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Thank you very much, yeah, you're now live. Good afternoon members, officers, and any members of the public viewing the live stream. Welcome to this meeting, the Climate and Environment Advisory Committee. My name is Councillor Martin, Dr. Martin Carne, and I'm usually a vice-chair of the committee. However, as a usual chair, Councillor Pippa Hagen, who sent apologies to this meeting, I will be chairing the committee. My vice-chair is also not not attending today, so I would like to invite Councillor Peter. [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] Can I do this by information? Agreed. Thank you very much. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] Those in the chamber, I remind you that the meeting is being live streamed. I will introduce the other attendees at the meeting when they call, when they invite them to speak. May I ask those who are joining us remotely to ensure that their camera and microphone remain off unless they are addressing the committee. For those of us present in the room, please ensure your microphone is close to you and speak clearly when they're addressing the room. Now we come to, sorry, apologies for the absence. Item two on agenda is apologies. Lawrence, are there any apologies for absence, please? Thank you very much, Chair. Yeah, a few apologies today. So we've had apologies from the usual chair, Councillor Pippa Haylings, one of your vice-chairs, Councillor Jeff Harvey. And then also Councillors Srimonabat, Dr. Srimonabat, Charia and Buntingwaters. Thank you very much. Declarations of interest. Do any members have interest to declare in relation to any item of business on the agenda? I've got an interest in the sense that my brother-in-law was the founder of Climate Emergency, which is mentioned in the report, climate scoping report. And my sister was also a director. They both now have resigned, but my sister was also involved in financing the establishment of the organisation. But I'll approach any matter fresh on this. Does anybody else have any declarations of interest? I'm Councillor Mario Caro. I didn't even know it existed before today, so I come to the matter of fresh. The minutes of the previous meeting. Item 4 on agenda is the minutes of the previous meeting. I'm informed that the minutes of the meeting held on the 11th of April are not ready for approval yet. These minutes will be brought to the next meeting of the committee. Public questions is item 5. We've received one public question today that comes to Mr. Daniel Fulton. Mr. Fulton, would you please put your question to us? Thank you very much, Chair. Environmental activism is essential to solving the climate crisis. Could the Chair please confirm if the District Council supports individuals' right to engage in lawful environmental activism in South Caperedshire? The answer is simply yes. I don't think there's anything more that needs to be said on that. Do you have a supplementary question? I have a brief supplementary statement, if that's acceptable. There have been a number of irregularities in recent years in regards to environmental decision-making at the Council. Due to a number of unfortunate errors in judgment, a number of third parties became involved in these issues. Those third parties ought never properly have become involved. As a result, the secondary and tertiary implications of what were initially quite minor irregularities are now spiraling out of control. These matters are now having unacceptable adverse impacts on the lives of officers, members, and others that are totally disproportionate to the scale of the initial irregularities. The only way to address these problems in a manner that does not totally consume the Council is for the relevant parties to sit down and to come to a reasonable understanding of how best to move forward in a manner that protects the interests of the Council and, more importantly, which protects the principles of trust that underlie the operation of local democracy. Excuse me. Can you have your question, please? I'm almost finished. By communicating with each other and by treating each other as trusted collaborators in the democratic process, those involved can restore the bonds of trust, mutual respect, and cooperation that are absolutely necessary for local democracy. Thank you for considering my remarks. Is there a question there? No, there's not. Okay. Thank you very much indeed. Agenda item six is the climate and nature strategy and action plan. The committee is asked to comment on the proposed scope and plan and targets of the strategy and to note the report. We have Ellie Haines with us to present the report. Ellie, can I please hand over to you? Yes, thank you, Chair. Good afternoon. I am here to present a report on the proposed scope of the climate and nature strategy. The purpose of this report is to present the proposed approach to changes to the targets for the new strategy, update the climate and environment advisory committee on the proposed timeline for the project, and present a proposal for the scope of the climate and nature strategy. The report proposes a number of key changes from the previous zero carbon and nature strategies. A combined climate and nature strategy is proposed to include a combined approach to tackling both the climate and ecological emergencies, allowing action which serves both outcomes to be delivered and monitored more effectively. The strategy will maintain flexibility to complement the revision of any strategies at other governance levels in order to take account of any additional evidence or strategies which might arise during the strategy term, such as the local area energy