Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any announcements from the chair and general housekeeping matters.

Chair ran through procedure for the virtual meeting.

Committee chair thanked previous committee members Councillors Sally Povolotsky and James Cox for their contributions, adding thanks to Councillor Povolotsky who previously served as Cabinet member for climate, and had provided her expertise in this area.

Chair welcomed new members, Councillors Kiera Bentley and Max Thompson.

The chair also introduced Roselle Chapman in her new role as Nature Recovery Officer.

To record apologies for absence and the attendance of substitute members.

None.

To review the minutes of the last meeting held on 7 December 2023. If agreed as a correct record, the chair will sign them as such.

The minutes of the last meeting on 7 December 2023 were agreed as a correct record.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests, other registrable interests and non-registrable interests or any conflicts of interest in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting. 

None.

To receive notification of any matters which the chair determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent.

None.

To receive any questions or statements from members of the public that have registered to speak. 

None.

A verbal update from the Cabinet member.

Councillor Bethia Thomas updated the committee with highlights of work undertaken.

·       Climate and nature recovery action plan

·       Positive news was due on funding from Innovate UK regarding an electric vehicle trail for waste collection

·       Funding for a nature-based carbon offsetting project with Innovate UK was obtained, to expand markets for carbon offsetting. The Local Nature Partnership would lead in partnership with local councils including Vale.

·       LEVI project for electric vehicle infrastructure - funding was approved with £3.6 million allocated to the county.

·       The climate action fund, £100,000 was available and decisions would be made in September to allocate funds to projects that had applied. The selection process was that all projects were scored on their individual merits. Officer confirmed that there would be around £145,000 available due to carry forward of the last funding round’s underspend.

A member asked about National Landscapes. Cabinet member confirmed that she had a productive meeting with them recently. Officer added that relevant topics could come to CEAC, if it was required that CEAC make a recommendation to Cabinet.

A member asked about waste collection vehicles and allocating electric vehicles to towns as it was more difficult for rural rounds to use these vehicles. Officer added that the trial would help and that this was already part of considerations on whether electric vehicles can handle long rural rounds. This was for the waste team to take into consideration.

CEAC is asked to review the council’s progress towards the target to become a carbon neutral local authority by 2030 and provide any recommendations to Cabinet. Presented by Heather Saunders, Corporate Energy Officer.

The report was introduced by the Corporate Energy Officer. A lot of progress was already made on targets, however the report recommended dropping the unachievable interim target of 2025 and retaining the overall target of 2030. To reach the target, we would need to accelerate work and obtain funding for potential projects in order to reach the 2030 target.

Members of committee asked questions of clarification on the four proposed scenarios (committed projects, potential projects, a potential solar farm and a potential low carbon fleet), and details within the report, before debating the report’s recommendations in order to reach a conclusion as a committee and recommend to Cabinet.

• Members acknowledged greater baseline data was available now to reconsider the target that was set with no baseline.
• Some members were unsure on dropping the interim target completely.
• Members asked about the option for a solar farm on council land. The reporting officer explained that this was in early scoping stages.
• Members discussed staff mileage and what was being considered to reduce higher mileage (due to role). Officer responded that this was impacted by officers not all being in the same place. The new Climate Action Plan would raise this. It was difficult for the council to control as personal vehicles were individual choice. This may be captured in future though scope three (indirect emissions). It was confirmed that the scopes measured depended on the progress of a project. For example, a leisure centre running on gas would be measured for scope one, but would move to scope two measures if energy was decarbonised etc.
• On solar farms a member asked about whether a proposed solar farm would cover current electricity or be sufficient for future electrification of fleet etc. Would the supply go beyond need? Officers were still researching sites and the sizes available. An increase in electric fleet would logically be balanced with other efficiencies made elsewhere. This project was in early scoping.
• Formal council meetings needed to be in person for decision making as per legislation, so not all meetings can be virtual and save on travel as a result.
• It was confirmed that other councils were in the process of reviewing their net zero targets as well.

