This meeting was scheduled to include an update on the council's progress towards becoming carbon neutral by 2030, and consultations on the council's equality, diversity and inclusion strategy and action plan and an annual review of the Vision 2032 ten year plan for the borough. It was also scheduled to include a request that authority be delegated to the Monitoring Officer to decide who represents the council on outside bodies.

Telford & Wrekin Becoming Carbon Neutral - update report

The report pack included for discussion an update report on the council's progress to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. This report included a discussion of the importance of climate change adaptation, and the work that the council has done to develop a corporate climate change risk register. The report said that the council has reduced its carbon emissions by 61% from a 2018/19 baseline. The report pack included several case studies on work that the council has done to reduce its carbon emissions. This included the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, electric vehicle (EV) charging points and battery storage at Horsehay Village Golf Course. The report pack said that the council has also been awarded £1.1 million from the government's Salix Public Sector Decarbonisation Grant (PSDS) Phase 3c for a range of energy efficiency measures at Wellington Leisure Centre. These include upgrading the thermal fabric¹ and installing an air source heat pump. The report pack also said that construction of 189 new homes at Station Quarter is due to start this summer. These will all be built to achieve Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) “A” rating in terms of environmental impact and EPC “B” rating for energy efficiency.

Vision 2032 - Annual Review

The report pack included an annual review of the council's delivery of the ten-year borough plan ‘Vision 2032’, which describes what the borough will be like to live-in in 2032. The report pack said that this annual review shows what has been delivered by the council against each of the ambitions of the vision, such as:

Being the first council in the West Midlands to be judged outstanding in successive inspections by OFSTED for Children’s Social Care Services illustrating that we have continued to put young people in the borough at the heart of everything we do and ensuring that all children are safeguarded. The report pack said that the council is investing over £70m to further develop Oakengates and Wellington town centres, and the Station Quarter development. It also said that the council has launched six new bus routes which have now carried over 300,000 passengers since their inception, and provided over £1m of investment to improve insulation and make homes energy efficient.

Progress on the Council's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan

The report pack included a discussion of the council's progress against its four-year Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy and Action Plan, and its Equality Objectives as per its duties under the Public Sector Equality Duty. The report pack said that the council has:

carried out an extensive review of our recruitment and selection procedures and consequently updated the Council’s guidance around this. It also said that the council has: reviewed and renewed our translation and interpretation contracts including VISS, Word360 and Supreme Linguistic Services. The report pack said that the council's multicultural development team has worked with 26 schools across the borough on a number of different EDI projects, and that Adult Social Care has increased the number of experts by experience involved in service planning. The report pack included an update on the events that the council has organised to celebrate the diversity of the borough. It also included a list of new EDI actions that the council is proposing to take.

Representation on Outside Bodies

The report pack included a discussion of the organisations that the council has historically nominated councillors to, and a request that authority be delegated to the Monitoring Officer to approve nominations to those outside bodies. The report pack said that the Monitoring Officer would consult with Councillor Zona Hannington, Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance and Customer Services, when making decisions on representation. The report pack said that a review of the outside bodies has been carried out to assess the needs of both the council and its partners in terms of the level of representation required. The report pack included a list of all of the outside bodies to which the council may nominate councillors. For example, it said that the council can nominate one councillor to the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site Steering Group, which meets twice a year.