Agenda item

To receive an update (verbal) on and to discuss the work of the Low Carbon Working Group.

The Committee received a verbal update from the Low Carbon Project Officer following the last meeting of the Low Carbon Working Group held on 6 July 2021:

Scope 3 Emissions

·           The Council’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions had already been calculated by APSE and were used to inform the initial work to develop a Low Carbon Action Plan. Members were keen to understand the wider Scope 3 emissions and APSE had been commissioned to do this further work.

·           Scope 3 data had been sent to APSE for them to calculate this portion of the carbon footprint. This included data on leisure and waste contracts, business mileage, water use, and predicted energy use of built assets; from this Officers could fully understand the Council’s carbon budget and develop a strategy to zero carbon emissions by 2030.

·           The next step would be to develop a methodology using the LGA carbon emissions accounting toolkit for monitoring, recording and reporting Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions data annually, to track progress. Using the toolkit would allow a comparison with other local authorities. There was a need to understand how to implement this, and how to adopt into each service area.

Tree Planting

·           An Officer led Tree Planting Working Group had been developed to progress projects with the White Rose Forest (WRF) and develop a project plan. Next steps would include a meeting with the WRF to develop a stakeholder engagement plan in line with their resources, planning meeting to be held in August 2021.

·           The Town and Parish Councils and Ward Member survey had been sent out to gauge interest and knowledge of tree planting and identify any planting opportunities. 26 responses had been received so far, including identification of existing tree planting projects, local stakeholder groups who were interested in being involved with tree planting and potential green spaces that could benefit from additional trees. 

·           The Tree Council Tree Warden Scheme was a potential opportunity for community groups in the area to take on this role.

Draft Low Carbon Action Plan

·           The plan had been updated and discussed the with the Lead Executive Member but had not been taken to the July Executive for consideration.

·           The Lead Executive Member had suggested that Officers prepare a strategy to go to the Executive, followed by the action plan at a later date, in order to allow time to review the resource allocation for the action plan and focus on what was achievable. It was suggested that the Executive Member attend the next Low Carbon Working Group meeting to outline his thoughts and agree the next steps to progress the work.

·           Other next steps would be to include the results of the APSE Scope 3 study within the strategy, to understand the scale of the problem and formulate a roadmap to zero carbon by 2030, using the Scope 3 results and the recommendations from APSE.

·           Following this, a ‘quick win’ list of actions and projects that were achievable in the given time frame could be developed to deliver the carbon reductions we the Council was aspiring to, including taking into account the likely timescales for local government reorganisation in York and North Yorkshire, which meant Selby district Council in its current form was unlikely to exist beyond March 2023.

·           The next Low Carbon Working Group meeting would be on 23 August 2021; it had been requested that the APSE report was completed prior to this date so Officers could feed back on Scope 3 emissions and update the strategy. The intention of Officers was for the strategy and some early win commitments to be presented to Executive in September 2021.

Members asked several questions of Officers relating to the realistic aims of the Working Group, how targets could be achieved, the size and length of time for the projects proposed over the next two years and the relationship of the projects to the imminent decision on local government reorganisation (LGR) in North Yorkshire. The Committee acknowledged the possibilities of projects that would produce ‘quick wins’, but also emphasised the importance of starting to plan longer-term projects as soon as possible.

Officers explained that identification of the main issues and longer-term goals would be presented to the Executive in September 2021 to set out a strategy which would recognise what had to be done by 2030, as well as shorter projects that would deliver results more quickly. Members were pleased that a questionnaire on tree planting had been sent out to Councillors and Parish/Town Councils. The results of the survey would identify opportunities for tree planting and could potentially tie in with the White Rose Forest Partnership’s work, a strategy for which was to be launched in the autumn. The Committee were keen to express the importance of not missing the 2021 tree planting season.

Members were pleased that an overall baseline was being identified and emphasised the need to front-load some of the actions, particularly short-term ones. The Council should attempt to achieve as much as possible over the next few years to leave a strong legacy after LGR.

RESOLVED:

The Committee noted the update and emphasised the importance of both long- and short-term low carbon projects being taken forward promptly.