In debating the topic, two members discussed that the interim target could be shifted to 40 percent, keeping it ambitious but more achievable than 75 percent (recommendation b).

A member considered that recognising the progress made since 2009/10 in ‘recommendation a’ seemed to deflect, when some of the results would have been improvements to the energy grid etc, not just council work. It was suggested to make the recommendation similar to:

“CEAC recognises the significant amount of carbon reduction activities that had been actioned by the council and activities that are being progressed now in order to reduce carbon emissions.” The member also considered that the interim target should not be removed, but possibly other targets considered at different steps.

It was asked what the risks were to not changing the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72.

CEAC is asked to review the interim aspirational target for reduction in carbon emissions as a district, and provide any recommendations to Cabinet.

Presented by Jessie Fieth, Senior Climate Action Officer

Senior Climate Action Officer Jessie Fieth introduced the progress report and explained the challenges to a district wide target. We had worked hard towards working with neighbouring councils in order to tackle this, working in partnership was the most effective method. Too much was out of the council’s control, so this was a difficult target to achieve.

The officer explained that before taking this report to Cabinet in September 2024, she would consider recommendations from CEAC and also use the data from 2022 that was previously unavailable. The officer added that she had checked the new data and they do not considerably impact the discussion today.

We look set to reach a emissions reduction of 55% by 2030, based on the 2008 baseline. When the target was set, we agreed to use a 2017 baseline (based on Ether consultancy report), but we could not replicate the methodology. We adopted a 2008 baseline as used by other councils. Now, we would be able to calculate against a 2017 baseline using a new methodology when we have the data. We would need to reduce emissions by double the current speed to reach the countywide target of 2050. It was stressed that we as a council had an important role, but a lot of issues were out of council control. Working with stakeholders and neighbours was important. We needed to formally acknowledge that we cannot meet our interim target and reconfirm our commitment to carbon reduction. Members will be updated with yearly tracking.

Members asked questions of clarification.

·       It was confirmed that new methodologies could be employed instead of Ether methodology, with a baseline being calculated from 2017. The reporting officer confirmed lessons were learned from a procurement perspective.

·       If modelling annually, would this come back to CEAC? It was confirmed yes.

·       Members discussed the data sources and discussed the potential causes of the drops and in emissions over the period, such as Didcot Power Station closures.

·       It was explained that this was nationally sourced data and that individual projects were not calculated separately and there was not the capacity to calculate to that level of granularity. Individual projects would have consultants who would calculate specific impacts.

·       The team leader confirmed that some areas had higher emissions, the example given was Cherwell and the impact of the M40. It could be similar for other areas in our district, but it was difficult to ascertain.

Members discussed their thoughts on the recommendations of the report, in order to conclude with a recommendation from the committee.

A member considered that 2045 was an appropriate target date but that we should formally recognise that the interim 2025 target was an unachievable target. Members discussed whether the interim target, if formally acknowledged, could be dropped or not. Some felt that the interim target could be dropped considering it was out of the council’s control.

A member considered that only having the 2045 target was not meaningful enough. Could the interim target instead be a pathway of targets,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 73.

An introduction to the Local Area Energy Plans (LAEPs). This will be an important area of work for the councils to support the reduction of district-wide greenhouse gas emissions.

Presented by Jessie Fieth, Senior Climate Action Officer.

Senior Climate Action Officer Jessie Fieth updated the committee.

Local Area Energy Planning (LAEP) was a spatial plan that mapped out the existing energy infrastructure in an area and evaluates future demand. There would be a range of scenarios and technology suggested to help meet net zero targets. This was not a statutory requirement of the council, but councils tend to lead them.

We think it is important to lead on this because:

• We can have some control over our operational emissions, but district-wide there was a limit on what we can do. Having a LAEP will assist.
• Major updates were needed to our energy systems. The LAEP will produce a plan of actions to help us transition to a suitable system to deliver net zero ambitions.
• Identify solutions for our area and alternatives.
• LAEP will help us as a planning authority.
• The LAEP should be ready by summer 2025.

