The meeting was scheduled to receive reports on two main topics, the council’s Biodiversity Strategy and its Climate Change and Air Quality Strategy. The first report provided the committee with a baseline for the recently adopted strategy that can be used to measure future progress, while the second report set out the latest figures for the council and borough’s emissions.

Biodiversity Strategy 2023-2029

The Biodiversity Strategy for Basingstoke and Deane 2023 to 2029 was approved by the council in March 2024 and has the aim of supporting nature recovery and tackling the ecological emergency. The report provided to the committee was the first annual monitoring report on progress with implementing the strategy and it sets out a baseline from which future progress can be monitored.

The report covered a number of key topics, including progress on delivering actions in the Biodiversity Strategy’s Action Plan. There were a wide range of actions covered in the report, which have been grouped under the following categories:

• Partnership working – including working with the Test and Itchen and Loddon River Catchment Partnerships, Natural Basingstoke, the North Wessex Downs National Landscape and the Action for River Kennet partnership.
• Planning – including how biodiversity is being considered within the Local Plan Update.
• Organisational – including the development of a Biodiversity Strategy Delivery Group and working towards declaring a new Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) in the St Mary Bourne area.
• People – including work carried out by the council’s Green Team to help residents make enhancements for nature in their gardens through a programme of Garden Assessments and supporting the ‘Tree-mendous Giveaway’ scheme to hand out native trees to residents.
• Strategic priorities – including the development of fact sheets for priority species, habitats and spatial areas.
• Monitoring and reporting – including work on an overarching monitoring framework for habitats and species across the borough.
• Estate management – including developing a project to assess the potential for delivering biodiversity net gain on council-owned sites.

The report also provided details on progress in relation to several key monitoring areas, including:

• Biodiversity Net Gain¹ (BNG) – the report noted that, to date, only three applications subject to mandatory BNG have been granted planning permission.
• Habitat Banks² – the report noted that the council was approached by three potential providers but that no habitat banks have yet been secured in the borough.
• Priority habitats³ – the report provided a comprehensive list of the 17 priority habitats in the borough and set out the latest figures for the extent of each habitat.

Climate Change and Air Quality Strategy

The report provided the committee with details on progress in implementing the council’s Climate Change and Air Quality Strategy, including the latest emissions figures for the council and borough and an updated Climate Emergency Action Plan for 2024/25.

The report noted that net emissions from the council’s operations have reduced by 30.8% since 2018/19. However, the report also noted that emissions increased by 7% in 2023/24 compared to 2022/23. This was primarily attributed to an increase in the amount of gas used to heat the pool water and the building at the Aquadrome. It was noted in the report that emissions from the council’s leisure facilities are due to fall significantly in coming years, due to the council’s ongoing project to replace the Aquadrome with a new energy-efficient leisure centre.

The report also provided details on progress on a number of specific actions that were scheduled to be included in the updated Climate Emergency Action Plan, including:

• The Local Energy Advice Demonstrator programme (LEAD) – the report noted that the project has been delivering comprehensive full-home retrofit surveys for ‘hard-to-treat’ properties and energy efficiency advice to residents. It noted that over 3,000 residents had been engaged with on home retrofit and energy efficiency since the beginning of the programme in mid-November 2023.
• Tadley Pool – the report noted that the council has been awarded funding of just under £100,000 for the installation of solar PV panels and heating control systems at Tadley Pool that are expected to be installed by early 2025.
• Waste fleet – the report noted that the council’s kerbside waste and recycling collection fleet had been transitioned from diesel to a low-carbon biofuel, with up to 98% lower emissions than diesel.
• ‘Tree-mendous Giveaway’ – the report noted that the ‘Tree-mendous Giveaway’ scheme has handed out over 1,200 trees to residents and an additional collection day has been added in January 2025 due to high demand.
• Ultra-low emission hackney carriages – the report noted that four local licensed taxi drivers have taken advantage of a scheme offering £5,000 grants to help them switch to an electric hackney carriage, and the council received positive feedback from the drivers about the quieter journeys and cost savings.

The report noted that the council is working with climate experts Carbon Trust to map out how the borough could reach its target of becoming net zero by 2030. The report also stated that the council is working together closely with councillors, communities, businesses and local and national organisations to review the borough’s ambitions and approach for tackling climate change. The outcomes will be used to update the council’s Climate Change and Air Quality Strategy which, after being shaped through a public consultation next summer, will be considered for adoption by councillors in winter 2025.

The committee were also scheduled to consider a request from Councillor Paul Miller for a review of the council’s strategy for installing EV charging points across the borough.