plan or the local nature recovery strategy. As part of the development of the strategy, we will assess past reviews undertaken to assess where South Cambridgeshire District Council is in its delivery of its work to tackle the climate and ecological emergencies. This will include assessing the work to review our score in the climate emergency UK scorecards and the work undertaken by an independent consultant to review this in 2022. Guidance will also be used from other organisations such as UK 100 and the carbon disclosure project in the development of this strategy. The strategy will include actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change, recognising the need to address both of these, given that we're already seeing the impacts of climate change so that we can maximise the benefits of projects which can help with both. It will also consider the benefits of actions, including tackling inequalities as being central points of focus to the delivery of the strategy and to enhance the benefits of climate action. We will work closely with other service areas in the development of the strategy, such as the planning department, housing department and business support team in order to develop the strategy and its actions as well. The strategy will incorporate an action plan and climate risk register as mechanisms for monitoring and reviewing actions proposed within the strategy and the incorporation of the climate risk register will support the monitoring of climate risks in surface continuity plans. It will propose options for the revision of the council's net zero targets, which will be presented to officers and members. These will be based on an assessment of progress to date, as well as guidance from organisations such as UK 100. And these options, alongside an assessment of the financial and resourcing implications will be set out for decision making by officers and members. Milestone targets will be set using guidance and data from the science based target initiative. In developing the strategy, we will also seek a position on offsetting in order to set out our approach to this and similarly to the targets, these options will also be put before officers and members. It's recognised that consultants may be required to deliver certain aspects of the strategy, but where this might be required has not yet been determined. It's recommended that the climate and environment advisory committee notes the report and gives comments on the proposed scope plan and targets for the client for the proposed climate and nature strategy. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions? [No audio] The timetable for the programme is fairly tight. Including actions taken during a campaign when there's an action period so you can't take anything controversial. Is the election period and so on going to cause a delay? Is it going to cause problems in implementing and preparing? We have factored in that period of time, during that period of time we will be undertaking desk based research by officers into the development of the strategy. So that time will be used as best as we can to undertake desk based research and so we will avoid any sort of external consultation or consultation during that time. In terms of the nature strategy, is this one of the areas where you're going to explore some of the problems or you're working with a natural temperature? How is that going to be researched? So we will be factoring in the ongoing research that's being undertaken as part of the development of the local nature recovery strategy. And also we recognise that that will be ongoing so we will need to ensure that the strategy remains flexible to incorporate anything, any other information which comes to light. It needs to remain flexible to incorporate anything, any other information and we will also be speaking to natural cambridgeshire in the development of the strategy as well to make sure we're factoring in their thoughts and opinion as we will do with other organisations throughout the district on other matters as well. And in that action will you be making, how will you be relating to the actions of the Ministry of the ground scheme for rural agricultural areas because that's obviously going to be one of the major impacts in terms of nature recovery strategy. Will you be liaising with government or will you be doing this at second hand or with the local branches? I think that's certainly something we can consider as part of it. I think that we hope that during the scoping stage we'll understand how to incorporate that and factor that in and make sure we're speaking to the right people with regards to that. We're uncertain about what the future will be, what the project will be, so that's obviously something we need to be in mind. Do we have any? Councilwoman Green, tell you why. Thank you very much for that report, that was really insightful around the process that you're going to be taking. I've noticed on page 13 for an interesting diagram and I'm wondering what the process is going to be for working with the bottom piece, the parish councils and communities, because that's something that we deal with on a day to day basis. In terms of the sort of feedback you might get, so I'm just wondering what your process is to get that grassroots information into your work. Yeah, I think we want to incorporate the views of parish councils and communities throughout the process of developing the strategy. I think at an initial stage, instead of it's something which the team continues to do, is to take on the views of communities and parish councils in developing strategy. And then obviously there will be a consultation phase where we will ensure that we are getting