OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY Committee
22 JANUARY 2013
*PART 1 – PUBLIC DOCUMENT / AGENDA ITEM No.15
APPENDIX B
TITLE OF REPORT: OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY WORK PROGRAMME
CONSIDERATION OF NHDC CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE GREEN AGENDA AND EXPLORATION OF AREAS TO CONSIDER FOR A ‘GREEN ISSUES TASK AND FINISH GROUP’
1. Background
1.1 ‘Green issues’ as a term refers to all manner of activities from those the district council undertakes, either through its internal services, through its contractors or in partnership with outside agencies, business and wider community, which contribute toward sustainability and wherever possible a reduction in energy use, emissions etc.
1.2 Officers have been asked to consider a number of suggestions made by members and consider which could be included in a scoping document to inform a ‘Green Issues’ Task and Finish Group.
1.3 The suggestions submitted by members for consideration, are addressed and numbered individually below, with comment in italics provided by the policy team, the lead service co-ordinating information from a range of services whose roles contribute to the reduction in energy use, increased insulation, reduced emissions from travel etc.
Individual areas of work
A. Progress on the NHDC Green Travel Plan
A1 The development of an NHDC Travel Plan was first mooted in the original Climate Change Strategy in 2009, in order to identify the Council’s aspirations with regard to travel by its officers, members and contractors in the course of their day to day roles. To date we have conducted a staff survey, and the outcomes from that survey are to be incorporated into the draft GreenTravel Plan currently being formulated. The outcomes from the staff survey are currently being analysed and a draft plan setting out objectives and targets, will be formalised and agreed internally and with the Portfolio Holder for Planning, Transport & Enterprise before being presented to Cabinet, potentially in Spring 2013.
A2 In terms of reducing carbon emissions through transport, through offering the opportunity for officers to work from home as appropriate, offering home visits to residents claiming certain benefits, contractors’ commitment to energy and sustainability principles, the Council is contributing to the green agenda. Loraine O’Gorman the Transport Policy Officer in Strategic Planning & Projects is leading on this.
B Install energy generation devices on our buildings, eg solar PV and/or solar energy panels, geothermal plant where we have enough area to bury the necessary pipes or air sourced heat exchangers?
B1 A first review of the carbon reduction potential from our operational buildings has been completed. The work has been carried out to identify viable projects in 25 premises and the projects have been banded into 3 categories relating to cost outlay versus potential return, not only in terms of carbon reduction, but most importantly too a reduction in energy use/costs.
B2 In association with Stevenage Borough Council we will soon be seeking quotations for carrying out assessments of our premises to quantify these areas of potential, with costs and payback estimates, which will inform our emissions reduction capacity. Ian Davis in the Property Services Team is leading on this.
C A Senior Planning Officer attended a 3 day training course on climate change issues - can we see how this learning has been built into planning policies? In particular tighter requirements for energy saving in new buildings, encouragement to energy generation, and travel plans for businesses.
C1 The training course on climate change was specifically referred to within the update on climate change/green issues to the December meeting to identify that this is an area in which some govt climate change grant was invested to enable the authority to have sufficient officer skills to take forward the latest sustainability requirements when preparing planning policies in the Local Plan documents and, currently, strategic sites/housing numbers and infrastructure requirements.
Clare Skeels in Strategic Planning & Projects is leading on this.
D Climate Change measures include those intended to reduce climate change, but also those required to mitigate and ameliorate the effects of Climate Change - the obvious one being reducing flooding both from rivers and from surface water run off (including drainage), but what other climate change effects are we also involved in mitigating? It is believed that all LPAs are now required to have and implement policies to mitigate and ameliorate climate change effects. - what are our planning policies in this respect?
D1 Current planning policies are set out in the saved policies of the Local Plan and in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
D2 Draft policies which would help to mitigate against the effects of climate change were included in the 2007 Core Strategy Preferred Options consultation paper. The principles behind those policies are still valid but they are significantly out of date now and will need to be reviewed as part of the new local plan for the District.
D3 Work on the new local plan has started with public consultation on housing growth targets and locations about to take place. The timetable for the preparation of the local plan as a whole, the Local Development Scheme, is currently being reviewed. It is anticipated that a new local plan, including planning policies for climate change will be presented to Cabinet at the end of 2013 with public consultation taking place in the early months of 2014.
D4 It should also be noted that there have been changes in the Building Regulations which will help to mitigate against the effects of climate change.
Claire Skeels would be able to provide more information regarding the preparation of the draft policies in the Local Plan as these evolve over the coming year.
D5 The risks to service delivery arising from climate change are (potentially) wetter winters, drier summers, more intense downpours and more frequent and intense flooding; there could equally be milder winters, hotter summers, more very hot days and nights and more frequent and intense heat waves. Service managers within the council have carried out individual risk assessments to consider climate change and how they may continue to provide their individual services to residents throughout such situations. Managers preparing and reviewing their Business Continuity Plans do so while mindful of Climate Change.
