Purpose

To Allocate the balance of the Climate and Nature Reserve for the delivery of projects which will positively impact the climate and natural environment of Herefordshire to the benefit of all who reside in the county.

Decision

That:

a)     Approve the proposed allocation of £256,672 from the Climate Reserve;

b)     Endorse the three investment themes;

                           I.          Supporting Herefordshire Communities

                         II.          Investing in Herefordshire

                        III.          Research, Development and Policy

and

c)     Delegate all operational decisions to Head of Environment to enable the full spend of the balance of the reserve and delivery of the programme.

Alternative options considered

1.               Seek external funding: To date we have been successful in securing external funding, replacing precious reserve monies with external grant. While desirable, and a priority of the teams to do so this is not guaranteed and would delay implementation if we were to rely on this alone.

2.               Do nothing: This would delay or prevent delivery of key climate and nature projects, risking failure to meet environmental targets and loss of external funding opportunities.