Environmental Sustainability Partnership Board (ESP) Board. Attendees

Transcription

1 Meeting Environmental Sustainability Partnership Board (ESP) Board Date 12 July 2016 Time 14:00 start 16:00 finish Venue The Kaposvar Room, Guildhall, Bath Attendees Board Members Chairman Cllr Martin Veal Cllr Mark Shelford Cllr Paul Crossley Cllr Robin Moss Cllr June Player Peter Andrews Cllr Jonathan Carr Donna Baddeley Paul Scott Andrew Pate Board Advisors Dave Crowson Peter Capener Guests Aled Williams Cathryn Brown Robin Spalding Sara Grimes Standing Officers Jane Wildblood Micaela Basford Sara Banks Apologies Bruce Laurence David Trethewey Louise Fradd Position Cabinet Member for Community Services, Bathavon North Ward Councillor, Conservative, B&NES Council, B&NES Council Cabinet Assistant for Economic Development, Lyncombe Ward Councillor, Conservative Southdown Ward Councillor, Liberal Democrat Group, Member Advocate for The Sustainable Environment Westfield Ward Councillor, Labour Group Leader West Moreland Independents. Member Advocate for Cleaner, greener streets Community Board Member, Transition Bath and other community initiatives Abbey Ward Councillor, Green Party Leader Executive Director, Transformation & Business Improvement, Curo Group Consultant in Public Health & Assistant Director of Public Health, B&NES Council Strategic Director, Resources, B&NES Council Position Environment Agency Independent Sustainable Energy Consultant Position Environmental Protection Manager Team Manager, Health & Environment, Environmental Protection Team Senior Public Protection Officer, Environmental Protection Team Corporate Sustainability Officer, B&NES Council Position Corporate Sustainability Manager, B&NES Council Corporate Sustainability Officer, B&NES Council Standards & Support Officer, B&NES Council Position Director of Public Health, B&NES Council Divisional Director, Strategy & Performance, B&NES Council Strategic Director, Place, B&NES Council 1

2 Agenda Subject Time Presenter 1 Welcome, introductions and declarations of interest 5m Cllr Martin Veal 2 Minutes & Actions from last Board Meeting (minutes below) 5m Cllr Martin Veal 3 Update to the board on: Local Energy Tariff development Sustainable Building standards for Council projects Desired outcomes: 1. Feedback to the Board on stakeholder engagement on tariff 2. Request for input Break 30m 10m Jane Wildblood & Sara Grimes 4 Air Quality in Bath & North East Somerset A presentation from the Environmental Protection Team, refer to background paper 4 in this pack. xxxm Environmental Protection Team Desired outcomes: 1. To enable Board members to have an in-depth understanding of factors influencing and impacting on air quality in B&NES. 2. For Board members to input into the development of the Bath Air Quality Action Plan 7 Review Actions and Next Steps 5m Cllr Martin Veal Next ESP Board meeting: Tuesday 11 th October. Aix-en-Provence Room, Guildhall, Bath. 2

3 Note of the meeting of the Environmental Sustainability Partnership Board Present Held on Tuesday 12 th April 2016 Conference Room, Civic Centre, Keynsham Board Members Chairman Cllr Martin Veal Cllr Mark Shelford Cllr Paul Crossley Donna Baddeley Cllr Robin Moss Paul Scott David Trethewey Dave Crowson Standing Officers Present Jane Wildblood Micaela Basford Sara Banks Sara Grimes Guests Sarah Alder Peter Jones Carol Maclellan Apologies Received From: Andrew Pate Cllr Karen Walker Dr Bruce Laurence Cllr Jonathan Carr Louise Fradd Peter Capener Peter Andrews Cabinet Member for Community Services, Bathavon North Ward Councillor, Conservative Banes Council Cabinet Assistant for Economic Development, Lyncombe Ward Councillor, Conservative Southdown Ward Councillor, Liberal Democrat Group, Member Advocate for The Sustainable Environment Executive Director, Transformation & Business Improvement, Curo Group Westfield Ward Councillor, Labour Group Leader Consultant in Public Health & Assistant Director of Public Health B&NES Council Divisional Director, Strategy & Performance, B&NES Council Environment Agency Corporate Sustainability Manager, B&NES Council Corporate Sustainability Officer, B&NES Council Standards & Support Officer, B&NES Council Corporate Sustainability Officer, B&NES Council Waste Strategy & Contracts Manager, B&NES Council Eunomia Group Manager Neighbourhood Environmental Services, B&NES Council Strategic Director, Resources & Support Services, B&NES Council Peasedown Ward Councillor, Independents & Village Voice Director of Public Health, B&NES Council Abbey Ward Councillor, Green Party Leader Strategic Director, Place, B&NES Council Independent Sustainable Energy Consultant Community Board Member, Transition Bath and other community initiatives. 3