D6 NHDC have a comprehensive programme of tree management and maintenance in place to endeavour the service is prepared to adapt as appropriate to address impacts arising from climate change. We have also adopted a policy of wild flower planting on roundabouts as part of a new district wide approach that is more sustainable, using more native plants whilst also reducing the need for watering. This has been well received by local residents.
E Has the campaign to reduce food waste been successful - can we see figures?
E1 Food waste is presented in the brown bin (recycled) and the grey bin (sent to landfill). With regards to the former, as food waste is collected and composted alongside cardboard waste and garden waste any changes to food waste tonnage alone cannot be quantified as it is mixed. This can also not be quantified as a whole due to the seasonal fluctuations of all three waste stream, and so to guess would prove inaccurate.
E2 Regarding the latter, this can also not be quantified unless a waste compositional analysis is performed where waste from a selection of the 'average' bins (recycling as well as waste) in North Herts are separated in the different waste streams and weighed and apportioned. The last analysis was conducted in October 2010 with the next one not due until October 2013 at the earliest. This will definitely show easily comparable results to the previous analysis.
E3 In order to show the success of the food waste campaign we use qualitative data as this is a long term, behavioural change campaign. The impact on residents’ behaviours were evident when meeting them face-to-face during the promotions of each project as the calibre of questions became more in-depth and knowledgeable. Residents also have a greater awareness of what food waste is as well as accepting the difference between perceived amounts of food waste and actual amounts of food waste. Figures such as website hits and press articles seen by thousands of our residents ensured that the messages of this important campaign was constantly reinforced and reminding. In total, the NHDC food waste message was promoted to over 450 residents at roadshows and via 21 press articles (circulation of our 2 local papers is over 57,500), 3 radio features, 6 online articles, 1560 recipe cards, over 500 bag clips, 192 ice scrapers and 247 website hits.
E4 With regards to cost on the public purse, by sending less food to landfill NHDC can save up to £0.5million of council tax on disposal by recycling this food waste instead. Households can also save around £50 per month per household by wasting less food so by applying the advice of the food waste campaign our residents will see financial benefits straight away. We know from anecdotal feedback that residents have learnt from this campaign and have applied their knowledge as they revisit our subsequent roadshows to share their experiences.
F What are our services, other than waste/recycling, doing about Climate Change? Here there needs to be distinction between "green issues" like improving our parks and gardens (to be welcomed) and climate change more significantly (eg the Nottingham Declaration which we have been signed up to for several years)
F1 NHDC have an officer Climate change working group (CCCWG), a strategic group that considers existing and forthcoming corporate projects and their action plans to support our efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. They pull together the work of different parts of the Council which contributes to mitigating (reducing) harmful climate change and adapting to climate change..
At each quarterly meeting we document all that has been achieved and this list of ‘Achievements’ is available on Covalent for all officers and Members to see; this is the list which was provided to the Overview and Scrutiny committee for consideration in December 2012.
F2 Regarding the Nottingham declaration, NHDC signed up to the Nottingham Declaration in 2007and some of the more recent activities to which the Council committed are included in the Achievements list referred to at F1.
F3 It was anticipated that the Nottingham Declaration 2 (ND2) to be introduced in 2012. Instead of ND2 the Local Government Association have launched an initiative ‘Climate Local’ to support and drive council action to reduce carbon emissions and also to improve resilience to climate change. The initiative consists of:
· A commitment to sign up and to demonstrate council leadership on climate change
· A set of guides and templates to help councils set local commitments and milestones
· New web-based resources, an on-line community and opportunities for peer learning
· A Climate Change Steering Group – bringing together at a national level nominated members of the LA’s Environment and Housing Boards, council representatives and national partners. The intention is that this new group would provide advice on and share good practice, but we are as yet to see such information being cascaded.
F4 There are advantages in that it could be used for good publicity and raise the profile of Climate Change to our residents and partners. However it would require us to identify and make commitments and actions, both for mitigation and adaptation, within six months of signing, but thereby committing the authority to significant additional officer and financial commitments which the authority cannot resource given current and future funding constraints.
F5 We would also see an increase in workload to monitor targets, share and compare progress made, to swap advice and tips using the on-line community. The templates provided by ‘Climate Local’ would also be a duplication of our performance management system, Covalent, that is currently used to record our Climate Change work.
F6 The greatest risk, though, is that of sustainable finance. At the end of 2012 twenty-seven district councils had signed up to this initiative, but NHDC are awaiting further clarification regarding the anticipated link between meeting carbon reduction commitments an authority could make against a ‘penalty’ reduction in central government grant for not meeting those targets in the longer term; this financial element only came to light in recent months, after a number of authorities had signed up. Officers have agreed with the Policy portfolio holder that we will only recommend the authority sign were these risks, and importantly the benefits, to be more clear.
G We require contractors to work in accordance with NHDC Climate Change policy, but that is fairly loose. What in practice do we require as actions, how do we monitor conformity and what are the penalties?
G1 It is particularly difficult to specify detailed ‘green’ credentials/requirements at the time of awarding any contract, as building a number of such requirements (and especially any resulting penalties) into a contract is by necessity and nature generally cost additive; the tendency is to build a contingency against not meeting such green targets and facing financial penalty into the overall delivery cost.