the environment and can be accurately reported to council on a regular basis, to potentially include those measures suggested in the motion to Full Council;

c)    for the Task Group to consider information collected from the Rapid Scrutiny: Plastic Waste in Wiltshire’s roads; and

d)   and for all comments from today’s debate to be considered by the Task Group

2.    Task Group to devise draft terms of reference, to be brought back to the Environment Select Committee on 18^th June for endorsement.

3.    For the Environment Select Committee Chairman and Vice-Chairman to determine the final task group membership.