4 1. Welcome, Introductions and Declarations of Interest Introductions were made. There were no declarations of interest 2. Minutes & Actions from the last Board Meeting These were agreed. All actions have been carried out and there were no matters arising. 3. ESP Strategy Refresh, JW and MB presented. This was to show the new format and updated content for and to encourage comments from the Board. MB brought the successes of the previous plan to the Board s attention. Local renewable energy production increased by 154%, o 48% of that is community owned. o 60k in grants have gone to local community projects awarded by the BWCE Community Fund. Energy at Home exceeded targets. o 800k of grant allocated to nearly 300 homes in B&NES. o Low Carbon Skills : 600 attendees at events and 4 new jobs created. o Phase II of the scheme is being developed to encourage continued uptake. Food Strategy was launched and 80 stakeholders attended the event. o A Local Food Partnership has been established. o B&NES have been re-accredited as a Fairtrade Authority o The Soil Association also recognised us with a bronze Sustainable Food Cities Award. Public Sector leading the way in creating more energy efficient buildings in the district. Such as the Council s Civic Centre in Keynsham, Avon Fire and Rescue s Keynsham Fire station, the new builds at both Universities and Curo to become more energy efficient. Waste only 18% of waste last year went to landfill, which means 82% of our waste is recycled. Main points of the new Strategy were outlined: o The Vision has had a minor update agreed by the Board. o The ESP s intentions and outline plans for the next period are arranged under the four Corporate Strategy priority headings, to make it clear how the ESP s work contributes to the delivery of that wider area strategy and the 2020 Vision. o There is now a line of sight between this document and the other key B&NES strategies. o The Workstreams are unchanged. 4

5 A discussion followed including the following points; how we compare with other areas, how we communicate our achievements, increasing visibility to shoppers of locally produced food, and rolling out further phases of the LED street lighting. Curo explained the prioritisation of sustainability issues in their SHORE project which is their forthcoming 15million asset investment project, focusing on upgrading homes to be healthy, safe, affordable and warm, rather than unnecessary focusing on upgrades to kitchens & bathrooms. The following questions and comments were made: o Is water included in the Strategy? Yes, the Water Space Strategy is in the development phase and takes into account a broad range of future needs and priorities. o Needing to ensure that the Strategy is technology neutral when it comes to renewable energy generation. The Community Energy Strategy and research conducted by Planning Policy provides more in-depth detail on this point. o Churches could be an opportunity for increasing roof-mounted, community solar pv as they are ordinated east to west. Can the Council encourage this in B&NES? Churches are a diocese issue and the Council and Bath & West Community Energy have spoken to them in the past regarding installing solar pv on diocese run school buildings. The Church of England are encouraging action on climate change covering energy efficiency, renewable energy, buildings and wildlife, through their Shrinking the Footprint programme, details here: o The links between sustainability, natural environment and health and wellbeing, such as through social prescribing. Many B&NES surgeries do social prescribing, Sirona have a healthy lifestyles team which are often brought in to help, the Wellbeing College and Your Care, Your Way. PS informed the group that a new mobile device application is being piloted. o In encouraging people to use the natural environment for recreation and health purposes are our medical professionals encouraging walking as a way to improve health. o Cllr Moss was concerned that many GPs are not aware of social prescribing o A visual graphic would be useful, to show how the ESP strategy feeds through into the Corporate Strategy. o Would it be relevant to make reference to the digital agenda. This covers several aspects, food, energy, transport, and also it is about connecting with residents. o Encouraging more local food in shops. The Local Food Partnership is looking at a click and collect model to provide residents with the option to buy local, this is a model that local food producers support. When this project is further along in its development we d appreciate the Board s help with promoting it to residents and shoppers. 5

