Minutes:
Mark Forrester – Democratic & Community Services Manager – gave a brief overview via on-screen presentation showing the history since Climate Change became evident. Statistics showed an overall reduction in the ‘Per Capita’ CO2 emissions between 2005 – 2017 of 27%. In a comparison of all Staffordshire Local Authorities, Staffordshire Moorlands had the highest figure (11.3t) by some margin. The UK average was 5.3t. By far the largest contributing category was Industry and Commercial, being 777.4 of the total 1,108.5t. It was thought that Lafarge Cement were a major factor in the figure.
Portfolio Holder for Climate Change – Cllr. Joe Porter – continued with the presentation, confirming that 4 key areas were to be focussed upon:-
1. Council – SMDC were leading the way, being the 1st authority in Staffordshire to appoint a Climate Change Portfolio Holder. The initial goal was to eliminate all single-use plastics within council buildings by the end of 2019. Meetings had been held with all 12 service managers to establish any opportunities and / or barriers on progress. Areas to look at initially included energy efficiency, recycling and training for councillors and officers.
2. Community – Encouraging greater participation in the climate change area with local voluntary groups, charities, schools and individuals.
3. Business – Already adopting a ‘pro-business’ approach, the council would be encouraging all businesses to take a more active part, involving Chambers of Commerce, LEP’s and supermarkets.
4. Government – Ensuring government support in our efforts, lobbying ministers if necessary to bring about legislative change. Other Staffordshire authorities needed to get on board, leading to opportunities to pool resources.
Speaking of his background in Planning Policy, Cllr. Darren Price said that a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) would be a way to bring about longer-term changes, aspiring to schemes similar to the “Passive House” scheme in Norwich (100% social housing built by the Local Authority). If every report produced by SMDC contained a statement regarding any Climate Change implications, this would signpost our commitment. Mark Trillo confirmed that this was scheduled to happen in the near future.
Members requested that Parish and Town Councils should be involved via the Parish Assembly. Cllr. Porter confirmed that he was due to address the next assembly on 3 October with regard to this subject, asking them to come up with their own ideas. It was noted that this meeting clashed with the inaugural Biddulph Town Council Climate Change community engagement event. Efforts were to be made to avoid such clashes in the future.
Members suggested other areas to look at:-
1. Installation of more Solar Panels on District Council-owned land / buildings;
2. Take back ownership of the 3 recycling centres from SCC as they were under threat of privatisation;
3. The need for a steady ‘glide path’ towards carbon neutrality in 2030;
4. Webcast future Sub-Committee meetings – promoting openness;
5. More detail surrounding the statistics provided in the presentation;
6. Invite Lafarge to participate in Sub-Committee meeting(s);
7. The fact that the area is rural in nature leads to more travel and more energy-inefficient properties, increasing the carbon ‘footprint’;
8. Increase recycling rate amongst businesses;
9. Ice-Cream vans – very polluting. Due to the age of the vehicles the diesel engines powered the refrigeration units – difficult and expensive to convert;
10. High proportion of children ferried to school by vehicle, which were often left running for long periods;
11. Eco-friendly San Francisco, with free water fountains, public recycling litter bins, fines to people leaving their vehicle engine running for too long and heavily subsidised electric buses;
12. Local Business Awards to be given an environmental ‘edge’;
13. Promotion of the installation of Wind Turbines where possible;
14. Invite Alton Towers to participate in Sub-Committee meetings;
15. Incorporate Bio-diversity;
16. Work to resurrect ‘Safer Routes To Schools’ with work on extra pathways etc;
17. Shrewsbury firm ‘Big Energy’ were looking for buildings with suitable roof space of 50 square metres + (2 suggested – Mill Hayes Sports Hall and the old Biddulph Tip).