the views of those communities and parish councils in and getting a detailed view and engaging with them in an in-depth way as well. And then I guess throughout the strategy term, we want to make sure that we revisit their views and continually make sure that they understand how their views have been incorporated into the strategy, because it's important that they understand how their views are carried through into the delivery of the strategy and action plan as well. Councillor Timmy Hawkins. Thank you, thank you Elie for your presentation. I just wondered, I mean the climate risk register, is there an example anywhere, are we going to be creating that from scratch, is there something you can build on? So there's a number of organisations which provide support for local authorities in developing climate risk registers and there's a few organisations which offer different ones, so we'll be looking at the different options which are available and taking advice from them and looking at the formats in which we can develop that. So that helps in so that we're not looking at it as in sort of doing it from scratch, there's toolkits that we can use to help to support in the development of that risk register as well. In terms of how far we are now with the zero carbon strategy and doubling nature, obviously we've done some work in-house, again we're not starting from scratch on that because I think we already have some reports to do with our corporate objectives, so presumably that will be your starting point for that. So the annual review of the zero carbon and doubling nature action plan as well as the greenhouse gas emissions report will be coming to the CF in October and then that will give us the most up to date picture of where we are in terms of our progress and that review will feed into our development of the strategy throughout the next year or so. Thank you. Thank you, Mr Chair. Ellie, can I just follow up a little on the response you gave to Councillor Warren Green about engaging with parish councils. My parish councils, with respect, are probably pretty unenlightened regarding climate strategies, they've probably got a very high level overview. I know there are webinars and such like put on from time to time, but do you have a strategy for ensuring they engage in a more detailed day to day level with your work? I think it's something which I hope will come out of sort of when we start to engage with them, I hope that sort of an understanding of the best ways to engage with parish councils and communities, I hope that will come out of that process as well and we hope to sort of gain ideas and that will feed into our zero carbon communities programme and how we develop that as well. And also, I think in doing our engagement, then I sort of think it's really important that we do a mixture of sort of in person and online engagement and that in person engagement is in settings with people who wouldn't normally engage with the climate emergency. So we want to make sure that we get a range of views from different groups and different people so that we know how best to engage moving forward on it as well. Thank you. I suspect local members have got a role to play here, encouraging our parish councils to understand this is important, please make time for it. Yes, if you can encourage myself and our fellow members to prioritise the work. Okay, I'd like another question. Looking at the organisational diagram, it's complicated, particularly in general, in England, less so in Wales and Scotland, local government has been reorganised, local government is a bit of a complicated network with different organisations with different powers and controls. Often, one of the risks with a strategy is that one claims someone's going to do things which are not within the powers of local government, which is obviously strictly controlled by the powers given to it by parliament. How much are you going to be using this as what you might call an encouragement document and how much is it going to be strictly linked to the actual powers that we have directly ourselves? So I think it's an important distinction to make. I can see where you're coming from on that. I think we do need to be quite realistic about if we're making commitments about what we can achieve and what's realistic to achieve. And I think we do need to stick with that in developing a new strategy. However, you know, one of our values is to be ambitious. So I think we do also need to be clear about where we think we can go further at the same time. And you know, I think this diagram shows quite clearly that we are in a different position than we were five years ago when we were at our previous strategy. So we do need to, there are opportunities there in working with all the organisations to be probably more ambitious than we were five years ago. But I would say that does have to be tempered with a dose of realism. Do we have any other questions or comments? Okay, thank you very much. We'll note the report. We'll now move on to the next item on the agenda. Item 7, the Water Beach Renewable Energy Network. We're going to have an oral update from Alex Stellingday. Thank you very much, Alex. Would you let us know? Oh, thank you. I'm online. Sorry. She's online. Sorry. Thanks, Lawrence, for sharing the slides. So the project team has completed a review of the original business case for the Water Beach Renewable Energy Network project, which is our solar and electricity storage project to power our electric bin-lory fleets. We found no significant changes from the original business case and have continued to develop the project. So one of the main work areas is on assembling the project delivery