Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member Climate Emergency

The Cabinet Member Climate Emergency introduced his report, describing the climate emergency as the biggest challenge we face and one we cannot afford to ignore – both in respect of the long-term prosperity of humanity and from a simple financial perspective. He thanked the small but growing team at CBC, who have a wealth of knowledge and expertise, and reminded Members of the council’s strong track record on environmental matters to date, as set out in the report.  The council cannot achieve its aims without an all-encompassing formal plan, however, and is adopting a cross-party approach and working in partnership with CheltenhamZero and various public sector organisations to achieve its goals. The climate emergency action plan is a pathway to net zero, covering eight topic areas, each with a number of actions split into different time periods, and focussing on what CBC can deliver as an authority, and what needs involvement of others.

He said it was important to note the council would be bidding for government support in a number of areas, and the Cheltenham Green Deal will enable the council to back proposed actions with money.  It will also be offering a local bond scheme, giving local people opportunity to invest in projects which help the planet and make a return too.  He reminded Members that the key principle of the strategy is the willingness to change as a borough and take responsibility to act on this serious challenge, but that Cheltenham can be part of the global shift towards a cleaner, greener, more pleasant world – the first step is to voting today.

In response to questions from Members, the Cabinet Member Climate Emergency responded as follows:

-       regarding progress on reducing carbon emissions of the council’s own vehicles, the authority itself to account by reporting to Overview and Scrutiny, ensuring the right questions are asked, ditching diesel vehicles, moving towards alternative fuels etc, with more detail provided year on year;

-       to tackle climate change deniers and conspiracy theorists, the plan encourages community engagement and, with Planet Cheltenham, is investigating the potential for community champions, as well as going into schools to help educate children about the issues at an early stage;

-       climate justice is an important consideration – ensuring that people who can afford to bear the brunt do so, so that the less well-off are not unfairly impacted.  This is mostly a national issue around tax, but local authorities can get involved by draught-proofing council housing and improving fuel efficiency;

-       it is important that Cheltenham, as a festivals town, moves away from diesel generators for outside events on CBC land – the Cabinet Member Culture, Wellbeing and Business is working on an events strategy to incorporate this;

-       whether Cheltenham made a big tree-planting pledge in partnership in 2019 with other Gloucestershire councils is debatable, but this is an indicative action alongside many others in the scoping report;

-       with regard to planning standards – requiring all new development to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15