Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bensly (sub P Hammond), Cameron (sub G Carpenter) and Fairhead (sub Borg). 

There were no declarations of interest. 

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 February were agreed by assent. 

The committee members discussed the forward plan with particular reference to the proposal made at the last Environment Committee that a report in respect of low noise fireworks be presented. The Strategic Director advised that the Constitution was clear that Environment Committee was unable to agree new policies as these are the remit of the Policy and Resources Committee. Therefore it was proposed that officers are asked to produce a report in respect of increasing awareness of the benefits of the use of low noise fireworks and a proposal in respect of a governance framework and to ask that this is reviewed by Policy and Resources Committee with a view to a future policy being prepared. 

The Strategic Director also briefed the Committee on the Trees for Cities item contained on the forward plan. This will contain an update in respect of the five sites contained within this project already underway and discussed as part of the Town Centre working group. 

Other tree planting schemes will need to be considered separately and she advised that information in respect of this will be reported to the Environment Committee at a future date. A specific reference will be made to the need to include ward members in any future tree planting proposals outside of the Trees for Cities project. 

Proposed amendment / additional items to the forward plan:

An awareness report in respect of low noise fireworks.

Borough Tree Planting Report to include an update on the Trees for Cities Project - Date TBC

Agreed

The Committee received a presentation by Star Molteno, Senior Consultant at Eunomia in respect of the Great Yarmouth Sustainability Strategy. This presentation was also provided virtually as an all member briefing.

She described the background in developing the strategy and the objectives moving forward, details of which were described in the report of the Strategic Director. 

Councillor P Carpenter thanked Star Molteno for her presentation and observed that this will be a programme of work which will be ongoing for a considerable amount of time. She also suggested that there was an area of land in Caister, owned by the council which could be used as a nature reserve moving forwards. 

Councillor Wells asked if there were any areas of work which could be prioritised to provide early benefits. Star Molteno suggested that the Biodiversity and Waste elements could be targeted as there is already a requirement to make changes to the waste collection process moving forward. 

The Strategic Director advised Environment Committee that some of the objectives are being worked on within Project Facet, for example, organics, with thermocultures and pilots in respect of this are being undertaken within the tourism community. 

Councillor Wells reminded the Committee that, although this is a relatively short document it will underpin all the work of the council moving forward and this must be closely monitored by the Environment Committee to ensure the outcomes are achieved. 

The Strategic Director advised that there will be a significant action plan sitting behind this report which was still in a draft format. Once this is completed, it will be tabled at the Environment Committee and can form the basis of the Committee's Forward Plan.

Councillor Waters-Bunn expressed her concerns that this action plan had not been submitted as part of the background documents to the Strategy to enable the Committee to have an overview of the contents. She felt that the Committee had only received half of the report notwithstanding it may still have been in draft format. 

The Strategic Director advised that it was very important that the Sustainability Strategy adoption was not delayed as it is key to future funding bids which are time dependent and reconfirmed that the action plan would be brought to Committee in Quarter 1 of 2022/23.. 

RESOLVED

1. To recommend to Council the adoption of the Sustainability Strategy to include the setting of a Council's own Net Zero target of 2035.
   
   
2. To agree to the establishment of a sustainability forum to enable the council to work collaboratively with external stakeholders to better deliver against this strategy, with terms of reference for this forum to be agreed by Environment Committee.
   
   
3. To agree to the allocation of up to £65,000 from the invest to save reserve to appoint an Environmental Strategy Officer of a fixed term basis for 18 months, to support the deliver of our Carbon Reduction Action Plan, Sustainability Action Plan and to support the development of the Investment Plan in relation to this agenda as part of accessing the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. 
   
   
4. To note there is an underspend of £8,368 for this strategy work, which Members are asked to allocate as a small reserve to support sustainability initiatives during 2022/23.

Agreed

The Committee received a presentation by the Head of Environment and Sustainability which summarised the submitted report. 

Councillor P Carpenter asked if the staffing resources were in place to support this work moving forward. The Head of Environment and Sustainability advised that this would form part of the work undertaken by the role identified as part of the sustainability strategy report. Other issues would be picked up as part of normal service delivery.

Councillor Talbot asked what actions would be undertaken in respect of the council housing stock to tackle issues in respect of mould and cold bridging. The Head of Environment and Sustainability advised that council housing stock did not form part of the building emissions work but there was a separate de-carbonisation programme which was reported to the Housing and Neighbourhoods Committee with a budget of £5.8m to address these issues. 

The Committee proposed an amendment to recommendation c, to read:

(c) Officers to bring monitoring reports to Environment Committee on a six monthly basis to enable members to review and track progress of the work set out within the Action Plan. 

Agreed

RESOLVED

1. To accept and approve the Carbon Footprint Report completed by the Carbon Trust
   
   
2. To approve the adoption of the Councils' organisational  Carbon Reduction Action Plan 2022-2027.
   
   
3. To receive six monthly update reports on the progress against the Action Plan. 

Agreed

The Committee received the outside bodies report.

Councillor Robinson-Payne suggested that any future reports should clearly show member attendance data in respect of the individual outside bodies. 

There were no recommendations from Environment Committee to the Policy and Resources Committee in respect of apppointment which were no longer required. 

RESOLVED

1. To note the report.
   
   
2. To recommend to Policy and Resources Committee that all the appointments to Outside Bodies listed in the report are retained. 

Agreed

The Head of Environment and Sustainability was asked for an update in respect of the Covid Marshals now that the legislation in respect of Covid had changed. He advised that some of the Covid Marshals had been employed on a casual basis and that those appointments had now ended and moving forward there will be a smaller team supporting outreach work as Community Marshals and they would be part of a blended team in the Community Hub. Committee asked that he advise all Councillors of this change.