Agenda item

Following a public consultation conducted, a revised Climate Action Strategy has been developed setting out South Kesteven District Council’s aspirations to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change within the district.

The Cabinet Member for Environment and Waste introduced the report.

South Kesteven District Council made a formal declaration of climate emergency on 26 September 2019 with cross party support.  Alongside this, the Council confirmed the political ambition to reduce the organisation’s carbon footprint by at least 30% by 2030, and to endeavour to become net-zero as soon as viable before 2050.

On 14th March 2023, the first Climate Action Strategy document was presented to Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  The Committee recommended that the Strategy be put out for consultation to gauge public opinion, and for a revised Strategy to be brought back to the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The consultation was open for just over 4 weeks from 10th July.  As well as residents of South Kesteven, specific stakeholder groups identified included district Councillors for South Kesteven, Town and Parish councils, voluntary and community groups with an environmental focus.

The feedback from the consultation exercise had been very constructive. While there was a broad support for the eight Themes within the Climate Action Strategy, and for areas of focus and priorities, there were clear themes where respondents believed the Council could go further or improve the Strategy.  In response to feedback on the length and format of the Strategy, a separate Climate Action Strategy Executive Summary document had also been prepared.

In depth detail of projects to be delivered across each of the eight Themes identified, including cost and payback, associated benefits and service area within the Council were to be presented as the Climate Action Plan once the full Climate Action Strategy was published.

Members raised the following points during discussion:

·       The consultation indicated feedback that as a Local Authority, the Council needed to be considering our natural environment moving forward.  These results should be integrated within our planning policies and Corporate Plan too.

·       A Member noted that the Climate Change Strategy was introduced by the previous administration.  The issue of climate change was too important not to be endorsed cross-party and promoted to the whole community.  He considered that 176 responses was disappointing.

·       The Chairman welcomed the report as exceptionally well-worded and thanked Officers for their hard work.

·       Had enough consideration been given to local businesses?

·       For the sake of the future, the Council needed to show how seriously it considered climate change to be.  Responses were too low and further engagement with the public was essential such as talking in schools, for example.

·       It was acknowledged that the climate may not be every resident’s top priority in the current challenging financial times but more support was required.

·       How was the strategy going to be achieved? What detailed actions were planned?

·       Could the Council promote the Climate Action Strategy in the local press to gain extra response from the public?

·       Had there previously been a successful Climate Action Working Group?

The Sustainability and Climate Change Officer confirmed that 176 responses were received during the consultation.  There were also detailed and helpful responses received from the Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership and from the Environment Agency.  The consultation invited responses on the Climate Action Strategy specifically, quite a large, technical document, rather than climate change as a topic.  The Committee were informed that when West Lindsey District Council underwent a similar exercise, the authority received 151 responses.  The Grantham Journal and Stamford Press published the information on the consultation.

The Officer further confirmed that the previous Climate Action Working Group was a non-statutory group of 12 councillors supported by various officers.  They would consider topics like how to support residents in fuel poverty in a more detailed setting than Committee.

The Head of Corporate Projects, Policy and Performance informed Members that the Draft Strategy was presented to the Committee in March 2023 after a working group met and discussed it.  It was agreed by Members that the consultation included the themes as confirmed.  The fantastic responses were wholeheartedly welcomed and the time taken to return them was acknowledged.  Members received a link to the consultation along with the parish councils.

The Cabinet Member for Environment and Waste clarified that the action strategy would inform the action plan in response to a question asked by a Member of the Committee.

It was proposed that a further, more widespread public consultation be undertaken before adopting the Climate Action Strategy.

A Member proposed an amendment, to recommend that a further consultation be undertaken following the proposed adoption of the Climate Action Strategy to inform the Action Plan.

It was proposed, seconded and AGREED that the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

a)    Noted the content of the revised South Kesteven Climate Action Strategy

b)    Recommended to Cabinet to approve the adoption of the revised South Kesteven Climate Action Strategy while undertaking to engage with the wider community to inform the development of the Climate Action Plan

c)    Delegated to the Climate Action Working Group and officers to progress the development of the Climate Action Plan and provide regular updates to the Committee.