Agenda item

Agreed;

1.         That the Council’s Green Community Grants scheme be doubled to £20,000 for 2021/22 (funded from the Climate Emergency Budget)

2.         That the Council no longer maintain the ISO140001 Energy Management accreditation given the shift to the more comprehensive action being taken on carbon reduction across all services and actions in the Council.

3.         To note the progress and actions set out in the report.

4.         That the draft Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy be presented to Cabinet in July.

5.         That the Council makes an application to the On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme and initially uses the Climate Emergency Budget to match-fund.

Decision:

Agreed that the Council’s Green Community Grants scheme be doubled to £20,000 for 2021/22 (funded from the Climate Emergency Budget)

Agreed that the Council no longer maintain the ISO140001

Energy Management accreditation given the shift to the more comprehensive action being taken on carbon reduction across all services and actions in the Council.

Agreed that the Council notes the progress and actions set out in the report.

Agreed that the Council agrees that the draft Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy be presented to Cabinet in July.

Agreed that the Council agrees that the Council makes an application to the On-street Residential Charge point Scheme and initially uses the Climate Emergency Budget to match-fund.

Advice:

Mark Gaynor and Melanie Parr noted that the report was comprehensive and that there was a focus on the rights things and delivery of the carbon reduction we are looking for. Important to have national and international context and specifically a national one with the 10 point plan and may need to be update with Prime Minister’s update today. Very ambitious in respect to carbon reduction and requires a significant shift in terms of action from the government in order deliver and investment and direction required, where reluctant companies may not want to participate and where encouragement may not be appropriate.

The Report itself does cover issues such as ongoing housing and the way to deal with the retrofit of our Council homes and is a longer term process.

Excellent work on community and communications process which Melanie Parr has been focussing on, appended “learning from lockdown strategy” which has helped advice. Ecological emergency and updating of Ecology and Bio-diversity strategy. Happy to take questions rather than run through entire report.

Cllr Julie Banks – Appreciative of reports put forward and huge sense of pride that we are ahead of the game. Criticism in the lack of branding and communication with residents, particularly Cupid Green, Electric Vehicle Charging points and no celebration of what impact we have made or even signposting the good things we have been doing. We are not promoting or speaking out about what we’ve done. Need signage, website update, notices in and around the Forum.

Mark Gaynor – We have not had the public platform we would like and the report demonstrates the direction we would like to go, including online presence and community group involvements. Accept part of moving forward will involve communication and publicity, communication, consultation, feedback and dialogue with residents.  Fair criticism and one we are working on.  Expect to see a lot more coming forward.

Cllr Banks – what are the timescales for seeing signs on grass verges, wildflower meadows being celebrated, electric vehicle points and signage being promoted? Perhaps a fanfare at entrance. We should have window stickers available to residents to say they have carbon neutral homes/business. We should consider ideas such as “push a button to donate a tree” and get a Facebook page and/or website to promote, to let residents see what we are responding to demands on climate change.

Melanie Parr said she is hoping to schedule a large event later in the year, around November to promote the Dacorum Climate Action Network and hopefully have a programme to allow residents to get training and advice on how to make their homes more energy efficient.  The Strategy would be coming forward to Cabinet in July.

Cllr Alan Anderson – understands rationale for curtailing isO4001 accreditation, these would be embedded as part of this strategy action plan and wants assurance that this will be the case to keep the processes going as part of this strategy. 

Mark Gaynor –the interventions now will be greater than those in isO4001. Will show how we are moving towards 0 carbon.  Need to collect, publish data and show how moving towards the aim of 0 carbon and looking at offset of net 0 to make the difference.  Recording and reporting will therefore increase rather than decrease. Happy to accept any comments from Members to take things forward.

Cllr Graham Barratt – Vehicle charging points –Who many do we need? Who is going to pay for it? Where will they be? And how will people have access to them? 39% of residents in Dacorum don’t have off-street parking and so where will the charging points be put? Can they be vandalised? How feasible is it to do it? Should we be paying for this?

Mark Gaynor – We have had a meeting with one of the companies to provide the answers to questions.  Charging points allowed in car parks providing publicly accessible charging and we will be introducing charging points that way.  It is not a simple process and the County will have an input on this, as they own the lamppost etc. Complicated given the number of households.

Melanie Parr – just started working with a consultancy, by 2030 estimated to have around 30,000 electric vehicles and we need to plan for this around infrastructure. Will be looking at where there is a need for the charge points and looking at who will be responsible for implementation. Also looking at destination charging – car parks, work places, shopping malls etc. and not all will cost DBC money.

Mark Gaynor – Shouldn’t be a DBC cost solely, however important to get infrastructure in place prior to electric vehicle roll out by Government.

Ben Hosier – Vast majority of users likely to require destination charging. Consultants are looking into all data and whether they can charge on their own property or street and based on number of miles driven.

Melanie Parr – the plan in the meantime is to apply for government funding and put more charge points into our car parks.

Cllr Margaret Griffiths – Don’t want all the good work being undertaken undermined if not keeping residents informed and involved.  Suggest that we put signage and branding on some of our buildings such as St Peters Court and Kilner Court. A little motif with our climate change promotion displayed.

Ben Hosier – A “Green Plaque” is a suggestion for this.

Cllr Andrew Williams – It is about looking at the right places to promote and the opportunities to do it are widespread.

Cllr Ron Tindall – Happy with the report. What has happened to the power supply to the car parks? A third of people are working from home after Covid and so will there be a need to charge their cars at home instead of outside? This needs consideration.

Ben Hosier – Transfer over a number of EV charge points from HCC, however there are earthing issues and so need to be replaced. Contractors need to undertake investigations before touching them. This is now in process.

Claire Hamilton – We are developing our Corporate Communication Strategy and will be coming forward on the Forward plan in the coming months.

Cllr Andrew Williams – This should be a theme throughout the Council in terms of communication.

Cllr Alan Anderson – On-street charging is impractical and need to get charging times down like filling up at a petrol station is the way forward.

Cllr Williams said see how things go as speed of change will dictate.

James Deane – Looking at pros and cons of different sites at the moment and will be reporting back to Members in due course.  Possibility if residents unable to charge cars at home, could need to go to charge cars in Town Centre which will provide dual benefit.

Recommendations Agreed.