In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9 (Public Participation), a petition has been submitted by Ms K O’Neal, resident of Binfield with Warfield, on behalf of Bracknell Climate Action Group. The full text of the petition is set out below:
· Bracknell needs to join the surrounding unitary authorities in declaring a climate emergency
· The council needs to recognise the urgency of climate change and act decisively
· The council must develop a measurable, ambitious, target-driven climate strategy that reflects the government’s stated climate targets
Bracknell Climate Action Group will present a written petition to the meeting together with an online petition available via https://chng.it/wk6Dsdr4
Minutes:
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9 (Public Participation), Council received a presentation and petition from Ms K O’Neal on behalf of Bracknell Climate Change Action Group.
Councillor Mrs Hayes MBE responded on behalf of the Council. The full text of the response is set out below:
“Mr Mayor, as the Executive Member for the Environment, and the lead Member for addressing Climate change, I would like to thank Ms O'Neal, and Bracknell Climate Action Group for this petition. This petition giving me a further opportunity to speak to council about this important issue, that has been a priority of this council since 2007.
It is a shame that Ms O'Neal, and her Group, missed my last speech on this topic in July. I understand the recording of the meeting is lost, so I am pleased to have a further opportunity to repeat my remarks, and with the indulgency of the Mayor, to highlight our record on this matter. Given that this is the same speech, in line with our council's policies; it is good to reuse and recycle.
Having looked at the points requested in the petition, clearly the requestor hasn't googled the phrase Bracknell Forest and climate change. Had they done so, the answers to her petition would have clearly presented themselves to them for review. Waste, Mr Mayor is something that we must all guard against.
Mr Mayor, the strategy is easily found on our website, along with the annual report on progress. This sitting alongside the videos of the meetings of the Climate Change Advisory Panel, meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission and a large number of policy documents, covering recycling, biodiversity, insulation, planning policy, walking and cycling; I could go on and on and on. Also, for those minded to read the odd council agenda, minutes detailing councillors discussions on this matter can easily be found there too. If help is needed to access the Internet, I am sure that our library staff would be more than willing to show how to get to such information, as part of our warm hub initiative.
In terms of this petition, I am hoping that this lack of knowledge is an access issue, rather than as Al Gore said, an inconvenient truth. That truth being that this council has a long and successful programme of addressing man-made climate change head on. In fact, Ms O'Neal spoke to the council's Overview and Scrutiny Commission, on 2nd December 2020, as part of the commission's scrutinisation of the draft strategy, whose highlights I will present again to council today, plus the many things we have done since. If Ms O'Neal has forgotten that session, the video of the meeting is on YouTube. I am sure that library staff can help with that too.
Although this is my second speech this year on this subject, it is also the second time a similar presentation has been made to the council that we are not doing enough. In January 2020, the council received a similar rule 9 petition from Extinction Rebellion Bracknell. The Leader, in this meeting reminded the petitioners that the council had in July 2019 past a cross party motion, that was proposed by myself and seconded by the Leader of the opposition. This motion says, "This Council strongly believes in the need to continue its work to address the impact of man-made Climate Change on our local communities. To this end, this Council asks the Executive to develop detailed action plans with measurable ambitious annual targets and an annual report to address this pressing matter to ensure that the Council meets the government target of eradicating its net contribution to climate change by 2050. Member may think that some of this sounds similar, as the petition asks us to do in 2022, what we agreed to and have been doing since 2019.
I was pleased to report that following the motion passed in this chamber in 2019; a motion that was unanimously supported by all Members of this council, that serious and hard work has been undertaken by Officers, Members and most importantly the residents of Bracknell Forest. We have not only delivered a climate change mitigation strategy that this council can be proud of, but one that has in its bones, in its DNA, the voices and aspirations of all the residents of this borough.
We are now rapidly approaching the third anniversary of this council agreeing our Climate Change Strategy. I would remind everyone that we workshopped our strategy just a few days before the first lockdown. We consulted via video, despite the second Covid peak and launched while we were still dealing with year one Covid. All of this to say that this is, and has been, at the heart of everything we do. Members will note in the strategy, that our history since the Nottingham Declaration of 2007, to which Bracknell Forest was a signatory, we have worked consistently to be a low carbon, sustainable community. This is not a new priority for this council, it is in its DNA. We have over the time, delivered at pace, a wide range of projects that have seen the borough's carbon emissions, not just the council's emissions, but the borough's emissions reduce considerably. In fact, on the second anniversary of our motion, we issued a press release, detailing this achievement. I had instructed Officers to send to Ms 'Neal's group this press release, so they will need to let me know if they didn't get the email. However, It said that, "compared to other local authorities in the South East of England, only Reading and Kent have reduced emissions by lust a higher per cent than Bracknell Forest over the 14ryears. Furthermore, only Reading, Brighton & Hove and East Sussex saw lower levels in 2019".
Mr Mayor. the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy department of central government, reported the borough area's Co2 emissions since 2005, had reduced by 42%. Just in the last year of measurement, we saw borough area emissions down by 18.2 kilo tones of Co2.