This workstream was county-wide. It was proposed that data collection was to occur county-wide, but detailed scenarios would be district specific, so there would be five LAEPS at the final stage. Consultants would be in place to collect the data, with officer teams assisting. Future Oxfordshire Partnership (FOP) would decide on approving the budget. If approved, consultants would be in place in autumn. We would look to form some internal expertise so that less consultancy would be required. At various stages, the district can decide if it still can resource the project and continue or not.

This would be led by Oxfordshire County Council, but we would be involved, with more input in the final stages for the district specific LAEP.

CEAC could help further at the district level and this item could come back to the committee at those points.

SME = Small and Medium sized Enterprises.

A presentation from Nick King (Economic Development Manager), Karen Tolley (Principal Economic Development Lead) and Sara Le Roux (Oxford Brookes)

Introduced by Nick King, Economic Development Manager. Karen Tolley (Principal Economic Development Lead) was also present to support the item.

Members were updated on decarbonisation projects for small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) and the research carried out on this, before a report was published publicly.

Dr Sara Le Roux from Oxford Brookes Business School presented and provided some results from the research carried out and the findings. She talked about barriers to action, the appetite and priority given to environmental issues by smaller businesses. Grants would be earmarked for environmental sustainability projects.

Economic Development Manager explained that this was a pilot scheme, as future funding was unknown, and ran through the planned process, and the bespoke support and tools (e.g., free energy audits) that were being planned for businesses who wanted to get involved. A draft grant policy was being circulated for grants up to £10k. Projects would need to demonstrate the value a project would have for sustainability/carbon reduction. There may be up to 20 grants offered in this pilot scheme.

Principal Economic Development Lead added that business engagement events and business breakfasts had been arranged.

Officers and guest speaker were thanked for their time.

A verbal update from Chloe Bunting, Senior Climate Action Officer.

Senior Climate Action Officer Chloe Bunting updated the committee on the updates being made to the Climate and Nature Recovery Action Plan for 2024-2028 (CNRAP), including reviewing long-term targets and consideration of new legislative requirements. This plan would be adopted in line with the corporate plan at the end of the year. There was a task and finish group and staff consultation, and the team analysed the responses to bring a short-list of actions.

To report on progress, this would be in tandem with the corporate plan, a once-a-year in-depth reporting process with live data at more frequent intervals and consideration would be given to a data dashboard.

There will be a further task and finish group and this would come back to a meeting of CEAC.

A verbal update from Dominic Lamb, Climate and Biodiversity Team Leader.

An update was given by the Climate and Biodiversity Team Leader.

There had been workshops this year. The strategy was now a statutory requirement and we needed to produce one, and we will be given a clear national picture as to what we should be doing to address nature recovery, and also bring access to funding streams to help deliver targets. This strategy gives a national picture and was a big step for nature recovery.

The team leader ran through the stages already covered by the team, to produce maps and statements of what the local priorities were (forming the strategy). Over one thousand people attended the workshops and replied to consultations. There was a live map on Oxfordshire County Council’s (OCC) website where members can input information to inform on activities happening in their wards. In May, there was a wrap-up event to feedback to those who took part in workshops. OCC were responsible for the strategy, but we had a statutory duty to support and input into this.

The next stage was to work on the draft plan, with consultation planned in September/October. There would be a specific task and finish group for CEAC to contribute to the draft strategy. It was expected that the strategy would be published in Spring 2025.

For committee to receive any updates on task and finish groups, and to discuss future items.

As mentioned, there would be Climate and Nature Recovery Action Plan task and finish group – this would be joint with South Oxfordshire District Council, due to being a joint strategy. Local Nature Recovery Strategy would have a task and finish group once out to consultation.

Chair closed the meeting and thanked all for their work and contributions.