Agenda item

The Presiding Member invited the Leader to present the report to Council, which was the introductory annual report for our Climate Change Plan.

As a globally responsible organisation, the Council declared an ecological and climate emergency last November and stated   that the Council would: 

§  Develop a clear Climate Change Organisational plan, in consultation with citizens, for the next five years that would set out the actions needed to achieve this.

§  In March, of this year Council agreed the Climate Change Plan for the next five years.  This plan set out how we would:

Reduce council carbon emissions to net zero carbon by 2030

and

Review the services the council provided to ensure it supported the city’s journey to both net zero carbon and adapting to the impacts of climate change.

The plan ran from 2022-27, this was an introductory report setting out where we were at the start of the plan and detailed some of the important projects already taking place.

The plan was a key document for the Council and was now guiding our direction of travel as an organisation in tackling the climate and nature emergency and their impacts. 

The Leader moved acceptance of the report and asked the Presiding Member if the Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Biodiversity could second the motion and say a few words.

Councillor Forsey seconded the motion and advised colleagues that the Council had already made a substantial reduction in carbon emissions exceeding targets set out in the Carbon Management Plan.  Councillor Forsey looked forward to further reductions as we continued to retrofit council buildings, and further increase our electric fleet vehicles.

There was however, still much more that needed to be done as an organisation to mitigate and adapt to the nature and climate emergency and our Climate Change Plan set us on the right path for this journey to ensure we acted on behalf of current and future generations.

As Cabinet Member with responsibility for the climate change and biodiversity, Councillor Forsey was pleased to see this positive introductory report and would be monitoring progress of the plan closely and requesting regular progress updates to ensure that we continued to proceed at the required pace.

Comments from Councillors:

§  Councillor Davies recommended that councillors view the animation that was accessed via a link on the front of the report.  Councillor Davies was pleased that schools were locked into this plan, Bassaleg was being built as a carbon neutral school and there was focus on retro fitting, this was seen already in Kimberley Nursery, which was now Ysgol Bryn Derw, this was fitted with two air source heat pumps.  Other schools would also be retro fitted across Newport to be net carbon zero going forward.  It was pleasing to see that children were working with teachers to address this issue.  Young people had also become advocates, speaking on the national stage.

§  Councillor Routley considered that it was a good plan that would protect the future of the residents of Newport. Councillor Routley was however disappointed that there was no alternative to help relieve the M4, this had an impact on residents and communities along the M4 corridor.

§  Councillor Fouweather also agreed that it was a good document and was interested to read about the new council buildings and schools. Councillor Fouweather felt that the Civic Centre was a huge resource from a cost of energy point of view.  Road access must also be improved, with more buses and trains being more accessible.

§  Councillor Cleverly supported the plan.

§  Councillor Corten supported the plan. 

§  Councillor L James supported the plan but felt that the level of details in the report should be explained further.  This was an aims document rather than an actual plan and felt the public and council deserved more to look at with regard to this. There should be more focus on the 11 air quality management areas such as Malpas Road.

§  The Leader emphasised the opportunity for councillors to debate and raise any issues through scrutiny.  The Leader advised that the main focus was on alternative transport.  The Leader recently visited the Gaer active travel route through consultation with residents and it was a fantastic amenity for residents.  Cabinet were continually exploring transport alternatives.  Working with Burns Commission measures were being put in place.  There were still improvements to be made but the quality was improving. There was a visit recently by Deputy Minister which saw the opening of a new storage cycle shop in Newport, which was citizen focussed and not imposed upon us.  With reference to rail, there were recommendations within the Burns Commission report for additional stations.  The infrastructure was managed and owned by Network Rail who were funded by UK Government.

The motion to accept the report was put to the vote and carried unanimously.

Resolved:

Council reviewed and approved the organisational Climate Change Plan Introductory Report.