Bracknell Forest area's emissions per capita were 3.5 tonnes, which is lower than the 4.4 tonnes southeast England average and the 5.2 tones national average. So, I do not believe that Bracknell Forest is falling behind our neighbours, we are more leading the pack.
I would again thank our Overview and Scrutiny Panel Chairman and Commissioners, who led the workshops which involved community representatives and Members in scrutinising our draft strategy in public. All whilst in the middle of the Covid emergency.
So, as I said in July, when I introduced the annual report, since January 2021, we have been busy implementing our strategy. This is a summation of the work that you as members have led, that you as members have overseen, that you as members have championed and I am grateful for your support. I would especially like to thank my colleagues on the Executive, who have shown true leadership in their portfolios, to take this agenda forward as a whole council priority.
I won't go through every achievement, as there are so many. But I will take this further opportunity to share with the council a few highlights from the report, covering the period January 2021 to March 2022 and update on some issues that have moved forward.
We are at the beginning of the journey to decarbonised transport solutions. Government has now confirmed that all new cars and vans, wholly powered by petrol and diesel, will not be sold in the UK from 2030. Therefore, I commend ClIr Turrell's work around Electric Vehicle charging points. On top of the current charging points around the borough, the council has, since my last report delivered 32 community charging points around the borough. These points will be in addition to the requirement on new builders, under Building Control regulations "Part L" requirement, that all new homes to have EV charging points, that as the UK continues to be at the forefront of the electric vehicle (EV) transition, we in Bracknell Forest will keep pace with this growing demand. The policy document is on our website.
I am also grateful for his team's support in getting pre-planning application approval to move forward with the first EV charging "petrol" station, which I am hoping will be the first in Berkshire. Our visit to the Oxford Charging hub was very interesting and I will remind Officers that we need a little shop and public toilets on our site. It is not just cars that need fuelling up at these locations! I will have a formal update on this project in the spring.
Wining the resources to decarbonise our buildings has been led by Clir Heydon and his property team. They secured £929,000 of Salix funding for 39 schools, and other council buildings. They have also swapped our energy purchasing over to 100% green energy. This work has complemented by my own team's work around the decarbonisation of residents' homes. We have secured so far £1.9m in Green Homes Grant, of which £900,000 has already been spent on residents' homes, with good progress on spending the remaining funds on sustainable warmth projects for the least energy efficient homes. This work was recognised at the Southeast Energy Efficiency Awards. Members will note that at the Executive, on the 29th September, we approved £1m of new money to invest in seven council buildings. The result of this investment will be a reduction in electricity and gas consumption by 67.7 per cent, in next year's consumption.
I would like to commend ClIr Harrison on not only bringing forward a scheme to address vehicle idling around schools and other sensitive areas, but also for his work around the natural environment. Our parks and open spaces are key for building community and for social well-being. So, it is pleasing to report that the Parks and Countryside service has planted 2,795 trees over 20 sites as part of highways improvements and improvements to public green space. In addition, both the total areas of Habitats of Principal Importance and Local Wildlife Sites have increased by 50.97 and by 17.7 hectares respectively.
I would like to thank Clir Barnard's department for organising the borough's first Schools Climate Change Conference. Part of our strategy seeks to engage young people in our objective of addressing man made climate change and climate change mitigation. This very successful conference has been supported with each school getting a £500 award to take forward the ideas that they generated at the conference. I hope to report on many innovative initiatives coming from this work. I also hope that this schools conference becomes an annual climate change schools conference.
Finally, Members will be aware that our flagship food waste recycling programme is now over a year old. This work was launched under our Greening our waste strategy. The Executive has received a first-year highlight report and as the Executive Member for this area, I am very proud of our residents for how they have embraced this change. The recycling rate for 2021/22 is now 56%. This is an increase of 13% compared to the previous year. There was a 33% reduction in kerbside residual waste following the introduction of three-weekly residual waste collections and the roll out of food waste caddies from March 2021. Our 56% recycling rate could see Bracknell Forest move 100 or more places up the 'recycling league table' for English local authorities, from 150th out of 338, to top 40. Members will know that I always like to be at the top of the charts! The landfill rate for 2021/22 is expected to be 7%, this has reduced by more than half compared to 2020/21.
Approximately 90% of houses across the borough are participating in the food waste recycling, this is one of the main reasons the amount of food collected has been so high.
Collections from flats has now started and our new food waste vehicle has just hit the road, joining "dame foodie dench". I thank ClIr Brunel-Walker's, communication team, who were key to our success around food waste and for running a nationally commended food waste and climate change campaign.
So, in closing, Mr Mayor, I thank the petitioner for giving me another opportunity to run through our history and history of achievement on this topic. Our position hasn't changed on declaring an emergency. That said, this issue has been urgent for the borough for well over a decade and a half. Also, we have already agreed to have measurable, ambitious, target-driven climate strategy. It says it in our 2019 motion.
Addressing man-made climate change has been a priority of this council for a number of years. In making this a priority, we have taken many tough decisions that have acted to protect and prioritise the environment, over what would have been cheaper and less challenging for our communities. All this to say, lots done but a lot more to do.”
Councillor Mrs Hayes MBE provided notice to officers of her intention to bring forward a motion in relation to this matter at the next ordinary Council meeting to be held on 11 January 2023.