Issue - meetings

The Executive Member for Corporate Policy & Resources.

RESOLVED:

That the Executive:

(i)               Agrees the Environmental Sustainability Strategy Annual Progress report at Annex 1 for publication on the Council website.

The Executive Member for Policy and Resources, Councillor Lewanski, introduced the Annual Environmental Sustainability Strategy Progress report – the second annual update.

The Borough’s carbon emissions continued to decline and the Council’s own carbon emissions – from our buildings and our fleet – were also falling. Work was underway to develop a programme of work to reduce the overall energy use and carbon emissions from its buildings. Fleet remained the largest source of the council’s carbon emissions – 10 % of the fleet are electric or hybrid vehicles and emissions continue to fall, However, for much of the fleet, low carbon vehicles do not yet offer a viable or cost-effective alternative. In terms of infrastructure for charging electric vehicles, 400 new charging points last year were secured as part of new developments.

The Council had supported a number of residents in lower income hard-to-heat homes. Training on carbon literacy had been undertaken by 14 Councillors.

The annual report had been discussed at Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 13 October 2022. The Committee had asked questions and discussed topics such as tree planting and the use of weedkiller, retrofitting domestic properties, communications on energy saving and the electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

The Leader welcomed the report. He said that following Full Council, he had written to the Prime Minister and was waiting for a response on the support for local government funding on environmental sustainability issues.

The Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Harrison, thanked officers and Members for responding to the Committee’s Advance Questions. He raised the issue of planting trees which were planted well away from residential areas so there was a need to make sure they were well-watered, particularly during the hot summer months. Councillor Lewanski confirmed that the trees were watered by the Greenspaces team for 2 years, but this summer had been challenging.

Visiting Members welcomed the report and the dedicated resource on the Council in this area now. Councillor Essex noted that 99% of carbon emissions were outside the control of the Council. These had dropped in 2020, however this was during the pandemic and residents were driving and flying again so the current statistics could be misleading. He welcomed the proposal to review the overall plan next year and asked how the Council could make substantial improvements to its buildings to improve carbon emissions and bring fuel costs down to be a leading example to residents.

Executive Member, Councillor Lewanski, said that the review will look at how the targets could be aligned and presented in next year’s report. The Council was working with Surrey County Council and educating residents via its website and Borough news. The Council was reliant on government data which was available currently. 

Cath Rose, Head of Corporate Policy, Projects and Performance said that there was a regular maintenance schedule for all council buildings and an energy audit is also being carried out. The outcomes of this report would be shared with Overview and Scrutiny as well as Executive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26

The Executive Member for Corporate Policy & Resources.