team, including the functions of the employer's agent, the quantity surveyor, the clerk of works and technical advisors. The next task will be to procure the main design and build team. So the tender for this, excuse me, is proposed to be in around two months time with the appointment in autumn. And then there'll be approximately a 12-month construction period for the solar storage and electric vehicle charge points. Simultaneously, the team have progressed the land leases for the solar site and the construction area, as well as progressing the grid connection and the substation works with the local electricity distribution network operator. Sorry, excuse me, we have a comment. Sorry, Alex, your slides seem to be rather randomly changing. Okay, I'm so sorry. Okay, so yes, I mentioned the land leases. Next slide please. So simultaneously the team have progressed the land leases, and then also the grid connection and substation works with the local electricity distribution network operator for our area, which is UKPN. The existing electric bin lorries have been monitored and are continuously monitored, and the operational team have trialled a vehicle with a larger battery, and the data has indicated that with the range that we can get with that larger battery, 18 electric bin lorries can be incorporated into the fleet. So the project team continues to also share and receive learning with other local authorities, including Exeter City Council, and that completes my kind of quick verbal update on the key aspects of the project. The committee is asked to note this verbal updates, and I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you. Do we have any questions from members. Yes, Alex, thanks for your update. 18 electric refuse vehicles. Great, but very expensive. Do we have a timeline for when these will be rolled out and appreciate this might be outside the scope of your work? Yeah, correct. It's outside the scope of the project. However, I'm aware that colleagues have got a fleet decolonization plan and a fleet transition plan, and those vehicles are factored already into the budgets. Obviously, this is a shared waste service so it's budgets across both councils, but that that money for those vehicles is already kind of profiled across a kind of three to four year program, and I'm happy to provide more information and following this in terms of the specific specific breakdowns. Great, thank you. Thank you, Alex. How's the price of renewable energy is now falling, or of any electricity generally is now falling. How does this affect the finances of the project? And we won't fully know the answer to that question until we get into the procurement, I would say, and we are aware that costings for these projects, and it has changed and significant part of this project is obviously the battery storage. I would say the battery storage element is not falling as much as kind of solar panels and that's that part of the project. And so we will be, you know, we will know the kind of standing of the finances once we kind of get into the kind of procurement of the main contractor following this, but as I mentioned, we're taking a lot of learning from other local authorities and, you know, and kind of making sure that we're able to kind of, and employing the services of a quantity spare as well so that we can kind of make sure that, you know, those kind of prices are competitive. But yeah, you're right, some of those aspects have stabilized, if not come down a bit as well, especially on the solar side. Thank you. Other, any other questions? Thank you very much, we're pleased to see that it's progressing well, and thank you very much, and we're committed to note the project and the report. Now the next item is the forward plan and any other business, and I ask Lawrence please to give us an update on the next meeting and the items of business in the forward plan. Thank you very much chair so I'm just going to say a few words, because the next meeting is currently scheduled to be held in early October. And this is the meeting that we've earmarked for holding in a school. Plans to hold the meeting at Compton Village College coming along very nicely. Myself and climate environment colleagues went for a visit. We've got some really good plans for some workshops and sessions and hopefully we'll have a very engaging day for some young people across the community and give them an opportunity to feed into our policy making process in the climate environment field and the topics we'll be discussing. As far as the forward plan goes, we are due to have, as Ellie's mentioned earlier, zero carbon doubling nature action annual report is coming, alongside the annual greenhouse gas report. And just further bits on the forward plan at the moment is going to be continuing colleagues will bring further updates on climate and nature strategy and action plan, building on today, and more information will be forthcoming on the LNRS the local nature recovery strategy. I think that's everything I'm aware of that team if there's anything you have to mention. No, we've got some happy faces there so that's where we're at with forward plan. If any members have anything they would like to put onto our list we be all ears. Thank you everyone. Are there any comments any items that you'd like to bring forward from the list. Thank you very much. Now, that brings the meeting to a close. The next meeting of the climate and environment advisory committee is currently due to be held on first of October and as you're aware that's likely to change. So we will send out a note to you when the fund dates be confirmed. And thank you very much for your time today. With that I close the meeting. Thank you.