6 Actions: 1. MB: Consider the suggestions to the draft strategy: - access to clean water - the digital agenda - a graphic explaining how the ESP feeds into the Corporate Strategy themes - cross referencing with Fit for Life Strategy. 2. MB: Circulate links to the Planning Policy renewable energy research and the Community Energy Strategy and ensure that there is a cross reference in the strategy. 3. PS sharing information on social prescribing in B&NES 4. The Changing World of Waste A presentation was given by Peter Jones from Bristol-based Eunomia consultancy, experts in waste management issues, particularly the circular economy. Eunomia were commissioned by West of England Waste Management Partnership to look at the current situation with waste management. The study provides insights into how the waste world is changing and will inform future waste strategy development. The Council s current waste contract ends in 2020 and Eunomia will be assisting in compiling tender documents. The presentation was in several sections, starting with the waste disposal capacity v.s. volumes of waste produced across England. The second section was about the circular economy and finally a look at waste management in Bath and North East Somerset and some of the issues needing consideration going forward. There was a clear message that the market is changing and in the past the Council has been successful in not getting locked into a particular solution which could have long term repercussions, such as in the Netherlands where they are reliant on producing certain volumes of waste to power their CHP plants. Also, having drivers identified will inform future decisions; drivers such as environment, pollution, cost and the previous point about the waste market constantly changing was reinforced. Questions raised: o Cllr Crossley was concerned that the Cabinet had changed direction and were considering incineration something which he is not in favour. It was explained that this is not the case and that the position had not changed. o Cllr Shelford asked if the recycling could be sorted at the depot rather than the doorstep. The earlier upstream the waste separation, the higher quality the 6

7 material and therefore the greater its value. It is also more difficult from a technology perspective to separate post collection. It was agreed that the Board would like to kept informed on the development of the waste management strategy post The Waste Workstream will be invited back to the Board at a relevant point in the strategy development. 5. Any Other Business None. 6. Date of Next Meeting 12 th July 2016 Kaposvar Room, Guildhall, Bath. Main agenda item: Air Quality 7

8 Environmental Sustainability Partnership Agenda Item 3 Update to the Board on: Local Energy Tariff development Sustainable Building standards for Council Projects Desired outcomes: 1. Feedback to the Board on stakeholder engagement on Local Energy Tariff development 2. Board input This item consists of two updates to the Board on work currently in development. 1. There will be a presentation about the progress made on the Local Energy Tariff development. Including: Soft market testing Stakeholder engagement We are seeking Board member input before the specification is finalised. 2. The Council is undertaking a piece of work on setting sustainability standards for Council building projects. We will explain where we ve got to on setting standards, using the experience we have on the approach taken for the Keynsham Civic Centre development. We are seeking Board member input on how this piece of work can help in the discussion about new developments, whether Council led or not. End 8

9 Environmental Sustainability Partnership Agenda Item 4 Air Quality in Bath & North East Somerset Desired outcomes: Desired outcomes: 1. To enable Board members to have an in-depth understanding of factors influencing and impacting on air quality in B&NES. 2. For Board members to input into the development of the Bath Air Quality Action Plan Our presentation to the Environmental Sustainability Partnership Board will include the following: a) The EU and UK context and the implications of the EU referendum result b) Our monitoring network and how we use the results to target our resources c) The facts around the sources of Nitrogen Dioxide in Bath d) We will be inviting you to discuss potential actions which can be included in the Bath Action Plan, ensuring that consideration is given to cost and deliverability of those suggestions. Background 1 National Context 1.1 Air quality across B&NES is an issue which has grown in profile over recent years, particularly with respect to the control of nitrogen dioxide levels. Historically, the UK has a poor record in achieving nitrogen dioxide threshold limits and in 2014 the Supreme Court instructed the UK Government to achieve compliance. 1.2 In response, DEFRA issued new policy at the beginning of 2016 in its document Air quality in the UK: plan to reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions, DEFRA states that compliance will be achieved through the creation of Clean Air Zones (formerly known as Low Emission Zones) in 6 cities: Birmingham, Derby, London, Leeds, Nottingham and Southampton. 1.3 All other cities are considered to be able to achieve the limits by 2020, through their current air quality management action plans. This assumes that all plans are deliverable and that the downward trend of lower car emissions continues. 9

10 2 Situation in B&NES 1.1. Air quality in B&NES remains high on the political agenda. So far, 3 Air Quality Management Areas have been declared because nitrogen dioxide levels have exceeded the EU air quality limit value and the National Air Quality Objectives These are in Bath, Saltford and Keynsham. The challenge facing the Council is how to create action plans which are both deliverable and affordable and bring about a reduction in these levels, especially when it could be argued that only a shift in national policy will deliver the required reductions The Bath Air Quality Action Plan is due for review in 2016 and a public consultation will be starting in the autumn. 3 Investment in infrastructure 3.1 An exciting opportunity for the future is the granting of approximately 1.6M to B&NES (as part of 7M regionally) by the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) to: Increase the use of electric vehicles through more public charging points Encourage organisations to renew their fleet to electric vehicles Increase the use of electric vehicles through more car club charging points Provide an electric Cycle Hire Scheme Increasing subscription of the freight consolidation scheme Further work on the possible introduction of a Clean Air Zone End 10